Hi, my name is Crash and I’m a rookie at bass fishing. I have learned a lot in my first couple seasons and I am teaming up with Ultimate Bass to share some of my experiences of beginning to fish for largemouth bass with everyone.
Hi, my name is Crash and I’m a rookie at bass fishing. I have learned a lot in my first couple seasons and I am teaming up with Ultimate Bass to share some of my experiences of beginning to fish for large mouth bass with everyone. In writing a column I hope that you will learn something from my experiences and maybe I glean a little more from what I have already experienced.
I’ve been fishing most of my life, salt water fishing that is. My husband of 13 years, Shawn, has been fishing for bass all his life and wanted to team fish with me. So naturally I was ready and willing to start fishing. To my amazement, there are a lot of differences in these two types of fishing.
First off, we buy a boat. What and experience that was, I didn’t know bass boats could go 70 + miles an hour. This I learned from Laurie Cork when she was taking me for my very first ride in the Legend boat we just bought from them. I can now say I was scared to death! I was use to being in a cuddy cabin or a center console that did the most of 30 to 40 mph. Remember this when your a newbie, find the handles on the boat and hang on. It didn’t take long and now I drive the boat 70 mph, and love it!
My first order of business is to learn to cast a baitcaster. I was used to spinning reels. I honestly think my brain turned to mush when Shawn was teaching me the differences between the brakes and magnets, and how they work. A major rule of thumb also to know and never forget, NEVER take thumb off of the spool when casting. Wow, I think I set a record on the biggest backlash! It took me 30 minutes to get it out. Second rule is how much pressure to apply to spool with thumb. I think after many tries I got the hang of it. That is after I caught a tree and the opposite side of the boat.
My first lure to use was a Vibrashock. This seemed like an easy thing to do, just cast and reel, simple. How wrong I could be. I was informed be my wonderful husband that I need to learn the speed of reeling in and how long to let it set before reeling. Because the number of seconds you let it set is approximate number of feet it will sink. Okay, makes sense.
He says to me “You have to know how the fish are feeding or when they are just sitting on the bottom”. The first thing that pops into my head is “Why does that matter, I just want to fish”. Come to find out it matters a whole lot. You have to know what they are feeding on so you can pick the right color lure to use. Also, if they are on bottom you probably want to either crank bait or carolina rig. So, many choices for my mind to comprehend, I had no idea it was this difficult.
Well, many practices and months later Shawn thinks it’s time to put me to the test. My only casting I do well at is a Vibrashock or crank bait. So, we head to Lake Fork for an Ultimate Bass rally with some real nice folks. It’s March 2008 and the forecast is cold and snowy.
We choose a nice little cove to fish in; it contains one dock and a few trees. We fished the shore line till we got to the dock. I fish out of the back of the boat so I have to wait for my chance to fish this dock and test my skills. Okay, I cast my new vibrashock to the left side of the dock and count to 1 then I started to reel in slowly because the water is so cold. I reel in about a foot when the line went tight and stopped. I pulled and started reeling harder. I told Shawn “I think I snagged a branch or something; “Must be a wood pile down there”. It felt like it was a medium size branch I was lifting off the bottom. As it came to the surface, about 3 feet away from the boat I saw what I had, a nice fat 6lb. largemouth bass. She didn’t fight one bit? I was told that if you hook into a big fish they will put up one heck of a fight. This is not true. So, lesson to learn here is: Never let off tension and keep reeling in. You never know what’s on the end of that line. It could be that lunker you have been searching for.
Till next time, keep your lines tight and thumb on the spool.
Crash
