Striped Bass Fishing

Striped bass fishing in the shadow of the Duval County Detention center? Sound intriguing?
There is a old saying, fish where the fish are. Is it ancient Indian? Did John Smith bring it over this side of the pond via the Mayflower and that big rock? Probably not. The saying rings true in any “reel” fisherman’s language and should be applied to catch those big stripers that hang around the cool water of downtown Jacksonville, Florida. The best kept fishing hole in northern Florida can be accessed with a wee little boat or even a good sturdy kayak. Big vessels need no apply. The bridges in downtown Jacksonville offer some of the most exciting breathtaking striper fishing as anywhere in the state. The challenge is out there for all the world to see, find a more accessible location to catch above-average striped bass in Jacksonville and the boss will publish the name of the “Person who beat me”.

The striped bass population in downtown Jax is always over 5,000. How can this be documented and proven? The city of Jacksonville stocks the St. John’s River with 200,000 striper fingerling each and every year, thus perpetuating a hardy species of fish with man as it’s only natural predator. The surprise is not that there are monster stripers in the shadows of such Jacksonville iconic landmarks as Maxwell House and The Courthouse of Duval County.

In order to adequately and successfully land a few of the striped bass under the bridges in downtown Jacksonville, a few tips need to be explained. The striped bass prefer even demand cooler water. If the water gets above 80 degrees the fish will high-tail it to a deeper hole or even open water to relieve themselves from the oppressive heat. The best time to catch these bad-boys is to go during the cool months of November through March. the fish have a secret and this secret is about to be told right here, striped bass love to hit top water when it is low light and cool water conditions. There it has been told. A three decade secret sworn to allegiance released into the entire world. Well, the oath was taken as a fourth grade student at Jacksonville Heights Elementary. The striped bass assassins will most certainly be at the downstairs entrance.

The best top water lure to use is a gold color Husky-Jerk Rapala. The bait is just deadly on the chilly stripers and will have the limit in a good half-days fishing but only if the sun is playing peek-a-boo with the clouds. Stripers in downtown Jacksonville adore the overcast cloud cover and actually will only strike top-water when the lights are turned down low. If the sun is out and the weather is close to 80, drop the live baits (finger mullet) down to a depth of about 15-20 and hang on for the stripers are a coming. A guarantee? Fine. Three stripers over four pounds each. There, happy?

Click here to learn more Bass Fishing Techniques now!

Fly Fishing For Bass

The “10- percent solution,” is what the anglers who fly fish for bass refer to top-water baits as. What they are referring to is the 90 percent chance of the top-water lure being useless. Thats quite a rough statement but not too far from the truth. The winter, fall, and even early spring bass fishing action is deeper, away from the splashing of the top-water offerings. Deep is where the bass are and deep is where the fly fisherman cannot get to. Then comes the glorious summer. The heat, the water, the glint of the brilliant sun on the surface of the lake, spectacular.

Now the fly fisherman is in his correct element. The top-water action is where it is at as the warmth of the sun brings the bass closer to the surface to feed. The reasons are simplistic really; insects and other small creepy crawlies have exploded in nature during the spring and by this time in the summer, are everywhere. The ones that do not call the water home are skimming along the top and sometimes, much to the delight of the bass, fail in their flight plans and crash. The hungry bass are ever watchful for this crash-landing and are more than willing to offer the failed flyer a dark, wide, final resting spot. Thats a little “over-the-top” for a fishing article as I am well aware of but come on, I am still a writer with some poetic license.

Fly fisherman love the summer because it is then that they get to test out their Christmas presents collection of top-water flies. Gleaming ear to ear, the avid fly-fisherman can be seen early mornings and late evenings tossing their baits to and fro in pursuit of the largemouth bass of Florida. The areas that are hot for top-water fly fishing action include; Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa Bay, and Clearwater. These towns offer the best of Florida with clear big lakes and ample cut-in access points. The plethora of bait shops in the area makes supplies for fly-fishing easily accessible. For information on how to get to the fly-fishing spots of Florida, log onto http://www.bassfishingtechniquesonline.com. There you will find links and articles that are geared mostly to bass fishing and a few other species.

The key for all fly-fisherman is to draw the attention of the largemouth bass. There are some favorite colors that some more successful bass fisherman utilizes during the warm summer months. Dark colors such as brown, green, and purple streamers are great for grabbing the attention of the bass down deeper and make a great bait to catch them with. The hearty fly-fisherman can wait out the other bass fisherman and when the others have all but packed it in and are heading for the house, the flyer can get to work. The hour before to gets too dark to cast is some of the best time to fish for the fly fisherman.

Click here to learn more Bass Fishing Techniques!

Summer Bass Fishing Techniques

Summer bass fishing techniques should include light tackle, to assist in handling the unbearable rays of the sun. Diving in would bring instant relief and frighten off every bass for a quarter of a mile. The intrepid bass fisherman decides wisely against this form instant gratification and plops back down onto the green grass. No relief. The story is repeatedly told from Jacksonville to Miami of the bass fisherman and the summer heat in Florida.

It is relentless in it’s beauty and downright dangerous for those with an aversion to the sun. The beat goes on in The Sunshine State in the summer months with every year getting a little hotter. The bass fisherman had a great plan this early morning in July and nothing is going to alter that reward. The goal is a stringer of fat well-feed largemouth bass. The summer heat wave is only a temporary roadblock to the determined fisherman. Heat? What heat?

The summertime bass fishing gear is all about portability and less-weight. After a year of lugging around all the essential objects that are required to go fishing the summer offers a break in its own warmer way. Sure the heat is akin to being on a griddle in Grandma’s kitchen and the sun has no sympathy that the fisherman spent last week nursing and re growing a layer of previously fired skin. The family trip to the beach, which was a pay it forward act by the Dad to appease the Mom and thusly be required with this weekend. The solitary time on the water to hunt for the largemouth bass of northern Florida.

The bass fishing trip is a wondrous thing for the summer ime angler. Alone and with only the sun as a constant companion, the angler is in heaven. Even when it is hotter than Hades. he is happy in his misery. Ironic and iconic the bass fisherman trudges on. The bass are out there, hungry and ready to strip the line off the brand-new Zebco 4500. Freshly purchased from the over-priced but oh- so- cool neighborhood bait store. Of course the bass fisherman could have just as easily drove down to the ever-present big Arkansas based retailing establishment but is that not for eggs and bad cologne? the pro shop is where the real anglers go. To pay double for what is offered by the hundreds in air conditioned creature comforted big boy retail outlets. Who cares. The smell of the dead shrimp, the priceless knowledge of the stores owner. These are the reasons that they go to the bait shops first. Dues have been paid and a little sun on the bun will not detract from this great American outdoor adventure. The bass are there, go get them. Bring sun screen and a good, floppy, ugly as sin hat.

Click here to Learn Bass Fishing Techniques!

Spring Bass Fishing Technique

The locals call this the ‘coolest’ spring bass fishing technique in Florida. The rites of spring. Nothing says  ‘it’s spring time’  like a bass fishing trip to the local honey-hole. The warm weather, the sun, the sky, everything that the planet earth has to offer is best served during the spring months. Bass fishermen  in the state of Florida hold their collective breaths in eager, almost addictive response, to the coming of the season. True as it may be that largemouth bass must and do feed year round, the spring offers the best bass fishing opportunities of the entire year. It matters very little the what who where and when of this fishing endeavor, the bass are there and in great numbers. With very little natural predators, the adult largemouth bass is the king of it’s territory. Pound for pound, there is no other freshwater species, that is relatively tooth-less, that can command such respect. Ask the the little black bird with the red crest what it is like to light on a reed overhanging the lake. The bird may be lunch in the spring time for a hungry now aroused female bass. The girth of a largemouth bass is immense in comparison to its body mass and it uses this weapon to wreck havoc on almost anything that can be put in it. The anatomy of a largemouth bass, although vastly interesting and a thrill to speak about is not the subject of this post. Tune into the next article for the ins and outs of “living bass”.

The warmth brings the dusted rods and reels out of the garage and onto the living room floor, a smile emerges across the face of the expecting fisherman. he knows what time it is. He understands fully and with a great sense of conviction, the rites of spring are here. The bass make their beds this time of year and are busy seeing and moving rocks and craw fish anything that poses a threat to the fry-nursery. In the fish world few can match the voracity of the expecting female largemouth bass. The bream makes a bed as well, but lacks the necessary to ward off any serious threat. The bass is a different story altogether. She is bad, she is mad and if you are smaller than her, you are in trouble. The female bass need not be starving to scoop up a foreign invader, the life or death struggle is determined by the female bass alone. This all plays into the intelligent bass fisherman’s plan of attack. By utilizing the ferocity of the female momma bass the angler can produce a great result.

Any (below surface) artificial bass lure will do the trick. A rubber worm dragged in the vicinity of the bed, gone. Inhaled then positioned to be deposited out of the nursery arena. Threat averted. The bass fisherman only has to set the hook and the fight is on with a usually larger than normal bass. The male is around too and usually can be dealt with by an offering of a smaller bait. A quick toss of a worm weighted motor oil colored plastic worm will certainly get the male’s attention. Once the smaller male is dealt and released, the female bass will be left with guarding the fort herself. The female bass will instinctively turn up her radar and everything that is a threat will be investigated and dealt with. Have fun and go fishing this up coming spring, be a conservation caretaker of the fishing industry here in Florida and take only what is needed. Most bass fisherman appreciate a good high-quality photo of a largemouth bass instead of destroying the beautiful fish. Try that. “Bragging rights” preserved and the fish stays alive to fight another day.

Click here to learn more Bass Fishing Techniques!

Big Bass Fishing

Want to land some big bass fishing time in the summer sun? Then the water is the place to head to and the town of Clewiston, Florida is the place to catch a huge largemouth bass. The area of Florida is well-known for it’s bass fishing prowess and a thriving sugar cane industry. The cane brings in the money and the areas numerous lakes bring in the bass fisherman. They are there to experience the many wonders that is largemouth bass fishing in central Florida. The town of Clewiston is a relatively small town with a population under 300,000. A fine place to catch a largemouth bass, the area has long been a stopping point for professional bass fisherman in the United States, on their way to Lake Okeechobee. Clewiston is a great location to get some of the inks out of the fishing gear and the angler as well. The “chain of Lakes” runs through this sugary town and provides excellent best bass fishing time.

The local anglers who depend on both the sugar cane harvest and the tourist dollars, understand that through extensive conservation and a sound ecological mind set their way of life is safe. The millions of dollars that comes into the area from sugar benefits the bass fishing as well. It takes money to keep a fishing industry alive and well, Clewiston has that financial support system set up by their own hard working farmers. Now I am not saying that the area is abundantly wealthy, this is not the case. It is true that when a location has a valuable commodity in which it bases its entire existence on, things are going at least ok.

To catch a big bass in Clewiston, an angler first needs to know where the bass are and how best to fish for them. The best way to catch a few of the wonderful largemouth is to head to the biggest lake in the area, Lake Okeechobee. This giant body of water has so many bass in it that they almost jump into the boat. Well, maybe I am exaggerating a wee little bit, there are plenty of bass in this lake and the same practices that have worked for you somewhere else will work here. Do you want to toss an artificial in and see how it performs? How about taking along you’re trusty cast net and pulling in a few dozen wild shiners? The choice is up to you. Do that, take your best floater and give it a go. No other lake in the state will be a better locale than this one in terms of testing your ability as a fisherman or your equipment. Either way you will have a blast fishing for the great largemouth bass and in the meantime maybe discover which of the lures in your tackle box are really worth the price? The bass at Lake Okeechobee will not disappoint. They are big hungry and always open. Drop in and get caught up in the largemouth frenzy that is central Florida.

Click here to Learn more Bass Fishing Techniques!

Bass Fishing Secrets of Florida

There are untold bass fishing secrets of Florida that I am about to unleash right here, right now. There are only a handful of anglers on this planet that know what I am about to explain. The largemouth fishing in northern Florida is outstanding. Matter of fact, the bass are bigger here than anywhere else on average and the climate is superb for year round fishing. To be able to filch from January to December is a catch in itself. As long as all of you readers pinkie promise not to tell a soul about these secrets of Florida bass fishing gems, lets begin the tales.

When I was a youngster, around age 14, I discovered a pond in the back of my uncles farm that sparkled like a diamond in the sun. I used to get up at the crack of dawn and head down there to try my luck at some fishing. My Uncle Buddy was a monster of a man, six foot eight and weighing in at a scale tipping 425 pounds, he was a man’s man. I was a little afraid of him seeing that I came up to his belt buckle and his hands were as  big as my entire chest! Apprehension was the word of the day.

The pond was only about a quarter of a mile away from the farmhouse and I did not want to get caught jumping the old wooden fence he had so painstakingly erected the day before, so I crept along, slowly and quietly. I made it past my uncles window and down to the pond, in one piece.
Now the time was 6:00 a.m. and I knew that the farming community would be rousing in roughly ten to fifteen minutes so I set up my fishing pole and went to work digging up the early morning night crawlers. I always wondered why they called the fat, wiggly worms “earth worms” and when I would ask my uncle, he would always say, ‘because they be coming up from da earf”. I felt stupid asking him but I got a kick out of his Georgia pronunciations of certain words, like earth.

I strung up the worm and tossed it into the still smooth as glass pond. Within seconds there was a huge splash and my pole went head long into the pond! I instantly dove in after the rod and reel and found myself diving to the bottom of the pond. As I searched around the bottom of the silty pond I felt the pole! Success! I swam to the surface pole in hand and noticed that the fish was still on! I gathered myself and started reeling the now exhausted fish in, anxious at seeing what monster of the deep was able to snatch the pole from my hands with such force. As I got the mystery fish in closer I could not believe my eyes, it was a largemouth bass but a different one than I have ever caught. This bass was over 12 pounds and had three eye balls! There my secret is out.

Click here now to learn more Bass Fishing Techniques!

Spring Bass Fishing Techniques

The early spring bass fishing techniques are coming out of storage. Spring rings in the coming of the best of what largemouth bass fishing is all about, the lunker’s. If anyone tells you that they are going bass fishing but that they do not wish, dream of hooking into a larger than usual bucketmouth, then they are being dishonest. A bass fishing trip is never complete without the dream of catching a huge bass. The beginning of spring is when these dreams can become a reality and the top water lure is just what the doctor ordered.

The sleepy time bass have awoken and they are now foraging for anything that moves. The bass population loves a good fight. It seems that early spring brings about a renewed vigor in these bass and they just cannot wait until the females are on the he bed to pick a fight. The easiest way to oblige them is to grab your pole and a few top water select lures and get yourself down to the water, any water. It is the beginning of spring ands the bass are hungry. Before the beds re even thought about the bass are hitting everything, anything, anywhere.

If you find a small pond, toss a rattletrap out there. Why not? The size of the pond or even a smallish lake can bring dramatic heart pounding strikes top water if the angler appreciated the new season. the appreciation comes with the experience to realize that for the previous five or six months the bass have been in a virtual slow down mode. Gone was the plethora of poor flying grass hoppers and one winged flying insects. these used to fall from the sky and became a bonanza for the bass. the winter brought an abrupt end to all of that and bow the bass have the golden opportunity at redemption. redeeming their hunger, slamming your lure. Top water action is just that, action. No other method or tactic is a s exciting and as spell bounding as a top water hit. the bass need not be huge nor reverb overly aggressive in nature, the top water hit is the best. Heading out to the nearest lake and tossing out a loud and obnoxious top water lure will undoubtedly produce a hit. Hold on tight early spring my fishing friend ands the bass are awake. Hold on tight!

The best bet for catching a few of the early spring bass is to go try your luck in the river. Any large river will have a abundance of bass that have been listless for too long. Casting into the middle of the lake and slowly reeling in the bait, the fish will take notice. Think about it, nothing for months then this? A loud injured “swallow me now” offering will be slammed down. There is no doubt that the angler will produce a fish or two in the early spring time and the top water action lure will be the highlight of the bass fishing trip.

Click here now to learn more Bass Fishing Techniques!

Bass Fly Fishing

The art of bass fly fishing is alive and well for most of the anglers of America. Known for the iconic Rockwell type plates of the lone fly fisherman casting to a small school of rainbow trout in a Montana stream. So tranquil, so beautiful, the scene that launched a movie, “A River Runs Through it”, they have the life. Trout in all varieties imaginable are the usual targets for fly fisherman and the images are burned into the collective sub conscience of anglers from Maine to California. Yet there is a small but ever growing group of determined and dare I say it, feisty fly fisherman who wish to bum-rush the society of bass fisherman

. The elitist fly fisherman are stepping into relatively new territory as they encroach into the back waters and black lakes of the deep south. What are the local bass fisherman to do? Let me set the visual mind set for you, its a long, hot summer day in Baxley, Georgia, the epicurial “poster child” hamlet for southern bass anglers of the now defunct Confederacy. A rather large well-bearded and boastful bass fisherman has just settled in on the banks of the Tater Tot River and he looks over and sees… The fly-fisherman. Straight from Bangor, Maine.

Normally, strangers do not tear the bass fisherman from his daily task, but this one, this fly fishing fool from the great White north, has got him. That’s a bit wax poetic but the overall feeling of the fly fisherman making a rush into the southern states is well, less than southern hospitality dictates. The little artfully tied flies and the weird 15 to 20 fake tosses make for an almost alien encounter when these two prototypical fisherman meet. After a few steely glances the two settle back down to their task at hand, fishing for bass. The goal is the same and after a while, the two are noticing each other tactics with interest.

The Southern bass fisherman admiring the method of delivery and the Northern fly fisherman taking a liking to the, beard quality? The day went as planned for both except for one large rather unique difference, the two exchanged numbers in a scene reminiscent of Broke Back Mountain. Now the fly-fishing scene has come a long way since the rebel met the Yankee on that hot summer day in Georgia and the two sides are now semi-friendly. To say that we two groups are now one, would be stretching it a wee nit but there is some form of agreement. Bass. Largemouth bass big and plentiful enough to share.

The fly-fisherman does not normally habitat the same locations as the regulation bass fisherman. The fly-fisherman prefers a kayak and a little hat and cruises the back-waters of the rivers and creeks of the Deep South. The Southern bass fisherman sticks to what he knows works, the ponds and lakes of Georgia and Florida, where the big lunker bass are and the fly-fisherman are not. We can safely say that The Civil War II is no longer a threat to national security but it was a close one. Sentiments run deep in the South and this is how it has been since, well, Appomattox and the great war. the fly-fisherman are actually a welcome respite from the everyday and they have been seen eating grits at Mother Mary’s in Clewiston, Florida. We have turned the corner on stylistic relations as it pertains to bass fishing. Long live the bass.

Click here now to learn more Bass Fishing Techniques!

Winter Bass Fishing

The frigid chill of Old Man Winter makes one think of a toasty fire and plenty of rum cake. The cold fronts have moved in and the fishing has grinded to a dead halt. Unless you live in Fargo, North Dakota, chances are that when the winter comes the fishing ends. It is too cold to fish, or so the skeptics say. The lakes are frozen over and the air is so cold that you can see the condensation of you’re breath. It is winter and depending upon what part of the world you find yourself in, chances are it is cold. What happens to the largemouth bass when the temperature drops down past 32 degree Fahrenheit? Do they all huddle up and find a nice deep dark warmer hole and sleep the winter blues away. Do they even receive winter blues symptoms? No. They   are cold blooded fish with eating and mating on their tiny fish minds. The bass do not really have the ability to formulate any ideas or much less exhibit a scrap of intelligence. They are game fish and could care less what time it is or how cold it is. It is always cold to a bass for they are cold blooded animals. The affect of the weather, if severe enough has a fascinating affect on the largemouth bass.

In extremely cold water, bass even tend to lose their balance and may even have difficulty in propping themselves upright on the bottom. This is why when the t.v. shows shoot bass under water in the winter, some seem like they are keeling over!  Keep in mind that this loss of swimming ability is a gradual process that does not cannot happen overnight. The bait has to become scarce over time, the bass has to become inactive and stop pursuing bait over time. All this cold water changes have begun to build up and everything slows down. The bass do not need to feed as much if any because the expenditure of energy has slowed.

So, in essence, when there is a lightening fast chill and the water is quickly chilled, the bait will hang around and the bass will stay relatively active. If the water gets cold enough then the bait will stop showing up and go to warmer locales in the lake thus the bass will stop their feeding activity. The bottom line is that the largemouth bass will continue to feed but at a decreasing rate as the water temperature drops. The bait fish are the key to the residual activity of the entire winter bass activity. The bass will not starve but in severe conditions, they will stop feeding altogether until the warmer weather returns. Fat storages were kept at high levels during the summer and spring months so that the winter month feeding activities could be lessened. It is not impossible to catch even a heavy trophy sized bass in the dead of winter as long as the winter temperatures do not dip below the bait fishes ceiling.

Click here now to learn more Bass Fishing Techniques!

How to Fish for Bass

I once tried to teach my friend how to fish for bass. He was an avid trout fisherman so I had my hands literally full. My “trouty” friend insisted on using artificial baits the entire bass fishing trip, I reluctantly relented and tossed a few “toys” in the lake. No luck. I was disillusioned at best. I decided to pull out my cast net and trusty old set of red and white bobber’s. I had enough of tossing the giant key-chains into the water, frightening everything this side of Duval county. I knew that the spot we were fishing at held a giant population of golden shiners so I thought I would toss my net in the general area I usually found them. Success. I pulled in three golden shiners and began rigging my pole up for some “good-old” Florida live bait bass fishing.

The term live bait has been a term saved for old men and naturalist refusing to trick a bass into accepting a non-food item. I am old school as they come on this baited point. I will argue until I am blue in the face that a live bait is preferable over an artificial and i will tell you why. It feels more like a natural hunter gatherer type of outing. The artificial guys will disagree and I will certainly receive my fair and deserved share of email protesters. I understand the benefits of artificial, I get it.

The fish is normally unharmed by the trebles of a lure and can be readily released into the water to live and fight again. I agree with that. I understand that a live bait has the propensity at being gutted and the fish has a very real chance at dying. I know. I also know that for as long as I have been bass fishing, I have allowed a bass to eat my live bait long enough to have it gut hooked, once. That one time taught me the lesson that every live baiter should know. The hit indicates that the live bait has been accepted into the gaping jaws of the bass and the hook should be set instantaneously.

Only one time did I allow my fish to be gut hooked. I am not sure if the bass lived or died I hope that it loved and the rusted hook fell out a few days later. Another reason I am against sterling silver hooks, what are the fish vampires? Werewolves? I am not sure but I know that bass are special and need to be protected.

I have learned to set the hook immediately and then the issue of gut-hooking is a non-issue. I apologize to the bass that I hurt and to the environmentalists out there who wish to burn my boat, motor and all. I have turned over a new leaf and no longer do I allow gut hooking. The fish that I have caught number in the thousands and only once did the bad thing happen. Live bait fishing for largemouth bass is a great way to catch the largest bass in the area. Try it the next time you are on the water and see what I mean.

Click here now to learn more Bass Fishing Techniques!