A Scare and A Success

If you read any of my last post you will recall my "jaws" like alligator story. It was quite an adventure and definitely a story for the grandchildren one day. I took that near death experience and turned it into an educational blog so people could learn from my stupidity. Despite all the alligator madness, the trip was quite a success, but I failed to blog about that. We enjoyed a wonderful day of fishing and escaped a near alligator attack, you can't beat that.

With the colder weather about to part our great state for the year, bass fisherman prepare for an exciting time of fishing. Many knowledgeable fisherman proclaim that this is the best time of the year to fish for those big bass. The bass are going through their spawn during this time and this causes the larger female bass to push up towards shore. With these bass in shallow water it makes it particularly easy to see them and cast at them. However, you must be aware that if you can see the fish, more than likely they can see you. Therefore, you must be as stealthy as possible in your approach, and that big one will be all yours.

We began fishing assuming that the bass were in the spawn, and therefore on their beds. Figuring this, we positioned our boat around 15 yards from the bank, and I threw my favorite lure the tequila sunrise worm. We putted around the shoreline for around 3 hours. We had minimal luck. I caught 4 bass, none of any size, and my buddy caught 2. Although we were catching fish and having a good time, we were not satisfied.

While trolling along the bank, we noticed something particularly unusual. In this lake there seemed to be many sandbars in the middle of the lake. It is rather common to find sandbars in the saltwater, but in freshwater it is a rarity to find such things. We pulled up onto a sandbar and looked down, what we saw was unbelievable. Right on the edge of the sandbar the water just dropped off, like the bottom fell out. It is a fisherman's dream to find such a drop off. It is always a blessing to find a drop off, because the water temperature will vary at the drop off, bait will be swimming in the shallow water, and the bigger fish can hide in the deep water and ambush this bait. For all these reasons, drop offs are hot spots for fish.

We tied on a pair of rapala crank baits and backed away from the sandbars. We casted our lure on top of the sandbar and then reeled it into the deeper water. It didn't take long for our first hook up. I hooked into a nice bass. After a struggle I got the 7lb 2 oz. bass to the boat. We caught a few other bass using the same technique. These fish varied in size from 3 to 4 lbs. but fishing the sandbars was quite a success.

This is the time of year to get out and catch big bass. Your number of fish caught my go down a little bit, but the size will definitely go up. Be open minded and ready to change your game plan, because during this time of year the bass can be rather picky. But just keep in mind the big one is only one bite away!