Fred Raby
Volbasser@att.net
Pensacola
Blue
Angels
Bass Page
hook.
com
"FISHING WITH FRED"
covering tidal waters and impoundments
COLD FRONT BLUE SKIES AND BASS
When the high winds and blue sky follow a cold front the bass are hard to find, and even harder to catch. The front had moved through the day before the tournament, fish were being caught in pre-fish but they were small and scattered. The basic lure patterns were working but only sporadically.
I knew it would be hard to find the fish I wanted to win this one. I started my reasoning process by looking for the signs of nature, birds, bait fish and wind direction to start my search for Mr. Largemouth.
I watched a Kingfisher dive into the water and catch threadfin shad and soon another. A little further back in the creek mouth I saw a blue heron, the wind was at my back out of the west at about 25 mph. I thought to myself this will be where the bass are also.
The basics tell you to down size, slowdown and make multiple casts to the logical location where a bass should hide. My partner and I did that for seven hours in these conditions. He had a one and a half pounder in the boat and I had nothing.
I changed baits, again for the 467th time. I tied on a swimming minnow bait and cast into the wind only to get a nice backlash. While picking the loops out of my reel my bait disappeared. Nice time for a strike. Obviously I missed the fish, but I did read the sign. The next cast I let the bait sit still for 3 or 4 minutes and then it disappeared, I set the hook on a 3 and a half pounder, it was 1:30 P M. I continued this pattern up and down a stretch of water that was known to produce quality fish. It was slow tedious work, but when I reached the scales it paid off with a 5.10 lunker and a winning stringer of 15.5 pounds.
These conditions always seem to appear on the weekend we want to fish, I knew patience and experience could make the difference. I paid attention to the conditions, and got lucky enough to put a pattern together that would boat the bigger fish.
Good luck and let me know if this works for you.
Fred Raby
