The Wired Angler - Bass Fishing Blog, Tackle Tips and Bait Making Advice

Who knew there was a B-29 Bomber at the bottom of Lake Mead?

I didn't.

On July 21, 1948 a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber ditched into Lake Mead. Apparently the pilots, on a test flight, misjudged their height over the water and hit the surface at 250 mph. The crew were able to escape into life rafts before the plane sank and were rescued, but the plane was never recovered. This was one of WWII's largest planes, and it's down there nearly intact.

 

Lots more about it here:

Lake Mead's B-29 Superfortress

Here's an album of photos from the NPS

And here's a link to all of the National Park's Lake Mead videos

Lake Mead is Screwed

Most of us know that Lake Mead's waters are really, really low, but to see just how bad the situation actually is, check out these satellite images - the first is from 1985, the second was taken this year:

1985	2010

The lake is suffering from a combination of natural forces and man mad problems. The lake's levels naturally fluctuate, but a 12 year drought is kicking its ass. The second part is all of the water that is pumped out to Las Vegas and elsewhere exceeds the amount of water flowing in. And the demands are growing.

The scary part is that according to one study the lake could be completely dry in just another decade (here's a link to the study). So the question is: what can we do about it?

Read more:

"Why worry about Lake Mead?" on Boing Boing

I linked to this one before, but it's a good one: Lake Mead on GOOD.is

Aug 2010 article in the NY Times about the low waters

Official National Parks Lake Mead page

Thursday Fishing Video: Belly Boating in Spain

Caught on a "pooper" :)

I'm posting new videos every Tuesday and Thursday until I get bored or run out. See them all here>

 

 

Thursday Fishing Video: Fishing for Smallmouth Bass in South Africa

The actual fishing starts after about 2 minutes. Neat to see places so far away that don't look much different from home. . .

They're fishing Clanwilliam Dam, South Africa.

I'm posting new videos every Tuesday and Thursday until I get bored or run out. See them all here>

 

Finally! Demo video of the JSJ Pack Rat in action

Well, I finally managed to capture the elusive Pack Rat on video. Here are a few casts to show the swimming action just below the surface.

 

More info and pics of the Pack Rat are on the JSJ Baits website, and you can buy them online at Monster Fishing Tackle or Tackle Warehouse

 

A Little Bit Of Underwater Bass Fishing Just For The Heck Of It

This summer has been pretty hectic work wise for me and I have not been posting as much as I would like. Thanks to my friend Paul once again I am  still able to supply you with much entertainment, enjoy. Soon I will be back to my regular schedule,just hold tight.

 

Flippin Basics Videos

I put these two how to basic Flippin videos together the other weekend. Flippin is a great way to catch fish in the dead of summer on hot days when not much else seems to be working. You tube only allows videos up to a certain length so I broke it into two sections.

Flippin Basics Part One

Flippin Basics Part Two

Trout falling from the sky

I just discovered a new blog that has a terrific introduction to the history of Rainbow Trout on the West Coast.

There's a new book called An Entirely Synthetic Fish about the introduction of Rainbow Trout into our waterways, that documents some of the ways that these fish were introduced by very novel means.

It turns out that in the 1950s apparently they decided that dropping trout from the sky into California lakes was a good idea.

"In one of the more surreal sections of the book, Halverson describes the origins of aerial fish-stocking missions, as surplus World War II planes and demobilised pilots were successfully redeployed in the 1950s to introduce the rainbow trout to previously fishless lakes, high in the California mountains. Even as you anticipate the disastrous ecological consequences, it’s hard not to be amazed by the gung-ho ingenuity of former crop duster and California Department of Fish and Game pilot Al Reese:

First, Reese tried freezing the fish in ice blocks and parachuting them in ice cream containers. Both of these techniques, though, proved dangerous and difficult. And so, one day, Reese and his assistants tried a simpler technique. They put fifty trout and some water into a five-gallon can and threw it out the window toward a hatchery pond about 350 feet below. They missed, and the can bounced along the rocks nearby instead. But when observers recovered the twisted metal debris, they found sixteen fish still swimming in the small amount of water that remained.

Ultimately, Reese and the team ditched the barrels altogether in favour of releasing fish that would hit the water “with a vertical speed of about thirty miles per hour,” in a scene described by observers as “a cloud of mist that suddenly appeared behind the plane, full of the barely distinguishable dark shapes of small fish.”

Read the rest here: The Amazing Allegorical Synthetic Fish 

BaitSmith Fishing Report from Diamond Valley Lake

Ed Proulx of BaitSmith lures sent in this report from his trip down to Diamond Valley Lake in Southern California where he landed this beauty.

I just returned home from a long weekend trip to Southern California and was able to get out on Diamond Valley Lake Monday 3-15-10 and had a great day fishing with my nephew Mitch. It was my first weekend trip ever to Hemet and Diamond Valley and I was very hopeful to catch some nice fish in a warm place away from the snow and cold at home in Northern Idaho.

We started the morning out with a 5.5 pounder that was on the shoreline. She ate the soft plastic stick bait without hesitation. I then told Mitch that by the way she bit we can find them they are going to eat today. We continued to search the shore for females for a short period of time but could only find scrubby males who were spooky, so we made the decision to set ourselves away from what everyone else seemed to be doing and get further away from shore.

Soon we found a school of 4.5 to 6 pounders suspended and hooked and landed five of them in short order with soft plastics. I continued to throw the BaitSmith 9.5” Magnum Light Color Trout and Mitch threw an assortment of BaitSmith Original 6” colors and the 5” BaitSmith Threadfin Shad. We ran from spot to spot looking to duplicate our pattern and caught several more fish from 4 to 5.5 pounds - but on the soft plastics not the swimbaits.

At about 2pm the water had warmed up to about 63 degrees and I continued to throw our BaitSmith Magnum as a search bait when we came across a classic swimbait spot. That is when my Magnum got bit. I yelled for the net and continued to crank my Calcutta. As the fish got close to the net she managed to shake her head hard enough as I cranked her towards the net to shake the bait free.  She had eaten the 9.5” Magnum clear up to the eyeballs, but I allowed her to get enough stretch in my line to shake her head and the bait . . . big mistake as we watched her swim away! She looked to be a 10 or better but I cannot say for sure BECAUSE I didn’t get her into the net to weigh her, we just know she was a bigger fish.

As I tried to calm myself down, I repositioned the boat and began to cast to the same area at the same angle and depth, on the fourth cast the Magnum got bit again this time, same drill, except there was no mistake like I made the last time. When the fish made it into the net we high-fived each other, took some pictures, and released the fish (shown above in the picture above) that weighed in just over 8.10 pounds.

I caught another fish on the Magnum a little later that weighed just under 5 pounds. I capped a great day of fishing on a great body of water with one of the people in my life I always enjoy spending time with. 

BaitSmith Magnum shown in blue trout pattern

Baitsmith Swimbaits>

Fishing Flooded Lakes For Bass In The Grass

We've had a good amount of rainfall here in California this year and a lot of small lakes are full already. With each passing storm some are even flooding for short periods of time. This is a luxury we have not had for a number of years and it gets me really exited about going out and shore fishing.

Bass start gravitating towards the shallows whenever there is a high water. High water means food, as all kinds of small forage will get up in the grass and other vegetation that has had a chance to sprout up during the low water period. I really watch the weather this time of year. Whenever there is a stormy, balmy day I will drop everything to go spend a couple hours fishing from shore.

Bass fishing in grass - tackle recommendations:

For the most part I am burning a spinner bait, swim jig or chatter bait. The water clarity is usually not too good but the fish are up feeding and will key in on a fast moving bait. This is a technique I also use fishing out of my boat as well. I will usually wake the bait, otherwise I keep it in the upper six to eight inches of water.

The strikes are usually pretty voracious this time of year. A lot of times you will be watching your bait wake and you will see another wake rise up behind or to the side of your bait moments before you get crushed. Color selection is simple as well: I go for white, chartreuse, a combo of the two, or an orange color scheme.

There is going to be a lot of different forage up in the grass this time of year. Bass will be chasing bluegill, shad, crawdads, worms that have been washed in, salamanders and a number of small prey. Look for coves and areas where water is running in and you will find the highest concentration of fish.

My favorite baits include a Revenge Spinner Bait or Viberator in 1/2 ounce, Black Dog Weedslinger, or a Dirty Jigs No Jack Jig with a small swimbait trailer. The trailer on the jig or spinner bait can resemble either a craw or a small fish. Sometimes they seem to prefer one over the other. I suggest trying the red or orange color scheme as well as the chartreuse or white set up. Sometimes they also like one color over the other.

Not a big fish but this was one of nine in two hours

So there you have it, when everyone else is either fishing deep still or not out fishing at all. You can be out in a crushing bass in the middle of winter in the shallows.