Category: Posts with Fishin’ Stories

“I’ll never catch any fish around here“, the forklift driver grumbles as he enters hour 11 of his 12-hour shift. “When we go up to the clear northern lakes, man… that’s where it’s at.”

The clang of the tines echo through the warehouse as they hit the floor just a bit too hard. Too hard for an experienced driver like this – unless of course he’s having a tantrum.

“I wish there were pike around me. Or smallmouth. Or walleye. All these ponds and lakes in Illinois is just so mucky – so sloppy – so hard to fish. Can’t use the jig-n-leech I grew up on, it snags everything floating and on the bottom – same with my jerkbait, even my swimbaits with exposed hooks – especially in early spring. Nothing of any quality lives here – the good fish are all far away and there is no way with work I can travel. I barely get enough time to go throw a footballhead jig in the slop for a frustrating hour once or twice a week… I hate this.“

The low battery beep starts to go off on the fork, meaning he’ll have to go swap for a different one and plug his in. A mild inconvenience, but combined with the current foul, frustrated mood – a recipe for total defeat & exhaustion.

“Whatever… I just need to get done so I can go home and go to bed. There is no point fishing when I spend more time picking debris off of my hooks than I do catching fish. Forget it.“

With that, he backs his lift into a “charging station”, designated by some spray paint on the floor, plugs the large plastic power connector into his battery an wanders off – completely defeated – to finish his shift…

The questions our hero should be asking himself are simple, but not always easy to figure out: What fish live around me? Where do they live? What do they eat?

I know this – because I was the forklift driver not that long ago… and until I re-learned how to fish based on local fish, forage and cover, I was constantly frustrated by the fact that the presentations I learned to love as a kid – the ones that worked in clear, natural lakes with distinct weed edges – definitely did not work around me.

At least, not the way I was fishing them. We don’t have pike. Or smallmouth. Or walleye.

What we do have… is largemouth bass.

And oh boy… do we have some good ‘uns!

Where do Largemouth Bass Live?

Largemouth bass are easy to like – especially after you catch a few. They’re “sporty”, they fight hard, they jump, and even though they don’t fight as long as smallmouth – their broad bodies and tails allow them to pull like an ox.

They’re green little beasts.

Largemouth are known to be scrappy. They are also aggressive, and can be caught on a myriad of artificial baits – hard & soft – fast & slow – depending on the conditions and their location.

There is nothing like hooking into a largemouth bass in shallow water if you are looking for what feels like hand-to-hand combat. Bass can set up in what seems like mere inches of water, and if you hook into a spooky bass in skinny water, they will put you and your gear to the test!

Bass also spend time in areas that look “bassy”, and finding them while fishing visual cover is extremely enjoyable. Word on the street is that there are always some bass sitting shallow – even if they might not be the biggest bass in the system, or part of the highest concentration. This means that shore-bound anglers can usually beat the bank and find some fish – sometimes more effectively than boaters.

Hunting largemouth bass is a thinking game, because no matter the time of year or the conditions, there is always a way to catch them. The challenge is in solving this puzzle.

It’s addicting.

Largemouth Bass Accessibility

One of the most amazing qualities of the largemouth bass is their adaptability. This in turn makes them extremely accessible.

They live (almost) everywhere!

In fact, few Americans live far from good bass fishing. They live in both still & running water. Lakes & reservoirs. Streams & ponds. Huge water. Small water. Pits & rivers. They live among alligators in the southern tropical lakes and far to the north where water is frozen over 5 months out of the year.

In terms of their geographical spread, largemouth bass live in some capacity in all of the lower 48 states + Hawaii! (Even the southern fringe of Canada!) In fact, it’s easier to say where they don’t exist: Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, and certain arid regions of the Great Plains.

One huge factor to the spread of these fish, was of course stocking. Originally bass were present only in the eastern half of the continental United States (with the exclusion of certain eastern seaboard states). As bass interest grew in the 19th century, they started to get transported in milk cans via the new and improved railroad system, ultimately being placed into waters all across the country.

It’s ‘merica’s fish!

They have adapted to artificial lakes, ponds, and during the “Dust Bowl” days that started around 1936, the construction of ponds was encouraged by federal and state agencies. Over 300 million farm ponds were built and most were stocked with bass. In Kansas for example, almost 43 percent of the bass habitat is in ponds the size of 20 acres or less. Additionally man-made reservoirs total about 10 million surface acres. Excluding the Great Lakes, their construction has nearly doubled the nation’s total lake surface area.

Bass have been able to adapt extremely well to all of these bodies of water. There are probably some nearby, and we can probably all go catch a few… in fact, with such a wide range, maybe we should all be asking the same question…

Where is the closest 10-pounder hiding?!

Tight lines!

NEXT SECTION: Learn to Fish The F4 Rig
PREVIOUS SECTION: A Brief History of In-Fisherman

My brothers and I have vivid memories of the stacks and stacks of In-Fisherman Magazine that Grandpa collected. They were placed ever so carefully in medium-sized wicker baskets that lived next to the old wooden rocking chairs in the cabin up North.

Well… it was a “cabin” to us because it was in Wisconsin… but in reality, it was simply Grandpa’s “home away from Illinois”.

We loved it.

We also loved flipping through the pages of these beauties, imagining ourselves pulling giant pike, walleye, smallmouth bass and muskie up from the depths of the chain ‘o lakes – which would be extremely difficult at this time considering we all fished with bobbers, worms and a size 6 Eagle Claw baitholder hook right off the dock in about 4 feet of water.

(We never had cheap cartoon-character fishing poles, thankfully… Grandpa and Dad insisted we go straight to Zebco 33s.)

The covers though, I remember the covers. They were exciting and mysterious and I would flip through the pages looking for more pictures – not so much tips, advice and science. Science?! I got enough of that at school – this was about fishing!

Many great memories were made in the living room, but when anyone mentions In-Fisherman, I think about those wicker baskets next to the rocking chairs…

The In-Fisherman

Al and Ron Lindner also used to vacation in Wisconsin as kids. Bass fishing started for them around this time, and Al avidly read Jason Lucas (who at the time was the only national figure writing about largemouth bass in Sports Afield magazine). While bass weren’t the only fish the brothers chased, this was still an important developmental time for the two young anglers.

We fished a lot in a little lake outside Hayward, Wisconsin, when I was about 5 years old. Ron and I didn’t have a boat, so we ran around in swim suits fishing lily pads and deadfalls from shore. We usually fished with frogs on weedless hooks. Later we used all sorts of artificials.

I remember two particularly big bass. One was a huge fish that Ron hooked on a Johnson Silver Minnow… we finally lost it, but I think that bass was 7 or 8 pounds, one heck of a fish for northern waters.

Another time, on the same lake, I tied into one on a Burke plastic worm with propellers. I lost it in shallow pads. Figure it was a 10. Even if I’m wrong, it was huge!

That lake turned me on to bass fishing. We fished for other species, but bass were exciting. I was pretty good with a jig and a worm when I was 10, long before worms were popular in the North.

Al Lindner

Those lost fish are the things that nightmares are made of… sleepless nights… wondering “WHY?! Why did she pop off?!”

Ron too, was knows to ask the question: “why?” He was a fisherman that loved the catch, but was fascinated by theory. In fact, in the book “Largemouth Bass in the 1990s: an In-Fisherman Handbook of Strategies“, it is said that Ron frustrated hundreds of fishing partners, fishing in screwball ways simply to test new theories.

Al on the other hand was more of a results-oriented angler, applying theories when they were shown to help him catch more fish.

These two personalities meshed together, one providing the yin to the other’s yang, allowing the brothers to probe the frontier of fishing in a way that no other single individual could.

In 1970, Al experienced lean times as a guide in the north during the ice season. He decided to make a move, and relocated near Sam Rayburn Lake in Texas. Rayburn was 5 years old at this time, and it was just hitting it’s productive peak – but Al still needed to learn how to target these winter bass in a huge southern reservoir.

He quickly learned just how important timber and creek channels were to bass location. With the help of other guides from Missouri and Arkansas, he mastered deep-water jigging. This method – along with many others associated with Rayburn – allowed the two brothers experience the effectiveness of lures that hadn’t yet reached the north.

By 1975, even though they had accumulated a large amount of knowledge, they had not accumulated a large amount of money.

They were broke.

So… what better time than now to start a brand new fishing publication?! It was out of this situation that The In-Fisherman Magazine was born. However, it didn’t look like the In-Fisherman we know today – the In-Fisherman that lives in those wicker baskets next to the rocking chair. No, Ron’s original concept was to create a small, focused correspondence course for a select few serious angling subscribers. However, by 1980 the magazine had evolved into so much more than that. It didn’t take long for the information the Lindners were bringing to the table to expand out into radio and television as well, forming the base of the In-Fisherman network. A network that would become In-Fisherman Incorporated, providing a powerful base for fishing education, sustained by contributions from powerful fishing educators.

The network has always centered around collaboration, striving to provide authentic, useful fishing information provided by great fishing minds working together.

The development of general principles that aim to help anglers understand both fish and their world take center stage. Without these principles, the sea of “tips & tricks” can become a useless, overwhelming mass.

The network does not limit itself or specialize in a single technique, species or region. Instead, it seeks insight in all aspects of freshwater fishing.

From the beginning, In-Fisherman presented a more comprehensive picture of angling than had been the norm. Instead of focusing on “hot baits” or “hot lakes” and ignoring location and outside factors that could position fish, they provided a more complete picture and developed the formula: F+L+P=S

F (Fish) + L (Location) + P (Presentation) = S (Success)

Finally, by taking a more scientific approach to understanding fish and their environment while still focusing on catching fish (remember, Ron was all about the theory, and Al was all about the results), In-Fisherman was able to bring together recreational anglers, scientists and fishery managers – establishing itself as an authority and helping to promote sound conservation and wise fish management principles – all while teaching people how to fish.

As an adult, I am now a paying subscriber, just like Grandpa was years ago. Doug Stange (the current Editor in Chief at the time of writing) has done an outstanding job of keeping In-Fisherman on the cutting edge of the fishing world with continuous, high-quality information and articles. If you have never cracked the pages and had a look for yourself – I suggest you do so.

You might even consider filling up some wicker baskets and planting a few seeds for the next generation of anglers while you’re at it…

https://www.in-fisherman.com/

Tight lines!

NEXT SECTION: Location of Largemouth Bass by Region
PREVIOUS SECTION: How the “Average Fisherman” Benefits from Professional Bass Tournaments

It’s damp & cold down here in the basement.

You’ve come by to visit a million times. To the casual observer it might appear cluttered, but Grandpa knows where each and every piece of fishing gear lives.

Gear that has taken a lifetime to accumulate. Cultivate. Collect… and of course… use… and use well as evidenced by the pictures strategically nailed into place all over the homemade workbench.

Some of those pictures are prints you gave him. You, your wife, the kids kids, all holding some combination of bobbers and panfish in vivid color. The over-the-top contrast and super-saturation that comes with phone cameras is on full display – but to the left near the edge of the light thrown by the single dangling bulb you notice something else. Pictures with a wide white border; lower contrast and yellowed edges that are slightly curled – maybe from age, maybe from nicotine… maybe both.

“Polaroids”, he says, before you have the chance to ask. “We used to shake ’em when they came out of the camera, thinking they’d ‘develop’ faster. Still don’t know if that actually worked…”

“I remember Grandma chasing us around with those big pancake-looking cameras when we were kids”, you respond. “Smile you little rugrats! I only got so much film and ‘yer wastin’ it!!“

You both pause for a second, fondly reminiscing about the docile woman in the kitchen upstairs (currently boiling hot dogs for lunch in her meticulous manner) chasing a bunch of kids around snapping pictures many moons ago.

Good memories.

Grandpa breaks the silence without looking up from the ancient reel he’s cleaning; “speaking of chasing – what are you chasing these days?”

Without hesitation you respond; “largemouth bass. I’m about perch & sunfished out, Grandpa. I want to catch something like what you’re holding up in the pictures on your workbench.”

“Ah! ‘Ol bucketmouth!”, he chuckles. “We’ve had a few run ins over the years. Powerful brutes… beautiful coloring and blood-red gills so vibrant that pictures never seem to do them justice.”

You sit in silence hoping he’ll keep talking…

“If you want to catch them… and I mean really catch them… you need to go back and learn everything you can. History, anatomy, location and adaptations. It ain’t about the latest & greatest hot-shot lure on the market, it ain’t about learning spots – it’s about knowledge. It’s about learning what makes them tick. What drives their behavior.”

He stops and looks you dead in the eyes.

“Them big ones ain’t big because they’re stupid. If you want to land one, you’re gonna have to put in the work… or get really lucky… or both.”

With that, he places the reel on the workbench and wipes his hands on a towel – stands; straightens his back, then reaches up to the stack of books sitting high above. He moves “Book of the Black Bass” aside, then “More About the Black Bass” – both by Dr. James A. Henshall – “you should read them too” he mutters, “but start with this.” He pulls down a well-weathered book and blows the dust off, revealing a busted spine and several deep creases in the cover:

“Guaranteed to keep you two steps ahead of the crowd, huh!? Dang, pretty serious!”

“Don’t laugh”, Grandpa warns, “there is more knowledge packed into these 300 pages than you will be able to absorb in a single read. If you really want to catch bigger fish – this is your foundation.”

He tosses the book your way. Some of the leftover dust sticks to your shirt as you fumble to catch it.

“Keep it. Read it twice. Then tell me what you think.”

“I will… thanks.”

You hear Grandma’s voice from up above, “lunchtime you two!”

Grandpa reaches up to pull the white string attached to that single bulb above the workbench. The two of you turn and head up the creaky stairs for the bounty that awaits: boiled hot dogs.

Meticulously prepared.

Grandma’s specialty.

They’ll taste just as good today as they did over 30 years ago.

Holding the book in your hand, you think to yourself “a hot dog and a visit sound excellent… but… I’m actually kind of excited to crack this book open when I get home…”

Grandpa doesn’t say a word… he knows the seed has been planted, and your deep dive into the world of largemouth bass fishing is about to begin.

The Beginning of Bass Fishing in America

It took bass fishing over 200 years to achieve the popularity that we see today. When colonists arrived in the new world in the 18th century, they would fish for sport and food – but they knew two classes of fish: the highly valued trout and salmon, and the less valued “coarse” fish like pike and carp.

The largemouth bass is actually a member of the sunfish family, and originally only existed in North America. British colonists were unfamiliar with them and as a result this new “coarse” fish was considered second-class. One early writer wrote about native brook trout as if he was penning a love letter; they are “a thing of beauty and joy forever”. But the bass? A “blackguard and tough”.

Some would say that catching even a 15 pound largemouth out of alligator infested waters was a far cry from landing a single tiny brook trout in pristine surroundings.

Debatable.

This sentiment was also influenced by availability. Many initial settlements on the eastern seaboard had streams with plenty of trout – and without bass. Yet in the early 19th century, wealthy sportsmen in Kentucky wanted to fish closer to home than the great trout waters of New England.

Guess what that meant?

Yup. Fishing for largemouth bass.

Bass were readily available in Kentucky, and interest increased even further with the development of the “Kentucky” style reel in 1810. This reel was designed by watchmakers to cast live bait on the long, slow action rods of the day, making fishing for bass much more “sporty”.

A prominent physician and writer named Dr. James A. Henshall published his “Book of the Black Bass” in 1881. Anglers in other parts of the country had begun taking largemouth bass seriously, and Henshall famously claimed that bass were “inch for inch and pound for pound the gamest fish that swims.” In fact, he prophesied that bass would become the primary gamefish in America… but this opinion was held in the minority for decades.

Trout remained king in the eyes of sportsmen.

In the early 1900s, artificial lures began to gain in popularity. Henshall led the charge for shorter rods (8-footers instead of the usual 10-foot plus models of the day) built with more backbone and geared towards casting. Around 1896 James Heddon started making plugs. The Johnson Silver Minnow was invented in 1920, and archaic soft plastics came onto the scene as well.

After World War II, many advancements were made in the areas of plastic and fiberglass, and new, inexpensive fishing rods soon came onto the market. Monofilament line was invented, as was the spinning reel (actually it was imported from Europe – we can’t claim that one), and the first sonar system followed soon after.

Moving Forward

You sit back and close the cover of the book, running your hand over the deep creases that adorn the cover. Proof that this guide has been opened and closed hundreds if not thousands of times.

“The Johnson Silver Minnow is Grandpa’s all-time favorite lure”, you think to yourself. “He was absolutely slaying pike on that thing in the deep cabbage-filled bays last summer with Dad – that spoon is over 100 years old and it still catches fish?!”

If a lure that was created over 100 years ago still catches fish, what other gold nuggets lie within these pages that may have been forgotten or replaced with the latest & greatest whizz-bang marketing craze pushed by XYZ tackle corporation?

“I have no idea… but I’m about to find out!”

You take a long, deliberate swig off of your piping hot coffee and crack the creased cover open one more time to see if you can glean just a bit more information before it’s time to hit the sack.

But sleep is the last thing on your mind.

NEXT SECTION: The Origins of Fishing Sonar