What Would U DO??? (!!delta!!)

corn griffin · Post by **corn griffin** » Fri May 20, 2011 9:10 pm

so today i found a fish on the delta that was WELL over 10 lbs. more like 13or14 lbs.
she had the big googly eyes and was holding to an area with a 5 and a 6 following her around. it appeared to have a small bed swept out. the fish wer all pretty spooky, but i did get the big girl to nose down on a nest raider. after bout an hour of my torment big shirley swam into the weeds behind the bed an wouldnt come out anymore. by this time the tide was commin up as well as the wind...

anyway my question to u folks is: would u go back the next day?? 2days later???
how many more days till shes locked??

ur 2cents??

Dom · Post by **Dom** » Fri May 20, 2011 9:29 pm

Well if it was me and I knew where she was I would have gone back in about 30 min and STAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY WWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAYYYY backed off and fired a swim bait past the spot and and slow rolled it thru there then switch it up and flipped a big ol wacky senko with some wieght in the middel( I like a bearrle wight put it on the hook and crimp it down the action of the wacky is way more defined, told you top secrete stuff now I gotta kill you LOL ) to the spot and just dead stick it and then back to the swim bait those males are stupid they will hit becuase they have to but them females are smart if they see you or sense your there they will spook she went away becuase she had enough of you, gotta catch her off guard.

give it a try cant hurt and you might be surprised

ash · Post by **ash** » Fri May 20, 2011 10:28 pm

Dom wrote:Well if it was me and I knew where she was I would have gone back in about 30 min and STAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY WWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAYYYY backed off and fired a swim bait past the spot and and slow rolled it thru there then switch it up and flipped a big ol wacky senko with some wieght in the middel( I like a bearrle wight put it on the hook and crimp it down the action of the wacky is way more defined, told you top secrete stuff now I gotta kill you LOL ) to the spot and just dead stick it and then back to the swim bait those males are stupid they will hit becuase they have to but them females are smart if they see you or sense your there they will spook she went away becuase she had enough of you, gotta catch her off guard.

give it a try cant hurt and you might be surprised

Yuppers - Dom kinda nailed it, you know she is there, and may still be there for a day or two if your lucky. Forget about site fishing for that fish back off and make casts dead stick a senko, a drop shot, slow firing a swimbait or hovering a frog over her head - these fish are being pounded from the bank and the big girls are big for a reason.

DeltaBassBuster · Post by **DeltaBassBuster** » Fri May 20, 2011 11:23 pm

Try a Strike King's Wild Thing or a some other creature bait of choice up to 10" long. You gotta make that big girl think the nest is being threatened. Yah, I agree that now you know the location of the nest back off anf luanch that sneak attack!! I would have come back about hour later, just keep trying differnt baits until that big old girl just gets pissed off. If you hook a male be sure to release it right away so the female doesn't panic. She may abandon the nest and could lose that gene pool for the next generation of big bass. Hope these suggestions help and good luck. Remember catch / release is the best way to go to help promote good delta bass for the future to come.

tunaman · Post by **tunaman** » Sat May 21, 2011 5:33 am

What they said, and while you're backed off, throw a Slammer over the top of the area, then work a Lunker Punker nice and slow through the area. If no takers, move in and work the bed with a white smallie beaver on a shakey head, and if they show interest maybe even drop down to a 4 1/2" curly tail Roboworm shortened an inch or so on a dropshot... I've gotten both my double-digit fish with the short dropshot setup (shhhhh!). Amazing to see a huge fish like that inhale a 3" worm!

Roger

mac (Doyle McEwen) · Post by **mac (Doyle McEwen)** » Sat May 21, 2011 8:32 am

Danged if I know, I have never seen bedding bass on the delta..I guess I just haven't been in the right place at the right time..

mac

Ceaser · Post by **Ceaser** » Sat May 21, 2011 11:55 am

grab a little 4" tophook swimbait and roll right up on the bed and drop in right behind it.. then back way off free spooling. Then sit down and wait and wait and wait.. move a half inch and wait some more.. sooner or later she'll move in and eat it.. ive caught em after deadsticking for 1.5 hrs. bring a book!

corn griffin · Post by **corn griffin** » Sat May 21, 2011 3:37 pm

Ceaser wrote:grab a little 4" tophook swimbait and roll right up on the bed and drop in right behind it.. then back way off free spooling. Then sit down and wait and wait and wait.. move a half inch and wait some more.. sooner or later she'll move in and eat it.. ive caught em after deadsticking for 1.5 hrs. bring a book!

holy crap man! an hour and a half! i may have to try that. she seemed way interested in the nest raider but she wasnt gettin mad or barking at it

i appreciate everyones comments and advise, but im more curious as to how many more days that fish will be there????

like i said they were holding to an area but not locked above the bed. and the bed seemed kinda small for a fish that big, like the size of a basketball...maybe it was unfinished?

but mos def wen i go back im gonna bak way off and be patient. get there early this time

Cooch · Post by **Cooch** » Sun May 22, 2011 8:03 pm

With our current weather patterns, you got 2 days max!!!!!!!!!! These big gurls ain't hanging round the open areas long this year. She's prolly been hiding real close in the grass fer three days, now's ready and will be done in 2 days and gone! It's late May and these big hens are way behind and have been holding their load a lot longer than they are used too. Once they git up to the bed stage, they are dropping the eggs in one big blooooooghfff and gettin the hoot outa there. Your window of oppurtunity is short, ya need to make the most of it right then and there, with the number of anglers on the river right now, if you found her, I have no doubts somebody else will too!

Hint for the next time, when them big gurls start ta nose up on yer bait, watch their lips, fins and gills, all she's doing, is blowin smoke at yer bait in an effort ta chase it away. Tall tell sign she's catchable, right now! At that instant, when she flares and flaps her gills, waggles her top tail fin, or you notice any other agressive convulsion of a single muscle from that fish, THUNK her in the chin with yer bait and or weight. Pull yer bait out, then toss it right back on her nose and HOLD ON!!!!!!!!!!!

I had this exact thing happen last Thursday with clients, there was this toad sitting in this area with 4 other fish in the 6-7 pound range. The buck was slowing moving the other two hens away as he serviced this big grl. I positioned the boat so my two guys could fish difrectly off the back end at her and the nest. 20-30 minutes later, they gave up and said she was not catchable. I asked if she was still there, they said yes. Okay, hand me that dropshot, I can catch that fish in 5 casts. No way Cooch and they gave me the back of the boat and went up front to sit and eat their lunch, they didn't think fer a moment I'd catch that fish and didn't even sit and watch what I was doing. First flip of that dropshot, I doinked her on the chin and it pissed the live crap outa her and she swiped at my bait as I pulled it out ta let her contemplate what just happened, then I tossed it right back in there and doinked her again. This really pissed her off! She backed up about 4 inches and ya could see the steam coming of every gill, fin and scale. My very next cast in there she just toilet bowl crushed that dropshot, GAME ON! The guys still didn't realize I had her on until I went running to the front of the boat with her to deep water. Kris then broke out his lil video camera and filmed the 5 minute battle with this fish on a light dropshot. We'll git it up on U-tube as soon as they git back from Oyster fishing some time this week.

I've done this several times this year with big fish around my dock, as well as on the water with clients. That dropshot, bar none, is the quickest & deadliest bait ta use ta catch these fish hunkered in the bed room. Ya just gotta understand and execute the process. Yer first cast should never be directly at the fish. This will put them on edge almost every time. Cast 3-4 feet away from them. Let them get accustomed to that predetor being in their space. Don't move it or drag it towards the bed or fish, just let it sit. If they come get it, great, if not, you've broken the ice and they will not be so spooky of it from that point on. The next step, is learning how ta trigger the strike with in 5-10 casts.

Good luck on the next one!

Dom · Post by **Dom** » Sun May 22, 2011 9:47 pm

Dang Cooch you just gave it all away LOL LOL Yea beat the fish , piss it off I have posted this in the past see my old post but wasnt gonna give it all up at once gotta make em earn it Cooch LOL

Guy Kelley · Post by **Guy Kelley** » Mon May 23, 2011 12:05 pm

Yep right on Cooch !!!

I had the fun an learning process on Clear Lake fishing a Pro/Am, I was looking over the shoulder of the pro as he pissed off 4 or 5 big un's the very same way, with a dbl/tail yamamoto grub in a bright color (chartreuse) with 10/30 pd Brade on spinning !! when she started to gill flap and flapping her lips it was game on after he bounced that grub on her head. I swear you could almost see the steam rise off her back, she was so mad that some thing had the balls to invade her space! took bout 4 or 5 cast. Then POW!!!!! Didn't seem to matter that we were parked almost on top of her nest, in 10 feet of clear water, she just wanted to kill the invader !

amazing how many want to break out heavy hardware

when lite line and tex rig or drop shot is all that is needed.

quiet is, is what quiet dose !

BigRob · Post by **BigRob** » Mon May 23, 2011 9:49 pm

YOU KNOW WHAT BAIT YOU SHOULDA THREW AT HER.....HOW MANY TIMES I GOTTA SHOW YOU COOOOOOOTTTT!!!!

corn griffin · Post by **corn griffin** » Tue May 24, 2011 12:39 am

gotta love beatin em in the head!

man i went back today, she wasnt there. booooo

majorsyph · Post by **majorsyph** » Tue May 24, 2011 7:35 am

Video of Cooch getting that fish in will go up tonight! I got her to flair a couple times and new she would hit, what we didnt think of was actually smackin her around a bit! Learning that little tidbit was worth the price of going out w/ Cooch!

thukidad · Post by **thukidad** » Tue May 24, 2011 10:21 am

majorsyph wrote:..... what we didnt think of was actually smackin her around a bit! Learning!

Sometime you gotta smack them ladies around alittle bit to show them whos boss

Paul W · Post by **Paul W** » Tue May 24, 2011 7:43 pm

If you stick that big girl, remember to handle her carefully and release her right there by the nest. I hate seeing an egg-laden female put in a livewell for the whole day only to be released back at the ramp later!!!

Paul