MORE BASS THAN FISHING PRESSURE

Only last week, Gary Stelly and I were talking about night fishing the

full moon on Toledo Bend in November. The major downside is the

potential for arriving at the lake the same time yet another cold front

rolls in.Cold is one thing….cold and a howling north wind is another!

Back in the late seventies and early eighties when everyone with a bass

boat, as well as some without, belonged to a local bass club the more

determined members would opt to fish their monthly tournament at night.I

was guiding full time and had never fished nights past the month of

September anyway, but I knew they were catching bass while the rest of

us were resting up for the following day.

I well remember greeting clients at the dock for a day of fishing the

same time most of those die hard anglers were just returning after

twelve hours of fishing in the dark.At that time, the possibility of

catching a double digit bass wasn’t even a part of the thought process,

but they definitely caught more than their fair share of five to seven

pound bass.

Because surface temperatures were generally in the mid 70’s, basically

every pattern had potential.At the same time folks like Tommy and Mike

Humphrey were wearing out the bass with spinner baits in shallow water,

Joe Barras, along with his patient wife bundled up in a sleeping bag,

was a permanent figure anchored on a deep tree line soaking a lizard in

15 to 20 feet of water.

Those recollections quickly came to mind while talking with Jason and

Paul Sensat.“We couldn’t have timed it any better,” said Jason.“We got

to the lake a little ahead of the front and had we only fished the

evening we arrived it would have been a great trip!”

Jason said they caught fifteen to twenty bass up to five pounds fishing

centipedes rigged Whacky worm style through the lay down grass.“I don’t

know how many times the hit came before I made the first turn on my reel

handle.It was just crazy.”

The bite completely died an hour after dark, however, and they decided

to give deeper water a quick shot rather than call it a night.“We fished

some protected humps that are usually deeper than they are right now and

the bass were there,” said Paul.“We thought we had really figured out

something special until we found them in 12 to 15 feet of water on every

hump we fished.”

“I think they would have hit anything you put in front of their face,

but we stuck with a seven inch lizard and never experimented with

anything else,” added the younger brother. “Jason claimed he pulled off

the lake record, but we never boated anything over six pounds.We could

have both easily weighed in twenty pound stringers.”

The Sensats caught a few bass on a Texas rig, but most of their fish

were caught on a Carolina rig.“I usually fish a half ounce sinker,” said

Jason, “but we got a lot more strikes with a 3/16ths ounce worm

weight.The grass wasn’t very thick and the lighter weight just worked

better.”

They never kept the first bass, but still came home with several future

fish fries in the ice chest.“We took Mom out crappie fishing on her

brush piles this morning and finished with eight bags of filets. She

caught all of the fish,” volunteered Jason.“I ate her homemade cinnamon

rolls and baited her hook while my brother slept!”

I hoped to take advantage of the trout just ahead of the modest wind

shift last Friday, but it proved to be wishful thinking.We had a good

outgoing tide, but the wind and the big rain the day before dirtied up

much of the river and north end of the lake.

The clearer water pouring out of the marsh drains was still holding

bass, redfish and flounder.Fire Tiger crankbaits, Usual Suspect Swim

baits and quarter ounce spinnerbaits with a red shad Bass Assassin Sea

Shad body all worked well.

Hopefully, the front and cooler weather due in Wednesday night will

improve the trout bite.If it doesn’t there isn’t much more Mother Nature

can do to help the Cause.Right now, if you aren’t wading you probably

aren’t consistently catching trout and even that bite has been iffy!