BassHogFishing.com Blog

Bass Start to Shake

stephenmcgoldrick — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:53:21 +0000

That’s right after the shoulder surgery and laying my Dad to rest Basshogfishing is about to hit the lakes hard and heavy, and Mr. Basshog you better be ready for me.

I have been doing a little around the house in that small lake that I talk a lot about and the fish seem to be done with the spawn (Crappie) (Bass). Let us not forget the bream this is another great food source for Mr. BassHog, you can bet you will find a few real nice Bass close to a bream bed and feeding on the small bream. If not why in the world would they make so many lures that look like a bream/sunfish on the market?

Something else that I pointed out to a buddy of mine and I bet after I say this will get you to thinking also…..we threw the other day some topwater frogs and the Bass were knocking the frogs half way up the line. Not only did this work in the little lake but my buddy took some to New Johnsonville and they worked there also, But what I was about to say is if you are fishing early one morning or late evening and do not hear any bull frogs talking would not that give you the idea that the Bass are eating them up on a regular basis….try it and see if it does not work.

Hey here I am typing and should be loading the boat.

Keep The Hooks Wet

STEVE

Been Away to Long

stephenmcgoldrick — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:53:58 +0000

I have been away from the board for a while and sorry to say between my Dad passing and being schedule for right shoulder surgery It has been a little crazy around here. My Dad has been fighting cancer and being 84 years old lost his battle on April 15th in his sleep. I have spent the past two months with him and he kept asking me when he was going to die he thought the doctors were wrong that he felt just fine. The only response I could give him was that they did not have his room ready and when they had it ready they would come and get him. I know that there will be so many times that I will pick up the phone to call Dad just to find out he is gone. Some one once said you never know how much you miss someone until they are gone…Well that is a little true except I know Dad will always be by me and will keep on guiding me if not in person at least in spirit. One thing is that he will be able to go fishing all the time with me now and not have to worry about all the pain he had.

Dad must have been thinking about my surgery that was coming up so he checked into his new room in heaven before my surgery so I would not be worried about him and worry on getting this right shoulder fixed that the doctors said I was fishing too much and just wore it out.

Well it is done now and I was lucky that the rotor cup was not damaged but did have a large bone spur that was causing all the pain rubbing against other things. It is so sore but am looking to being on the lake maybe the first of May and will be able to get back to catching those Bass and telling all my readers where to come and get them.

Thanks to all who wrote and said that they were sorry it sure helps to know how many care and show it.

Oh the day after we buried Dad I went to the pond just down from the house and caught two nice fish that should be up on the site in about a week….be on the look out….I think I had some help maybe ????????

Keep The Hooks Wet

Steve

How Many Times Must You Be Told

stephenmcgoldrick — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:53:28 +0000

Yes I know this sounds HARSH, But I can not help it. What I am getting to is your PDF (Personal Floatation Device) just plain and simple your Life Jacket. Come on anglers you are all not the worlds best swimmers and give a situation we all can drown just like the little fifteen year old yesterday at the Tennessee river. I was going fishing at New Johnsonville and we had put our boat in the water when we noticed all the emergency trucks arrive on the ramp. We thought someone might be having heart problems so we proceed out to fish for the day.

We returned at noon to discover camera crews everywhere wanting information about a grandfather that had fallen into the water not far from where we put the boat in and had three grandkids go into the water to save the Grandfather from drowning. The only problem on what I heard was only two grandkids came up with Grandfather and the third did not make it and had the rescue squad recover the body shortly afterwards. The grandfather and two grandkids are fine, but I can not even think what Grandfather has to be thinking. I could not find out if life jackets were worn did not want to stand around and as questions the News Folks were doing enough of that.

Folks this is what I am talking about and the whole thing might have not happened if Life Jackets had been worn, what is making me mad is here is a fifteen year old that was struck down way to early in life and all might not have happened if he had been wearing a Life Jacket.

When I went on shore to get the truck and trailer I still had my jacket on, they are making Life Jackets so you can not even tell you have one on but is sure comes in handy when you do need it.

Help me help other if you see someone out on the water without a Life Jacket on stop him and explain that he or she may fall out of the boat and you would not like be on the squad that has to look for a body later.

This poor fifteen year old will not know what it is to graduate from School, get married and have kids of his own and take then to the lake during the summer.

Don’t Be The One That Has to be Told……..It just Might Be to Late

Keep The Hooks Wet

Steve

Angler Looking for Boat

stephenmcgoldrick — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:05:30 +0000

email = lschumer@hotmail.com Message = LEE needs to find a 2 person fiberglass bass boat 9ft long; handles on front, sides and back; drain plug on inside of boat

It is another job of mine to help out anglers and if you know of a boat or someone that has one please

to contact either me or the email address above and thanks from Lee and I.

Keep the Hooks Wet

Steve

Hats Off To Corp Of Engineers

stephenmcgoldrick — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 22:39:34 +0000

That is right they have done it again this year thinking that we were going to get the rain and they have blew it again getting the water to low in all the southern lake and reservoirs and it will take some awful rain to fill up all the lakes….but like they say every year they do not care and if we lose another couple of thousand fish in each lake it is not their fault. They are more interested in making sure we do not flood out anywhere.

Answer this question they have set up a level in the northern U.S. where the corp can not drop the water below that level and it took folks taking them to court to ensure that the lakes will stay at a level that would be healthy not only for the fish but safe enough where we do not flood out the residence. Why cant that happen here in the south? Maybe the wrong folks are holding to wrong jobs. I know this will end up like the other article I wrote, in some corps garbage can and a reply again that they do not care, or the amount of fish that die we do not need to worry….BULL…is that why they drop the limit of crappie in Mississippi because they realized that to many had died??????????????

I know if I had bought some property up at Pick Wick Lake and was supposed to be water front and I went up there right now I would be looking for an attorney to hang some ones rear end for a false add (On the water) front property when all I am looking at right now is mud.

I have heard other anglers sending in letters complaining or is this just a way to vent.

Any one that works for the Corps and has dealing with the water levels I bet that they do not go out and brag about it or spend a lot of time running from anglers, and summer boating folks.

Keep The Hooks Out Of The Mud

Steve

Fishing Report

stephenmcgoldrick — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:29:01 +0000

Folks just returned from Pick Wick Lake 3/25/2012 and I have never seen the lake that low do not count on your honey holes 90% chance that they will be dry.

I know there is a big Bass Tournament scheduled the last week-end of March and I must say be real careful running at full speed. I saw some stumps in Indian/Yellow Creek that I have never seen before and a lot of submerged trees sticking up.

We threw the A-Rig that everyone is so up about and produced nothing, ran into a few other bass anglers and they report that the A-Rig the bass stopped hitting them last week… I know sounds like the old story that goes…OH SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE YESTERDAY THEY WERE HITTING EVERY CAST. Needless to say we did not catch nothing on the A-Rig but was able to catch a white bass on a rattle trap and a very small bass on a crawdad color crank bait (BANDIT 200) in Indian.

The wind came up around 11am and we decided to call it and head to the ramp. I will say there were a lot of crappie fishing anglers out there and they were catching crappie that would make it to the freezer. Maybe I should try again and this time go for crappie.

Keep The Hooks Wet

Steve

Many Thanks

stephenmcgoldrick — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:49:46 +0000

I have to start that off this way for Kevin Van Dam to take time out of his busy schedule to help me bring so much excitement to a little 13-year-old to receive a picture just for him with a message from KVD and Autograph. I wish now I would have had the camera handy so I could have snap a few pictures to send to KVD.

All I can do is say T H A N K Y O U KVD.

Now his Dad John Wants a autograph from Skeet Reese, Might have to wait for Christmas.

Spring Has Sprung

stephenmcgoldrick — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:41:31 +0000

It looks like we are going to have another one of those years where we just skip Spring and move right into Summer. I went to a lake near my house yesterday 3/15/2012 and discovered the weather we have had in Memphis this past week has been in the 80′s and that has heated up the small lakes and ponds down south and the fish are turned on.

I always tell everyone if you got that itch to hit the water do not forget the small ponds and lakes you just might luck up and find the Bass of a lifetime in one of them. It has never failed me and I usually start off with a monster in the spring. The Lake I went to near the house had water temp at 69 to 70 degrees and that is the perfect temp for the bass to spawn. Which brings me to a funny thing that happened at the lake the other day.

“Story” My buddy and I put the boat in the water about 1pm and started working the East bank he was throwing a Shaky Head, and I was throwing a White and Chart Spinner Bait with a single silver Colorado blade. Well it did not take long at all before I was wearing the bass out with the Spinner Bait on every cast. My buddy was just about to say look at that Snake up close to the bank and he threw at it and what at first looked like a Snake turned out to be a the top Dorsal fin of a Bass either fanning the bed or a female laying her eggs. No matter which the water exploded and the bass was gone when the bait entered the water.

I wanted to add this story so you will not make the same mistake as my buddy did and throw the bait right on top of the fish. That might have been his big one for the year…we will never know now. As it turned out we caught about 70 Bass and sorry to say the biggest was only two pounds but we had a great time catching the 12 and 13 inch fish. Those little one can give you a small thrill smacking you lure and making you think you have a monster on the line.

Get out and enjoy Mother Nature Waking up and Don’t forget to take either a young one or maybe take your Dad or Grandfather I know that they will enjoy it and may even pass on a few secrets that he used when he was out hitting the lakes .

Keep The Hooks Wet

Steve

Arkansas Large Mouth Bass Record Taken Away

stephenmcgoldrick — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:17:43 +0000

By ARKANSAS GAME AND FISH COMMISSION

Mar 9, 2012

WYNNE, Ark. – Less than two weeks after an Arkansas largemouth bass record apparently was set, an investigation by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has revealed that the fish was caught illegally.

Paul Crowder of Forrest City claimed to have set the record Feb. 28 on Lake Dunn near Wynne. Crowder’s fish weighed 16 pounds, 5 ounces, which would have broken the record by an ounce.

The AGFC discovered that a license was purchased for Crowder three hours after he claimed to have caught the bass. Crowder’s fishing license expired in April 2011. Under AGFC regulations, it is illegal for any person 16 years of age or older to fish without possessing a current Arkansas fishing license. State record-fish rules require that an angler hold a valid license at the time of the catch.

Crowder has been charged with fishing without a license. He faces up to a $1,000 fine and up to 30 days in jail. The fish was seized as evidence by AGFC wildlife officers. Crowder has a court hearing March 19 in Wynne District Court.

Crowder’s fish would have broken the 36-year-old record set by the late Aaron Mardis of Memphis. Mardis set the state record March 2, 1976, with a 16-pound, 4-ounce largemouth caught on Mallard Lake near Manila in Mississippi County. Crowder’s fish was not fully certified as the state record by the AGFC’s director and chief of fisheries. The AGFC will continue to recognize the Mardis fish as the state record.

AGFC Chief of Fisheries Mark Oliver said he was disappointed that a bass large enough to be a state record can’t be certified because of illegal activity.

“At this time, we are still confident in the size and weight of the fish and proud that such a monster was produced in Arkansas waters,” Oliver said.

Crowder’s fish measured 26½ inches long and 22¾ inches in girth.

The 80-acre Lake Dunn is in Village Creek State Park in Cross County. The AGFC is testing the fish to determine the genetic strain of the bass.

Alabama Rig Tip

stephenmcgoldrick — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 01:08:21 +0000

The other day we were on the water testing out the Alabama Rig and my fishing Buddy told me he was having a time between fishing trips with his Alabama Rig getting tangled up in his rod locker with everything. I came up with the idea about saving all your bread wire ties and keep them in a baggies for future use. You can also keep the ties in the grass bags for the yard and do like I do and tie the plastic ends together instead of using the wire ties.

What you do with the Alabama Rig is bring all the wires together and use the bread tie wire with one or two twist and they will not be a problem storing them in the rod locker…provided you are using a reel cover and they will not get hung into every rod that you have. It is so simple and you do not have to run out and spend a bunch of money on more equipment on something that we all use every day.

I have had other fishermen said to use rubber bands but in the sun and weather the rubber bands will break down and the umbrella opens up inside your rod locker and if you are like me it will get every rod and maybe some wiring also.

Here is another secret if you look at the picture I have attached you will see that I am using the small Storm Minnows instead of the big swim baits give it a shot and see if you do not catch fish faster than the big swim baits. I am not saying the big swim baits will come closer to getting some hogs in the boat…..but as a friend told me when I showed him how to fish the Shakey Head with a small hook and his first cast and first fish weighed 5 pounds.

Try something different it just may surprise you. Just think you might even send me a tip that will save some bucks.

Keep The Hooks Wet

Steve