Largemouth 101
juin 25, 2018
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June 24th 2018
I had a client requesting largemouth 101 today and Tino was his name. I have fished pike & walleye so much this season that it was a welcomed change to go for old bucked head. Let the class begin!
We headed out on mirror calm waters, right to where I knew they lived. I informed him that I hadn’t fished largemouth this season and I was going to dissect it just like a tournament practice. He was looking forward to seeing how and welcomed the opportunity to learn!
I don’t think he realized what I was about to do when I ran into such shallow water. I told him they were either in spawn or post spawn mode, but either way I was going to find them. I set up a couple of lines with soft plastics but before beginning the search, obliged one of his requests. He had brought along a new baitcaster that he was struggling to learn how to use and within 5 minutes fell in love with it. A few adjustments and basic guidance and he was casting like a pro!
We started on the outside of weeds, but eventually moved to the inside of the area when he finally locked up with a nice fish. Too bad it was a pike, but it was a pretty big one nonetheless! The next fish turned out to be a beaver fish or bowfin and in full spawning colors. Tino had never caught one before and was thrilled to land his first ever « poisson castor » in the province of Quebec! All that was left, was the bucket head to complete his slam!
We covered more water and eventually, he connected with his first ever largemouth bass. Although post spawn, it was still a really good one! He now captured two species that he had never caught before and was learning a lot about location and presentation. This would help him out on future outings in his boat as well.
The fishing was a little slow at times but we moved along and picked at them along the way. We landed several more largies and a few more bowfin by covering water. I could see by the way these fish were acting that it was completely post spawn and continued the search for more. This place was alive with fish and we saw giant carp and loads of long nose gar. Several of the gar even took a swipe at out baits but unfortunately none were caught!
Tino was having a blast seeing everything from a new perspective as we slowly covered water. He said that he never would have thought of fishing a place like this for bass and that I had opened his eyes to a whole new way of fishing. Always good to know!
The morning had gone by quickly and I was glad we were into the afternoon as the sun was really warming the water up nicely. With the rising water temps, the fish started to become more active and plenty of species were moving all around. We saw a lot of bass just cruising that didn’t want to eat as well. At one point in the day, Tino actually caught a largemouth that jumped over a gar, that was following his lure, inhaling it right under his eyes. These gar were becoming a pain as they were eating baits and breaking them in half with their scissor like mouths.
Later in the afternoon after standing all day casting and catching fish, Tino was feeling the pain. His back was becoming a little sore and we decided to pack it in. It was past 3:30 by now and I could see the skies darkening where we needed to take out. Although we were still in sunshine and unbelievably hot conditions, it was about to get dark.
As we ran across the lake to the ramp, it felt like we had just entered a fridge. Between the heavy clouds and the temperature drop, it was amazing how cold it had actually gotten. We were fishing in almost 90 degrees and now it seemed like 60. The winds were blowing out of the north and some waves were building too. I was glad to arrive back at the dock as we were about to get a storm!
With a little help from a buddy with my trailer, we were out in no time! The bell had rang and Tino’s class was officially over for the day. He had learnt a lot today about largemouth and a few techniques on how to catch them. He was even looking forward to getting back out and using his baitcaster, now that knew how to cast. He was also in a hurry to leave as well, as he was hoping to get to a store to pick up heavier braid. After seeing where these bass lived, he wanted to replace the light fluoro he had on the reel before venturing back to the jungle!
This day couldn’t have gone any better because the steps used to find the fish were quite basic and easy to duplicate most anywhere. Tino will be able to apply what he learned today when he searches for new areas on his own and hopefully he will find fish. It was also nice for me to target a different species for a change, but I will be back at the troll once again tomorrow. Either way there’ll be plenty of bent rods and screaming reels for all to enjoy, the next time out!!
