LETS TALK BASS !!

[The Quadfather]

can you guys provide me some feed back on the rain gear !!

I am in the market for a new rain / wind suit for next season . My goal is to find the best complete suit that will last for at least the next 4-5 years . I would like to hear some feed back on BPS 100mph , Simms , Cabela's , ETC (likes/ dislikes )

I"ve had the BPS 100 MPH rain jacket for 3-4 years now. I have the jacket only, not the pants. I am satisfied with the jacket. A few points are, that it is very "Sealed" in all areas. That is to say that the cuffs by your wrist, are freakin' tightly sealed to your wrist. No rain going up there. There are multiple pockets up near your chest, which are pretty handy, cell phone and such. The zipper quality is top notch on this thing. I also like that it has this sort of "Diaper thing" basicly an extension that hangs down from your ***. It means that when you sit on a surface on the boat, in the rain, you do not get a wet butt. The jacket is Gortex, so that says something about the water proofing. I still though do a random addition of water proofing to the jacket.
My only complaint would be that I did not buy a inside liner with this jacket. If you buy just the shell, expect to wear some decent under layers for warmth. I did a float on an Oly. Pen. river in Jan. one year. I'll prepared with no real under layers. Was brutally cold. So.. I do recommend the jacket, but consider the liner as well.

[fishingmachine]

For the lake stevens question I wouldn't expect the bass to be that deep. 60' is about as deep as I will fish in this state for bass.

For dropshot hooks I use the gamakatsu dropshot hooks in both a size 2 and 4 but mainly a 2 and then the roboworm rebarb hook when I need to weedless rig my worm.

[dutchman2858]

OK, let's try some prognostications...wx this week is supposed to warm up. Looking at 52/4 and overcast, which is a bit warmer than this last week (today 48/27, for example). Would you expect an increase in feeding activity by either/or both SMB and LMB?

[Amx]

Depends on IF the water down deep warms at all. IF the bass come up slightly shallower. And IF the bait fish/food get more active. Otherwise their feeding schedule will still depend on when they FEEL hungry. During the winter they might feed only once a week, regardless of the weather.

Now, the fish that stay shallow most of the winter, and there can be some, those will most likely get a little more active IF the water temps acually go up a couple degrees. And that really only depends on just how much sunshine there is. The clouds will block the sun, thus not really allowing the water to heat up. The warmer air temp doesn't really make the water temp go much if any, it takes the sun for that.

Yesterday's temp was 48.7 at about 1:34pm when I left the lake.

[Bigbass Dez]

can you guys provide me some feed back on the rain gear !!

I am in the market for a new rain / wind suit for next season . My goal is to find the best complete suit that will last for at least the next 4-5 years . I would like to hear some feed back on BPS 100mph , Simms , Cabela's , ETC (likes/ dislikes )

I"ve had the BPS 100 MPH rain jacket for 3-4 years now. I have the jacket only, not the pants. I am satisfied with the jacket. A few points are, that it is very "Sealed" in all areas. That is to say that the cuffs by your wrist, are freakin' tightly sealed to your wrist. No rain going up there. There are multiple pockets up near your chest, which are pretty handy, cell phone and such. The zipper quality is top notch on this thing. I also like that it has this sort of "Diaper thing" basicly an extension that hangs down from your ***. It means that when you sit on a surface on the boat, in the rain, you do not get a wet butt. The jacket is Gortex, so that says something about the water proofing. I still though do a random addition of water proofing to the jacket.
My only complaint would be that I did not buy a inside liner with this jacket. If you buy just the shell, expect to wear some decent under layers for warmth. I did a float on an Oly. Pen. river in Jan. one year. I'll prepared with no real under layers. Was brutally cold. So.. I do recommend the jacket, but consider the liner as well.

Great feedback Bud

This is exactly what i was looking to hear from the group . I want to get away from the liner jacket and insulated support that many of the jackets come with these days . Thanks again for the info

[hardlinesoffroad]

When do you start fishing prespawn patterns?

[fishingmachine]

typically when the water temps start to creep up into the low 50's

[Bigbass Dez]

When do you start fishing prespawn patterns?

I personally Start looking for a pre spawn patterns as early as mid march on most bodies of waters that i fish.
My advise is to not get caught up into waiting a for a particular water temp before deciding to run a pre spawn pattern for bass

From my experiences i have found that water temps dont impact as many bass migrating up near spawning flats as much as the longer day light periods that occur each year early season .
Honestly , i have found that bass will go a lot shallower during their pre spawn transtions than most anglers realize .
I would encourge you to watch my video that we made on lake Chelan here on the website . We shot that video at the beginning of april when water temps were still low to mid 40's . The majority of all of our of bass came from 3-7ft water that day .

Bass Fishing pre spawn is one of my favorite times of year to target giant Bass statewide . Effective lures like Suspending Jerkbaits , Rattletraps , spinnerbaits , football heads , jigs and swimbaits come into heavy play during this time period and anglers have an oppertunity to catch Bass with super FAT bellies on them

Hope this helps give you a better understanding of of your question bud

BBD

[hardlinesoffroad]

Thats great info. Thanks both of you and I cant wait to put it to use.

[Dan360]

I can't wait for this time in 2015. Wife gave the okay to get a new boat. Fishing out of a 14 foot dingy right now with only an electric. It would be nice to be able to get across a lake to fish or have a boat big enough to stand up in!

[Amx]

You just have to fish smaller lakes. 5 years ago I fished Sawyer many times on just the electric, when I didn't have the money to buy boat gas, and barely had money to buy gas for the tow vehicle, and was siphoning gas out of the cars to put in the tow vehicle to get to the lake.

And congrats on being able to get a new/bigger boat when you do get it.

[fishinChristian]

Bass are already biting in the smaller lakes, and smallmouth haven't ever stopped. Small jigs with plastics, slow fished, on light line.

Hey, Amx: whose cars were you siphoning?

[Amx]

Bass are already biting in the smaller lakes, and smallmouth haven't ever stopped. Small jigs with plastics, slow fished, on light line.

Hey, Amx: whose cars were you siphoning?

Mine, and they had the real good gas in them. Oh well, bass fishing is more important. But I'm getting SS now so all is good.

[dutchman2858]

I found this map of approx LMB spawning times on a fishing site. Does it look half way accurate for WA?

[fishingmachine]

I would say its all dependent on the weather that year as well as the lakes. I know I have seen smallmouth spawning in mid april quite a few times and especially end of april and have seen largemouth around the same time period depending on the lake. Just make sure to look at moon phases as well.