PASA FISHING FACTS AND TIDBITS

 

 

Bats and increased bass activity.

At first glance, I would agree with most readers that the title of this article sounds a bit strange. But as you read on you will see the connection that  large and smallmouth bass have in common with  the little flying  mouse  creatures who can be a real nuisance at times.  As one would probably guess, these times that we encounter bats are primarily from dusk to dawn.
Did you ever stop to think as those bats were hitting your line causing false strikes, that these same areas of increased bat activity were also your best areas for night fishing? And probably these same areas would also be productive during the daytime, but maybe a little deeper? Stop and think about it for a minute...... Minutes up, and as you smack yourself on the forehead and say I should've had a V-8 or some other catchy phrase we couldn't put into print, you now realize that increased bat activity is a great indicator for bass activity.
So let's figure out why certain areas have more bats than others. You remember the BUG LITE THEORY?, of course you don't. Well here it is once again one more time before the turn of this century. I think this theory was  proven by  Mr. Edison after he invented the light bulb. WHITE BULBS ATTRACT MORE BUGS THAN YELLOW BULBS DO!!!.  So areas along the shoreline that have white lites attract more bugs than areas of any other color.
The more bugs, the more bats;  the more bugs the more baitfish; the more baitfish , the more bass. IT'S REALLY THAT SIMPLE. So the next time you're out fishing at night, and you're cruising the shorelines, make special note of the areas of increased bat activity and I'm sure that you'll be pleasantly surprised with the increased bass, walleye and striper activity.

 

CoonFish  coonfsh.jpg (6491 bytes)     from 1995 magazine.

As I reflect upon last year’s fishing, one unusual night sticks out more than the others. It was a warm, gentle breezy night on the "Pack". You know, just breezy enough to keep them skeeters off the back of your neck. This night started out like one of the dozens we spend on the pack from April to November. I received the phone call late afternoon. It was Catbird from M & M Charters. " I just got done watchin the weather station, looks like it’ll be a good night tonight. We’re goin’,are you ready to catch Bubba?" My immediate answer was " Where and when?" Ole Catbird hollered back at me," We’ll pick you up on the dock around 8:30, give or take 5 minutes, and if we’re on fish, you’ll just have to wait" he chuckled. I said " I’ll be there ". The funny thing is I’m usually the one who seems to be always running late and that was Catbird’s nice way of saying " get your butt there on time".

What’s great about M & M Charters is, I can run home from work, eat dinner with the family, throw on a pair of jeans, grab a six-pack of diet coke and I’m off to Lake Wallenpaupack. It usually takes about 15 minutes to reach " The Pack ", park the car, grab my tacklebox and rods and run to the end of the dock. M&M is usually there waiting for me, but tonight they weren’t. As I reached the end of the dock and set my stuff down ,they came buzzin around the point and coasted up to the dock. I tossed my box and rods to Bobby and started to zip up my PFD when ole Catbird says " They’re hittin’ on Blue PLugs. Are you ready to catch some big bass tonight ?" As I pulled down my goggles, I turned to Catbird and said, " Buck on the biggest bass?" He laughed and said "NO Problem, like takin’ candy from a baby" as the big motor roared down the lake.

About 15 minutes later down the lake we came off plane towards the back of this cove, the name escapes me at this time. Bobby dropped the motorguide as Catbird was climbing up into the back seat. " You boys are prepared to pay up tonight, aren’t you ?" I responded immediately " who are you kiddin’ ? I don’t think you’re lucky enough to catch the big one, so be ready to put your money where your mouth is, Catbird."

We settled into our night fishing routine, mainly avoiding snagging each other, cruising from dock to dock when I made one exceptionally long, accurate, perfect cast to the shoreline. There was one problem,... I was snagged. Just as I turned to tell Bobby I was stuck, I saw movement along the shoreline and felt a tug on my lure. " Bobby !, something’s got my lure and it’s walkin’ away with it. " " Ya right " was his response. " No really, flip on the spotlight and you’ll see something’s got my lure". As the spotlight pierced the darkness and focused on what was taking my lure up the hill, Ole Catbird cackled, " You caught one all right, but he’s got about 25 pounds of fur on him ". I turned and said, " You can see what it is ?" .... "Yah, you’ve got one of them rare coonfish".

There at the end of my line, clamped onto my lure was a big raccoon. He was tugging backwards up the hill holding tight to my plug. " What do I do now?" I questioned Bobby. He laughed and said, " I’ll drop you off on the dock so you can get your lure back ". " You expect me to go after my lure?" " How do you think I’m supposed to do this, hit him on the head until he gives it back to me?" ... All the while this big raccoon is tugging up the hill and my drag is slowly ticking away. We could hear him growling and grunting as he moved though the underbrush. Catbird turned to me and said, " You’ll just have to break him off and let him have the plug".

Reluctantly, I tightened down on the drag and I’m glad I was only fishing with 8 pound test ultra thin. Within seconds, the line tightened and snapped and we watched that coonfish run up the hill with his prize.

I turned to Catbird as I began tying on a new snap swivel. " You can’t say this hasn’t been an interesting night". Catbird just laughed saying " I guess you’re glad this one got away, but this is definitely one for the books, the 25 pound furfish!"

Our evening moved along pretty much as it usually does, catching a mess of rock bass with a few smallies here and there. If I remember correctly, Catbird did catch the biggest bass that night, but said that I deserved the dollar, because watching me fight that coonfish was worth it. As we laughed about it, chugging down our cokes, I leaned back against the seat looking up at the starry sky saying, " It sure is a beautiful night tonight." "It doesn’t get any better than this," said Bobby. " Where can you go and have this much fun and at these prices?" "No where that I know of I responded back.

We kind of settled back for the ride back to the launch after a good night fishing. I was looking up at the stars reliving my fight with that coonfish earlier in the evening, all the time thinking.......YOU KNOW, IT REALLY DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!!!!

FROG.......weird weigh-in's

Our tournament at Lake Henry was on Saturday, September 6th, 1997. It turned out to be a beautiful day. The weather was cooperative and by the time I got there to help with the weigh-in setup, everything was already done. The tanks were up and filled, the EZ-UP canopy was opened up, the paperwork was done , monies collected and the stat board was complete.

All I had to do was check the fish as they were put into the weigh-in tank, pick out the potential lunkers and then give Bobby all the fish for the total weight to be recorded for each team. It’s also my job to make sure that NO FISH under 12 inches gets weighed in with each teams limit of 8 fish.

Today’s tournament was going along pretty smoothly, when about 4 teams into the weigh-in the team of "THEOBALD & LUPYAK " bring their fish to the scales and say " 3 1/2 fish ". I say to them " What do you mean 3 1/2 fish ", as I’m leaning over into the tank to check the fish. Well there in the tub looking back at me was a HUGH BULLFROG, about the size of a grapefruit staring back at me . My immediate response was something like holy cow, and everyone busted up laughing because most knew that the frog was going to be weighed in. Bill ran over and scooped him out of the tub and proceeded to tell the story of how they caught the frog on a top water lure. Well needless to say weighing that big frog was the hit of the weigh-in. He actually was in a class all of his own as a special lunker and we should have taken a picture of him to go along with this article, but I’m happy to report that he was released unharmed and maybe we’ll see him again this year when we fish the lake.

Stinkbait....interesting article on swimmin critters

Most of you who know what a stinkbait is would assume that this will be an article on catfishing. If you were looking forward to an article of this type you'll have to pick up the new catfish magazine by In Fisherman. I really couldn't think of an appropriate title for this story,so rather than beat this point to death let me get on with the story and maybe by the end, you might think STINKBAIT is the best name also.

As usual it was another night on " The Pack ", Lake Wallenpaupack for those of you who don't know it by this name. Anyhow , as I remember the evening, it was a clear night and once again I was traveling with the crew of M & M Charters. I believe it was mid July and we were fishing the shoreline in the back of a few coves on the western shore. Here we were having a good old time catching tons of " midget stripers", rock bass for the rest of you, and occasional smallies. We were concentrating on the rocky shorelines trying to stay away from the weeds, when Catbird says to me " Look at them beady eyes on the rocks ahead of us ". I turned and said "I hope it's not another one of them coonfish. The last time I fought with one of them I was on the losing end of that battle and never did see my favorite red bandit ever again." Bobby chimed in at this time saying " I think it's a beaver getting ready to jump into the water, or maybe a mink ; I don't think coonfish come near the shorelines since you tangled with the last one. They put the word out, when Doc's on the water stay away from the shore".

As I was fielding their comments on my past fishing accomplishments we were cruising towards the animal pacing back and forth on the shore amongst the rocks. He didn't seem to see or hear us but seemed anxious to get to the other side of the creek . All we could see was dark fur and little eyes moving back and forth. As we got closer Bobby flashed the light on him, now we could plainly see that this dark shape on the shoreline was indeed a skunk.

 

Nite Lite that makes the Bass Bite

Look at the new nite fishing light that will make that night time catch easier.

 

For those of you who fish at night, M&M Charters and their exclusive fishing client came up with a nite time fishing hat that has the others beat. After years of research and many prototypes what you see here is the culmination of much thought, experimentation and no expense spared. The approximate cost per hat runs about  $25.00 - 30.00. This depends on how much you need to spend on the hat to support the light. We recommend that you use an older hat that has a smooth front on the cap. Foam fronted hats seem to work the best, but you can use cloth (poplin) hats also. The fronts must be smooth with no stitched letters or patches.
The Nite Lites that we use are exactly the same but made under two names that we know of. One is manufactured under the name of VERSABRITE by PELICAN, and the other is made by BROWNING  and called the LIGHTNING BUG. Both come with a headband, velcro fasteners, magnet base and red night vision lens. Discard all the accessories and go to RADIO SHACK and buy the fastening product known as SUPERLOCK.  Make sure that you buy the foam backed SUPERLOCK. Take two pieces of the superlock , push them together and peel the tape of one side . Stick this to the back of the NITE LITE from the seam where the NITE LITE opens for the two AA batteries down to the bottom of the lite and trim both pieces together. Next peel the tape off the other superlock piece and stick this foam tape to the front of your cap. Position the NITE LITE with the base of the lite resting on the brim of your cap. Let this set for 48 hours to achieve the best adhesion possible. We have found that the absolute best way to attach the superlock is to stich it to your hat  with carpet thread or take it to a shoe repair shop and have them stich it for you.
See the adjacent pictures to get the big idea. Akaline batteries or rechargeables work the best and throw the furthest beam. For a little lite it throws the best beam of all the small light weight lites that we have experimented with. This is also the lightest combination that we've come up with yet to wear on your head for hours at night. The headband is OK, but you sense the pressure of the band after an hour and it becomes an annoyance. The lite does move around with the headband and can be hard to adjust and turn on and off when fighting a big night time bass. What we've come up with simply works the best. If you really don't like it , simply peel off the superlock and use the lite with it's numerous accessories. Either way you won't waste your money purchasing the PELICAN or LIGHTNING BUG as an additional tackle box flashlight.

 

Pittsman-Mican Set Lake Wallenpaupack Record; possibly a State Record Also

Although this was not a PASA event the results of this tournament were so eventful that they had to have a special mention. April 10, 1999 8 fish 30.91 lbs. Super Headline but how did it happen? The weight of 30.91 lbs. for 8 fish in a 6 hr tournament is a lake record and maybe a state record. No on has come forth with statistics otherwise. Time will tell. Can this be duplicated ? Given the weather conditions, time of year, staging fish, yes it can. Here’s how it happened. At the start of the tournament Joe & Fred planned to fish deep water with spoons and did as planned. They were fishing on a point when Joe hooked one. As it got to the boat it got off, then another got off, a few minutes later Fred got one for the livewell. As he put it in the livewell another boat was idling past them, it was John Macarski. Fred asked John how it was going and John said he wasn’t in the tournament but was doing good. After a few words from John; Joe and Fred moved. After no luck for about 15 minutes in a new area Joe told Fred a 5 pounder chased his jerkbait to the boat. Fred asked Joe if the fish came from behind or under Joe’s lure and Joe told him under. They turned the boat and moved out (they were on top of the fish.) They were on the first major drop. There were solid 2 ft waves which moved the fish out. Fred changed lures to a countdown jerkbait and caught one right off, then another. Both fish were about 31/2 to 4 lbs. Joe hooked up with another fish over 4 lbs. After awhile Joe said he had another spot with the same type drop. They continued moving to new areas catching better and better fish. At one point Joe caught 5 fish on 5 casts. They were throwing 3 LB fish back. The last 2 places they fished they caught 2-5 pound fish with the biggest weighing 5.29 caught by Joe. Letting the countdown drop to deeper water was important to catching bigger fish. End result, success. Joe Mican is one of the best technical fisherman and Fred Pittsman one of the best analytical fishermen in the area. After 3 days of totally different changes in the weather it moved the fish off the shore. By fishing white caps and staying on the trolling motor all day combined with the knowledge of these two fishermen and making the changes that were necessary all led to this record setting win.

Article by Bill Pisechko, New Weekend Bass.