Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

Following a pretty crummy weekday practice period, sounds like the A/C event there was not all that bad. 21 and change to win, 14lbs was 7th place. 3 teams with over 20. I'm sure the Kota's will give all the details. Postspawn setting in but still respectable weights. Rick G.

is how'd they do it? I have always struggled in May.

Robert, you have to remember it is all about the day. Saturday was cloudy and windy and most of the fish were caught on reaction baits. Chatterbait, spinnerbaits, cranks and topwater were what caught most of the top teams fish. The worm/carolina bite has slowed alot. If it had been a sunny, calm day the weights would have been much lower. Kyle and Will adjusted their pattern and almost won. They had a 6.09 that was caught on a crank. Kyle also said the winners [ Emmitt and Moreno] caught their 21lbs on the chatterbait. The water is much dirtier now than a week ago so that bait is back in action. Look for the bite to get much tougher soon. See you at the ABA on sunday. Rick G.

Thanks Rick.
I know all the books say to pick up reaction baits when the wind starts blowing (spinnerbaits, cranks and jerks). But I just haven't had much luck doing that. I am either fishing the wrong baits or all the wrong spots or the book doesn't apply to Perris and Diamond Valley. I've been using
Staysee 90 - Ghost Minnow / American Shad
CB 350 - Ghost Minnow / American Shad
DD 20 - Ghost Minnow / American Shad
Revenge 3/4 oz. deep runner spinner baits in Purple Mettalic Shad / Chatruse White
I don't own a chatter bait

PS. Thank the guys at in the parts department at Anglers for mailing me the parts I needed to fix my trolling motor.

Late May thru mid-July are a transition time @ DVL. As the post spawn progresses the fish move from structure oriented to open water shad-chasers which alot of fish have done already. The wind will position these fish all the time. Learning where they are during the day is critical @ DVL. Remember, these are Lake Hodges fish, Florida strain and love open water. Stay with it and you will crack the " Diamond Valley Code". Watch out for those albino monks. Rick G.

i was out today finished with aprrox 13 lbs but the bite was tough. thet are there but not finding the quality and size i need, Scott Robertson

by me. Because I haven't a clue.

The white albino's are diving and skwalking all over the lake. Get the clue? Greebs. They are the 'Keystone". The birds are the key at this time of year, same as winter. If you find the greebs the good fish are close by. To figure out how to catch them is the "Holy Grail". Rick G.

OK. Got get. Gees it's late and I am tired ............. and slow.
Thanks and good night.

I was out there on Saturday as well. I am troubled by what I observed at the weigh in though. This was the worst example of fish handling I have ever seen. After the fish are dumped into the sink and weighed, they are re-bagged with no water to be driven back to the ramp. I watched several of the anglers stand around and talk while "suffocating" their catch. Why not have a bucket under the sink to catch the water and then pour it back into the weigh bag after the fish (ABA)? To make matters worse, there were several dead bass floating around the launch ramp and when I asked the staff member what was going on, he replied that they were fish that had been released from the tournament. On top of that, I had a friend with me that I have been debating catch & release with for years and had to listen to it all the way home!
With all the advancements in equipment, rods, reels, trick baits ect... it seems to me that something can be done to better care for our catch. Any thoughts? Thanks.

The other trails that Kyle and I fish, ABA,NBW,WON all have water to go in the bags after you weigh your fish. They also have lots of help at the weigh-ins to make sure the fish are TKO. Not sure if the Kota's have the same. Taking care of the fish is every tournament anglers responsability. Rick G.

Found the Keystone but not the Holy Grail today. I'll keep working at it. Thanks for the tips.
I've never fished Hodges. I didn't start fishing till 1999. Didn't get a boat till 2002.

I'm sure there alot of other guys on this site that remember the Lake Hodges of old. Bustin fish as far as you could see. Open water shad chasers. Same bloodline. Just like the book. Rick G.

Fished Hodges last week...went for 40+ fish. Mostly 1-3 lbers, but they are growing quick. With all the flooded trees, brush and tules, that lake is going to be a monster again in a few years

ddavis,
I have one staff boat with Joe Uribe and Rahcel.
Fish are transported by live well back to the release boat were the are put into a tank on the relaese boat and taken out. What you saw floating by the docks were trout not Bass. I went down and checked like I always do. Bass are not released at the doc. I spoke to Joe and he said that we had "0" Dead. All fish were released Alive. I have had Representative from the DFG at our weigh-ins before and they had no problems with anything This year we have had only 3 dead fish and they came in dead. My suggestion to you is to wait until we are done weighing in before you walk up to a tournament official and start making comments in the middle of the weigh in, and then take off. If you want to discuss it stick around and talk to me at the end of the tournament and some of the anglers that fished it and were there the whole time as well as my staff boat. I spoke to the anglers that were there and no one saw any dead fish. One team did make a mistake and walk one fish from the parking to the release boat that I found out after the weigh in It was still alive when we reelased it "away from the doc" and I spent about 20 minutes after the tournament talking to them about it and advising them on the proper weigh they should have done it. We all want to see our reasources last for the next generations.

Adam,
3 dead fish is too many. You should be ashamed of yourself.
As always, you and the Uribe's did a great job. Dead fish happen. It's that simple.

Went to Diamond Valley Lake, CA. We got there at 6:00am, started working a Vixon top water bait, had one hit but no takers. My partner stuck a 2/lb smallie on a jerk bait, shad color. About an hour later, stuck the first fish on a daterhead, Aarons magic, Roboworm scalpion along the east dam. We than moved into one of the arms and caught a couple on Senkos with the biggest being a 3 lbs. Slowed down for awhile than we fished where neither one of us has been before and when we pulled up to this spot looked down and saw a ton of bait fish in the water. I told my partner that I just saw a fish swim through the bait, no longer than that he was hooked up with a 6/lber. Weighed and took a picture and released it.
The bite was fair, a lot of people for the holiday.
Jim

Thanks Brian,

We try to get none but when they come to you dead its kind of hard

What's the point of putting dead bass back in the lake ... why not just walk them over to the cleaning station .. whoever is there is not releasing their catch and will probably take them.

just my .02

micropterus,

Did you not read the entire post? The TD confirmed that ALL fish were released alive. Once the fish is back in the lake it is out of our hands. Since it was so close to the dock, could it have been killed and released by one of the trout fisherman? About half the trout caught on powerbait are gut hooked... and anyone of the trout fisherman on shore using nightcrawlers could have hooked a bass and, after realizing it was NOT a trout, turned it loose only to die a half an hour later and float, with the wind, over to the docks.

If it sounds like I am annoyed, I am...

I asked Kyle last night about the dead fish and he said they were all Trout from a plant late last week. No bass, all Trout. Glad to hear the Kota's are on top of things. Like all T/D's they work their butts off. Rick G.

Yeah Good job to everyone out there...Especially the T/D's.. All of them do a good job on all the circuits..

Also Big Up's to my mans' Tony Lain and Dennis Saiki for their 2nd place finish..

Way to go "Team BLING"!

In response to Mr DDavis. I was notified about your posting, so I investigated the problem that was said to have happened. I talked to the directors, some of the anglers that fished the tournament, and the DVL authorites. According to all of these people all fish weighed in were released from the release boat alive. I also talked to the DVL people about the dead fish floating, they confirmed that there were several dead trout, in the area as well as other areas. Being a fisherman my self I understand your concern but you need to be able to tell the difference, between Trout and Bass. We at Anglers Choice strive to keeb fish alive as does the other circuits.
I have personally fished several tournaments at DVL and I can say that all of the anglers strive to keep the fish alive. My hat is off to these anglers.

Vern Price
Vice President Anglers Choice

A Koda;
Thanks for the reply. Ask the staff member who was on duty at the time what was floating , I have seen a Bass or two- they were Bass! I apologize if this post has offended anyone. My intention was to bring this matter to the attention of the tournament organization and the tournament anglers. Rather than making excuses for what was going on, why not focus the energy on raising the awareness of those who handle the Bass before and after they are weighed?
In retrospect, I guess I should have waited until the weigh in was over before commenting. Hopefully, this thread will raise the awareness of Bass anglers as a whole regarding fish handling.

Vern;
I can tell the difference between the two species. Rather than make these ridiculous comments, I suggest that you focus on the real issue- that is blatent disregard for the well being of the Bass, period! That is what this is about. Short handed is a poor excuse for doing a lousy job. I Have never fished a tournament where there was more than one director working the weigh in. If more help is needed, than get it, but don't make excuses and try and make the casual observer that comments on these matters look bad. The general public is watching-always. We as tournament anglers need to take responsibility for our actions. This will be my final comment on this matter. Thanks.

Hey adam new to the sight but saw how you did on saturday and for a three man operation you guys did a great job! As for vern and mr d davis take out back! cant we all just get along? oh and im right there with kyle G, they were trout and they died cause the waters to hot! All the guys that work on the docks are c;lose personal friends and they themselves do everything in there power to also make sure all fish are released and live.

See ya sunday Big Daddy Rick! hope you guys get um

I was at DV Saturday in the tournament and was the one of the first teams to come in. They did a very good job handling the fish. I did not see any one with fish in a bag with out water or did I see any dead bass in the water. The fisherman that fish in the tournament are all people that know how to take care of there fish. I think A Koda and his team did and has always done a very good job. Jerry

how everyone caught their fish.

In the "WATER"