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By Ian Aren't all bass the same? What's the difference between a largemouth bass and smallmouth bass? Those are questions that I get a lot from many different people. One of the most important aspects of fishing, not just for bass but for all fish, is understanding your quarry. Both species of bass have their own unique physiology and behavior that, if you can understand, you can exploit to your advantage. These small things can sometimes mean the difference between a day with bass thumb or getting skunked. The most obvious difference between the two species is the mouth. There's a reason why largemouth bass are called "largemouth" and smallmouth bass are called "smallmouth". The jaw of the largemouth bass extends far past the eye, hence the name "largemouth". The jaw of the smallmouth extends to the middle of the eye, hence the name "smallmouth". In the warmer, more fertile waters that largemouth live in, they have a greater range of prey to swallow, and eat on larger, rounder or spinier prey, such as bluegill or catfish. Smallmouth, on the other hand, live in colder, less fertile waters, and have less diversity in their diets. They mostly eat smaller, thinner prey, such as shad, and don't need as large of a mouth to swallow their prey.
The coloration and pattern of the two species is also different. Smallmouth tend to have spotted dark marks across their skin, while largemouth tend to have one solid dark pattern running down their body, but there are always variations. Largemouth also tend to be greenish in color, while smallmouth are usually brownish or a dark yellow. Habitat is also a way to tell the two species apart. Smallmouth, as mentioned before, live in colder, infertile, faster flowing waters, such as the upper Potomac or the Great Lakes. Most clear, flowing creeks in the US will have a population of smallmouth. Largemouth live in fertile, slow moving, warmer water, such as most farm ponds and town lakes. Of course, there can be a little overlap, especially in larger reservoirs and rivers, with largemouth living in the shallower, calmer waters, and smallmouth living in the deeper or faster flowing sections. Tight lines, -Ian
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By Ian (Note: Some of you asked for articles about regional fishing. Since most of my readers live in Maryland, I decided to give it a shot. If you guys have any questions or comments, feel free to shoot me an email) When most people in the Northeast think about trophy bass waters, they think of Texas, Florida, Louisiana, California, or Mexico. Maryland rarely, if ever, comes into the picture. And there's some truth in that. We don't have as many waterways or productive food sources as those areas. In Californian reservoirs, for example, those lunker bass feast on abundant stocker trout, a rich and nutritious food source which lets them grow to huge sizes. There's an old saying: The grass is always greener on the other side. I can already hear some of you guys saying: "Ian, how does this apply to bass fishing? While some of those southern reservoirs do sometimes have more favorable conditions for bass growth. However, there still are big bass, 5s, 6s, 7s, even 10s, out there to be caught, especially in isolated or private water.  Above: There are trophy fish to be had in Maryland , even at your local farm pond. There are some ponds and rivers that have favorable conditions surprisingly similar to those in California, or even down South, such as reservoirs stocked with trout, or nutrient rich ponds. In my experience, big bass are usually found in either three places: reservoirs, large rivers, and private ponds, and are in nutrient rich waters. Nutrient plenty water usually produces more and fatter baitfish, and it means that the bass don't have to expend much energy to hunt, but this doesn't always apply to large reservoirs, especially those supplemented with prime baitfish. Also, the current shouldn't be too strong; otherwise, the fish will be forced to use up precious calories to keep up with the current, which slows down weight gain and growth.
For catching big bass, you have to use bigger baits in most cases. Big bass aren't as frisky as smaller bass; they are much more cautious, and more conservative of their valuable energy. These strategies helped them get big to start with. They aren't going to go after small baits, such as a 3" grub, unless you place it right in their face. They would probably go after larger baits, such as 6", 7", 8" swimbaits, or 12" worms. You can also fish big jigs and large creature baits. Big bass are much more easily spooked than their smaller brethren. Learning how to flip and pitch, to enter the water stealthily, is essential. A large splash will scare them away. Tight lines, -Ian By Ian As spring turns into summer, the threat of tick bites gets more and more common. The abundance of tall grass, combined with the natural lifecycle of the tick, causes the warmer months to time that bites are the most frequent. Due to this year's mild winter, the tick population is especially large. As outdoorsmen, we often wade or walk through tall vegetation and dense brush, where ticks latch to wait for unsuspecting victims, making us particularly at risk for bites. Not only are rashes and itching from tick bites annoying, but some ticks are carriers of diseases, some life threatening. So what can you do to avoid ticks?  Above: The specialized anatomy of a tick. wikipedia.org The thing to do is to avoid dense vegetation. This especially applies to bank fishermen. No matter how good a spot looks, it's not worth potentially putting your life on the line. Avoid meadows, bushes, and hedgerows. By avoiding these areas, you are eliminating the bulk of all potential bites.
However, if you must go through areas of dense brush, wear long sleeves and pants made of thick fabric, such as quality cargo pants. After each trip, inspect your clothing for ticks. You also can apply tick repellents to your clothes and skin. To remove a tick, first use fine tweezers to grasp the tick near the head, and pull it off steadily. After removing the tick, wash your hands and the bitten area with cleaning alcohol and water. Apply antiseptic to the area. If any unusually rashes appear, or a red "bull-eye" mark, notify a doctor immediately. Tight lines, -Ian By Ian When most people think of flies, they think of tiny hooks with bits of stuff tied on. You know, that weird smelling fluff that looks like it came from the neighbor's cat. The problem with most fur tied flies is that they are quite expensive, being a dollar or so each, as each fly must be tied by hand. For many of my fly fishing friends, the costs steadily add up over time. A great alternative is using weightless grubs on a fly rod. Grubs are inexpensive and have great action that seems especially effective on big bluegill. The tantalizing tail action of a grub on the fall has caught my personal best bluegill at 1.5 lbs. Ideally, the grub should be around 1-2" long. As far as colors go, I like white for clearer waters and watermelon for darker water.  Above: Nice "slab" bluegill caught on a green pumpkin grub. The most crucial part of this rig is to have your grub weightless. A weightless grub would have more action than a weighted one, and more importantly would be easier to cast on a fly rod. I prefer to rig grubs on a thin wire aberdeen hook, rigged like you would with a jighead.
The most common way of fishing this rid is to slowly twitch the grub and bringing in line at the same time. This method works especially well on smaller, friskier fish, but I like to cast out the grub, let it sink, twitch, let it sink, etc. The tail action on the fall seems to bring out the bigger bluegills, who are more wary and less active than the smaller ones. Bigger bluegills are also more attracted to more natural shades of colors. I hope that helps. For fun fishing or bluegill in general, the weightless grub can't be beat. Tight lines, -Ian By Ian One of life's greatest mysteries is how bass seem to populate even the most remote woodland ponds, seemingly out of reach for DNR stocking and without inlets. Fish, not just bass, have been found in very remote and cut off ponds in the most unluckiest of the places. An example would be the brown trout in the mountain lakes of Ireland. How to fish end up in these ponds? While some of us may believe that Lew's secretly stocks these ponds while we are all asleep, it seems that a very unlikely candidate, migratory geese, actually plays a role in transporting aquatic organisms across waterways. Note: Keep in mind that the science on fish dispersal across isolated waterways is not complete, and more research needs to be done.  Above: Thank your local honkers for their valuable services the next time you go fishing. Canada geese and ducks often sift through masses of aquatic plants and walk on fish spawning beds in their search for food. Many of them often accidentally ingest pond critters and fish eggs when they feed on duckweed. Small animals and eggs sometimes get stuck to their feathers in mud. A study done in Hungary involved feeding carp eggs to geese. The eggs were extracted after they were excreted and although few in number, were found to have healthy embargoes that grew to become fertile adults. Pond snails were also found to serve being eaten and excreted by waterfowl. As geese migrate, they land on different ponds, spreading critters from pond to pond. While no conclusive studies are yet done on bass, we can assume that ducks and geese at least play some role in spreading aquatic organisms from different waterways.  Above: As they look for food, ducks often ingest many other pond organisms. Another method of transmission involves storms and floods. Asian carp, for example, used flooding to escape their holding ponds into the Mississippi. Fish can survive a surprisingly long time out of water if their skin is moist, wriggling through wet grass and into culverts and ditches. This method of transmission is especially common down South, where the weather is often humid and rainstorms are more common.
Tight lines, -Ian By Bill Tong When you catch a hawg, your heart is thumping. You can't think of anything but landing that fish, and when you do, you are excited. You lip the fish, reach for your phone, ask your buddy to take a few cool pictures, and then put the fish in the water, and watch it swim off. No harm done, right? Unfortunately, holding a fish incorrectly can often increase the mortality rate of the fish after release, or also injuries that will stunt their growth.  Above: Never put a fish on the ground, even if it is grass. Putting fish on the ground is a big no-no that unfortunately is very common, especially among inexperienced anglers. Fish naturally have a layer of slime on their scales, which you probably would have felt when you are trying to handle a fish. This slime helps protect them against parasites and helps their skin. When you put a fish on the ground, especially on dirt, the slime gets wiped out and the fish is vulnerable to diseases. It also stresses them out, which further weakens their immune system. Fish with damaged slime coats have a higher rate of mortality than those with intact slime coats after release, and those that survive are often weakened by opportunistic infections such as molds.
When lipping a fish, always make sure you hold the fish by the lower jaw while supporting it on the rear end. Always make sure the fish is horizontal, and you aren't putting too much stress on one part of the body. Holding a fish vertically, which most people done, can injure the jaw and impede hunting. Make sure you are never holding the fish for more than 30 seconds. Tight lines, -Ian By Ian If you walk by any public lake, you will often see people with buckets and a really basic setup. They usually are usually worms and bobbers. They are known as the "bucket brigade". They fish to eat. Most of time they catch bluegill and the occasional bullhead, but sometimes they catch bass. Most bass fisherman don't care if they take panfish, but bass is hot topic to many people. It especially hurts if the bass they catch is over 3 pounds. So what can you do about it?  Above: Most of the fish that the bucket brigade catch are under 2 pounds.
Not much, really. If the bait fisherman are following the law, such as catch limits, you can't stop them. But if you see them taking nice fish, you can gently walk up to them and remind them of the valuable fish they are taking out the ecosystem, and how it's important to preserve these fish to spawn. You could also ask the authority in charge of the lake or pond to make a rule prohibiting the taking of fish over a certain size, or at least put up a sign reminding people of the benefit these big bass contribute to the food chain. Other than that, you can't really do anything that won't get you trouble with the law. If you want to get away from all fishing pressure, you can find a untouched private pond to fish. Many farmers have watering ponds that have big fish but they don't fish. Politely ask them to fish their pond, and perhaps do some chores so they lt you come again. If you don't want your honey hole on a public lake to be depleted, don't make your honey hole public knowledge. Don't brag to it to other anglers at the lake, don't post it on a forum, don't bring large groups of people there. Only bring a few close friends there. When the word gets out, we can't do anything about it. I have seen dozens of honey holes throughout my life destroyed by fishing pressure. Sometimes what the bucket fishermen do benefits a fishery. For instance, many ponds and lakes are filled with a lot of skinny sub 12" bass, while there is no bigger fish. The fish in these waterways are sickly and starving, and are in need of a culling. Through culling, there will be more food and habitat for the other fish, and you will see the size of the fish increase, and you will fatter and healthier fish. Sometimes, a lake needs a cull. Since the bucket fishermen mostly catch small bass, they are improving a fishery by leaving more resources for the bigger ones to grow and reproduce. Tight lines, -Ian By Ian Have you ever been fishing, or just walking by a pond or lake, enjoying the weather and minding your own business, when a goose pops out of a bush, quacking and screeching, and charges at you? As a fisherman, this has likely happened to you before, or will pretty soon. Spring is here, and so is goose breeding season. A mated pair sets up camp around a pond, and stays there for 2-3 months. The female sits on the eggs and incubates them, while the male guards their territory, aggressively chasing off interlopers. Unfortunately for us fishermen, the time that these geese mate also happens to the time when bass fishing really starts to warm up. So how do you deal with these annoying buggers?  Above: An adult goose standing guard over his territory. There usually is only one goose pair per pond. When a goose attacks you (and there is only one), it's always the male. The female is content sitting on her nest. Geese only attack when you are near their nest. When you are near a nesting goose, always keep at least fifteen feet away. That is the radius in which a male gets aggressive. The male usually warns you when you are getting in that radius. He arches his neck, hisses, and starts to spread his wings. When this happens, slowly back away. Make no sudden moves. Fighting geese is not usually a good idea. Geese have powerful wings, and I have heard of instances in which bones where broken by geese. They will also try to stab you with their beaks. Trust me, fighting them is not worth it, unless a goose is already on top of you. In that case, use a pole or any hard object and try to swat them away, and run out of that fifteen feet radius.  Above: Female goose sitting on her nest.
The good thing is that there is usually one goose pair per pond. Find out where the female has made her nest, stay at least fifteen feet away from it, and you should be fine. Tight lines, -Ian By Ian Spring is definitely here. The weather is warm, but not too hot. The trees are already covered with this year's growth, and the flowers are in full bloom. Spring is also a good time to take up bass fishing, and many people are doing so. The water is starting to warm up, and the fish are more actively feeding. However, many people are having trouble catching their first bass. It's a common problem that many beginner fishermen face, and even I ran into some hurdles as a new bass angler. I spent two months trying to catch a bass I caught panfish, catfish, and even some trout, but I just wasn't getting a bass. So what is a surefire way to catch your first bass?  Above: Playing a numbers game is easy: Use small baits.
There are many factors in why a person can't catch a bass, such as technique or rigging, the the thing I would look at most is my gear: are my baits too large? Is my line too thick? Are my hands covered with anything that may deter fish (gasoline, sunscreen, tanning lotion)? The most common mistake I see with many beginning bass anglers is using to wrong line - 50lb is not going to get you anywhere. The fish, especially if they are in a highly pressured public lake, will see your line and be suspicious. I would use line between 10-20lb test for mono or fluorocarbon in most situations, but anything above 17lb is pushing it; you would only use such thick line in very dense weeds. I recommend using 12lb to 14b for most situations. For braided line, though, things are different due to braid's extreme thinness. I would use 80lb braid at most for topwater applications, and would use 30-40lb braid for very dense weeds. Larger baits, while good for catching larger fish, scare off the smaller fishes. Remember, a good majority of the bass in a given waterway are small or medium sized fish. The larger the fish you are after, the less of them there are in a lake or pond. It's just how the food chain works. If you want to catch fish, you should use smaller baits. A 2" grub on a 1/16th oz jighead is a surefire way to catch a lot of bass, although they may be small. Lastly, I would make sure there are no noxious chemicals on my hands or tackle. Nothing causes a bass to develop lockjaw more than a coating a motor oil or cleaning solution on your hand. I often wash my hands before I go fishing. Tight lines, -Ian By Ian
Recently, a few of my readers emailed me about the inaccessibility of website for past few days. The YFS website has been recently taken down for some renovations. We are beginning an ambitious new redesign of the website that is expected to be showcased in May or June, with added features and a newer, better Ian's Column. If you have an comments, questions or suggestions, you can contact us in the contact page. Tight lines, -Ian |
About Me Hi. I am Ian, an extremely avid bass fisherman living in Howard County, MD. I like to bank fish and fish at local ponds and small creeks. I will explore budget friendly options for people to use in this blog. I hope I can teach you something. Categories
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