Bass Fishing Heavy Cover: Just What Does "Bassy" Mean --to the Bass? VFJ#21 

Thanks, Stan. Feel free to share with others. Would help me out. Cheers, Paul

@ The Nature of Fishing, I will add under my “Fish Education Stuff” videos, so my friends can chime in Sir.

I agree. I’m a little late to the party, but I’ve learned soo much in the past few days of binge watching! I’m sure once RU-vid starts to advertise the channel, your views and subs will sky rocket! Cheers! And great work!

Thanks, Michael. Yeah... neat stuff. So cool to be able to actually see some of it. I did find something cool there while filming these Jungle Warfare journals, that gave me an in, allowing for some actual "hatch-matching" for bass. I wasn't able to spend much time at it, but managed a journal out of it: #24 it'll be. Already shot #25, a summer-fall transition one. Things are rolling here. Cheers, Paul

Hi, Kevin. Always... Cheers, Paul

Thanks, Troy!

Hey, GMF. :)) Once quite a while back, I was feeling a bit high and mighty when a young angler said he recognized me as "that guy who catches all the fish". My buddy quipped, "Yeah... Paul's a legend alright, a legend in his own mind." That kinda fixed me right there. I've been more Bob Ross ever since. :)) Anyway, thanks. PBS? That would be cool. In the meantime, share away! Cheers, Paul

Hi, Bulldog. Thanks! ... I think. :) If it remains a secret for too long, my wife is going to pull the plug on us. She's wonderful, supportive, but, I'm stretching the envelope on this venture. Wish us luck. And, share with friends. Cheers, Paul.

@@thenatureoffishing7591 Paul, I hope that you can keep it going. You're on a mission that I believe is well worth the effort. You've got my full support! I have learned so much from you that has made me a better steward of bass fishing. Thank you!

Hi, Mario. Glad you liked it. You're welcome! Feel free to share with others. Paul

Thanks, Adam.

Hi, Mauro. Great! Good to hear. Cheers, Paul

Thanks, Ed! Me too!

Thanks, CLO.

Yeah, are they striking and missing. Or are you just seeing jumping? First... Carp perhaps? Otherwise, "frogs" have that reputation bc of the dense cover and expectation of the bass. I suspect they are expecting fish just under the surface, rather than hollow plastic on top. Confusion from both ends of the rod! :) The other tack, esp when things get hot and sunny, is flipping punching. Gotta find those breaks and lanes though. ;) Good luck. Have fun with it. Paul

Hi, JW. Thanks. I love the jungle fishing too. Its addictive. Not many would bother, or dare, to do it in a float tube. In FL, it might be downright dangerous! Cheers, Paul

Hi, Trey. Thanks so much. I hope to be able to return to making videos. I enjoy making them. But other priorities have arisen. Here’s to light at the end of the tunnel.

Hey, BB. I needed to improve too, lol. But, I love that kind of fishing. LOL... Hey... you're talking my kind of fun! Beautiful, rugged, and... all yours! tends to come together. Very cool. That's why I like this jungle fishing, along with picking away at targets --visual or in "mind's eye". Similarly, possibly my favorite trout fly-fishing here are the tiny creeks shrouded in willow and alder. I bet I make as many bow-n-arrow casts as I do regular ones. And, always from a crouch, or lower. :) -Paul

Thanks, Arturo.

Hi, Duane. Yes, you are in punch central! We're lightweights up here by comparison! I didn't need more than 3/4oz weight for this water. :) Yes, the UW footage is awesome. I love reviewing the hours of footage I collect, almost as much as my fishing. It's a lot like fishing, in fact. Gotta know where the action is. Thanks for watching. Feel free to share my vids with your friends. Cheers, Paul

Hey, Brian. Me too! So cool to be able to actually see. Cheers, Paul

Hi, Bill. Thanks. I love the science nature angler mix too! I wouldn't do it any other way. Not in this just to "run a YT channel". I don't know yet whether I can get this channel off the ground. I'm taking some serious time out of "more responsible things" to try it out. Wish us luck! And, feel free to share with others! Paul

Well said!!

Thanks, Jonathan.

Hey, jmp. LOL. You know, my dad is a landscape painter. Very cool you got a float tube. I LOVE mine. They take just a bit to get used to, but after, man they open up small waters to you. We don't have pads here, but I did back in NY. It's where I did my first jungle warfare fishing. The first time i did it I was 10years old, and using 6lb test! Didn't land a fish, but it sure was exciting to see those bass waking and busting in those pads! While making these vids I threw a hissy fit at one point, admonishing myself for blowing a couple fish in hard rushes ("tules"), saying "I feel like... I'm ten years old!" And I was using 50lb braid this time around. :)) I then went to 65. Live and learn. Good luck in those pads. It sure is fun fishing, but can be something of a roller coaster ride! Cheers, Paul

RI here. Tiogue lake in Coventry has been great this year. Been looking for more places.

Hey, wabassin. I'm going out tomorrow to see if I can follow up on that scenario. Summer is winding down quick this year. Paul

Hi, David. Most of my time has been spent making the latest documentary (There are now 2 in the Documentaries playlist!), and... making a living. Now, I'm back to more regular programming here -including the making a living part. Paul

Awesome I've learned alot about bass fishing from you thank you

Hey, James. Thanks. Always great to get them out too. Love making them, but you're right, I put a lot into them. There's just so much going on out there! Cheers, Paul

Hi, LML. Great! Yeah, there's lot in there. That's bc... there's a LOT going on out there. I have to decide what to address, and not make a complete documentary out of every fishing day! This is the kind of info I always wanted. Ebooklets n such would be helpful, as would full blown books, and on-line courses. Have been looking into it options. Not sure how well YT is going to work for me, with each vid being so labor-intensive. Remains to be seen. Cheers, Paul

Hey, Tyko. Thanks for "talking my ear off"! Very cool hearing about other's waters, challenges, and attempts at solving them. And, yeah, there are plenty of mysteries out there. Can't imagine ever being bored with it. My waters are pretty varied here, and so I pick and choose waters and techniques. But we do have plenty with heavy vegetation, so I decided to do some vids on it this year. These are public waters and it seems once the weeds get heavy, the fishing traffic all but disappears. And, yeah, I went nuts on the slop this year, too. I just love picking visual targets apart. Such fun, and frustrating. I managed to scrape that rust off and got better at it as I went. I like the twin-tail idea. I ended up sticking with the Pit Boss. Slips through stuff well and has great action. But, once a single tail is nipped off, they lose that fluttery flapping action. Always fun to experiment. Hey, are these bass that are eating snails? I know trout do, and some sunfish specialize on them (Redears and Pumpkinseeds). I've never known a bass to do that, although, I haven't looked into nearly as many bass stomachs as I have trout. And hey, it's never a shame to focus on salmonids, or any critter, if you ask me. I'm focused on bass for a number of reasons, but, I love em all. And I was a serious trout guy for a bunch of years. Still am actually, but I steel myself as I drive by all those streams on the way to my bass ponds. Gonna give this vid a week to cook, then release the next Jungle Warfare vid: The Bluegill Hunters ("froggin'"). Cheers, Paul

@@thenatureoffishing7591 Yup, bass and snails. I don't know if it was just an early summer thing or what. It was my first time out for bass, and went with a friend. They were both her fish, and both were packed with almost exclusively the same food item... But she had no idea what to make of it! It wasn't until weeks later, when I dredged the depths with a weed magnet, did I spot (en masse) the only thing I can see decomposing into the brown and grey, translucent, swirly, stringy gel. I haven't been able to confirm if this is normal, a seasonal trend, or a local tend as I'm almost exclusively catch and release. And I could still be wrong! I'll have to look into stomach pumping, and better documentation. I don't like the idea of stressing the fish any more than necessary... But bass are resilient, and if given the choice, I think they'd prefer the pump over the pan. I'll let ya know what I find!

Hi, Alex. I am not aware of a way of knowing whether a water body has bass in it. We may be able to know a certain water cannot support bass, by being too cold, like a high mountain lake. Or, in the case of LM's, a stream with fast turbulent water. If it's a warmwater pond, with carp, it's likely to have bass. Bluegills are another possible/probable clue, and they are often readily visible during the warm seasons. Unless bass are indigenous to a water body, then they would have to be stocked. Certainly floods could do it, but not reliably. Eggs stuck to bird's feet is essentially a myth. So, bass would have to be stocked/released into a pond. Bass are very enormously adaptable predators, able to eek out livings in waters choked with lots of cover, and those without. The quality of that fishery though, the numbers and size of the bass, will be affected by the habitat quality though. "Dead" water? The most suspect would be very shallow waters that might be prone to winterkill or summerkill, both due to oxygen depletion. To really know, you'd have to ask around: owners, other fishers, your fisheries dept. folks. Hope this helps. Paul

The Nature of Fishing Thank you very much for the thorough answer!

lunkerhunt dragonfly

Preston Cobb yeah but mine will be more “castable”

Hi, MD. There is, it's called "punching". But there have been few actual "mats" in this particular pond -yet. As weeds die, more will become apparent. My "flipping"/"pitching"/"punching" (in VFJ23) is at hard cover. Deciding what to do next. Got several scenarios going. Hmmm... choices... :) Paul