A FRENZY BITE!

My son Cal and I took a fishing trip with Dennis Treffry across to Catalina in his 22 foot center console Chris Craft. We started out under extreme duress because we couldn't find live squid anywhere in LA Harbor. It was the day after Christmas, Sunday and the bait boats hadn't been working. So we took our 3 bags of frozen squid left over from previous trips and flew across the channel in about one hour. We were sure to find somebody with live squid at the island. Wrong! Not only was there anybody with live squid, there wasn't any boats anywhere around the Isthmus and west end. So we were stuck without live bait.

ADVENTURES IN FISHING
By: Capt. Ray Kelly

It’s Sailfish Time...
Sailfishing is one of the most exciting fish to catch. Many anglers think this is only for the rich and famous. This is far from the truth. YOU can go sailfishing also. You just have to make the time. It’s sailfish time now in Florida. I love Florida. Florida is a great place to go when weather here gets cold and the snow starts. You can catch sailfish off Stuart , Palm Beach and south to the Florida Keys from November through February. My favorite is the Florida Keys. Islamorada has some of the best fishing in the world

10 WAYS TO CATCH FLUKE
By Capt. Al Lorenzetti

Fluke fishing is the staple for summer fishing around most of Long Island. Almost everyone new to the sport of saltwater fishing begins with fluke fishing. Most fishing for these aggressive flat fish takes place during the vacation months of July and August. However, in early May, these fish move to the inshore waters from the deep waters of the Continental Shelf where they spend the winter. They remain on the inshore grounds into October. Some of the finest fluke fishing can be had in those months when few

people fish for this species. Don’t overlook Spring and Fall fishing for fluke.

Enter The Catalpa Worm Zone
By Ron and Toni Smith

The name catalpa (pronounced ketal'pe) comes from the name given to a tree by the Native American tribe, the Catawba (keto'be) of South Carolina. It is said that the Indians smoked the bean pods for a hallucinogenic effect, so the tree became known as the "Indian Cigar Tree", the Indian bean, and smoking bean.

In the late 1700s, this tree was planted all over the Eastern United States with southwest Georgia, south Alabama, and south-central and southeast Mississippi being the original native ranges. The largest trees found measured 70 feet tall by 70 feet wide in Texas, and 75 feet by 75 feet in Mississippi, with a relatively short life span of 70 years. It is said the tree could grow as tall as 100 feet.

Draw Down"
By: Captain Tony Weatherman

Starting on November 1, 2002, something magical is going to happen. There will be a drawdown on Lake Tohopekaliga in Kissimmee Florida. While the effects of a lake restoration project of this magnitude is often disputed, one thing is certain, Fishing is going to be incredible, breathtaking, wonderful, exciting and above all else, extraordinary. While there are always two sides to the lake restoration project, and neither side will ever agree, during the time that the water levels are low, the fish will be concentrated into a smaller version of what was once a great body of water, and everyone will agree that fishing is fantastic.

Bass Fishing in Winter
by Charles Stuart
Fishing for bass during the late fall and winter months can be a daunting task.

During the regular season, you have identifiable structure to fish, vegetation is in bloom and the sun offers you shaded areas, which will produce fish during the heat of the day. Winter however does not give you any of those visible signs. So what do you do? Well once again, you must turn to your understanding of the bass and its lifestyle during these "lean months". When I use the word lean, I am referring to the food chain which can be drastically reduced by the elements. Exceptionally cold weather can kill smaller fish and aquatic life leaving the bass only a limited diet for 3 or 4 months. You will often hear bass fishermen talking about the "big feed" prior to winter, when bass will eat anything and everything to carry them through till Spring.

Bass Tournament "Shortcuts"
By: "The Bass Coach" Roger Lee Brown

Have you ever noticed whether it be Club Tournaments, Divisional Tournaments (B.A.S.S. Federation, Red Man, Anglers Choice, etc.) and even the Pro Tournaments, usually you will see a hand full of the same anglers consistently "In-The-Money" most of the time. Then while you’re driving home after fishing some of these tournaments without much success you ask yourself "What are these anglers doing so different than I am."

There are many different reasons for these same anglers to consistently "Cash-In" or "Place in the money" fishing Bass Tournaments, and I hope that I can help you with some "In-Site" on what keeps some of these anglers successful when it comes to tournament fishing.

A Wish Come True
By: Roger Lee Brown The Bass Coach

A few weeks ago in the late afternoon while I was re-spooling one of my fishing reels my wife had yelled down to me in the cellar and said that I had a phone call. Right in the middle of my winding I had asked her who was on the phone to which she responded, “I think you’d better get this call.” So I stopped what I was doing and picked up the phone and said hello. The voice on the other end of the phone introduced herself as Cheryl from the “Make A Wish Foundation,” she then proceeded to ask me if I was the Bass Coach?, to which I responded yes!... She then asked if I was the person that had the bass fishing school and a bass charter service located up in the Lake Champlain region in upstate New York, to which I again said yes!... I was thinking to myself (kind of dumbfounded) and was wondering why she would be calling me, so I asked what I could do for her. Cheryl then told me that a 17 year old boy by the name of Jared who presently resides in Michigan had made a wish. Now, I had heard of the Make-A-Wish-Foundation in the past and even donated to it’s foundation but I wasn’t sure how the foundation really functioned, I just knew that they had helped people with terminal illnesses make their wishes come true, but when Cheryl had told me that Jared specifically requested that he wanted to meet me in person, and especially that he wanted me personally to teach him how to fish for bass I was speechless… I then thought to myself for a moment wow!, what an honor, Cheryl said that this young man (17 years young) had been diagnosed with a terminal illness called “Leukemia”, and of anywhere in the whole world he could have choose to visit, or of anybody that he could have wanted to meet or see, he just wanted to meet me personally and to have me teach him how to fish for bass. I never in my wildest dreams expected an honor such as this one.

Soft Plastics for Big Bass
by Steve vonBrandt
The variety of soft plastic baits for bass is mind boggling. The choices available just in worms alone, are enough to cause confusion with the novice angler, and hours of debate among the more experienced. What size? What color?, straight tail? curly tail?, salt or no salt?; what rig to use them on; Drop-Shot? Carolina Rig?, Weightless?, what are the best times to use each one? Then add in the endless variety of lizards, grubs, Jerkbaits, freakbaits, tubes, and creatures, and you end up with more questions than answers. In the following article I will try to list the most effective plastic baits and presentations that catch not only numbers, but big bass as well, whether it is in a lake, pond or river, just about anywhere in the country. There will always be a new type of bait that one person or the other claims is better than

Searching Out A New Lake
By: Mike Gass

Fishing a new body of water can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. Learn to be an observant fly fisher, and you will begin to enjoy the challenge that a new lake presents.

Many people load their boat, and shove off as soon as they arrive at a new lake. This can however, be a big mistake. Its a good idea to walk along the shoreline and look for insect activity and signs of recent insect hatches.

For example, a quick look into the water near the shoreline will often reveal whether or not a lake has a population of scuds (freshwater shrimp). Also, shucks from aquatic insects such as chironomids are often blown up against the shoreline. Examining these shucks can give you some idea of what the fish may be feeding on, and the approximate size. A look at the aquatic vegetation along the shoreline can reveal damsel or dragonfly shucks, which would indicate a recent hatch.