river bass

[bassman20042]

hello all,sorry for being gone so long.Fished a tournament here recently,and ran into a problem.While fishing docks,I saw a largemouth weighing around 12lbs.The water was clear,4ft deep,and had a current.I threw soft plastics,crankbaits,and jerkbaits,and jigs,with no luck into a strike.The bass swam up to the baits,then turned away.What should I have done differently,to catch this bass? I placed 10th,but could have easily won the tournament,with this bass.Any help would be greatfull. thanks, Ed ( bassman )

[carl]

Now you really need a pro's advice. Myself, and a friend tried fishing for smallmouth on Lake Mich'g. Since the zebra mussels have invaded the lake, the water is crystal clear, and you can see the bottom in 12 feet of water. We were fishing inside the breakwater, and we would watch the bass swim up to our lures, look at it and swim away. We tried everything and never caught a fish. Here comes the Classic. Woo Davies caught his winning catch right where we would fish. How he did it, I have no idea. Guess that seperates the men from the boys. Carl

[johnnie crain outdoors]

Bassman- Bass like that one can ruin your day no doubt. I guess if I fell into that situation, I would assume the fish was seeing my line too well. I would have backed off for awhile and used a black, blue and green marker pen on the first few feet of my line to break up the pattern, Then I would have soaked a 4" french fry worm in Fish Formula crawdad. I would then go back to the area and if possible let the wind or current get me close to the area. I would then cast the bait to the likely spot and begin backing away and paying out line without moving the bait. Then I would just sit and wait as long as I could stand it or until I saw movement in my line.. Often bass like this one got big because she's very cautious. Sometimes the best presentation is -no presentation. If no strike occurs then I would attempt to jiggle the little worm in place, without really moving it much, another trick I use is to tap my rod blank with my fingernail to create just a little tap going through my line to the bait.
One last trick I use is to put a single white twister tail, like for spinnerbait trailers, on a small light wire hook and toss it near the bass with NO weight. It takes a long time for this bait to sink especially in current, but often the fish take it. Good luck next time, and don't get down on yourself for not catching that bass. Can you imagine how many anglers haven't caught that bass?