New fisherman saw bass, couldn't get them to bite.

Heyo, I'm _very_ new to bass fishing (fishing in general, as well),
but I've been going out about every other week with my father-in-law
for about a month.

Just yesterday morning we were in his canoe on Dorena Resevoir
(Western Oregon) in a few shallow channels where the water is coming
over the grassy flats (1-4 feet of water), we were there from 5:30 to
9 but couldn't get any bass to bite. I know they were there because
we kept spooking them! We'd come into one of the little channels
rather slowly, and inch our way into the shallow end casting as we
went, and as we continued we'd see the Vs (and sometimes the fish
themselves) as we moved over the spots we were casting to earlier. He
was using a popper lure for a while (which caught the only fish of the
day, one pound), and then moved to a crawdad-like surface lure. I
started with a crankbait, quickly gave up because of the grass, and
then tried a black spinnerbait followed by a black plastic "grub"
rigged weedless.

Anyone know what we're doing wrong? My father-in-law thinks that it's
too cold; we've had a really late spring here, we got a half inch of
snow a week ago...

On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:55:09 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

Heyo, I'm _very_ new to bass fishing (fishing in general, as well),
but I've been going out about every other week with my father-in-law
for about a month.

Just yesterday morning we were in his canoe on Dorena Resevoir
(Western Oregon) in a few shallow channels where the water is coming
over the grassy flats (1-4 feet of water), we were there from 5:30 to
9 but couldn't get any bass to bite. I know they were there because
we kept spooking them! We'd come into one of the little channels
rather slowly, and inch our way into the shallow end casting as we
went, and as we continued we'd see the Vs (and sometimes the fish
themselves) as we moved over the spots we were casting to earlier. He
was using a popper lure for a while (which caught the only fish of the
day, one pound), and then moved to a crawdad-like surface lure. I
started with a crankbait, quickly gave up because of the grass, and
then tried a black spinnerbait followed by a black plastic "grub"
rigged weedless.

Anyone know what we're doing wrong? My father-in-law thinks that it's
too cold; we've had a really late spring here, we got a half inch of
snow a week ago...

This is why it is called "fishing" instead of "catching".

Your experience could be any number of factors - wrong bait, water
temp, they saw you and were truly "spooked", saw your line, bad lure
presentation etc etc, all the way down the liist to - they just
weren't hungry. If a flow of water is dumping into a standing body of
water where temps vary widely (5 or more degrees) there is the chance
that the fish may have been in "thermal shock", which can cause them
to become lethargic for a while

--
Calling an Illegal Alien an "Undocumented Worker" is like calling a
Crack Dealer an "Unlicensed Pharmacist"

Heyo, I'm _very_ new to bass fishing (fishing in general, as well), but
I've been going out about every other week with my father-in-law for
about a month.
Just yesterday morning we were in his canoe on Dorena Resevoir (Western
Oregon) in a few shallow channels where the water is coming over the
grassy flats (1-4 feet of water), we were there from 5:30 to 9 but
couldn't get any bass to bite. I know they were there because we kept
spooking them! We'd come into one of the little channels rather slowly,
and inch our way into the shallow end casting as we went, and as we
continued we'd see the Vs (and sometimes the fish themselves) as we
moved over the spots we were casting to earlier. He was using a popper
lure for a while (which caught the only fish of the day, one pound), and
then moved to a crawdad-like surface lure. I started with a crankbait,
quickly gave up because of the grass, and then tried a black spinnerbait
followed by a black plastic "grub" rigged weedless.
Anyone know what we're doing wrong? My father-in-law thinks that it's
too cold; we've had a really late spring here, we got a half inch of
snow a week ago...

========

I don't think I would look for what you were doing wrong, rather more
what the bass were doing. My guess, is that you might have been seeing
the start of the spawn there. Spawning bass spook easily, and usually
will not bite your bait unless you provoke them into it.

I have also seen bass congregate in the shallows, and you can not get
them to eat anything you throw at them, I'm not sure why they are there,
maybe to just take a break. .

As for being too cold, as your father-in-law suggested...he is right, in
that bass are not nearly as active in cold weather. But they still
feed....try fishing smaller baits, slower.

Having said all that, I am definitely not an expert in the field of bass
fishing...especially not Oregon bass fishing. I lived in Oregon for a
while, and I never did get em figured out! I finally switched to gold
panning!

John B

On Apr 28, 1:35 pm, (John B) wrote:
Heyo, I'm _very_ new to bass fishing (fishing in general, as well), but
I've been going out about every other week with my father-in-law for
about a month.
Just yesterday morning we were in his canoe on Dorena Resevoir (Western
Oregon) in a few shallow channels where the water is coming over the
grassy flats (1-4 feet of water), we were there from 5:30 to 9 but
couldn't get any bass to bite. I know they were there because we kept
spooking them! We'd come into one of the little channels rather slowly,
and inch our way into the shallow end casting as we went, and as we
continued we'd see the Vs (and sometimes the fish themselves) as we
moved over the spots we were casting to earlier. He was using a popper
lure for a while (which caught the only fish of the day, one pound), and
then moved to a crawdad-like surface lure. I started with a crankbait,
quickly gave up because of the grass, and then tried a black spinnerbait
followed by a black plastic "grub" rigged weedless.
Anyone know what we're doing wrong? My father-in-law thinks that it's
too cold; we've had a really late spring here, we got a half inch of
snow a week ago...

========

I don't think I would look for what you were doing wrong, rather more
what the bass were doing. My guess, is that you might have been seeing
the start of the spawn there. Spawning bass spook easily, and usually
will not bite your bait unless you provoke them into it.

I have also seen bass congregate in the shallows, and you can not get
them to eat anything you throw at them, I'm not sure why they are there,
maybe to just take a break. .

As for being too cold, as your father-in-law suggested...he is right, in
that bass are not nearly as active in cold weather. But they still
feed....try fishing smaller baits, slower.

Having said all that, I am definitely not an expert in the field of bass
fishing...especially not Oregon bass fishing. I lived in Oregon for a
while, and I never did get em figured out! I finally switched to gold
panning!

John B

Dear pub,

If you're anything like me, you might be interested in reading up on
fishing for bass in your off-the-river-time. I really like Clouser's
new book: "FLY FISHING FOR SMALLMOUTH: IN RIVERS AND STREAMS." He is
really insightful, and has been fishing FOREVER!!!

http://www.theanglingbookstore.com/f...rdcover .aspx

You might also think about carrying around this handy little
helper..."POCKET GUIDE FLY FISHING FOR LARGEMOUTH BASS." It's
extremely popular with the fly fishermen in your neck of the woods.

http://www.theanglingbookstore.com/pocketguideflyfishingforlargemouthbassspiral-plasticcards.aspx"

Best of luck to you...tight lines.

www.theanglingbookstore.com

wrote in message
...
Heyo, I'm _very_ new to bass fishing (fishing in general, as well),
but I've been going out about every other week with my father-in-law
for about a month.

Just yesterday morning we were in his canoe on Dorena Resevoir
(Western Oregon) in a few shallow channels where the water is coming
over the grassy flats (1-4 feet of water), we were there from 5:30 to
9 but couldn't get any bass to bite. I know they were there because
we kept spooking them! We'd come into one of the little channels
rather slowly, and inch our way into the shallow end casting as we
went, and as we continued we'd see the Vs (and sometimes the fish
themselves) as we moved over the spots we were casting to earlier. He
was using a popper lure for a while (which caught the only fish of the
day, one pound), and then moved to a crawdad-like surface lure. I
started with a crankbait, quickly gave up because of the grass, and
then tried a black spinnerbait followed by a black plastic "grub"
rigged weedless.

Anyone know what we're doing wrong? My father-in-law thinks that it's
too cold; we've had a really late spring here, we got a half inch of
snow a week ago...


I doubt the water was "too cold." After all you were finding fish up
shallow in clear water. I think its a matter of finding the right
presentation. I usually have to fish blind and trust that there are fish
there to catch them in clear shallow water. Its also possible you were
seeing another kind of fish.

My number 1/2/3/4 presentations for this are usually.

Topwater during low light. Long casts and long pause on initial cast, then
rapid sharp short spitting pops.

Senko as a follow up (3" or 4") on light flourocarbon line and make long
casts. Totally dead stick til it hits bottom then maybe one or two twitches
before retrieve. Usually if it will produce it will ber on the initial
fall.

1/16 oz t-rig in a clear color like watermelon seed. Long cast and swim,
bounce, shake, jig along the bottom.

Drop shot in an even smaller bait and clear color. Sometimes I'll switch to
a bright color like pink though. I don't have a clue why, but sometimes a
bright color will really turn them on.

Some secondaries if there is any brush around would be a tiny buzzbait or a
frog bait during low light hours. The frog may actually continue to produce
all day long.

Definitely, good quality polarized sunglasses.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com