Basslog

The Basslog, (formerly called BASSlog on Bassmaster's site) is a FREE site that allows any registered user to post his bass and all log all the conditions related to the catch in to a database. This database allows registered users to discover the best baits, cover, structure, etc. for each period of the day based on actual fish that were caught by members.

As a featured writer on Bassmaster's website, Richie White was making blog articles derived from information in the Basslog database. Below are the articles.

To see the current Basslog, go to www.basslogonline.com.

Top 25 Springtime Baits
April 22, 2009
Here in Texas, we've had cold front after cold front and our water temps aren't much warmer now than they were over a month ago. The first two months of April were colder than the first two weeks of March. That should change very soon as we will probably jump from winter to summer.

Our water temps are still in the low 60s in the morning, but should reach 70 degrees in a couple of weeks. Be sure to check back in May for postspawn topwater techniques (water temps in the 70s). For this article, I have created four different queries against the Insider Basslog. Of the four queries, I have searched the database for the Top 25 baits for water temps in the 61- to 65-degree range and the 66- to 70-degree range, both by numbers and by average weight.

	INSIDER BASSlog
	The Insider BASSlog is an exclusive online bass fishing diary and resource for planning fishing trips. Click here to get started.

To make the queries more useful for this time of the year, I filtered out some of the recorded fish. With over 2,300 registered users, my posts should be negligible. However, I took out all of my own posts because almost every fish I catch this time of the year is caught by sight fishing. Since I'm able to choose which fish I fish for, the average fish I catch this time of the year is over 5 pounds. So, it's possible that my stats could skew the overall stats. Keep in mind that other users are also recording fish that were caught while sight fishing. The reason I bring this up is that the best sight fishing lures may not be the best choices for throwing blindly. For instance, notice in the stats below that with water temps from 61 to 65, a Texas rigged baby craw has an average weight of almost 5 pounds. I'm certain that a large portion of those fish were caught on the beds. FYI: I catch most of my fish on tubes and lizards while sight fishing.

I also filtered out the posts from the latter half of the year, so we're not mixing up fall patterns with spring patterns. Additionally, I didn't include posts from users that recorded suspiciously high numbers of fish during short time periods. Finally, for the average weight queries, I only included lures that had at least 10 fish recorded. I didn't want a lure to show up at the top of the stats because the average weight was high, but only a few fish were caught on that lure.

The charts should be self-explanatory, so I'll conclude this section with the charts. Be sure and record your fish so that the Insider Basslog stats can be even more accurate. The more fish that are entered, the more helpful it will be for all of us.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

For Numbers soft stickworm - weightless crankbait - shallow diving Texas rig - medium lizard jig - rubber skirt body lipless crankbait - 1/2 oz crankbait - medium diving spinnerbait - willow/Colorado blades soft jerkbait - medium spinnerbait - double willowleaf blades Texas rig - small craw worm jig - unskirted w/worm body Texas rig - medium straight tail worm Texas rig - small creature bait weightless non-floating worm Texas rig - large lizard Carolina rig - straight tail worm hard jerkbait - plastic suspending wacky rig - soft stickworm Texas rig - medium curly tail worm crankbait - deep diving Texas rig - long curly tail worm drop shot rig - finesse worm swim bait - shad imitation wacky rig - plastic worm Texas rig - small finesse worm

For Size Texas rig - small craw worm Texas rig - large lizard spinnerbait - willow/Colorado blades jig - rubber skirt body Texas rig - small creature bait Texas rig - long curly tail worm spinnerbait - double willowleaf blades soft jerkbait - medium Texas rig - medium curly tail worm Texas rig - medium lizard lipless crankbait - 1/2 ounce drop shot rig - finesse worm Texas rig - medium creature bait crankbait - deep diving soft stickworm - weightless crankbait - shallow diving Texas rig - large creature bait creature - weightless swimbait - shad imitation crankbait - medium diving jig - unskirted w/worm body hard jerkbait - plastic suspending Carolina rig - straight tail worm Texas rig - medium straight tail worm wacky rig - plastic worm

Average Weight 4.83333333 4.66666667 3.58333333 3.31756757 3.21428571 3.20833333 3.16 3.04761905 3.025 3.01724138 3 2.7 2.6 2.525 2.49264706 2.4609375 2.35 2.3 2.25 2.16666667 1.925 1.91666667 1.91666667 1.825 1.8125

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

For Numbers soft stickworm - weightless Texas rig - medium straight tail worm crankbait - shallow diving Texas rig - medium lizard Texas rig - long curly tail worm soft jerkbait - medium topwater - weedless plastic frog jig - rubber skirt body Texas rig - medium creature bait weightless non-floating worm wacky rig - soft stickworm crankbait - medium diving spinnerbait - double willowleaf blades spinnerbait - single Colorado blade lipless crankbait - 1/2 ounce swimming blade jig - medium Texas rig - medium curly tail worm topwater - weedless topwater frog/rat Texas rig - medium flip tail worm topwater - medium popper spinnerbait - willow/Colorado blades topwater - small popper Texas rig - small finesse worm Texas rig - small creature bait Carolina rig - straight tail worm

For Size topwater - weedless topwater frog/rat topwater - weedless plastic frog Texas rig - medium curly tail worm jig - rubber skirt body Texas rig - medium flip tail worm Texas rig - medium straight tail worm lipless crankbait - 1/2 ounce Texas rig - small creature bait swimming blade jig - medium crankbait - deep diving Carolina rig - small ring fry Texas rig - medium lizard spinnerbait - double willowleaf blades Texas rig - craw tube Texas rig - medium creature bait Texas rig - long curly tail worm topwater - medium popper crankbait - medium diving soft jerkbait - medium lipless crankbait - 5/8 ounce crankbait - shallow diving Carolina rig - straight tail worm spinnerbait - single Colorado blade wacky rig - soft stickworm topwater - small popper

Average Weight 3.35714 3.27083 3.25 3.23529 3.16667 3.1375 3.08333 3 3 3 2.83333 2.72368 2.71429 2.7 2.66667 2.65625 2.6 2.55 2.51667 2.5 2.34524 2.33333 2.3 2.25 2.15

Spinnerbait Stats According to the BASSlog
March 25, 2009
The Insider BASSlog is a database where fishermen can post the conditions of their catch online. Once the conditions (date, lure, time period, structure, cover, etc.) are recorded, it will return useful patterns from the collaboration of users. At the time of this writing, there are already over 2,300 registered users even though it is still in its infancy. With that many users recording their fish, the result set is quite unbiased. The BASSlog tracks every type of artificial lure, all of which are worthy of their own article. This article is about spinnerbaits, which make up about 15% of the fish that were logged.

The overwhelming majority of fish caught on spinnerbaits were caught in the fall and spring. More fish were caught in fall than spring, yet the average size was much bigger in the spring. Spinnerbait fish were caught in water temps ranging from almost freezing to 100 degrees. Surprisingly, there wasn't any sort of magical temperature. There were good numbers of fish caught in every 5-degree increment from 50 degrees to 90 degrees.

Most of the fish were caught shallow. A few fish were caught on spinnerbaits over 30 feet deep, but two-thirds were caught in 5 feet or less and almost every fish was caught less than 10 feet deep. As for cover, spinnerbait fish were logged in 17 different types of cover. About two-thirds were caught around some type of vegetation (weeds, lily pads, cattails). Twenty-five percent were caught around some type of wood and about 10% were recorded being caught around rocks or cement (boulders, gravel, riprap, concrete ramps, etc.).

The time of day didn't seem to be a factor for catching fish on spinnerbaits. Large numbers were recorded at all times of the day. Not surprisingly, the lowest numbers were recorded during the dark periods. But even so there about 10% were recorded between dark and sunup. Similarly, wind direction didn't seem to be a factor either. South wind had the most fish recorded, but I believe that to be the prevailing winds where the majority of time was spent on the water.

	INSIDER BASSlog
	The Insider BASSlog is an exclusive online bass fishing diary and resource for planning fishing trips. Click here to get started.

I know firsthand that spinnerbaits are great baits for fishing windy conditions. Ironically, the stronger the wind, the less fish were recorded. I'm quite certain that is due primarily to the fact that most fishermen don't go fishing when it is windy. However, based on these findings, you should be able to fish spinnerbaits in calm water with confidence. Water clarity did seem to be a factor for spinnerbaits. Somewhere around 3-foot visibility appeared to be the ideal water clarity according to the BASSlog. Stained water (2- to 3-foot visibility) had the most fish recorded; with semi-clear (3- to 5-foot visibility) a very close runner-up. Not many fish were recorded in muddy water. However, spinnerbaits caught considerably more fish in muddy water than ultra-clear water.

Double willow spinnerbaits took about 35% of the fish, while willow/Colorado blades took about 25% of the fish. Single Colorado blades came in third with about 15%. Colorado/Indiana blades took about 10% of the fish. Best skirt colors were (in this order) chartreuse/white, white, chartreuse, black/blue, white/black, white/chartreuse, black, and green/orange.

In summary, spinnerbaits catch fish during any season at any time of day. They work best during the fall and spring. The best water is shallow with 2- to 4-foot visibility and some type of vegetation, wood, or rock. Best blade types are double willow, willow/Colorado, and single Colorado blades. Best skirt colors are white, chartreuse, and combinations of the two.

For more details, consult the Fisherman's Log. There, you can learn which combinations to use under each condition. Additionally, the BASSlog is full of information that I didn't cover such as spinnerbait size, blade colors, trailer type, demographics, and sky conditions. As I mentioned earlier, it holds an exhaustive list of most every type of lure you can catch a bass on — and spinnerbaits are only a small portion of the list. Best of all, you can use the BASSlog to record your fish and you can learn from your own success as well as from other Insider members. The sooner you start, the more useful it will be. Even if you only catch a handful of fish per year, you can establish your own patterns over time. It is a proven fact that bass are pattern-oriented. Learn the patterns and catch more fish!

I fish 200+ days per year as a fishing guide on one of the best lakes in the country (Lake Fork). How I wish I had such a tool 20 years ago. I discovered how to find patterns by spending countless hours reading articles from biased authors and spending tons of hours on the lake. At last, we can all learn from our own trials as well as from the collection of over 2,300 fishermen. I urge you to take advantage of the BASSlog and bass fishing articles at BASSInsider.com.

Cold Water Tactics, Part 4
March 9, 2009 Here in Texas, we are already way past the 50-degree mark. However, in some Northern waters, temperatures are still cold.

In my previous articles on cold water tactics, I mentioned that the top producing lures were skirted jigs, medium running crankbaits and lipless crankbaits. Those were the top baits in lakes with water temperatures below 50 degrees.

The only bait that rivals those baits is a plastic suspended jerkbait. Redfin and rogues are examples of suspending jerkbaits. They are long and slender and have a small shallow diving bill on front and usually have 2 or 3 treble hooks. I highly recommend fishing them in cold water if you are by yourself or with one partner. They aren't very convenient for me as a guide, because you really need to slow the boat down and have everyone fishing the same speed. I'm usually fishing lipless crankbaits in the winter and it can be a real mess to add three more rods with treble hooked lures to the deck.

My recommendation is to use the faster moving baits to find the fish, then patiently work the productive areas with the jerkbaits. Most guides and pros recommend working them very slow in the winter. Most inexperienced fishermen work them way too fast, so try to fish them as slow as possible.

More fish are recorded for the jerkbait in water under 50 degrees than almost all warmer temperatures combined. April is the month with the most fish recorded on hard jerkbaits in cold water. The next best months are March, January, and February (in that order). Obviously, those April fish weren't caught in Texas because the water temps rarely dip below 60 in April. That appears to be a popular bait in the Northern states.

Clear to semi-stained water is the best for the hard jerkbaits. Very few fish are recorded in muddy or stained water. So visibility better than 3 feet is best. The best depth by far is 6 to 10 feet. In fact, more fish are recorded in that depth than all other depths combined. The best structure for these baits are (in order) main lake points, creek channels, secondary points, dropoffs, and boat docks. The best cover for the hard jerkbaits is clean bottoms with very little cover, followed by various forms of rocks, submerged vegetation, and trees. Nine o'clock a.m. to noon is the best time period. First light to sunup is next, followed by the sunup to 9 a.m. period, then 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Virtually no fish were recorded near or after dark.

Those four top baits (jig, medium crankbait, lipless crankbait, hard jerkbait) should help equip you with a good wintertime arsenal. There's still a lot of information to share about cold water tactics. However, here in Texas we already have water temps in the 60s. So, we'll wrap up this series on cold water tactics. Check back soon for Insider tips for fishing warming water.

Cold Water Tactics, Part 3
February 12, 2009 In Parts 1 and 2 of Cold Water Tactics, I mentioned the skirted jig and the medium running crankbaits as the top producers in the wintertime. Part 3 is about lipless crankbaits, which happens to be hands-down my favorite bait in the winter. As a guide on perhaps the best big bass lake in the country, I've caught giants on quite a variety of baits. But I get more fish on the lipless crankbait than all other baits combined in the winter. I was very reluctant to get on the lipless crankbait bandwagon. But once I started catching giant fish on them, I was hooked.

I've been fishing the lipless crankbaits year-round since I was a kid and I've caught thousands of small fish on them. So, I always thought of them as a numbers bait. But something about fishing them in the winter brings out the big fish bite. I've boated several fish over 10 pounds on them in the colder months. In fact, we caught a 10-pounder on one just last Friday. See the mouth on this fish below. She was only 23 inches and weighed 10 pounds. What a toad!

The wind was blowing 30+ mph and we caught her right next to the ramp where we put in. She bit a 3/4-ounce Xcalibur crankbait in the Rayburn red color. That color and pattern resembles an orange crawfish. Almost every lipless crankbait I use this time of year has either red or orange in it. Sometimes they like a little chartreuse on them. There are many manufacturers that make good lipless crankbaits. The main thing is to have some red or orange on it and replace the hooks if it doesn't come with quality hooks. If you look at the back of that fish's mouth, you can see a dark red spot. The fish uses that part of her mouth to chew crawfish. Since crawfish are a favorite food source for bass, I believe that's what they think they are eating when they grab an orange/red lipless crankbait.

I believe it is very important to have the right setup for fishing lipless crankbaits. Distance is more important than accuracy this time of the year, so you want a combination that will launch your bait a long way. I use all 7' Kistler Helium rods for these baits. Kistler rods are made here in Texas, but they are available everywhere. The Kistler Helium rods are very light and will load up good to help launch the lures. It's very important to use a rod that isn't too stiff or you will lose a lot of fish after they're hooked. The pros use the terminology "pulling away" when this happens. It's hard to understand how it happens, but you hook a fish with treble hooks on a stiff rod and a few seconds later you're bringing your bait back to the boat without a fish. This rarely happens when you use a rod with some play in it. I use 7' medium rods for the lighter lures and 7' medium heavy for 1/2- to 3/4-ounce lures. Kistler rods aren't as stiff as many other rods that are labeled medium heavy, so keep that in mind in your rod selection.

The rule of thumb is to use stiffer rods when fishing a lure with a single hook and use more limber rods with treble hooks. I've used several medium heavy rods from other manufacturers that are too stiff for using with treble hooks. So your medium action rods may be more like the action of my medium heavy rods. If you're losing fish underwater, try a lighter action rod.

As for reels, I use Citica reels by Shimano and Revo reels by Ambassadeur. Both will throw a mile when they're set right. Lipless crankbaits throw better than almost any other lure, so any reel will throw fine. But you may be missing out on a lot of fish if a better quality reel would get you another 10 to 20 feet. As for line, I've been using Berkley Big Game for about 20 years. It is very strong and inexpensive. This time of the year, you don't get very many break offs, so you can get away with lighter line than any other time of the year. I use 15-pound Big Game almost exclusively this time of the year. I believe I could probably get away with 12-pound test, but I use expensive lures and I get a lot of backlashing amateurs in my boat, so I opt for the 15-pound line. Big Game has a bigger diameter than other lines of the same test, so 15-pound test is probably equivalent to 17-pound test of other brands. A lot of pros and guides like braided line for this type of fishing . I personally don't use braid much unless I'm using a spinning reel. But if you do fish braid, you should be even more careful not to fish with a rod that's too stiff.

So be sure to have a lipless crankbait with some red or orange in it, a good casting reel, a long rod that has some flex, and the right line for long casts. I'll get more into the details of how and when to fish the lipless crankbait in Part 4 of Cold Water tactics, so check back often.

Cold Water Tactics, Part 2
January 30, 2009

Wintertime is such a great time to catch a giant bass. Last week, I fished on the coldest day of the year (22 degrees in Texas), and we boated a 10-pounder. Our rods were freezing until after lunch. See the last picture on the bottom row at this this link.

In the last article, I mentioned that the skirted jig had the most fish recorded in the Insider BASSlog for water temps below 50 degrees. The second best bait is a medium diving crankbait. Interestingly, before looking at these statistics, it wasn't a big part of my wintertime arsenal. But there are more fish recorded on the medium diving crankbait than a 1/2-ounce, 5/8-ounce, or 3/4-ounce lipless crankbait (my top number baits in the winter). Before getting into the details of the medium diving crankbait, let me explain why I don't use them as much as I would recommend the casual angler or even a serious tournament angler.

As a guide, I normally have 3 people in the boat. I like to be able to get in the stumps daily, so my style of fishing is very abusive to my boat. Because of this, I use the smallest aluminum boat that I can comfortably fish 3 people, so rod space is somewhat limited. I will usually have 3 different size lipless crankbaits (1 for each angler) and probably a couple of spinnerbait rods, a jig rod, and a couple of other rods that are easily accessible. Lake Fork is a trophy lake, so the bites are usually few and far between in the winter. I usually fish the same (or similar) baits as my clients, so I can help build confidence in the baits they are throwing. More often than not, at least one of them is an amateur, so they need all the help they can get.

Lipless crankbaits (which I will mention next time) are not only my confidence baits in the winter, but they are great search baits for finding the grass, which is where I catch the majority of fish. So, I really don't have room for other treble hook lures on deck. However, if I was fishing by myself or in a tournament, I would definitely have a medium crankbait tied on in the winter. So, be sure to include the medium crankbait in your arsenal. I will certainly fish it more after seeing the stats.

The Top 10 colors of medium crankbaits in the winter are:

1) gray/white
2) shad
3) firetiger
4) root beer
5) brown
6) blue/chartreuse
7) crawfish red
8) chartreuse shad
9) brown/orange
10) baby bass.

Water clarity of 1 to 2-foot visibility has the most fish recorded, followed by 2 to 3 feet, then 3 to 5 feet. So, it appears that medium crankbaits actually work better when the water isn't clear, as long as it has at least a foot of visibility.

The best cover for medium crankbaits, just like the skirted jig, is some type of rock, boulder, or gravel. So be sure to fish around boat ramps and bridges. They will always have some type of cement or rock. The next best cover is laydown trees, followed by submerged vegetation, then trees mixed with vegetation. The square bill crankbait deflects off wood cover, so keep that in mind if you are fishing laydown trees. My experience has always been some type of vegetation as the top cover. But then again I am in Texas where we can find green grass even in the winter.

The best depth for medium cranks is 6 to 10 feet, but anywhere close to that range is a good water depth. There's a lot of fish recorded less than 5 feet and several over 20 feet during the winter. The good news is that the best time to fish them is also the most comfortable time. Noon to 3 p.m. is best, followed by 9 a.m. to Noon, sunup to 9 a.m., then 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Obviously, there aren't many people fishing crankbaits after dark this time of the year. But I caught fish after dark just last week, so never rule out night fishing.

That should be the most important information you need to help you catch your winter fish on medium crankbaits. Check back often and look for Part 3 of Cold Water Tactics.

Cold Water Tactics, Part 1
January 6, 2009

Now is the perfect time for an article about fishing cold water. Here in Texas, we are always using cold-water tactics on Lake Fork in January. We see 50-plus degree water temperatures on Lake Fork, but this article will focus on lakes with temperatures below 50 degrees. Most lakes in the United States are below 50 degrees and some are even frozen right now.

I did a custom search on the Insider BASSlog (which is available to all BASS Insiders). I chose "water temp 50 degrees or less" as the only search criteria. When I got the results, I was quite surprised to find that the skirted jig was the top bait for numbers. That's definitely not what I would expect. I put skirted jigs at the top of the list for a giant bass, but not for numbers. In fact, I'm quite positive that the skirted jig is not the best bait for numbers in our area.

Since I rarely fish outside of Texas, I'm not sure why the skirted jig is the top bait in the country for numbers in cold water. On Lake Fork, the red or orange lipless crankbait is without question the top winter bait. I think any of these three things could be the reason:

(1) Only die-hard anglers will be bass fishing in January, and since cold water fishing isn't known for numbers, anglers are in search of that giant bass. After all, January is known for big fish. Our state record bass was caught in January on Lake Fork.

(2) Another reason for the jig being the top numbers bait could be simply that the jig is the most productive bait for numbers across the country. Unlike here in Texas, it could be that fish in other lakes don't respond to the red and orange color because of the forage they are accustomed to eating.

(3) The other reason could be that the red Rat-L-Trap bandwagon hasn't caught on in the rest of the country.

Could it be that the best baits for numbers aren't getting fished in the Northern states? The BASSlog only tracks information on fish that were actually caught on certain lures. Since it doesn't account for how much time the anglers fish each bait, it can't answer those types of questions.

	INSIDER BASSlog
	The Insider BASSlog is an exclusive online bass fishing diary and resource for planning fishing trips. Click here to get started.

I tend to lean toward Lake Fork being one of a kind, so what works there doesn't necessarily work on other lakes. That's been my experience even with lakes within a few miles of Fork. So, the red lipless cranks probably aren't as effective across the country.

The best colors for skirted jigs in January are green pumpkin, black/blue and brown (in that order). The best cover for the jig is some type of rock, like boulders, gravel or rockpiles.

This may be why jigs aren't such great number baits on Lake Fork. It has most every type of cover you can think of, but is very limited on rocks. The best structure is near a creek channel or some type of dropoff. So you should always look for deep water that comes close to shallow water. The best depth is 6 to 10 feet, with 0 to 5 feet running a close second. The best time for the jig is 9 a.m. to Noon and the best water color is stained (1- to 2-foot visibility), with 3 to 5 feet of visibility coming in second.

Check back often and look for Part 2 of Cold Water Tactics.

December Fishing
December 10, 2008

December is easily one of the least fished months of the year for bass fisherman. Most people have other things on their minds. There are the holidays, shopping, traveling, hunting and the end of the fall frenzy taking much of the blame. On Lake Fork, you will find more duck hunters and crappie fisherman than you will bass fishermen in December, despite the fact that Fork is one of the best trophy bass lakes in the country.

I'm guilty of getting sidetracked myself. I don't get a lot of guide trips booked this time of the year, so I spend more days at home than I do on the water. This is the time of the year when I hit the tackle shops, work on my boat, clean my reels and do some the computer work that I've been putting off. But it doesn't mean there isn't good fishing in December.

A couple of years ago we had a warming trend on Lake Fork, and I had a day when we caught 109 bass. This was a very unusual circumstance when the water temps got back up in the 60s, but it goes to show that you can catch good numbers even in December.

For us here in Texas, we have quite a few options. We can fish the colder water lakes (like Lake Fork) or we can fish the power plant lakes, which range from 60 degrees to over 100 degrees in the middle of winter. Because the power plants generate more electricity when it's colder, they're sometimes warmer in the winter than they are in other seasons. I plan to say more about power plant fishing in future articles, but for now I just want to mention how you can find out what baits and locations to use on your favorite lake.

If you go to the Insider BASSlog and click on the "custom search" option, you can query the database yourself and determine how you should fish. The more information you know, the more accurate your search will be. For instance, you know the month (December), so click on month and choose December. If that's all you want to search, choose "that's enough criteria" and click "go," and it will search the entire database for everything recorded for December. Then, it will return 1 of 4 different queries — game plan, top locations, top lures and specific top lures.

For this particular search, the game plan query returns the following:

Time of day 1st light to sunup sunup to 9:00AM 9:01AM - 12:00PM 12:01PM - 3:00PM 3:01PM - 5:00PM 5:01PM to dark midnight to 1st light

Lure chrome/blue 1/4-oz lipless crankbait solid color blue fleck Texas rig curly tail worm 3/16-oz lead bullet weight black/blue Texas rig curly tail worm 1/8-oz screw in weight watermelon/red flake Texas rig small finesse worm 1/8-oz lead bullet weight chrome/blue 1/2-oz lipless crankbait solid color red lipless crankbait under 1/4-oz solid color white/chartreuse shallow diving crankbait small rounded bill

Structure 6- to 10-ft creek channel with vegetation & trees 0 to 5-ft shallow flats with trees 0 to 5-ft shallow flats with matted vegetation 11- to 15-ft bridge with cement 6- to 10-ft creek channel with vegetation & trees 6- to 10-ft shallow flats with submerged vegetation 11- to 15-ft boat docks with no obvious cover

1) lipless crankbait
2) Texas rig worm
3) crankbait
4) C-rig worm
5) skirted jig
6) drop shot
7) jig/worm
8) soft jerkbait
9) weightless sinking worm
10) spinnerbait

I encourage you to search the Insider BASSlog for yourself and learn as much as you can. We especially encourage you to record every bass you catch, whether you catch it in a lake, pond, creek, river, etc. It will especially benefit you in the future if you record your fish as soon as you get home from your outing. You will be surprised just how many details we forget over time. The more fish get logged, the more accurate it will become and the more fish you will catch.

Jigging Spoons
November 6, 2008

From the end of September through most of November, I catch more fish on spoons than any other lure. Fall is my most consistent time to fish deep water, and heavy spoons get to the bottom quickly and find out what is down there. The nice thing about spoons is that virtually any species of fish will bite them. So, if you are seeing fish on your graph and can't tell what species they are, you can drop a spoon down and find out. I've caught largemouth bass, white bass, yellow bass, carp, gar, crappie, bluegill, bowfin, and probably other species that don't come to mind on them. They usually bite them quickly, so I often get bit on the very first drop with spoons.

If you aren't familiar with the spoons I am speaking of, they are normally heavy and shaped like one end of a spoon. Some resemble the first inch or two of the handle of a spoon, while some are more like the scoop of the spoon. Others are somewhere in between. Most are made out of lead, but I have also done well on spoons made of chrome and stainless steel. They primarily resemble shad, but some manufacturers design them to resemble gamefish.

I know firsthand that spoons are very effective on Lake Fork. But when I look at the Insider BASSlog database, I see that spoons are not fished much in other lakes. I don't know if that is because they aren't effective or they just don't get used. They are definitely no secret on Lake Fork. Most of the guides fish them and many of the touring pros fish them when they come to Lake Fork.

The reason they are so effective on Lake Fork is that there are plenty of shad, which they are designed to resemble. Also, Lake Fork has tons of roadbeds and humps that don't have too much cover to fish them. Most spoons have exposed treble hooks, so they tend to hang anything that comes in their path. Spoons aren't very good baits to fish in heavy cover. On a positive note, they are very easy to unhang, assuming you don't dig the hooks in too far or catch braided line or anchor rope.

My expertise is on Lake Fork and the surrounding lakes, so I seldom fish other lakes. However, I would certainly fish jigging spoons on any lake that has humps that are at least 15 feet deep on top and have at least 30 feet of water around them, assuming I find fish on my graph. The best case scenario for spoons is when the fish are at the top of the hump. This often means that the bass have the bait surrounded and they will use the top of the hump as an ambush point. Sometimes the fish will bite spoons on the slope, and occasionally they will bite at the bottom of the hump, but the top of the hump will usually have more active fish if they are present.

According to the BASSlog, the best colors are pearl, white or silver (best resembling shad). The best time to use them is mid-day. Below is a graph that shows most fish being caught around noon to 5 p.m.

I was a bit surprised to see such an overwhelming majority during that time. I will often get into the best action just after sunup or just before sundown. So don't rule out the early and late periods of the day for using spoons.

The BASSlog shows fish recorded on spoons for every month of the year. The best months are the fall months (September, October and November). The worst months (months with the least amount of posts) were the spring months. This is not surprising since most people are in the coves fishing shallow water. The best depth recorded is 21 to 25 feet, but there were almost as many fish recorded over 30 feet deep. The best structure is some type of hump, point, or roadbed with very little cover. As for spoon size, I was surprised to see that spoons over 1 ounce had the overwhelming majority of fish recorded. I catch a ton on 1/2-ounce spoons, so I expected it to have the most posts.

The best time for spoons is right now here in Texas. During my last two trips, we caught largemouth bass over 7 pounds on spoons. If you are in the Northern states, that pattern may be coming to an end. Once the water temps dip below 60 degrees, the fish won't be near as active. I will often find fish on the graph, drop a spoon down, and not get bit. If that happens, you have to really slow down or switch to a different pattern. That can be frustrating when you were doing so well just a few days before.

Get out and fish a spoon before it gets too cold. Good luck!

October Fishing
October 14, 2008

The two words that sum up October fishing are "numbers" and "variety." According to the posts in the BASSlog, October ranks as the best month of the year for numbers. Without doubt, October is my best month for numbers as well as variety. It is also my best month for fishing in deep water. But if I don't graph what I'm looking for deep, I can usually go to the back of a cove and catch good numbers.

If you haven't experienced the fall frenzy, you should do some fishing in October. Looking at stats from the Insider BASSlog, the most fish are recorded with water temps in the low 70s. Second best in October is the upper 60s. Here in Texas we normally get down to those ranges by about the middle of October. This year looks to be the same, so we still have the best action of the year in front of us.

Those in the northern states should be experiencing the best action of the year already. Once the water temps get down to 60, the activity will slow down considerably and it will be time to focus on quality fish rather than numbers. In Texas that usually happens around Thanksgiving, so we still have a solid month of good fishing.

October is a time when you can't rule out any baits. You can fish your favorite baits with confidence because bass will be scattered all over the lakes. On Lake Fork, they will be feeding primarily on shad, so baits that imitate shad get a lot of my time. If you haven't had good luck reading your fishfinder, this is the best time to learn it. The fish will be schooling all over the lake, but often they don't break the surface so you will never know it unless you find them on your graph.

When the water is hot, the lake gets stratified which makes most of the fish suspend and hard to catch. Once it gets down to 60 degrees and below, the fish may group together near the bottom, but their activity level is so low that you can hit them on the head without any action. But in the fall you can find groups of bass schooling near the bottom that will bite whatever you have to offer.

The Insider BASSlog shows the best October baits to be Carolina rigs and crankbaits followed by Texas rigged worms, topwaters and spoons. My personal best baits are Carolina rigs and spoons in deep water and lipless crankbaits in shallow water. Look for my future articles on deep water fishing with Carolina rigs. Right now, with water temps still in the upper 70s on Lake Fork, I'm boating more fish on lipless crankbaits than any other bait. So I will devote the rest of this article to lipless crankbaits.

Over the weekend, I fished in the 3rd annual Berkley tournament. As in most tournaments on Lake Fork, it was a big fish tournament as opposed to a stringer tournament (like the pros fish). The payouts are hourly, so we had to weigh every fish at different hours. We caught a lot of fish. In fact, if it was a stringer tournament, we would have been culling within the first couple of hours. Unfortunately, it wasn't a stringer tournament, so we were looking for the perfect size fish. On Lake Fork, there is a slot from 16 to 24 inches so we were looking for 15-16 inch bass or bass over 24 inches.

We chose to target the smaller fish, so we were looking for a 3-pound bass under 16 inches. Between my partner and I, we had 12 or 13 rods on deck, all rigged with Berkley baits. We caught fish on just about every bait we threw, but all of the fish we brought to the scales were caught on lipless crankbaits. These baits are hard to beat for good numbers of smaller fish. They also produce quality fish, but I think of them as number baits this time of the year.

The best colors recorded in the BASSlog are chrome/blue or chrome/black, so we threw 1/2 ounce and 1/4 ounce Frenzy lipless crankbaits in the closest matching colors. I don't believe Berkley makes a shiny chrome color, which is my preference. But the ones we used boated us a lot of fish. Bill Lewis makes the most popular lipless crankbait. I really like the shape and color of their chrome/blue Rat-L-Traps. The chrome paint peels easily on them, but they catch a lot of fish. Also, the hooks need replacing or sharpening right out of the box (on the standard "Traps").

As a general rule, you will lose about half of your fish on lipless crankbaits if you don't have sharp hooks. This is especially true right now when smaller fish are biting. So make sure you have sharp hooks if want to get them in the boat. Rapala makes a shiny lipless crankbait that has good hooks and doesn't peel as bad. The paint will scratch, but I haven't had a problem with it peeling. They, too, catch lots of fish and seem to last longer. They are a little more expensive, but you don't have to buy as many. There are several other manufacturers that make lipless crankbaits that catch fish, so experiment with the different models and find your favorites. I'm still experimenting myself.

I consulted the BASSlog and was surprised to see that most of the posts on lipless crankbaits were caught in the 6-10 ft range, followed by 11-15 ft. I catch a lot of fish in water less than 5 ft. deep as well as deeper water in excess of 45 ft. I don't believe there is a better bait for schooling bass than lipless cranks, so it's a good idea to have one tied on a rod ready to throw with the hooks untangled, so you can run it through the schoolies within seconds of the time they come up.

As for cover, creek channels, shallow flats and secondary points had the most fish recorded with lipless crankbaits. Submerged vegetation was hands down the best cover. Well over 75 percent of the bass recorded were caught around some type of submerged vegetation. So, break out those baits and start fishing them around some submerged vegetation before the fall frenzy comes to an end.

Be sure to look for my next articles as I plan to write about deep water fishing.

Lure Colors, Part 2: Water and Weather Conditions
October 6, 2008

Last time we talked about lure colors and the time of day. This time I want to talk about colors as they relate to water and weather conditions.

Most bass fishermen believe you shouldn't throw the same colors in muddy water as you would in crystal clear water. So, water clarity may be an angler's single most important consideration in choosing lure colors. According to the BASSlog, the best colors for extra clear water are green pumpkin, watermelon red flake and watermelon. Bluegill, shad and white are the next best colors.

For both clear (3-5 feet of visibility) and semi-stained (2-3 feet visibility) water, top colors are the same as extra clear except there are more fish recorded for watermelon than for watermelon/red flake. Shad, chrome/blue and black/blue are the next best colors for those waters.

The biggest surprise to me is that there isn't a big difference from gin clear water to muddy water. The best baits in muddy water are green pumpkin, chartreuse/white, watermelon, black/blue, shad and white. The main difference is that chartreuse/white is favored over watermelon/red flake.

Sky conditions and water depth don't seem to matter a whole lot when it comes to what colors to use. Watermelon and green pumpkin are again at the top for each depth and sky condition with one exception each. For water depth, once you get over 25 feet, silver is the top choice. Obviously, that's because structure spoons are best for those depths, and most spoon fishermen use silver spoons. For sky conditions, both clear and cloudy skies call for the same colors. However, on rainy days, white is the top choice over watermelon and green pumpkin.

We can also query the BASSlog entries and separate them according to the type of lure to find the best colors for each type. Doing this, I'm sure you can guess the best colors of soft plastics.

You guessed it! Green pumpkin, watermelon and watermelon red/ flake are at the top for most all soft plastics categories. Other good choices are black/blue, junebug, black, red shad and blue fleck.

As for diving crankbaits, the top picks are shad, baby bass, blue/chartreuse, white, firetiger and green orange. For lipless crankbaits, you should have chrome/blue, red and chrome/black in your arsenal.

Shad is by far the best color for hard jerkbaits with twice as many fish recorded as the runner-ups — clown and black/orange.

If you like fishing skirted jigs, you should throw black blue, green pumpkin or brown. If spinnerbaits are your thing, white, chartreuse/white and chartreuse are best. For spoons, it's silver, blue/white and gold. Best swimbait colors are shad, watermelon, and golden shiner. For the bladed jigs, it's white, chartreuse/white and green pumpkin.

As for topwaters, best popper colors are shad, firetiger and chrome/black. Best colors for stickbaits are chartreuse/white, blue and shad. For prop baits, try chrome/blue, green or gold/black. Finally, if you like to make some noise, use buzzbaits that have either white, black or chartreuse skirts.

To summarize, it seems that the best choices for most lures are those that blend in with the environment or resemble the food bass are accustomed to eating. Shades of green are the best colors for most soft plastics. I'm sure this is because green is the predominant color in the water. The majority of plants and water creatures are comprised of shades of green. Green pumpkin has caught more fish than any other color recorded in the BASSlog. However, if you were to group watermelon and watermelon/red flake together, they would outnumber green pumpkin. Other good colors for soft plastics are black/blue, junebug, red shad and black.

If you're throwing baits that are designed to mimic the forage that bass live on, you should be sure to match the color with the forage. I'm certain that some colors do work better than others in some situations. I know firsthand that shad and chrome colored baits work well in lakes with shad as the primary forage. The same fish may well bite any color you put in front of it, but your best odds of getting it to bite is to match the color of the forage or blend with the environment. After all, most forage is designed to blend for its own protection.

I also believe that confidence is important. If you are throwing colors that you have confidence in, you are more likely to work them properly. You will need to do some experimenting to build up your confidence. One thing's for sure, every fish you catch will be on a color that you throw. If purple is the only color you cast, you won't catch any on watermelon or green pumpkin.

Lure Colors, Part 1: Time of Day
September 22, 2008

With so many different colors to choose from, how can a person know what color lures to use? Do we really need to keep all those colors in our tacklebox? Is there a way to narrow down the selection?

I did a query on the Insider BASSlog and there were over 200 different color combinations recorded. When I narrowed it down to color combinations for lures that caught at least 20 fish, there were still 63 different color combinations. So, how can we know what color to choose? Does it really matter? Are there certain colors that would get that bass to bite when others would fail?

I don't think there is a completely scientific approach to prove what color would trigger a bass to bite when others would not. The only way to do that would be to offer it different colors in the exact presentation at the exact time, which is impossible to do. But we can obtain that information with a high degree of accuracy. We can consult the Insider BASSlog and find out what colors bass preferred in the past and rely on past behavior to predict the future.

The Insider BASSlog is a database where fishermen can post the conditions of their catch on the Internet. With over 2,100 registered, the findings are quite unbiased and we can get a pretty good idea of what color lures we should be using.

The task of determining what colors work best is harder than it might seem. There are so many variables to deal with. For one, different types of lures come in different colors. Think about the colors of plastic worms, crankbaits, spinnerbaits and spoons. All baits are not even available in all the same colors. Other factors include water clarity, water depth, time of day, and sky conditions.

We could break down each of these variables (and many more) even further and gain some more specific details. However, I believe just going into the first level of detail will give us some valuable information without getting too complicated. So, I will mention these facts individually without going into further detail. Just keep in mind that each detail can be broken down further and that the entire database is queried for each detail. To keep it to a minimum, I will list only the top color choices for each topic even though there may be dozens of other colors recorded.

First, I want to mention the best colors for each time of day. The top 3 colors for the first light to sun-up period are white, shad and watermelon.

The next period is sun-up to 9 a.m. The best color choices then are green pumpkin, watermelon and white.

Next is 9 a.m. to Noon. The best colors for that time period are green pumpkin, watermelon and watermelon/red flake.

From Noon to 3 p.m., green pumpkin, watermelon and shad are tops. From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., it is green pumpkin, watermelon red/flake and watermelon.

Best color choices for dusk are green pumpkin, watermelon and white. Once it gets dark, black/blue, black and green pumpkin are the best picks.

Hot Baits of Summer: Skirted Jigs
August 1, 2008

BASS Insider's BASSlog is a database into which fishermen can post the conditions of their catches on the Internet. Once the conditions (date, lure, time period, structure, cover, etc.) are recorded, the BASSlog returns useful patterns, thanks to the combined input of other users.

With more than 2,100 registered users, the BASSlog is beginning to produce interesting and valuable data about fishing lures and techniques. For example, 10 percent of bass registered in the database were caught on skirted jigs, usually adorned with some sort of trailer.

These lures are famous for catching giant bass. Knowing when and where to throw them could help you catch that bass of a lifetime.

An interesting statistic I just learned from the BASSlog is that most jig fish are caught under clear conditions. And more than twice as many fish caught on jigs were caught under sunny conditions as compared cloudy skies. Another interesting stat is that most jig fish were caught in very cold water or 70 to 80 degree water. See the graph below for details.

The time of day was definitely a factor for catching fish on skirted jigs. By far, the best time period was 9 a.m. to noon. The next closest periods were just before and after that period. As the day progresses, less fish were recorded for each period. The midnight to first-light period had the least amount recorded, but the average weight was biggest then. See the graph below.

Vegetation was the best cover, with wood and rocks taking second and third. The best structure was shallow water with some type of drop nearby. The best depth was 6-10 feet, with just about as many fish in 5 feet or less. Most of the fish were caught in stained water (1-2 feet visibility), while semi-stained (2-3 feet visibility) had just about as many. The wind was a factor. More fish were caught on days with less wind.

The BASSlog recorded 20 different skirt colors for jig fish. The top 3 were (in order) black/blue, green pumpkin, and brown. The best sizes were 3/8 ounce, 1/2 ounce, and 1/4 ounce. By far, most fish were caught with a plastic craw trailer. However, many were also caught with creature and grub trailers.

In summary, jigs work best on relatively calm, sunny days from sunup to noon. The best jig water is either very cold or 70-80 degrees, less than 10 feet deep with 1-3 foot visibility and some type of vegetation, wood, or rock. The ideal structure is a shallow flat with a drop nearby.

Most popular choices are 3/8- to 1/2-ounce black/blue jigs with black/blue plastic craw trailers.

For more details, consult the Insider BASSlog here on BASS Insider, where you can learn which combinations to use under each condition. Additionally, the Log is full of information that I didn't cover. It holds an exhaustive list of most every type of lure you can catch a bass on — and jigs are only a small portion of the list. Best of all, you can use the BASSlog to record your fish and you can learn from your own success as well as from other Insider members. You should definitely use the BASSlog to record your own fish. The sooner you start, the more useful it will be. Even if you only catch a handful of fish per year, you can establish your own patterns over time. It is well-known that bass are pattern oriented. Learn the patterns and catch more fish!

I fish 200+ days as a fishing guide on one of the best lakes (Lake Fork, Texas) in the country. How I wish I had such a tool 20 years ago! I discovered how to find patterns by spending countless hours reading articles from biased authors and spending tons of hours on the lake. At last, we can all learn from our own trials as well as from the collection of over 2,100 fishermen.