07/09/08-Nightime Spinnerbait Success

I went fishing in my boat today with my friend Kous and the wind was blowing us all over the place. I managed to catch two healthy dinks, but that was it. The wind was really too much to handle out there. I was planning on using a new topwater frog lure, but it didn't arrive in the mail in time for our fishing trip. We decided to head in after about an hour and a half on the water. We got a call from our buddy Tim around 8:30PM and we decided to head out to the pier for some night time fishing. I started out throwing my popper, Tim was throwing his Hula popper and Kous was throwing a bleeding olive minnow rap. Tim and I didn't have any success at this point, but Kous did manage to catch a small Crappie. There were quite a few people at the pier earlier and we couldn't really troll that much. When these people left are success started to mount. Kous continued trolling his Minnow rap and I decided to switch to a Strike King Premier Spinnerbait.

I was really screwing around with my spinnerbait, because to be honest I'd never caught anything on a large spinnerbait. I started running down the pier burning it on the surface I stopped for a second and a small rock bass picked it up. Technically speaking my first ever fish on a spinnerbait. Tim walked down to the start of the pier where I was and switched back to his Hula Popper after he briefly switched to a Zoom Brush Hog. He was popping at the beginning of the pier, and I decided to keep throwing my spinnerbait down there to keep him company. I started experimenting with it and fished it sort of like a jig, bouncing it off the rocks in the shallows and sporadically pulling the blades fast over portions of the rocks. It wasn't long before this strategy payed off, something creamed my spinnerbait and fortunately I set the hook and wasn't shell shocked. I reeled her in and pulled her over and it was one of my nicer Largemouth Bass of the year a nice 17incher that we estimated weighed 2lbs 6ounces. This turned out to be the big catch of the night, but not by much.

Tim continued to throw his Hula Popper and not long after I caught my bass he got an explosive top water strike. He set the hook and started reeling in the fish he had on put on quite a fight. I saw him battling it in the corner and he had it about a foot out of the water, when the fish flopped off. He said it was a huge Walleye that he estimated was in the 3 1/2 to 4lb a fish that would've easily won him the week. He said it faught harder than the Smallmouth bass he caught yesterday. I think that was part of the problem, the Smallmouth he caught yesterday bent his hooks and he didn't bend them back. I think this was the cause for his big Walleye getting off.

The Hula Popper gets another A+ it is really proving itself as a really good top water lure. I was extremely happy I got my first Spinnerbait catch ever, but I'd only rate the spinnerbait a B+ because the wires bent after the bass hit it. I don't know where I'll go fishing tommorrow a big storm is supposed to blow in.

Thanks for reading, Bass-Sniper

7/08/08-Big Bass in Shallow Water

Today my friends Kous and Tim went fishing with me, at the Grosse Pointe Park Windmille Point. I started out throwing a wacky rigged Zoom Baby Brush Hog around the middle of the pier. It wasn't long before I got my first hit, it hit pretty hard and I got a nice hook set. It turned out it was just a 10inch dink that wasn't even close to counting in our tournament. I decided to move on so I started trolling with a Storm Hot-N-Tot in a gold color. I got nothing trolling the hole pier the first time. The second time I hooked into a very very small largemouth and I stupidly reached my hand into its mouth to lip it and it through the hook right into my thumb. It got me pretty good, but it wasn't too bad. That was the extent of my luck for the day.

Kous was throwing a Texas Rigged Yum Dinger and he lost one dink largemouth but did manage to catch a dink smallmouth. Making our day the "Dinkmaster Classic". Tim who was also throwing a Zoom Baby Brush Hog did manage to catch a dink largemouth right after I caught my first. Right as we were getting ready to leave we were screwing around near the shallows and Tim tied on a Hula Popper in frog color. He got a big hit and set the hook he managed to get it over and it was a huge Lake St. Claire Smallmouth that measured 19inches and weighed 3lbs 4ounces. After this fish he took a commanding lead on our weekly tournament.

Tommorrow Kous and I will be heading to my Honey Hole out in my boat the Captain Kurtz hopefully we can manage some big bass. The ruling on the day is an A++ for the Hula Popper. It makes a very big splash, but that makes it a good top water popper for when the water isn't perfectly still. And it was pretty interesting that that big Smallmouth was hanging out in very shallow water and hit top water during the heat of the day.

Thanks for reading Bass-Sniper

6/26/08-Scouting Fish in the Woods Park

I had never fished in the Grosse Pointe Woods park before yesterday, and all I had heard about it was that it was terrible fishing. My friend Kous said he caught one largemouth there while only given a 10 minute oppurtunity. So we decided to head over there and try to catch some bass. It looked like I was going to get skunked again as I was having trouble figuring out the patterns of the park. I was casting a Zoom Baby Brush Hog while Kous was casting a Yum Dinger in Watermelon color like always. He got the first fish of the day a Largemouth that was around 12 inches. I got pretty frustrated where I started fishing so I moved all the way down to the end of the park to fish some boat wells.

I got one hit at the very end of the boatwells from a dink. Kous said he caught another Largemouth and showed me a picture, but I was reluctant to count it because he said it would've been close and we didn't have an exact weight on the fish. The very reason I bought a scale was to eliminate guessing from our tournamnet. Anyway I continued to cast in boatwells. I threw the bait right at the wall and pulled it over some weeds fast and a big bass nailed it. I didn't set the hook and pulled the hook right out of its mouth. I cast back in there thinking maybe he'd hit it again and sure enough he did. This time I got a good hook set, he tail danced two times and shot right under the dock that I was fishing from. I managed to pull him out but as soon as I did he shot the other way shaking the hook. It was a Bass that would've got me right back into the thick of things in the tournament.

I was bummed for awhile but decided to keep fishing. It wasn't long after I missed that fish that the pattern of the park started to make sense to me. I fished some more boatwells and managed to pull up a largemouth that was over 14 inches and weighed 1lb 4ounces pictured. It pretty much gave me a good lead for second, but the one that got away was the story of the day as I missed my chance for coming back for first. The ruling on the day was that the Woods Park had decent fishing, all the bass there seemed to be healthy. The Zoom Baby Brush Hog did good work again. I'm not sure where I'll fish today.

Thanks for reading, Bass-Sniper

6/15/08-Father's Day Fishing

Today I headed up to Misch Lake in Michigan to fish with my Dad for Father's day. As soon as we got up there I noticed a little bit of chop on a lake that is usually calm. Unfortunately I left all my tackle in my buddies car so I only had a few supplies including culprit curly tail worms, a Hula Popper, Rat-L-Trap and grubs with jig heads. I headed over to an inlet on the lake and pitched the popper in some softer patches of water under overhanging tree branches and around tree falldowns. I got a hit and I set the hook feels like I missed him. I keep trying to pop, but my popper kept sinking so I reeled in. Turned out to be a little bluegill was hooked on, which was a pleasent little suprise. I kept popping with no success so I thought I would reach into my limited bag of supplies.

I pulled out the curly tail worm in an earthy color and tied it on. I had no luck when I was casting it around, but as I had the boat drifting I noticed a fairly large hole in the ground where a tree had uprooted. I dropped the curly tail down into it and BAM! Got a decent hit I set the hook and pulled up this fella which I'd guess was 16inches and maybe a lb and 4 ounces. I kept casting my curly tail worm the rest of the time out there, but the wind actually pushed our boat into some reeds and then the battery on our trolling motor died.

The spot where we got pushed was so filled with weeds I couldn't even drop the curly tail down. After this we had to have someone else come and help us out of the irons. Once we got out we decided we had enough fishing for the day. The verdict on the day was pretty good I liked the earthy colored curly tail I was using and I really liked the popping action of the Hula Popper I had. I never got to break the Rat-L-Trap out, because I forgot it was in my shirt pocket, but I'll be sure to use it next time I'm out there.

It was a good day all in all, because I got to spend some qualtiy time with my Dad. Even though half the day was spent trying to get out of the wind. I hope you enjoyed the first installment of my fishing reports and I might get out Walleye and smallmouth fishing tonight if I'm not too preoccupied with the NBA finals.


Good Fishing everyone, Bass Sniper A.K.A. Walleye Assassin

The Rapala Shad Rap

Of all of the fishing lures available there are none more classic than those made by the Rapala Company they started making in lures in 1936 in Finland out of Balsa wood and they have been a consistently good company for lures ever since. One of their most successful lures for any species of fish is the Shad Rap. They come in a variety of colors from the original silver and black to the new yellow perch color.

This lure is one of my favorite lures for walleye fishing it has a running depth anywhere from four to 15' feet. The side to side and up and down shaking motion of this bait is an impossible temptation for bass and walleye to resist. This bait is incredibly succesful for walleye when it is bounced off the bottom trolled at around two to three miles per hour or walking speed. Bass prefer the bait if it is in a higher water column than the one the Walleye prefer. I caught one of my larger bass this summer on a walleye colored shad rap at night time.

Dusk and night are the most productive times for this lure, because the darkness of night hides the imperfections in presentation. I have caught a variety of fish from smallmouth, muskie to largemouth bass all on this lure. The most important thing to do with this lure is to find the different water columns the fish are hanging out in, and reel it through. This bait can be fished in anyway possible from fast to slow.

The walleye color is the best in my area, which is stained and heavy in current, but I plan on purchasing at least the classic silver and black and a baby bass color for next summer. The baby bass should be good in anywhere from stained to clear water. The lure comes in a two inch size, two and three quarters inch, three and one eigth inch and three and a half inch sizes. The bait because of its treble hooks is not very good for heavy weed cover, but fishing it in open water and in or around rocks is a great way to catch any kind of fish. Next week I plan to do a write up of Storm's Wildeye Walleye.