Forums - Weather, Pressure, the Moon and the Seasons

Have prayers been answered for the Western Cape?

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 08:48:18 +0200

Looks like the Western Cape will get the much needed rain at last. :eusa_dance:

https://www.wavescape.co.za/jbu-supertr ... esday.html

IMPACT OF CITRUS ON FISHING

Wed, 23 Sep 2015 18:42:59 +0200

I fish Major Bass in KZN on a monthly basis with my partner Piet.

Today we engaged in a heated discussion over the impact of citrus on the boat. We have been criticized by our captain, Ken Ainsley, for consuming oranges and nartjies on the boat during a comp. Apparently this is a serious no-no on a bass boat mainly due to its strong smell and potential impact it may have on fishing. I assume the smell could rub off on the lure and impact on the smell of the lure.

I suggested we test the hypothesis during our next event at Inanda, but apparently only retards believe in such fallacies.

I am keen to hear from our fellow bass anglers as to the feeling and actual impact citrus may have on bass fishing. Your comment will be appreciated.

Had it with weather forecasting

Mon, 06 Apr 2015 20:40:38 +0200

1st things 1st: Congrats to Billy on the pig!!!

I'm am beyond frustrated this evening! I have been watching the weather the entire weekend hoping for a break to get to TWK for some prefishing. I woke up early this morning and checked Windguru, which reported an average speed of 9 knots gusting up to 20 for the day and the Theewater Sports club weather station reporting a live wind speed of 10knots.

Not wanting to travel the 1hr to TWK, fish for 2 hours and turn around I decided to leave the boat in the garage.

And then I look at Billy's pic with glass in the background and Juba's with more of the same and read the Facebook posts of 11kg bags and 5kg fish. I would have sold my boat for R100 there and then!!

So my questions is: which weather sites seem to give you the most reliable forecasts?

Post Frontal Blues

Fri, 04 Apr 2014 21:16:39 +0200

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND][ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
Post Frontal Blues (0) got it's butt kicked by Ugly Otter (7) :eusa_dance:

Rising water levels

Sat, 01 Feb 2014 17:02:11 +0200

Hi there , we are going to fish tomorrow in a dam close to Tzaneen and they had 200mm of rain . We still expect the dam to have clear water , where should we be fishing and which tactics and bait please.

Regards.

The front

Thu, 19 Sep 2013 07:20:25 +0200

Actually, it doesn't look that bad at all...

But then watch out for this high pressure that will bring in the moisture behind the warm front :blue-evil:

Fishing gadgets?

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:24:32 +0200

I have read on some of the report backs that there are fishing gadgets and apps available that can help predict what time all of nature aligns and when you would have the "best" times on the water. Now I have read info about pressure ect but is there any thing that can take this vast amounts of data process it and help me to plan a bit? :blue-question:

Sleep over at Twk.

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 06:50:33 +0200

So gents, who's going to sleep over on Saturday night at Twk for the mt. I am planning to do so and meet some of the bfsa members in a proper way.

Accurate Weather and Wind forcast website

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:11:14 +0200

Do any of you know a relatively reliable website where I can monitor the weather, especially the wind forcast for stellenbosch. And also has extra info like barometric pressure and all that. It would help a lot thanks!

Good Weather forecasts

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 10:39:04 +0200

Took a gamble and started planting crops on wednesday and was Looking at weather forecasts for the coming week.

Stumbled on this website and looks if it has a lot of weather info that can help me planning my activities on the farm an definitely plan my fishing excursions...

Check This out!
http://www.weatherphotos.co.za/

Let's talk weather

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:19:42 +0200

Ok,so if the weather has been so crappy where u are,how have u been cathing for this part of the season? And what do u naturaly choose when its not going good at all??????

Sorry for me asking this,but this is basicaly my first year in bass fishing game. And seeing that I haven't actually fished for bass during a spawning and following months there after.

How do you compare you're season with last season. Just for interest sake,has it been better, average or poor compared to last year?

Winter Fishing - My Favorite Time of Year

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:51:51 +0200

Winter Fishing - My Favorite Time of Year

By Jim Gildea

Winter is my favourite time to fish. Not necessarily because the fishing is great, but because the tournament season for me is over and I’m able to slow down - it always reminds me of why I started fishing in the first place.

I started fishing because it was fun and relaxing. Then I joined a club and started fishing local tournaments, then I moved on to bigger tournaments. Over the course of the season, it’s easy to get wrapped up into chasing points, winning money, and doing as well as you can.

My best friend and I always get out and fish a few times in late December, usually right before the lakes in the Northeast freeze. There’s usually no one else on the lake, and the fishing is generally pretty good. Our only concern is enjoying the fishing, telling stories and talking about the upcoming season. In December it’s like we’re kids again, just catching fish, laughing about the same old stories and having a good time.

My friend and I got out two days before Christmas. Despite raining off and on with air temperatures in the high 30’s to low 40’s, we caught 60 fish. We fished some deep wintering spots for smallmouth, then went to a shallow cove and nailed some largemouth, pickerel, and big yellow perch.
Here’s how we did it.
Blade Bait
This is a go-to standard for me this time of the year. I’ve experimented with different ones and find that several of the newer models, in particular the Vibe and the Cicada, have much more vibration than the original Silver Buddy. You can feel the vibration very clearly, even when you are hardly working it - and that’s the key this time of year to trigger a reaction bite in cold water..

I tend to use either ⅜ or ½ ounce, depending on depth and wind. Generally, we fish between 20 and 30 feet so with light wind, the ⅜ is fine. If the wind kicks up, or we are working deeper than 30, than we go with the ½ ounce. If the fish aren’t in 20-30 feet, we’ll gradually work deeper, down to 40-50 feet at times.

Spinning tackle works best, although it’s not required. We used 15-pound braided line with a three foot leader of 8-pound Sugoio Fluoro. You can connect the braid to the fluoro with a small swivel as it prevents line twist. With braid you can really feel the vibration and you know when you have a fish on.

There’s definitely a trick to the blade bait, but once you figure it out, it works every year. Basically, you need to move it far enough off the bottom to make it vibrate, but not so much that you are pulling it away from the fish. The fish are holding tight to the bottom this time of year, so you need to keep the bait in their strike-zone.

To start, place the boat into the wind and make a long cast upwind, letting it fall on semi-slack line. When the bait hits bottom, lift it gently just fast enough to feel it vibrate. Usually, I lift the rod tip 24 inches or so. Let the bait fall back to the bottom, and repeat back to the boat. You really can’t fish it too slow. As long as you can feel ANY vibration you are going to get bit if you are around fish. The bait should never come more than a foot off the bottom, which is why you don’t want to move it fast when you lift the rod tip.

Drop Shot

Smallies especially hit the drop shot really well with the water in the low 40’s. I use a shorter leader this time of the year, usually around a foot. I want the bait on the bottom since the fish are not going to come up for it.

Like summer drop shot fishing, 6-pound Sugoi fluorocarbon works the best since it gives the worm more natural action. Also, you want to use a ⅜ drop shot weight so the bait won’t move on the bottom, since the fish aren’t going to chase too much this time of year. I like to use dark colors in December. A favorite of mine is the Yamamoto Kut Tail Worm in color 921 Brown Purple. The Kut Tail doesn’t have much action and looks like an easy meal. The darker color of the 921 works best because the forage is darker this time of year due to the lower light penetration in 20+ feet of water.

I fish it slow since the fish aren’t moving too fast and seem to want their plastics pretty slow. I find I don’t always mark fish on the sonar this time of year. They sit right on the bottom and while you might mark some of them, it’s not unusual to mark only a couple fish and then catch twenty! This time of year, they are stuck right on the bottom and don’t show up very well even on the best sonar.

Finding the Fish

The best part of winter smallmouth fishing is you only have to find the fish once. Once you find them, they will not only stay there all winter, they will be there year after year. We have literally been fishing the same exact spot for ten years, at the same time of the year, with the same results. The winter bite starts when the water gets to 50 degrees or lower and continues until ice up. In the Northeast, this is from mid-November until January.

On the other hand, finding them is trial and error. You have to fish for them; you can’t just drive around and look for bait balls. Sometimes you will see balls of bait, but many times you won’t.

We are fishing natural glacial lakes as well as river systems that have dams. In both cases, you want to find a gravel bottom in 20-30 feet that drops into the deepest water in the area. For a river, that’s almost always near the dam. For a lake, it can be anywhere, and sometimes it’s trial and error. The key is to find the gravel bottom, since they really prefer this type of area, as opposed to a muck bottom or larger rocks. The best spots in a natural lake are gravel humps that top out at 20 or 30 feet, or long tapering gravel points that drop into deep water.

One key thing is the fish are NOT here at any other time of the year. We have one gravel hump we fish in a major tournament lake that during the actual fishing season can give you a fish or two, but usually at best one or two small keepers. Once tournament season is over, you can go to that same hump and catch ten limits of fish with a weight that would win most tournaments.

Likewise, in the river systems, the fish spend most of the year in shallow current, and winter right by the dam in 20-30 feet. You won’t catch a fish there during the summer or early fall but by November, it’s lights out.

If you live near a Smallmouth lake, break out the blade bait, call your best friend and spend a day on the water.

Falcon Rods

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:19:17 +0200

Hi Guys

Check out this link
http://outdoors365.co.za/falcon-rods/
Follow up for more reviews on Falcon Rods by the Outdoors365 team members

Ipad app

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 21:18:29 +0200

Check out this application on the App Store:

Best Fishing Times HD
K SOLUTION LLC
Category: Sports
Updated: 06 Jan 2012

iTunes for Mac and Windows
Please note that you have not been added to any email lists.
Copyright © 2012 Apple Inc. All rights reserved

It tells you how good the fishing should be.

Sent from my iPad

Alternatives For Early Winter Fishing

Thu, 17 May 2012 13:41:19 +0200

Alternatives For Early Winter Fishing

Story and photos by Steve Price

If you’re like many bass anglers today, late fall/early winter bass fishing normally means you’re going to spend your time in the backs of tributary creeks casting shallow water spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and even topwaters for migratory bass feeding on shad.

Nothing wrong with that, except that the backs of creeks can get crowded in a hurry and when they do, bass action usually slows dramatically. Even if you’re the only one present, you still don’t know how hard that area has already been fished by others before you.

“There are alternatives to the backs of creeks this time of year,” notes veteran tournament pro Gerald Swindle, “and as often as not, those alternatives may be even more productive. Not all bass move to the backs of creeks, and they certainly don’t all move at the same time. In my tournaments now, I don’t even bother going all the way into a tributary, simply because I know it’s going to get fished hard.”

Swindle, who makes a living on the Bassmaster Elite circuit and who captured the 2004 Bassmaster Angler of the Year title, has three alternative locations and three lures he prefers for the late fall/early winter season. The keys to all three, he emphasizes, are the presence of baitfish and water temperature down to about 55 degrees.

“My philosophy is that right now all bass are thinking about is feeding, which makes this season even better than spring,” he explains. “In April and May bass are also shallow but they aren’t thinking about feeding. You have to make them bite. That’s not the case now. Bass are feeding somewhere everyday in late fall and early winter.”

Swindle’s three locations include main lake flats, pea gravel points, and bluffs, and his lure choices are small jigs, spinnerbaits, and spoons. Here’s how he puts them together:

Main Lake Flats
“When I look for big flats, I study a topo map of the main lake and look for the largest flat I can find,” notes the Alabama pro. “It may even be the same flat the fish use for spring spawning. I want shallow water that has a definitive breakline, but it doesn’t have to be a huge drop. In fact, for me, a drop from three feet on top of the flat down to about six feet is perfect.

“I want to be able to see that drop so I can fish it accurately. Bass will hold in the deeper water to ambush baitfish, so I want my lures to come over that break on every cast.”

Baitfish are what make this pattern work, and if you don’t see any activity, adds Swindle, you can just about be certain there aren’t many bass around, either. The bass you’re looking for here are eating that bait, and when they are present, it can be an all-day pattern; you can re-visit the flat several times.

Swindle’s lure choices for the flats are a ½-ounce tandem willowleaf spinnerbait – the model he prefers actually has a ¼-ounce head and another ¼-ounce of weight hidden under the skirt, and the blades are a smallish size 3 and 3 ½ -- and also a ½-ounce, 3 ½-inch flutter spoon. He fishes the spinnerbait on 17-pound fluorocarbon and the spoon with 15-pound fluorocarbon.

“Always think reaction strikes,” he emphasizes, “so I burn my spinnerbait as fast as I can reel it, and with the spoon I make long casts, let it sink, then pop it twice to make it jump and fall.” This time of year, most lakes are as clear as they’re going to be all year, and Swindle doesn’t want the bass to get a good look at anything. “The only thing I really want is for them to see is something coming over that breakline just like a shad breaking away from a school.”

Pea Gravel Points
“Growing up on Lewis Smith Lake in Alabama where the water is clear and fishing can be tough in the fall, my friends and I were just playing around once and discovered you can burn spinnerbaits over long, tapering points and catch a lot of bass,” remembers Swindle, “and in the years since, I’ve done it on lakes all over the country.

“The small pea-sized gravel seems to be best, but don’t limit yourself to them. Long tapering points attract and hold bass throughout the year and in the late fall and early winter months they’re even better because they also attract baitfish.

“By burning that spinnerbait with a 6.3:1 or a 7:1 high speed reel, you can cover the entire point in just a few minutes, and I’ll even work water out to as deep as 15 feet, because, again, I’m after feeding bass and want a reaction strike. If a bass is out there feeding on shad, he’s going to come up for my spinnerbait.”

Swindle may also alternate the spinnerbait with his spoon, especially if he gets several strikes that indicate a school of fish may be present. And, like the flats, points can also be an all-day, repeat visit pattern.

Bluff Walls
Here Swindle is looking for suspended bass that may be only five or six feet down but holding very close to the wall itself. His first choice is the flutter spoon, because, he says, it’s doing all the work as it falls.

“I let the spoon fall on a semi-tight line so I can detect strikes better,” he explains. “Strikes are going to come on the fall, but if you let the lure fall on a totally slack line, you’ll miss a lot of those strikes. Give yourself enough slack to let the spoon flutter and twist, but keep the line tight enough so you can see it twitch or feel your lure stop.”

Many bluffs have an underwater shelf 12 to 15 feet down and if he doesn’t get a strike on the initial fall, this first shelf is as far as Swindle lets the spoon drop. The majority of bass on bluffs this season of year are suspended well above that shelf.

“If I don’t do any good on the spoon, my second lure choice is a 3/8 or ¼-ounce finesse jig with a twin-tail trailer,” he continues. “I want the trailer’s swimming action, which also helps slow the jig’s fall. I fish it on 15-pound fluorocarbon line, and use a medium/heavy action rod, because it will catch a lot of big bass.

“I make short pitches, but I don’t let the jig fall deeper than eight or 10 feet, and if I don’t get a strike on that fall, I just start reeling the jig slowly back. I really catch a lot of fish when I am swimming the jig like this because I think bass follow it down.”

This is the only time Swindle actually wants a slow falling lure. While he could burn the bluff face with his spinnerbait, he feels the jig’s swimming action, not its appearance, is what triggers bass to hit it. He prefers bluffs with a lot of irregular indentions, and he doesn’t worry that his boat may actually be in 30 or 40 feet of water. This time of year, the bass are shallow and they’re feeding.

“Just remember,” the Bassmaster pro concludes, “this time of year is all about bass feeding in preparation for winter. You can nearly always find fish in at least one of these three alternative areas, especially if you see baitfish activity.”

How To Read Winter Water

Tue, 08 May 2012 09:47:47 +0200

How To Read Winter Water

By Steve Price

For most bass fishermen, the rules for finding fish change during the cold water months. Because bass are not as active and don’t chase lures as much, it’s more difficult to determine if you’re even around fish, much less if you’re using the correct lure and presentation.

Brent Ehrler, winner of the 2006 FLW Forrest Wood Cup and a veteran Yamamoto Pro Staff member, uses an easy and efficient three-step approach to reading winter water that erases many of the questions about lethargic largemouths and puts the odds of finding them highly in his favor. It’s a system he’s developed over years of top level tournament competition across the United States, and it’s a system any angler can adapt to his own fishing style, regardless of where he fishes.

Ehrler’s system begins with studying water color, continues with analyzing the dominant cover and structure, and concludes with lure choices. All three are closely interwoven and depend in large part on water color, a criteria many bass fishermen overlook. A much more common practice among anglers is depending instead on water temperature to lead them to fish.

“Water color is the first thing I study because it tells me whether I need to fish shallow or deep, even in the winter,” the Redlands, CA pro explains, “and water temperature doesn’t give me that answer. Water color, in turn, leads me to certain locations on the lake where I can start studying the cover, and that tells me which type of lure to use.
“When you’re searching for bass, it’s like trying to fit the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. A lot depends on the type of lake you’re fishing, of course, but when you start with water color, which you can see from the boat ramp, or as you’re idling out from the ramp, you can get several answers that immediately fit into the puzzle.”

Here’s how Ehrler makes it work: In stained water, he fishes less than 10 feet deep, while in clear water he nearly always starts between 20 to 30 feet. He fishes deeper than he can see; for example, if Ehrler can see the bottom at 10 feet, he starts fishing deeper where the bottom is not visible.

“Conversely, if the water is clear, I’ll normally stay in the main lake. You can get some answers about where to go by studying lake information before you head out. If the lake is known as a clear water structure lake, for example, you can learn beforehand what types of structure dominate, such as bluff walls, mid-lake ridges, or rocky points.
“Whatever features are dominant in the lake are the types of features I want to concentrate on, because that’s what the bass will be using.”

The same is true of cover, emphasizes the Yamamoto pro. At Lake Norman in North Carolina, the dominant cover is boat docks, so that’s what Ehrler fishes. At Table Rock in Missouri, the main cover is standing timber; and at Okeechobee, it’s vegetation. While Ehrler looks for the less-obvious places to fish, he does not vary from whatever type of cover is the most common in the lake.

By combining this basic prior study with the lake’s current water color, Ehrler has answered the questions of depth and basic location. Once he’s in a tributary creek in stained water, for example, he can look at the type of cover available, and choose his lures accordingly.

Water temperature, which many anglers depend on to tell them how bass might be acting, is not that important to Ehrler during the winter months. He knows shallow bass will be more finicky, simply because they feel temperature changes like cold fronts much faster than deep water bass; fish in deep water are always more consistent in the winter. While it is true that a few degrees of difference can change bass behavior dramatically, and that different tributary creeks may have these slight temperature variations, Ehrler does not look for them. He stays with his basic water color options.

“Water temperature can be specific to a geographical area of the country, so it’s never as reliable,” he explains. “For instance, when the water temperature drops to 50 degrees in Minnesota, the bass don’t react to it nearly as much because they live in colder water year-round. When the water temperature drops to 50 degrees in Florida, however, everything changes.”

Lure-wise, Ehrler lets the water depth and cover determine his choices. His two primary groups of lures are finesse baits and reaction baits; he would rather fish fast to cover more water, but knows slower-moving finesse lures also draw a lot of strikes, particularly when it’s cold.

Thus, rigged and ready on the boat deck are shaky heads with 5-inch Yamamoto Kut Tail worms, along with ½-oz. jigs with Flappin’ Hog trailers. These are the
slow-movers he uses to probe slightly deeper cover or structure, including brush piles underneath boat docks, rock piles, tule edges, even breaklines. They’re effective in both shallow and deep water, clear or stained.

With both the Kut Tail and the Flappin’ Hog, I don’t have a lot of swimming or kicking action,” says Ehrler. “You don’t want that in the winter because it can be too intrusive. The Flappin’ Hog, especially, is a slender bait that doesn’t create a large profile, either. It literally turns a big jig into a finesse lure.

“I usually begin with my faster reaction lures if I can,” Ehrler admits, “and I keep three different types ready for different situations. These include a square bill crankbait (Lucky Craft 1.5), a deeper diving crankbait (LC 1.5 DD), and a jerkbait (LC 112 Slender). Together, these cover water depths from the shoreline out to 12 or 15 feet.

“These lures not only let me cover a lot of water quickly, but also help me locate bass by drawing reaction strikes or even just pulling fish out of cover to look at the lure. If I just see a bass flash at one of these, I can pick up the shaky head or jig and have an immediate slow, deliberate presentation that will often produce a strike.”

Ehrler’s system of reading winter water may sound a little difficult to accept since it depends almost entirely on water color, it does work universally in lakes across the nation, as he has proved time and again. Stained water pushes bass shallow, even in liquid-air impoundments like Mead and Powell, not just in the dead of winter but also during the heat of summer; and when the water is clear, the bass will be deep. Those two simple facts can tell you where to go, which lures to use, and how to fish them.

When you think of this way, the rules for finding winter bass don’t really have to change that much for you at all.

Sunny or shady

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:15:55 +0200

Just a quick one when you are on a dam in the morning you have the sun side and a shade side on the dam bass like warmer water but they also like shade you always pickup bite in shady areas.So which do you guys target sunny side or shady side and in the afternoon do you change that.

Autumn Alternatives

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:43:20 +0200

Autumn Alternatives

By Steve Price

If you’re looking for a safe bet, put your money on Redlands, California pro Brent Ehrler and the chances he’ll be throwing a topwater bait on Lake Mead during the autumn months. Two quality largemouths hooked on one cast and 20 followers will turn anyone into a topwater angler, but in truth, Ehrler will have a surface popper tied on no matter where he’s fishing during the September-October-November season.

“I use topwater lures primarily as a search bait,” explains the 2006 FLW Forrest Wood Cup champion, “walking it fast and just covering water. During the autumn, bass usually gather in tight schools to chase baitfish, and the fish I’m looking for are generally still out on the main lake on points, flats, and pockets. They either have not migrated into the backs of creeks or they’re already back out and on their way to winter structure.

“A lot of bass fishermen overlook topwater baits in the autumn because they’re busy throwing shallow crankbaits in the backs of those creeks, and they know topwater patterns can be as fickle in the autumn as at any other time of year. Still, I’m always looking for alternative lures and patterns the bass might not be tired of seeing. I always have topwater lures on my rods this time of year.”

Ehrler’s feelings are easy to understand. In addition to that remarkable day at Lake Mead, he won the November, 2004 FLW EverStart Championship on Kentucky’s Lake Cumberland by using a topwater lure to locate his bass, and surface plugs, usually a Lucky Craft Gunfish, have played a role in many of his tournament successes during his years of FLW competition.

In addition to walking topwaters over points and flats, there are several other alternative patterns anglers may consider when looking for bass this time of year. Here’s a quick look at some of them:

Swimbait the Bridges
Bridge pilings offer good vertical cover near a depth change or channel, which is always a good place to look for bass. The pilings provide a break in the current, shade if it’s a bright day, and washed-in brushy cover on the upstream sides of the pilings.

Initially, the easiest way to fish a bridge is by keeping your boat slightly down current and casting upstream so your lure looks natural as it comes down beside a piling. Small plastic swimbaits are excellent lure choices, but crankbaits and even spinnerbaits may work, depending on how active the fish are. Soft plastic worms and weedless Senkos can be used to explore possible cover in front of the pilings, while drop shots often take fish holding in the eddies and wash-outs behind the pilings.

Which piling to fish? “Those closest to shore are frequently the most popular with anglers, but not necessarily the best,” notes Bassmaster Elite pro Todd Faircloth of Texas. “When I fish bridges, I like to idle around each piling first and look for baitfish activity on my electronics. If the water has a lot of color, I’ll usually concentrate more on the shallow pilings, but if the water is clear, I’ll fish the deeper pilings closest to the channel.”

Finesse the Riprap
During the recent Professional Anglers Association (PAA) Toyota Texas Bass Classic on Lake Conroe in Texas, Mike Iaconelli nearly won by fishing a shaky head worm down riprap banks. Fishing was extremely tough on the lake, but Ike weighed in 47 pounds; his three-day catch included two bass over 8 pounds, including a 9-4 lunker that won him big fish honors.

“Rocks are always worth fishing in the fall,” notes the 2003 Bassmaster Classic winner, “because bass are so keyed in on following forage. Baitfish frequently stay near rock walls because they can feed on the algae growing on the rocks, and so you can guess the bass won’t be far away.
”
Iaconelli’s favorite outfit for this type of fishing is a ballhead with an off-set hook that holds his 4 or 6-inch worm Texas-style. Rigged weedless, he drags the worm until he hits a rock, then starts shaking with his rod. Because the ballhead has a 90-degree line-tie eyelet, the angle of the line, along with the shaking, pivots worm slightly upward so it begins waving in the water. Eventually, the shaking pops the bait free, if a bass hasn’t hit it first.

“Basically, you pick a head weight heavy enough to allow you to maintain contact with the bottom,” Iaconelli instructs. “My favorite sizes are 1/8-ounce in water down to about 10 feet, 3/16-ounce down to 15 feet or so, and ¼-ounce when I’m deeper than that. I like a 6-inch worm because it has plenty of action, but I’ll use a smaller or larger size, depending on the forage size.

“I know some anglers use a shaky head in a vertical presentation, but for me it’s always a dragging presentation along the bottom. No other presentation gives you the same type of worm action. If a sudden November cold front slows down the action, this is my favorite alternative.”

Cranking Creek Mouths
When he isn’t dragging a shaky head worm, Iaconelli also likes to crankbait the mouths of creeks during the autumn months. He chooses deep diving models that dig and bounce along the bottom, and he concentrates on the two underwater points that form at the mouth of each tributary.

“Here I’m looking for fish that may either be on their way into the creek, or coming back out,” says the New Jersey pro. “Points are worth fishing anywhere, anytime, but they can be especially productive in the autumn because you know bass are going to be moving past them sooner or later.”

The best approach, thinks Iaconelli, is by keeping your boat in the deeper water, and casting up into the shallower top of the point, then retrieving fast. While bass may be feeding, a fast retrieve may generate impulse strikes, too, and since bass may be tightly grouped, it’s important to cover the water thoroughly, working the points from different angles.

“This is a good time to have a marker buoy on the deck with you,” says Iaconelli, “so you can kick it overboard when you get a strike. You can use it to re-position your boat and make another cast to the exact same spot.”

Burning Bluffs
Long, vertical rock bluffs attract bass throughout the autumn months, and two ways to catch them are by burning a big-blade spinnerbait just under the surface along the side of that wall, or clattering a buzz bait on the surface by the rock face.
Bass tend to suspend along these bluffs, and both lures will bring them up. The keys to making this pattern pay off are making long casts, and keeping either lure very close to the bluff. Bass that hit these lures are striking out of impulse, but baitfish probably are not far away.

You’ll need a spinnerbait with a big Colorado blade, and because you’re retrieving fast, choose a heavier model, such as ¾-ounce, to help keep it down. With the buzz bait, make long casts and keep the lure moving. Make sure you spend time fishing the ends of the bluffs, too.

“There are a lot of alternative patterns for autumn bass fishing, primarily because the bass are moving toward shallow water,” concludes Ehrler. “That movement takes place over an extended length of time, however, and not every fish is migrating at the same time or rate of speed. In order to locate the bass along their route, it’s important for an angler to consider as many options as possible in both shallow and deep water.

HKGK....?

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:27:40 +0200

Greetings!

looks like some of our Zulu land fishermen would be better off dusting off the surf boards for this weekend?

"..South African Weather Service forecasters say areas around Kosi Bay, St Lucia and Richards Bay can expect up to 400 millimetres of rain over the next few days.." :blue-shock:

"..Small fishing boats should be moved well above the normal high-water mark and firmly secured, as storm surge can be expected to raise local sea-levels by as much as 15 to 18 feet (three to six metres), particularly on the southern (poleward) side of the tropical storm..."

http://www.ecr.co.za/kagiso/content/en/ ... to-hit-KZN

Either the weer manne have got it back to front or we in for a bit of rain up that part of the world?

I hope it's just a incorrect prediction for all the guys and gals living up that way. if not the best of luck to ya, hope you don't suffer any damages.

~MISA~

Fishing and Cows??

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:42:25 +0200

Came across this article on facebook. Will definately keep an eye on those cows next to the road in the future. Wonder how much truth there is to this "Cow Theory"? :blue-doubt:

Couple of quotes from the article:

“Whenever the cows in a pasture are standing, that means you are going to have a good day fishing!”

Almost without fail, if the cows were standing, it was a great day. If the cows were lying down, it wasn’t.

Falling pressure can have an effect on the digestion of cows. As the barometer drops, they get upset tummies, and have to lie down.

Fish respond to a falling barometer as well. Just like cows, they don’t like to be active in these times of falling pressure.

http://www.manversusfish.com/2011/11/ca ... m=feed&utm