Bass Fishing

Here is where I have excelled in my fishing skills. Bass fishing is really an art. Not as much an art as fly fishing. However there is many factors to consider to be sucessful.

You should know the habits of Northern strain Large Mouth Bass before fishing for them.

50% of an adult Bass diet is crayfish or sculpin.

For this reason I only use two lures. Both imatate food for large fish. In the Spring the large fish are hungry after a Winter being dormant. Everyone says at 40 degrees is when they start to bite out of Winter. I have caught some starting around 38 degrees. They also say moving water is not the place to be. However My best fishing days has been at the mouth of different tributaries. The Snow run off from the ski resorts is a great place.
The two lures I use are the weedless spider jig and a smoke salt and pepper grub (3") as a trailer and then the same grub texas rig. The action of the jig should resemble a crayfish and the grub texas rig imatates a sculpin. The salt and pepper I found to be the best color. the dark colors are hit and miss. The jig should be black, dk brown or simular.
I use a spinner reel and 12 lb test.
If you can not be at a stream mouth then under docks, beside weeds, and boat ramps are great.
Bass bite usually will be from late February to late October just before Winter. The size will be 2-5 lbs.
Remember Northern Bass only have about 3 months to grow unlike Florida strain that double each year. So if you catch one 5 lbs and over that sucker is probably around 12 years old. So our catch and release for Bass fishing has made Big Bear Lake an unknown gem for Bass.

Big Bear Dave
http://www.bearvalleynews.com/fishing.htm