BASS FISHINGBass Fishing Sports Blog

With the spring and summer tourist season just around the corner and with gas prices approaching $5 a gallon, a number of local businesses are wondering what impact the high price of gasoline will have on the tourist industry of which bass fishermen are a big part.

There is no question tourism is a major industry in Lake County. when Konocti Harbor Resort closed its doors it was a major hit to the economy of this county.

Clear Lake is presently the no. 1 bass lake in the West, if not in the nation, and is one of the more well loved lakes for bass tournaments for both the tournament fishermen as well as recreational anglers. There are 25 major tournaments scheduled for the lake for the remainder of 2012. In addition, there are dozens of bass club tournaments. While most are one-day team events there are also some two-day pro/am events sponsored by the bass circuits.

Many of the tournament fishermen travel 300 miles or more roundtrip to fish at the lake. The tournament entry fees average about $200 per team. The pro/ams can vary from as high as $700 for the pro to $250 for the amateur.

The individual circuits are broken down by regions, which cover several lakes or other waters. most have team circuits and include a six-tournament schedule of which at least two or three are held on Clear Lake. a excellent number of the fishermen will compete in all the circuits. when you consider that most of the fishermen spend two or three days prefishing for a tournament it adds up to a lot of money spent on the local economy.

Just the cost to drive to and from Clear Lake plus the cost of gas used in the bass boats can be mind-boggling. The price of gasoline is forecast to reach $5 per gallon by Memorial Day. a fisherman traveling from Sacramento spends approximately $125 on gas just to get to Clear Lake and return home, and that doesn’t include meals, fishing tackle and other costs.

Troy Bellah of Clear Lake Outdoors tackle shop says it’s not unusual for a fisherman to spend from $60-$100 per day on live bait and fishing tackle. most modern bass boats have tanks that hold a total of 50 gallons of gas. On a lake as large as Clear Lake it’s not unusual to go through 30 gallons of gas in a day. that adds up to another $150 per day. and it’s not only the bass fishermen who will be paying more because of the gas prices. Pleasure boaters, including wakeboard boat owners and personal watercraft owners, also spend a lot of money in the county.

Not included in all this is the cost of the boat itself. a new, fully-rigged bass boat costs in the neighborhood of $50,000. The fishing rods, reels and other gear can add another several thousand dollars. a wakeboard boat will cost about the same

The number of fishermen competing in tournaments has declined in the past three years. ten years ago a typical team tournament would draw at least 100 boats. last year most of the team tournaments drew less than 50 boats and some had fewer than 30 teams. The experts point to the terrible economy for the drop in tournament entries.

The tournament organizations aren’t getting rich. The average circuit pays back to the fishermen in cash awards approximately 70 percent of the entry fees. They also receive a few dollars from sponsors. But, when a tournament only draws 30 boats, it’s had to show any type of profit. Since bass tournaments are not considered a paying spectator sport such as golf or rodeo, there are no profits made from the crowd that attends the weigh-ins.

If the tournament participation continues to decline, it could have an impact on the county’s tourist industry. Bass fishermen spend a lot of money in the county. with most of the tournaments scheduled during the fall and winter months it could have a significant impact on the local businesses.

A number of local businesses have lowered their prices to attract the tourists. Konocti Vista Casino is a excellent example. They have a special rate for fishermen and have gone to great lengths to attract the bass tournaments. In fact, 75 percent of the bass tournaments on Clear Lake now go out of Konocti Vista Casino.

Lake County and Clear Lake are unparalleled when it comes to beauty and that’s why visitors enjoy vacationing here.

1. what kind of fishing do you do?Bass fishing — rod and reel. what I do is I compete in bass tournaments all over the country. Really, last week, I was just down in Florida on Okeechobee.2. How did you get started fishing?It’s kind of a mystery. Neither one of my parents fish. when I was in about second or third grade, I remember Mom taking me out to a pond. really, from there it just started where she bought me a magazine subscription — this bass fishing magazine that I read constantly. It was one of those things. I was young, if I was willing to read a fishing magazine; she was willing to buy it for me.3. How many tournaments do you enter each year?Generally, I fish 13 to 15 tournaments a year. this year, I plot on doing right around 13 or 14. 4. What’s involved in a tournament?A tournament can be anywhere from one day to four days. You launch your boat from a designated area and then have to be back in by 3 p.m. You have eight hours to fish. You are allowed to bring back five fish and it is the combined weight of those. You have a height minimum — usually the fish has to be at least 12 inches. All your fish must be alive. I have these compartments in my boat called live wells that pump water in and circulate it. You are penalized if any of your fish are dead.5. where are the tournaments held? what is the farthest you’ve gone?Okeechobee is the farthest I’ve been — it’s 1,200 miles. I go all over — Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair. I’ve been to lakes all over Ohio.6. what kind of equipment do you use?If I’m fishing as a pro on my boat, I usually have 10 to 15 rods in the boat. I probably have six to eight boxes full of hard lures and four to six Ziploc bags of soft lures. One thing about tournaments, you can’t use live bait. You have to use artificial lures.7. Do you use live bait when you fish for fun?No, I pretty much only use artificial bait.8. How often do you fish for fun?I am probably on the water fishing for fun at least 80 days a year easily.9. What’s your largest catch?Last year, I did catch a 5 pound 11 ounce smallmouth bass. I’ve caught several largemouth bass in the 8- to 9-pound range, but I haven’t hit a 10-pounder yet. Typically, a smallmouth bass at 6 pounds or a largemouth bass at 10 pounds is a once-in-a-lifetime type of fish.10. what do you do with the fish you catch when you are fishing for fun? Do you like to eat fish?Generally, I release any bass I catch, and yes, I like fish — just not bass. I prefer walleye or perch. if I catch a walleye, it’s supper that night.11. How many tournaments have you won?Last year, I won two of my club tournaments. 12. What’s your favorite part of fishing?It gets me out of my normal job as an attorney.

The current record in Illinois for the largest largemouth bass is 13 pounds, 1 ounce — a mark Rick Herring says he would have eclipsed were it not for poor timing.

Herring went out for a regular day May 20, fishing with his brother at his side. They went to their favorite pond east of Brighton. that day, he left with a 14-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass.

Herring and his brother could not believe their eyes.

“I hugged it,” Herring said. “I was so pleased.”

Ed Walbel set the current record for Illinois’ biggest largemouth bass in February 1976.

Herring had everyone he knew, including many friends, help weigh the fish to get a precise measurement, which was 14 pounds, 4 ounces each time, he said. He then took it to his cousin to have it mounted.

Herring said he took the fish to a conservation agent to file the paperwork, but he didn’t realize the agent was retiring the next day. As it turns out, the documentation on the fish was turned in after a 90-day grace period, so his bass was not eligible for a state record.

But he said he expects to duplicate the feat this year because the ponds he fishes are full of big bass.

Herring lives in Brighton with his wife. Fishing has been his main leisure activity ever since he was a child.

“When I grew up, I had three brothers and two sisters. I was 14 when we got running water,” Herring said. “We lived north of Brighton on a farm and we used to fish, hunt and butcher our own meat.”

Herring and his brother continue to fish and even have contests to see who can catch the biggest fish. obviously, Herring won this time around.

It took about an hour to get a firm grip on the fish to get it into the boat. Herring also caught two 8 1/2-pound fish that day and said he could even fit one of the heads of the smaller fish into the largemouth bass.

The largemouth bass could have been larger, too.

“if the fish hadn’t laid its eggs before, it would have been around 17 pounds,” Herring said.

Besides fishing on his own time, Herring takes children out to teach them how to fish, with their parents’ permission.

Herring also does a lot of volunteer work and takes care of senior citizens in his town, along with his own mother, who is in a nursing home.

Posted Today, 07:55 PM

I headed out for a few hours yesterday to one of my local spots (34 acre pond), plotting to fish for bass. I have bringing my light spinning rod with me recently to fill in some of the dead times when the bass aren't hitting. I usually put on a small spinner and get panfish, perch, and the occassional LMB. better than nothing. the place I went to yesterday is usually stocked with trout, at least in the spring. I'm not aware of fall trout stocking there. anyway, I started out fishing with my light action rod, mostly because it already had a small swivel on and it was ready to go. I put on a weighted Joe's Flies inline spinner and went to work. got my first hit within 5 minutes, and to my surprise, it was a rainbow trout! I was psyched because I've been trying for several years, with no luck, to get trout. got another trout a few minutes later. He wasn't a rainbow, and by looking at online photos after I got home, I think it was a small brown trout. I was out for 2-3 hours and ended up with six trout and a bunch of crappie, all on the same Joe's Flies spinner. the biggest trout was 13-14". Lots of fun on cheap light tackle (6ft light action St. Croix Triumph, a $29 Shimano Sienna reel, and 6lb Trilene XL). I know they weren't huge trout, but it was more than enough for me because I've only caught three trout in my life before yesterday. Even before yesterday, I've become a huge fan of the Joe's Flies. seems like anything will bite it. sorry, NO PICS because I didn't expect anything camera worthy. I know…no photos – didn't happen. I was just killing a Sunday afternoon and blowing off yard work for a day, and had a ton of fun doing it. I'm hoping to get out again this weekend, with the camera. Here's the pond:mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/habitat/maps/ponds/pdf/dfwpratt.pdfIf anyone has any other tips for trout, I'm all ears. thanks for reading.

Well for anyone that has all ready answered some of my previous questions about fishing (such as Grand master basser) all ready knows I have yet to cast a line (even though strangely enough I know alot about tackle fishing positions techniques ETC) I know nothing of setting up a line or the bait

I recently got a telescopic fishing set by Protocol (not really a fishing brand but everything looks pretty excellent) I was planning to use to go and fish for some bass. it came with 2 curly tail worm lures (soft baits) several barbed hooks a couple of red/white floats a handy plier tool ( Which is I believe is for removing the barbed hooks and has several over tools built in like a knife and 2 inch ruler) and of course a flexible and sensitive the rod measures 54" anyway I've set up the reel to the rod and am going to set up the line (the instructions aren't very through but I think I should be able handle it)

I'm guessing that I have to knot tie the hook to the line (which by the way I'm not sure what line strength it is) what line strength would a reel that says Line capacity #1-4 and gear ratio 170 the came wound with the reel and I'm going to set up the line to the rod anyway I cant figure out the capacity with that info anyway the things I need to know are

1 How to set up the hook and float

2 how to set up the lure (there doesn't seem to be a preset hole to place the hook through) do I have to puncture it myself? if so where in the lure would I have to. to be able to properly set it up

The manual doesn't seem to show how to do so… so it would be a excellent help here's the info on the back of the box if its any help And I quote

Protocols clever telescopic fishing set is the ultimate in fishing versatility. so compact it fits anywhere.and when extended , its a fantastic fully functional 5" rod with the flexibility and sensitivity anglers need. set comes complete with rod, pre spooled spinning reel, hooks, sinkers, accessories, stainless steel 14 function multi tool and zippered nylon carry case, get ready for big fish and big fun!

Graphite Body and spool , multi-disc drag system , Selective silent anti reverse , Precision die case gears , internal bail trip system , 3,4,1 gear ratio

Also I don't see a drag changer so where exactly would it be? all I see is a small flip switch on the bottom that looks like something you find on a flashlight and all I see it doing is when its back it lets the crank come off the reel so you can disassemble it and when its forward you can reel in and out (like its supposed to) so how would I change the drag or is that it and I did not assemble it correctly

Thanks

I thought I saw my name mentioned… what am I being accused of now?

For the first time fishing, I would use worms and not even try artificial bait. a bare hook with a piece of worm. you have two options. Fish the bottom or fish the top.

To fish the bottom, tie a hook on the end of the line, and a weight about 18" above the hook. Cast out and let settle to the bottom. Reel in line until you can feel the tension on the line and wait for a fish to pull on your hook.

To fish the top, tie a hook on the end of the line, and place one of the red and white floats about 18" above the hook Cast out and watch for the float to go down.

Just guessing that you have 6 or 8 pound line on your reel. on the front of your reel facing the tip of your rod is a knob. it may be star shaped with ridges sticking out in front of the spool of line. This is your drag. Set the small flip switch so the reel will not turn in reverse. now pull on the line as if you had a fish on. The line spool will rotate allowing the fish to run without breaking the line. Tighten the star nut until you get the most drag without breaking the line. you will have to do this multiple times to get it set.

The bass was so heavy my rubix cube fell off my desk and completed itself, neighbors called the police and they got arrested, my windows broke then remade themselves, my cat barked then got swallowed by my fish,? ?x?? ?? o? s??? p?p do?p ss?q ???, I have to change my pants, made —? people miss the like button, dad broke down the door and said TURN IT UP, it became my neighbors favorite song, my water turned into? wine when I clicked 720p, it went B0:00M, and I want M0:00R

DUBSTEP FTW

It is offensive to Jesus if you take drugs which you did..

Jesus will never get offended …he made you and he loves you ….he died for you ….he stands knocking …will you open your heart to Him ….then you can be where he is forever and ever

I just purchased a new Bass boat and want to upgrade the Fishfinder. I'm at a complete stalemate as to which one to purchase.Hummingbird – Lowrance.I like color,I like black and white. Confusing.I would like one with fish symbols and fish depth verification.Gps would be a plus,but not needed.on the gps models, do you always ave to have em split screen? Better to have a single beam or a tri-beam? Something simple to read without a sun glare would be brilliant.Just thought I would see what everyones take on em was.

It's all about your budget.do you want a Chevy Caviler or a Corvette ?

Check with Bassmasters and see what most of the pros use. I recently was at a gig Tourney with 150 Pros and saw huge screen down and side view machines they use the very best but they are pros and it does make a difference IF you learn how to read them. you might start out with a cheap one depth and contour of bottom is simple to see on cheapy models and if you fish shallow water be sure you have a shallow water wide reader in the water.

In my opinion, you don't need to spend more than 250 bucks on a depth finder. There are depth finders out there with all kinds of bells and whistles for 500 bucks and up, but I don't find all of those features necessary at all.

You just need a depth finder that clearly shows depth, cover, depths of fish, and water temp. you will find fish without issues with a simple unit like this. the most important thing is having a depth finder that shows good illustrations of cover, drop offs, and points. Knowing and positioning your boat in and around these areas will get fish in the boat.

As for GPS, yes, it's nice to have, but not a necessity. if you just tend to fish lakes that you know well, I wouldn't worry about GPS features. if you like to fish various lakes that you don't know a lot about, you may want to consider it. GPS features aren't just for knowing how to get back, but to also mark certain locations that hold fish. It's all up to you. you will pay quite a bit more for nice GPS features, though.

Both, Lowrance and Humminbird make good units. I personally have a Lowrance for the main unit on my boat and have a cheap Eagle unit mounted by the rear seat in the boat, but I haven't been too pleased with the Eagle. it has always worked when it wanted to.

What would you pay for this? serious answers please.

Nintendo Wii Console
2 Wiimotes
2 Nunchucks
2 Complete Wii-Silicone Grips (for Nunchuck and Wiimote)
5 games-Wii sports
Wii Zelda-Twighlight Princess
Wii Rampage
Wii Bass Tournament Fishing
Wii Ultimate Alliance
3 Gamecube Controllers
Gamecube-Zelda 4 Swords
Gamecube-Mario Cart Double Dash
Gamecube-Mario Smash Brothers
Gamecube-Open Season
Gamecube-Memory Card

Why the hell are you selling your wii? ITS FREAKING AWSOME AND IMPOSSIBLE TO GET YOUR HANDS ON!

I agree with the $530-$550 price tag but you could probably get a lot more if you sold the games separate from the unit. maybe just sell the unit with like one or two games and two controllers. that will obviously be more of a hassle but bulk lots tend to get less that smaller lots. Rather than ebay have you heard of "craigslist". Check it out. It's like online classifieds and its free to post.

$1000 – ?
if everything is in excellent condition

You can get some of the wii stuff for free here for filling out surveys, it's simple:

gaminglagoon.com/?ref=36683

I don’t know what to do anymore with my life and it seems so complicated, I want to know how can I get better. I’m a softmore in high school and the year is almost over, I have ADD, I am a perfectionist, I have an OCD for even numbers and evenness, I’m extremely terrible at spelling, I’m a wanna be overachiever, I apply myself everywhere, I hate being at home, I’m only 16, I hate having feelings and emotions, I’m stubborn, I hate people/humans, I hate the way the world works, I want to join the IB program next year, I have a full schedule in school, I’m a sole proprietor of my own small business, I work out right after school, and it takes me hours to do my homework. I’m in school from 5:50am to about 6:30pm or 7, I’m in the ROTC program, I’m in two teams the drill team and the academic team, I’m in 4 clubs including mock trial, cooking, Allen Texas, and Junior Statesmen of America. I wake up at 5 o’clock or earlier to do my homework, from 6 to 7 I’m in drill practice, and from 7:15 to 3pm I’m in regular school. I took the full schedule which means I take an extra class, after school I go to my clubs, after that I work out and come home at 6 or 7. I get home eat and before I know it I have to go to sleep without doing homework. I hate almost everything u can name, I have no time for girls anymore, I can’t find anyone like me out there in the world. I’m a wana be over achiever because even though I do all of this I still have terrible grades in school especially my honors chemistry class that I have failed once and almost failed another time. I try to be a leader in all of my clubs; I haven’t had much success in drill team. My grades in other classes aren’t as terrible but I’ve never achieved honor roll. I wanted to kill myself a while ago, and I still reckon that I can push myself further to do better, I was pushed as a kid to always achieve better in life then what my parents could, my parents only finished high school I don’t have money at all, my parents barely make any money and the only way I get money to do things is if I make my own money by selling products that I buy online. I'm Jewish about money and spend it very lightly because it’s hard to come by money these days. I don’t know what to do because I don’t want to drop anything that I’m in because if I drop a class it shows on ur high school record, I want to be in my clubs to show colleges that I’m not a person that just goes home and does nothing all day. I like being away from home and I hate my house I’m general, just the atmosphere is the thing that I will always hate. I like music and I like being that person that always finds a way to beat the system. I always have a to do list and I have a lot of philosophies about things in life, theories too about things like time travel light speed parallel universes just to name a few. I go to church every Sunday and alter serve for an hour. I hate stupid people, im a complete asshole and not many people like me, it takes them a while until they get to know me better and then they like me. I'm the manager of my paintball team and the supplier of equipment. this life is just the worst you could have imagined, I don’t want anything to do with this horrid planet and I hope we all die soon because the stuff that we have done is intolerable. I find many classes such as anything to do with math extremely simplistic and I have no motivation to follow along with my geometry class at all, too simple. I'm not like anyone I’ve ever seen I have constant mood swings all of the time and I'm always a smart *** when it comes to proving something. I want to learn to do many things like fishing, playing guitar, skydive, fly a plane, build a computer, work with gears, learn all of the working parts of a bb gun and paintball gun, drive a car, play drums and bass, sing well, do homework in less than 4 hours, make my own circuit board just to name a few. Life is so complex I don’t know where to start, there is a excellent 3 pages of things for me to do/accomplish/end and on top of that I have to do excellent in school. I hate the cruel corrupted world that we are living in right now, and the truth is even though this is a very personal and deep weep for help I no deep down inside that there really isn’t anyone out there in the world that can help me I just feel helpless and lost, the only reason why im doing this is so that I can see what other people reckon of me and to take a step back to see wat my life has turned into. The truth is life is a ***** and I want to be ready for it when it comes hitting me like a train, I don’t want to end up like my parents and I don’t want to have kids either, my life isn’t the worst and to tell you the truth I pray to god to the people that have it worse than me because there are more then a hand full of people that have it worse. Hopefully someone will find me and at least give me some sort of advice besides the obvious "dude just drop the clubs" no one knows th

first of all calm down.
focus on your priorities and remember that you are young and you have lost of time ahead of you to accomplish your goals. calm down, stop over thinking everything and just take life one step at a time.

I'm going to join death with you.

You need to get laid.

It's sophomore, fyi

First of all, if you seek an psychologist, he can help you over your OCD, and trust me i KNOW it's hard to face your fears.. you probably have some friends you like, and you like then because they are like they are, and it affects you.. the point is: there is not much you can do yourself but people around you can help you to change your ways and make you a new person.

I reckon your trying to hold something back dude, im the opposite of you. While you include yourself in every possible thing, i seclude myself staying away from anything. But im getting better now that i have a girlfriend

A number of fishermen are concerned that the algae blooms are having an impact on the bass fishing at Clear Lake. the algae has now spread from the south end to the north end of the lake and most of the anglers say it has had a certain impact on the fishing.

The type of algae that is most common is the Lyngbya. That’s the algae that is long, stringy and yellow in color. the problem is this algae is now attaching itself to the floating weeds and making large mats. the algae is also suspended from the surface to the bottom.

For example in North Lakeport the algae is so thick that many boaters are worried to launch their boats. Several boaters have said the algae has been clogging up the water intakes on their engines.

Overall the bass fishing is only rated as fair, with most of the fishermen pleased to catch and release 5-6 fish per day.

WON BASS held a team tournament on Sunday that drew 10 boats and only five weighed in limits. the winning team was Kevin Hall, of Middletown, and Jimmy Ghiroso, of Hidden Valley Lake, with 20.07 pounds. the best action has been the first hour after daylight and the last hour before dark. These have been the times when the bass have been actively feeding. Jigs and shallow running crankbaits have been the top lures.

What is surprising is the lack of a frog bite this summer. in past years, the weed mats would attract the bass and fishermen would have explosive fishing by casting a plastic frog to the mats, but not this year. for some reason the bass just aren’t concentrating under the mats.

I’m also convinced that the adult bass population is down considerably. most of the experienced fishermen agree. This, and the thick algae, has been reflected in the fewer number of fishermen on the lake. normally the parking lots at the launch ramps should have at least 20 boat trailers parked in them, but this summer the lots are virtually vacant.

Part of the lack of fishermen can be blamed on the economy but a lot has to do with the poor fishing and the condition of the lake.

Whereas the bass fishing is only rated fair, the catfish action has been rated as excellent; the only problem has been a lack of fishermen.

The Indian Beach Resort continues to provide very excellent catfish action for its guests. a few catfish are also being caught near Rattlesnake Island, Konocti Bay and in Horseshoe Bend. the successful fishermen are drifting cut bait or using either live crawdads or nightcrawlers.

A catfish derby is scheduled for Sept. 2-4 out of the Lakeport Yacht Club. the derby is sponsored by the Lakeport Yacht Club and the Lakeport Volunteer fire Department. the entry fee is $50 for adults and $10 for children. Entry forms can be obtained at all the local tackle shops or by calling 279-1974.

The grebe population is starting to increase, which indicates that small bait fish are starting to appear. the small fish are the primary food for the grebes and excellent numbers of grebes are being seen between Lakeport and the state park. there have been only few baby grebes seen to date.

Trout action at Upper Blue Lake is poor to fair for those that are using downriggers to get their lures down to 30 feet. the Department of Fish and Game hasn’t stocked the lake for several weeks. Bass fishing remains very excellent with jigs or plastic worms the top lures.

Indian Valley Reservoir is still providing very excellent bass action. One fisherman visited the lake earlier this week and reported catching 15 bass by walking the shoreline near the dam and casting jigs and spinnerbaits. he said that he caught both largemouth and smallmouth bass. the catfish have also been biting as well as a few crappie.