There’s a reason why bass fishing in the Mississippi River is so popular. There are tons of bass fish available to be caught for one thing, but you’ll also have a great time catching them. It’s just a wonderful place to go for the best bass fishing. If you’ve never fished the Mississippi, you should make sure to get out there soon. There are things to take into consideration when you plan a Mississippi River bass fishing trip, though, so be sure to read on to learn more about it.

One very important thing to be aware of is the huge number of bugs around the Mississippi River, particularly mosquitoes. It is crucial that you make sure you’re well prepared for this before you go. Bug repelling spray is an absolute must, and plenty of it, to help you avoid the discomfort and annoyance of being stung. It’s not just annoying, though, but it can actually be a health hazard as well because of the diseases that these bugs carry. You must take precautions to prepare yourself as effectively as possible.

Stocking up with plenty of food and drinks is also quite important. A Mississippi River bass fishing trip will usually be for a full day out on the water, and some people go out for several days at a time. It is obvious that the longer you are gone, the more food and drink will be necessary to sustain you. Weather conditions are often quite warm, and so even if you won’t be gone long enough to need food, make sure that you have good drinking water available on the boat (and at least a snack is not a bad idea either).

It’s also important to do some research on the particular part of Mississippi that you are planning to visit, including a map that you have printed or even drawn for yourself. This will help you know your way around better, and help prevent you from getting lost on your Mississippi River bass fishing trip. This is particularly important if you’ve never been there before, but still important even if it’s not your first time. Your memory might not be completely reliable, or things could change from one visit to another, and so arming yourself with a decent map might be the best thing of all that you do to prepare for this trip.

You can also find more info on Bass Fishing Resorts and Early Spring Bass Fishing. Knowbassfishing.com is a comprehensive resource to know about Bass Fishing.

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A friend of mine likes to fish strip mines covered in heavy moss and normally does pretty well with them. His normal choice is a plastic worm for bass but there are times they just are not interested in the worms and he asked what other choices he had.

If you have ever fished a pond or strip mine covered in moss you know how hard it is to find open water to work your lures. But you also know that these waters can be very productive. I can understand why he likes these places. They are generally isolated, in most cases you may be the only one there, and they are productive.

With moss covered mines or ponds you have to look for open water or breaks in the moss. You normally do not have a lot of room to work your lures and very rarely can you work them deep especially if you’re fishing from the bank.

If the water is almost entirely covered by moss I will try shiners in whatever open water I can find. It is kind of like dropping the bait into a hole. I will begin fishing about three feet deep and gradually increase the depth until I get a hit or my bait is on top of the moss. I have had some very productive days using this approach.

If you can find some breaks where the moss is just below the surface try using buzz baits. They do not snag as much as some of the other top water lures. Buzz baits can be very effective and most times you can actually see a V shape coming after it. If you do don’t get to excited and set the hook before he takes it. Unfortunately I have done this a couple of times.

There are other top water lures that may do well including poppers, spitters, prop baits, hard stickbaits, soft stickbaits, etc. My choices for fishing Moss covered strip mines or ponds are plastic worms, buzz baits and shiners.

Doug Burns has been an avid angler for more than 35 years. His advice has helped many anglers achieve their goals. For more Bass fishing information visit Bass Angling

If you want to hook Catfish visit Catfish Angling

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Small ponds usually have two huge advantages when it comes to fishing for trophy largemouth bass. The first is that most times you can cast right across them and reach any part of the water from any angle. The second enormous advantage is that today’s fisherman stay far away from the small ponds. They are too caught up in showing off their latest yellow $30,000 bass boat and driving it past as many eye balls as possible. The last thing on their minds is moving through the trees of some 4 acre farm pond. But, for the die hard fisherman, who actually loves to fish, this hate of small time fishing is a god send.

Because the biggest bass eat quietly in these little ponds and no one bothers them. Sometimes no one bothers these bass for decades. All the better for you. Many times the best place to find fish that you can get access to are on state game lands. Small little head water ponds will cool waters. However, the other option for fishing secret ponds is becoming friends with some farmers or land owners. Sometimes you can barter something to get access to the land. Fresh, cleaned fish is a great trading item. You catch some fish, clean them, and the land owner while smile every time he sees you. The other way you can fish your way to farm ponds is to offer to keep your eyes open for landowners during the hunting season. Poachers are often quite a problem for people who own land.

The secluded farm pond is always worth exploring. It’s a hundred times more productive than baking in the sun on a 5,000 acre reservoir. Bass fishing secrets [http://www.myorganicdogtreats.com] is what makes hunting hog largemouth so much fun.

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I tell you what, pond bass fishing can be some of the greatest fishing in the world. Although it doesn’t quite have the same appeal as going after fish in a big lake on tournament Friday, with a quality bass pond you can catch some amazing fish. I am reminiscent to an old bass tank I used to fish as a kid. What a rush! All we used to use for bait was a tiny spinner bait with one spoon and a one to two inch purple worm. With that, we would catch bass anywhere from two to five pounds or more. It truly was exciting!

So about this great pond. It is found in the south where warmer temperatures prevail, and the growing season for bass is much longer, therefore bass grow to be much larger. The pond only had sunfish and bass in it, and the cover present for bass was good, but not over kill. So the sunfish were kept at bay, and not allowed to continuously clean out the bass spawning areas.

Also, the depth of this pond was good. It had many shallow areas with weeds that allowed good bass spawning, and it had a deeper area in the middle that allowed bass to retreat to cooler water during the hot summer months, and warmer water during the cool winter months. There was plenty of submerged branches, weeds, etc to give the bass plenty of cover, and areas for them to ambush small bait fish. But again, it wasn’t too much cover, that would allow the sunfish to clean out and keep the bass population from growing. The evidence that pond bass fishing rocks is building…

Further, this was a privately owned, and not well fished pond. So the bass continued to grow each year, and there were many bass that were 3, 4, 5, 6 or more years old. So I had some of these fish to myself, and was able to pull out some great fish.

This pond was just the primo location for bass. There weren’t really any other fish in the pond, so the bass were the main predators, and were able to grow very well. Once you get a large bass on your hook and reel him in, you are pretty much hooked for life! So again, if you think that ponds can’t produce big bass, you are just flat out wrong. There have been state records in multiple states across the country that have been caught in ponds.

Jeffry Evans, owner of http://www.hiddenfishingtips.com and a love for fishing, is committing to bringing you the best in fishing tactics and tricks to get you more fish.

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I live in the Midwest and I have fished plenty of ponds and largemouth bass are very adaptable gamefish, they can be found in lakes, rivers, and ponds all across the United States. Largemouth bass doesn’t need big water areas to grow to hawg size. Just about any body of water a few years old can produce some nice bass. While cover along the banks isn’t necessary, cover in the water with plenty of forage is a must for bass. Even if there is alot of fishing pressure I have 3 techniques that I use to catch some big bass.

1. Early Morning Buzzin – Over the last 36yrs I’ve learned how speed can often trigger a strike, especially when the water warms up. Buzzbaits have always been great producers of big bass in ponds during hot weather, start throwing buzzbaits right at the crack of dawn up until the sunlight starts to penetrate the water, during this time throw the buzzbait past cover and along edges, the bass are often active and looking for their breakfast. If the water is clear I will retrieve the buzzbait at a faster retrieve than dirty water, if it’s dirty water with plenty of cover I’ll slow down and put a plastic trailer to help the lure stay on top at slower speeds. I use a 3/8 to 1/2 ounce buzzbait.

2. Spinnerbaits along edges – In most of the ponds that I’ve fished over the years the bass are holding in a narrow band of weeds or algae running parallel to the bank. Cast your lure along this vegetation by casting from turns (points). Bass hide in this weed edge even if it’s floating cover like lillypads, bass usually will not come up and strike a topwater lure during sunny days so I use a willowleaf blade spinnerbait because the flash of the willowleaf blade attracts bass and I can retrieve it slow enough to allow them to react, when I come to an opening in the vegetation I use short pauses to let the spinerbait flutter down into the openings. The willowleaf blade sheds weeds better than round style blades.

3. Frogs – When you have to get a lure in a 6 to 12 inch opening in thick cover surrounded by lure fouling weeds and vegetation my lure of choice is the frog, a weedless, hollow-bodied frog is great for working heavy vegetated surface cover to get the bass to strike. I’ve tried many lures over the years such as jig and pig, weedless soft baits but my favorite is the frog because it works best getting through the weeds. Cast the frog out and reel it back across the surface of the vegetation to an opening then stop and let it sit there for a few seconds and then give it a few twitches to try and get a surface strike, this really gets bass stirred up. If you don’t get a bite there got to the next hole and repeat the same procedure. I use a natural looking frog because my belief is that a frog is a natural food of bass and if it looks like something they naturally eat than I’ll have a better chance of a strike.

Article by P. Roberts
http://bassfishingbyproberts.blogspot.com/

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Nowadays, it seems like every bass fishermen wants that brand new bass boat that can get them across the lake in a few minutes. I have to admit that I am guilty of this as well. With all of the great bass fishing tournaments on television showcasing some of the best bass fishing boats that money can buy, how could you not want to fish on one of those boats every time you go fishing. If you have ever been on a bass boat with a 250 horsepower motor, you know that by just taking off, you can get a rush of adrenaline. It is fun to go fast unless it is forty degrees outside.

This year, I am going to take more time out to go bass fishing in ponds than I did last year, especially on weekends when I know the nearby lake is going to get pounded by way too many fishermen. I have caught some enormous bass in ponds over the past few years and there are a few things that I do to find the best ones in my area. Depending on where you live, google may have a satelite image of your area that allows you to zoom in and find ponds. Go online and search google maps, then type in your zip code. In some areas, you may not find much, but if you do have a bunch of ponds nearby, check them out. You might be missing something.

So go ahead and take a look at the google map in your area. Select the satelite view so you can actually see the water. Find a few ponds that you would like to fish and I will show you how to weed out the bad ones. When spring hits, wait until you get a week or so of warmer weather. I’m talking about weather in the 60s and maybe even the low 70s. This will turn the bass on and they will move into the shallows to feed. Make sure to check out the ponds during good fishing conditions. I never try to find a new pond after a cold front or during the middle of the day during a 90 degree heat wave.

Fish the peak times. During the late spring, mid afternoon through the evening will be best because the water will have time to warm up. Now, if you’re fishing during the best times, you should catch fish. I don’t just try to catch fish though. I target big fish. I know that in the spring, smaller baits work best, but I am looking for ponds that have big bass. It’s not fun for me to catch 10 to 12 inch bass with no hope of catching a big bass. I am looking for ponds that have some bass in the 2 to 5 pound range, although, in my area, a 5 pound bass out of a pond is not common, so I would consider a pond that has 2 to 3 pound bass in it a good bass pond.

To target big fish, I use one bait: a live chub. I catch live chubs out of a nearby creek with a small hook and a kernel of corn. I will catch 12 to 18 chubs in the 5 to 7 inch range and head out to the pond. I will take the biggest chub I have and cast it out with just a big hook attached. These big chubs will swim all over the place if you don’t have a bobber or weight attached. Just let them swim freely and give them some slack line. Make sure to keep an eye on this rod or you can lose your fishing rod. With my other rod, I will take a smaller chub and cast it along the shorelines. I use the same setup as my other rod: a big hook and a chub with 12 to 17 pound test line. I will work this live chub along the shoreline just like I would use a plastic worm. A slow lift and fall retrieve works best. The live chub will only last about 10 or 12 casts if I am careful, then it will die. It will work just fine dead so keep working it like a plastic worm.

I will give each spot about 5 to 10 minutes and I will try to fish most, if not all of the pond in a couple of hours. If I catch one fish in the 2 to 3 pound range, it becomes one of my ponds to fish in the future. With big chubs, you won’t catch many small bass, but if I do catch a couple of smaller bass less than 2 pounds, I will come back and fish this pond. If I don’t get a single bite after 2 hours of prime time fishing with my favorite big fish bait, I will never go back. There isn’t enough time to mess around with average to below average ponds. After a couple years of this, I found 2 excellent ponds in my area and in one pond I have caught over 10 bass over 5 pounds with the biggest bass weighing in at 7 pounds. In the other pond, I catch mostly 2 to 3 pound bass and one at 5 pounds in 2 years.

With both of these ponds, I know that if I have an hour and a half to 2 hours, I will get 3 or 4 bites from fish in the 2 to 3 pound range every single time. (this is with live bait though, but it is consistent). I probably fished 7 or 8 ponds before I found these ponds, so make sure to do your research and do it during late spring. This is how I find big bass in ponds. If you enjoy using lures, that’s fine, but save yourself some time and get some big creek chubs. By the end of the spring, you should have at least one pond worth fishing throughout the rest of the year.

For more information on bass, take a look at our bass fishing page.

Article provided by Kevin Sewell at Ultimate Fishing Site

Take a look at our most popular pages on our website. You will find everything you need from these pages.

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What is going on in a bass fishing tournament that makes people so happy about participating in these events so enthusiastically? There really are a plethora of reasons for why they are fun, and for those who have never been in one, no words can really describe the excitement in a closely run tournament. A tournament is actually a competition with cash, prizes and a lot of excitement. More than the money, it is the fierce competition that gives an unparalleled shot of adrenalin.

Bass fishing tournament – a million dollar industry

The fishing tournaments all over the world belong to a multi-billion industry; the bass fishing tournament being one of the popular fishing events the world over constitutes as a major percentage of that industry. For the organizers this event is a money spinner; for the participants it is paradise on earth, where one can enjoy their favorite pass time and get paid for it as well. Of course, there are competitions of who can fish more, or the biggest or largest and so on, but at the end of the day most of the fun is from the game itself and not the competition.

Being a winner in the bass fishing tournament

In order to be amongst the winners in the tournament (where you have both the money and the fun) you will need to be fast in orienting yourself in the location of the tournament. The faster you will familiarize yourself with the fishing spot the better would be your chances to catch the best fish. Remember the bass always needs three main things to survive: (i) cover, (ii) oxygen and (iii) food not necessarily in this order. You will have to find out the approximate location of the fish in the pre-fishing period of the tournament fast enough and then make your game plan. In case it is possible, fly over the area. It is extremely easy to spot the right location on the water from air.

The game plan in a bass fishing tournament

All tournament participants have to put together a game plan. Be careful to keep the second spots close to the primary spot so you will not loose too much time cavorting around for a better spot. Stick to the game plan as this is what differentiates the amateurs from the professional fishermen. If you need a few good tips in the best location for fish ask the locals or observe them closely. They will lead you to exceptionally good places that you never knew existed. In case the locals are mum, then try to eat in the local spots and chances are that you will sooner than later overhear someone speaking about “that great spot”.

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About the Author:
Fame Ahmed is a well known author worldwide. He has written numerous works on various topics. He is an expert in research and writing reviews and articles based on his findings.
Excessive Sweating

Bass fishing tournaments are great places for bass fishing enthusiasts to challenge their bass fishing skills, earn recognition and possibly win a cash prize. Irrespective of whether you are experienced or new bass fisher, you should join bass fishing competitions.

Is participating in bass fishing tournament is rewarding?

Many anglers compete regularly in bass fishing tournaments because winning a tournament gives them recognition and money. There are anglers who even earn much of their income from competing in several bass fishing tournaments.

How to participate in these bass fishing tournaments?

If you are really interested in bass fishing competition, you should join bass fishing tournament associations so that you can stay abreast of the latest bass fishing tournaments or can be automatically enrolled in others.

There are several fishing publications like daily or weekly newsletters and monthly magazines. You should subscribe those magazines or online newsletter to get the latest news in fishing competition. You can travel to other states or countries to participate in fishing competition, which will help you to increase your fishing skill.

You can browse in the Internet for dates and locations of tournaments and register yourself for these tournaments. You will also get all required information on line from the websites of tournaments.

You can search for a bass fishing tournament for couples and pairs that can be fun and rewarding for you and a loved one. Bass fishing tournament is an adventure and it’s an wonderful experience to enjoy with someone you care about. This can be a wonderfully enriching experience for your wife and kids to share together, something that everyone will surely remember for long.

You can publish a blog on your bass fishing tournament experience. Several other anglers will also contribute in your blog and you can create your own community.

To win a tournament you need confidence, patience and lots of practices. So take your time to explore and find the best bass fishing tournament for your skill level, your requirements and your expectations.

Author is experienced angler. He is running a charter services for fishing for last 10 years. You can download his free eBook on fishing equipments [http://www.fishingletsgo.com] from [http://www.fishingletsgo.com]. For fishing enthusiasts, here is a popular article on Virginia beach charter fishing [http://www.fishingletsgo.com/charters/virginia-beach-charters-fishing.php].

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Bass fishing in tournaments doesn’t seem like a sport in which “proper etiquette” really means much. I’ve fished many bass tournaments in Florida and found out through experience that it is very important.

Let’s look at this bass tournament scenario. You get up early in the morning preparing for your fishing trip. You then drink a couple cups of coffee, light up a cigarette and take care the 3 s’s before you hitch up your boat. Once on the road you have a nice conversation with your “draw” partner on where you’re going to start and what you’re gonna throw so you guys can catch loads of fish in your favorite honey hole.

By the end of the tournament, you weigh in your fish and manage to get 5th place! Lucky for you, the tournament had enough entries to pay all the way to 7th place. You are real happy until a few of the guys give you the “bird” and say some unpleasant things to you. Then you think, “What’s their problem?”

It isn’t until you partner says he’s getting a ride home with someone else and starts taking his tackle out of your boat that you start thinking it maybe something you did.

Let’s replay the tournament day.

Early that morning you get up a little late ’cause you forgot to set your alarm clock. Once on the road, you swing by to pick up your partner. He asks why you didn’t call him telling him you would be a little late and you respond: “I didn’t have time!” You also tell him that your swinging by the gas station and he needs to fill up the boat and truck since you make the boat and insurance payments. You emphasis that it’s normal for the “draw” partner to do this.

You finally get to the boat launch area and wait patiently in the line of trucks to launch your boat. You leave your lights on so anyone coming behind you will see you. When you get to the front of the line you and your partner exit the truck, and start boat launch preparation. You put in the drain plug, take off your transom saver, pull of your safety straps, put in your boat lights, etc, etc. About 10 minutes later, your partner finally start backing you and the boat down the ramp. The sky is starting to light up from the early morning sun. The two trucks behind you start to honk their horns! You shout back, “You shoulda got here earlier!”

The boat is finally launched, you beach the boat and pick up your partner. The tournament director had already started to call the boats numbers out as many of them were already going down the lake. Your boat number had already been called, and there were about 20 other boats still waiting, so you quickly take off leaving a huge wake right in the middle of the waiting boats.

As you approach your fishing hole, you see another boat sitting right on your spot! The spot is a bulrush line which is loaded with bedding fish, but it’s only about 30 yards long. You are real anxious so you don’t get off plane until your right on the weedline. You quickly lower your trolling motor, pick up your bedding fish rig and start pitching the pockets and points along the bulrush patch. Your partner is doing the same thing, in fact he get’s the 1st fish around 2 pounds and you tell him to swing it in like a “real” man.

The other boat doesn’t have an anchor down nor has his trolling motor up so you edge to within 20 feet of his boat and as you do you get your 1st fish on. You yell at your partner to get the net and he quickly scoops up your nice 2 pound fish. You give him a high five for a nice netjob!

On the 1st pass, you noticed that the fish were getting spooked from their beds as you approached, so you decide to try to keep the boat outside of the weedline, with the nose of the boat pointing towards the weeds, and the back of the boat out in the main lake. You figure this tactic will keep ‘em from spooking.

By about 10 AM, you have your limit and the tactic of keeping the back of the boat out of the weeds paid off. Your partner still only has one fish, but you think that he just doesn’t know how to fish. He then asks you if he can share the front deck of the boat with you and you tell him no, there’s no room and he’ll mess up your hookset.

About noon, you’ve culled a few fish but can’t seem to get a nice kicker fish. You see the other boat land a nice one, so you put your trolling motor on high and take the inside track in the bulrush patch right in front of the other boat. Your about 30 feet from the other boat, but buried up in the bulrush patch, scouting for bigger fish. You see a nice one about 4 pounds on a bed. The fish doen’t seem to want anything as you toss just about everything in your tacklebox at it. Finally, you tie on a tube bait and “Wam” the 4 pounder hits, your partner quickly nets it and into the live well it goes.

You only have 30 minutes to go and to play it safe you decide to go. You fire up the big motor right in the middle of the weeds and take off, sending a nice wake into the other boat.

You get to the weighin with about 25 minutes left and beach it. You kick back waiting for the director while your partner takes off for the nearest restroom.

OK, so my story is a little extreme but lets look at the missing etiquette:

1- Always leave on time. Your partner won’t worry and you’ll get to the ramp and not hold up anyone.

2- Turn off your headlights while waiting in the launch line. Keep your parking lights on. This will prevent you from blinding the person that is backing the boat down the ramp!

3- Prepare for boat lauch long before you get to the front of the line. This will speed up the entire launch process for everyone.

4- Never plane right in the middle of a bunch of boats. You need to get beyond the last standing boat before you take off on plane.

5- Always give some room to another boat even if they don’t have their trolling motor up/anchor down especially if they are there 1st. In the scenario above, you should only respectfully fish the furthest bulrush from the boat that is there or maybe not even fish there at all until he leaves. At least ask if he minds if you do decide to share the spot with him. If he says yes, you are way better off in the long run to leave. Your day will come!

6- Always net fish (if allowed by the tournament) and don’t wait for the partner to ask you to get the net. If your partner prefers you not to net the fish, he’ll tell you.

7- Always be considerate of your partners fishing position. In this scenarion, he didn’t stand a chance because he was too far away to site fish! Offer him a chance at the front of the boat. In fact most tournaments (not the proams) state they have 50% share in running the trolling motor. At least ask, and if he refuses because he’s not comfortable running it then fine.

8- Fish until the last possible minute with a slight safety factor unless you have a large limit of fish , especially if your draw partner isn’t doing well. In this scenario, give you partner the full front of the boat and let him choose his spots.

9- Draw partners should only pay 50% of the fuel bill for both the tow vehicle and boat. If they drove to the ramp themselves, then they need only pay 50% of the boat fuel.

If you follow these bass fishing tips, you’ll have a better relationship with all the fishing community!

About The Author:
Paul Bruessow
20 years as a avid bass fisherman in Florida fishing local and club tournaments. Websites: http://www.floridabassfishing.us and http://www.floridabasslakes.com

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