With the water temperature climbing into the mid-seventies, the spawn is pretty much over.  So I launched my Tracker Bass Boat into the water on Skiatook Lake, Oklahoma at first light around 6:30 am. Tracker PT-190  I love my Tracker Boat because it is so easy to launch by myself.  Just back it down the ramp, climb in, fire it up, then pull off the trailer and poke the nose up on the bank and go park the truck.  Hybrid Striped Bass After catching several white bass a...

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The Largemouth Bass is probably the most common and sought after game fish in New Mexico.  Here are some interesting facts about the Largemouth Bass we bet you didn't know! - In the USA, largemouth bass have been granted game fish status; no commercial harvesting or sale of these fish for food is allowed. - The largemouth bass is the state fish of Georgia and Mississippi, official freshwater fish of Alabama and Florida, and the official sport fish of Tennessee. - This popular species...

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Graphite fishing rods can be excellent conductors of electricity, which is not good news for those who fish with them. Every so often you hear about someone trout fishing with a fly rod and being electrocuted by a lightning strike.  In fact it has happened several times on the San Juan River just below Navajo Dam . Once I was fishing with Dave “Bob” Granger from Farmington, New Mexico.  Bob and I were both bass fishing with fly rods and we were catching a ton of Smallmout...

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Back in the mid 80s when there was still a upper lake above the narrows at Elephant Butte, several pop-up campers, travel trailers and even a 5th wheel or two could be found at a remote campsite “boon docking” on the west side of the narrows.  There were “out-house” style restrooms and a couple of make-shift launch ramps, but no water or electrical hook ups, so we always tried to take as much ice as we would need for the outing. Four of us were camping in our Layton...

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Striped Bass Feeding on the Surface It surprises me how many people who fish do not understand the basics of fishing.  They wouldn’t even think of driving right up on a herd of grazing elk in an old loud truck and try to take a picture.  But these same people race up to a school of stripers feeding on the surface and think the fish won’t notice the noise and spook!  Sound travels much faster and much farther under water, so the fish know you’re coming ...

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Fishermen have devised many methods to catch one of the world’s most popular game fish, the elusive trout.  But none that I know of have even attempted to master the “no tackle” techniques that I have developed.  That’s right; rods, reels, lines and lures are not necessary when you have mastered the skills of catching trout with “no tackle”. I caught my first “no tackle” trout while my wife and I were acting as tour guides for two young ...

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2 Bass One Cast! Considering the expectations of monofilament fishing line, and the abuse it's subject to, it is amazing what this "thin" material will do.  But, to get the most out of any monofilament, we must protect it from certain negative elements. Listed below are a few "mono checks" that, when followed properly, will put more fish on the table. We will start with the reel and work towards the hook. Putting Monofilament Line On Your Fishing Reel Most tackle stores are happy to ...

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You have to get up really early if you want to fish with fly rods in flat water for smallmouth bass during the spring in New Mexico, because the wind usually starts howling by 9 am.  But when surface temperature at Conchas Lake in Eastern New Mexico reaches into the mid-sixties, it’s well worth it. After watching all the weather reports, I had already prepared my friend Tracy Kuntz for the possibilities of a “perfect” day.  But after you’ve fished in New Mexico...

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One Saturday morning in May, a beautiful sunrise set the New Mexico sky ablaze as we launched my Tracker bass boat from the ramp at Santa Rosa Lake, and the well known phrase “red sky in the morning, sailors take warning” came to mind.  The weather forecast was for 15 to 25 mile per hour winds, and at 6 am the wind was already blowing at about 20. Santa Rosa Lake is a great place to fish on windy days. The big island in the lake make it easy to find places to fish that are pro...

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In my 65 years of fishing, I’ve heard a lot of stories about fishing records.  Most of them are based on the species of fish that were caught and the weight or test of the line used to catch them.  Of course there are also records of total weight of bass caught during a fishing tournament that have nothing to do with line weight. My wife Debbie, who is also my favorite fishing buddy, holds what I consider two of the most amazing fishing records. We were fishing in Eastern New M...

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After fighting this big fish on 8 lb. test line for almost 2 minutes in my Tracker Pro Team 185 Bass Boat, James strained to lift up on the handle of the net, but when it cleared the water we saw 2 monsters in the net! I know a lot of guys that hate to fish in off color, stained, murky or coffee water as I call it.  I call it coffee water because I drink my coffee with just enough creamer to make it the color of the water we were fishing that day.  They are all used to fishing those c...

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The line snapped like a rifle shot as the huge fish exploded thru the side of the dip net.  Bob and the fish both smashed thru the Tracker Bass boat windshield on their way into the bottom of the boat.  But Then ALL Hell Broke Loose! It was 6:30 am, a breathtaking day, July 4th.  Bob and I (his name is really Dave Granger, but he has fallen into the San Juan river so many times his brother and I now call him Bob) were fishing for smallmouth bass up the Pine River arm in Navajo La...

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The Bradford pear & red bud trees are blooming in Northeast Oklahoma, so the hybrid/wipers are biting like crazy!  Hybrid or wipers as they are sometime called are a cross between a striped bass and a sand or white bass.  Did I mention that they fight like bulldogs? Scott Yeager owns the lure company “Striped Bass Tackle 4 You” (web site: sbt4u.com) and lucky for us both, last year he and his family moved two doors down the street from us.  Scott is a quite an acc...

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Largemouth Bass On a chilly day early in April the wind was blowing 20 to 25 miles an hour on Elephant Butte Lake in Southern New Mexico.  I had promised James Davis, who is an RV & Boat sales consultant at Rocky Mountain RV & Marine, that I would take him fishing in my Pro Team 175 Tracker Boat.  Now after fishing Elephant Butte for over 20 years, I have learned that when the wind blows 25 miles per hour and the water temperature is only 50 degrees, you are limited as t...

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