This has been a real fun month for me. I got to meet some interesting people, I got to fish a little bit, and even though it was too cold to really catch any fish, I had a lot of fun going anyway. Some of the best places to hang out are in bait and tackle stores. Bass Pro had their Spring Classic, where the vendors set up and they have seminars. Grandpa and I went and hung out a little bit. I got to meet some of his friends and we made some new friends. I met Penny Berryman, a professional on the ladies bass circuit, who encouraged me to continue fishing, and I'm going to, because I love fishing. Johnny Poff, a good fisherman who my grandpa knows, demonstrated a fishing technique with a drop shot in the big tank. He taught me how to rig a drop shot a new way, with a weighted crawfish on the bottom and a finesse worm tied on about fourteen inches up. It's a neat little rig and I can't wait to try it. Mr. Poff said that sometimes you can catch two fish that way! Cool!

The cold might stop some people from fishing but it never stopped my grandpa! We went out on Old Hickory to check out the steam plant. We had heard that there were some nice stripers up in there! The boats over there were stacked up like cars in the mall parking lot, so we didn't stay long. We didn't see anybody catching anything so we tried a few other spots without much luck either, but we still had a fun time with me getting tangled up in the tree limbs! I still remember what my grandpa told me a long time ago …that one good thing about your bait getting stuck in a tree, is that if it falls out, maybe the fish will hear the ripple in the water and think that it is a bug falling from the trees and bite it. That doesn't mean that it's always good to get your bait stuck in a tree!
We finally decided that since we weren't catching any fish, we'd just load up the boat and go eat! I just got new braces on my teeth, so I asked my Mema if she had a toothpick. I wasn't even thinking when she asked me if I wanted a new one or a used one and I said, "a used one." Everybody had a great laugh on me. My Mema's a real prankster.

When I can't go to the lake, I like to "bucket fish" in the back yard. You just rig up a jig on a spinning rod and reel. Set a bucket up anywhere in your yard. Choose a spot about ten feet away from the bucket. Reel your jig up so the line is about as long as the rod. Hold the rod so the jig just touches the ground to make it still, take your line in your finger and open the bail. Then lift up with your wrist, making the jig swing towards you. Dip the rod with your wrist and gently pitch the lure. When the jig swings out, away from you, release your line and try to ring the bucket with the jig. We made up a game that anyone could play. With friends or family members, take turns pitching your bait into the bucket. You get three tries to ring the bucket. If you ring it, the next person has to do it from the same spot you did it from. Then try making it from different spots! It's just like playing "HORSE" in basketball, except you spell the word "FISHING". It's a fun way to practice putting your bait where the fish are!

With all this cold weather, the fish have not come up to shallow water yet, and that makes them hard to catch. But when the water temperature gets up to about 55 degrees you better get ready to catch some bass! The reason why March, April, and May are the best times to bass fish is because the fish are getting ready to make nests for their babies. That's called the spawn. I was reading about springtime fishing in Largemouth Bass by Don Oster and learned some interesting facts.

In the early spring, which is called the pre-spawn, bass start to move into warm shallow water. When the water temperature gets to about 55 degrees, the bass start feeding like crazy, getting ready for the spawn. This is great for fishing, because they really bite the hook and are pretty easy to find. During this time the male bass will search for days, picking the perfect nesting grounds! Just like a husband picking the perfect house for his family. And the female comes up into shallow water getting ready to lay her eggs. This is when I like to fish with rattletraps, or lipless crankbaits. They have a little rattle inside and whenever the rattletrap hits the tip of grass, the bass will hear the noise and come swimming towards it! Get ready to catch a big one!

The male prepares the nest by shaking his head and tail, sweeping the ground into a saucer shape depression about 2 or 3 feet in diameter. The nest will most likely be in 1 to 4 feet of water, and it will be near some sort of structure like grass, stumps or logs; and bass love firm bottoms of sand, mud or gravel. When the water temperature reaches about 64 degrees, the females lay the eggs. She most likely will lay 2,000 - 7,000 per pound and that means this number times her body weight! That's a lot of eggs! After the spawn, the female needs a break, so she will swim down to the deep part of the lake and may not eat for days. The male will guard the nest and will not eat, but he will be very aggressive towards anything that he thinks is trying to attack his youngsters, including your bait! I don't know about you, but if I used that much energy trying to protect something, I'd definitely need to eat to keep up my muscles!

After the little ones hatch, papa guards them for 8 to 10 days. Out of all those eggs, I found out that only about 5 to 10 baby bass from each nest will live to get 10 inches long! And that's another reason we should be extra careful to make sure our lakes and rivers are protected to make a good habitat for the fish, and to practice catch and release.
Well, it won't be long now till we'll be pulling in those big ones. In fact, by the time you read this, the bass should be in the shallows. I hope to have some really good photos by next month. Send in your pictures, too. I'd really like to see them. I've been getting emails from some of you and I really love hearing from you, so don't forget to write me at kaylee@bassvideos.com. And have a great time fishing!