Comments for RichZ's Bass Blog

Comment on Inexplicably tough weekend by slink16

slink16 — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:48:12 +0000

That would help a lot, and I see Dave has done well for several tournies up there on green fish. Even the VT guys are fishing for green ones up there. I have a buddy that was strictly SMB but when the relocation program went into effect, he started catching the green fish. He’s spoiled now! Looks like the SMB will have a bigger role in this one.

I saw you caught some with real fishing gear for once….I kind of choked up when I read that!

No toothy takers for me either which doesn’t bother me any…but I know they’ll be tearing things up shortly.

Comment on Inexplicably tough weekend by RichZ

RichZ — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:14:30 +0000

I think it’s tough not to come to the conclusion that the average size of the catch in the south end has declined pretty drastically over the course of this season.

I believe that this one will be won up north, and that most of the field will end up staying up north. I see Dave Wolak’s tied for 1st after day one. He’s a nice guy, and I hope he wins. Not as much because he’s a friend, as that he won the last one up north, and if he wins this one up north, it’ll stop a lot of the traffic from coming down our way the next year or two.

Did you see I actually spinnerbaited some fish on Sunday? Damn — a horizontal presentation. Next thing you know, I’ll have a buzzbait tied on.

Did not catch a single toothy last weekend, or get bitten off.

Comment on Inexplicably tough weekend by slink16

slink16 — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:11:14 +0000

Normally your slow day would be my great day but I’d be fighting to keep the skunk out of the boat after reading this! I see a bunch more southern bass have decided to vacation around Plattsburg again! I’ll be glad when this one is over, the southern lake got trashed this year. A couple of nice brown fish you found! I’ll try Monday but I can hear that skunk trying to get in the boat right now!

Comment on Busy fishing weekend by RichZ

RichZ — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:28:12 +0000

We tend to undervalue the pickerel, but when they get up above 4 or 5 pounds, they pull like crazy and provide a lot of fun — especially on light tackle. In the lake I was fishing Sunday, they grow big, and they typically spend 98% of their time 20 to 30 feet down, outside the deepest edge of the weed growth, where they are suckers for small stuff. Here’s an clear shot of a better sized one my buddy Jim caught out of the back of my boatg last August.

Comment on Busy fishing weekend by TuffEnuff

TuffEnuff — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 01:33:29 +0000

Stunning colors on that pickerel. We have oodles of northern pike “up north” here in Minnesota but that don’t look nearly anything like that.

Comment on I was a little concerned about fishing Champlain this weekend. by RichZ

RichZ — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:27:32 +0000

Last few years, we spend as much time between Benson and the locks as we do around Ti. I just can’t figure out where/how you get ‘em on cranks, buzzbaits and frogs. We got two bass on horizontal presentations all weekend.

Comment on I was a little concerned about fishing Champlain this weekend. by slink16

slink16 — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:14:42 +0000

That explains why I didn’t do squat on Tuesday. Also explains why so many guys were flipping the nut, I couldn’t find a place to squeeze in anywhere….on a Tuesday no less! No more peace and quiet during the week anymore! And now I’m going to scold you for pointing out to every tournament angler about all the beauties you caught on Sunday on my part of the lake. They trash your honey holes around Ti now your sending them down my way to trash the only place I can catch fish anymore. Next Stratos that cuts you off will be dark blue and the guy at the front of the boat will be slinging crankbaits across those girly rods you insist on fishing with. Double Harrumph!! Very nice fish by the way….. glad someone can catch them!

Comment on Sunday morning at Lakeville by RichZ

RichZ — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:42:15 +0000

Primarily alewives, with a side menu of craws and other assorted goodies. But the predators key heavily on the alewives. It’s a deep (100+ foot), clear, natural lake, with way more humps, extended rock.gravel points, and other such lovely structure than typical. Plenty of places you can sit in 30 to 70 feet of water and flip into heavy milfoil growing up out of 10 to 18 feet. Grows huge brown trout (as any alewife lake will do) and huge pickerel. The big pics reside in deep water — 18 to 35 feet, most of the time. Hammer handle pics shallower than that. Lake has heavy milfoil growth that reaches to 16~18 feet, and gets mowed regularly.

We see that carbuncle type growth at the base of the caudal fin (either on top or bottom of the fish), sometimes accompanied by red streaks in the tail, on quite a few LMB, often with little or no other damage or deterioration of the caudal, and quite often, the lump or growth is present without the accompanying red streaks or split in the tail, too. Now that you mention it, I do seem to notice it more often at Lakeville, than many other places.

Comment on Quick hitter Saturday morning by RichZ

RichZ — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:21:10 +0000

Paul, we have a lot of lakes where the vegetation grows different every year. Some years, conditions are prime for milfoil, other years, what we call ‘black coontail’ or ‘crispus maximus’ dominates the same areas. And other years, large areas of prime veggies seem to be entirely missing.

Comment on Sunday morning at Lakeville by Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:47:58 +0000

Since I’m new here, I don’t know your lakes. What’s the forage in Lakeville?

Why the bloodied tail on the last fish? On-going discussion amongst friends. The most likely answer has been infections following the spawn. This is often seen on big fish -presumably females that don’t dig beds. What’s up?