TATER HOG CUSTOM LURES         

THE FOLLOWING IS A EMAIL CONVERSATION BETWEEN BEN, TX and THE LURE PROFESSOR after I forward them both a picture of this nice 8 pound bass I caught on Douglas Lake this June.. The professor forwarded this chat on to me and after reading the knowledge and length of this material, I told the professor he did it again... READING MATERIAL THAT IS EDGE U MA CATIONALL like... SO READ UP DISPSTICKS YOU MIGHT LEARN SOMETHING HERE... Even I didn’t know this is why I caught that big fish.. I just normally grip it, rip it and reel it!  But hey they say ignorance is bliss and I’m the stupidest guy I know.  So I guess I would rather be good looking and stupid than ugly and smart.

CATCHING BIG BASS IN THE SUMMER HEAT

DEAR LURE PROFESSOR,

After looking at Matt’s big bass caught in 95 degree temps and reading what he said about it being so hot it made me think of something and I was just wondering if either of you had ever had anything close to the same experience. Both of my biggest 5 fish stringers came in the last couple weeks of August. And in case you didn’t know it gets pretty damn hot during August in Texas. You’ll have sweat drops big as horse turds dripping off your elbows. Had one 5 fish stringer that weighed a little over 27 pounds that was caught in 9 casts of a DD22. Made 9 casts and caught 6 fish.  The other 5 fish stringer weighed a little over 35 pounds that were caught in less than two hours. Both stringers of fish were caught in an area you could cover up with a bass boat. When Dean posted at TU about surface temps being in the 90’s on a lot of Kentucky lakes it reminded me of another time I found quality fish in shallow water. The surface temp was 97 degrees and the fish were in 2 to 3 feet of water. And I’m talking quality fish up to 7 pounds. That was the largest I can testify to. There were probably even better fish that I never hooked.  As far as the type of lake it’s a lowland reservoir with lots of creeks and several river channels with lots of flooded timber and brush along the shorelines with lots of mid-lake humps located close to deep water. Anyway, my question is if either of you have ever had something similar happen to you?

Ben, in Texas (for awhile!)

Hello Ben!

I’ve caught a lot of bass out of real skinny hot water in the summer---some lakes have a hyperactive food chain up shallow, along with highly oxygenated water, which can literally become a dominant factor in summer patterns---after the spawn, a bass’s life centers around metabolic efficiency, thus the feeding when and where oxygen is at its highest concentrations which allows the bass to metabolize a dependable food source high in protein and fat, while expending as little energy as possible.  Big females, having gotten that way by having learned efficient behaviors, often ended up schooled together, simply because what is good for one is good for many, and being of dominant size, they choose the best dinner table at the best times.  Fishermen have traditionally thought that the fish school according to size, because they tend to catch fish of similar sizes when fishing schoolies, but it is really more “effect” than “cause”.  The truth is that a school of bass most likely has fish of many different year classes and therefore sizes, but are mostly grouped according to size at various depths in the school; and when bass are typically when feeding predominantly on soft ray bait fish such as shad or herring, the smaller chasing and slashing bass are near the top injuring and disorienting the bait, and the larger fish nearer the bottom of the school are expending less energy taking the easier meals.  It used to be, and probably still is true that because many fishermen fish for schooling largemouth bass with only one technique, which is typically, throwing a small surface lure to those aggressive fish the see surfacing, which often yields the quickest action, they will wrongly assume that because they’re catching those smaller bass that the entire school is populated with only those fish..  Some fishermen these days though, know to go deep with the big cranks for big fish, or in Matt’s case throw a lure so big on top that the smaller fish don’t attempt to eat it.  Mrs. Big sees an opportunity for a one gulp single meal easily taken and catches one of the biggest fish in the school, simply because he appealed to its highly tuned efficiency mechanism (little did he know, sic.) (lol).

This also explains that phenomenon of the, “Look that’s even a bigger fish with the one that’s hooked”, and, catching 2 fish on one cast.  Big fish have learned that an easy way to get a meal is to track another fish that seems to be attempting to dislodge a baitfish it is having difficulty swallowing, and a fish fighting with your bait flashing near or in its mouth is a perfect imitation of that particular scenario.  It is much easier to steal an injured baitfish than catch one in full gallop.  It is the bird in the hand deal, only it’s the bait in the mouth...

So yes, I have taken advantage many times of the big fish schooling deep in the summer, boom, boom, boom, boom!  Caught some big strings of fish on lake Barkley in the lake 60’s early 70’s like that, lots of fives and sixes sometimes off one piece of cover, and many similar situations on other lakes in years since, although more often slightly smaller bass 2 ½ to near 5 pounds, which is great most anywhere around these hard pounded waters throughout Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Illinois.  Oh to encounter such schooling situations on Big Sam Rayburn and its legendary Big Texas Beauties!

THE LURE PROFESSOR