Bass Fishin' For Sport

It is interesting to take a look at how fishing in general has evolved over the years. From colonial times, when people fished to put food on the table and survive, to more recently in the 1950's when the original floating bass lure Rapala was introduced to North America and the sport of bass fishing was born. Living in a society where food is in abundance, fishing has become a weekend hobby for mostly middle class males, and even a profession for those who excel at locating fish and landing them. The most publicized and popular of professional angling is Bass fishing. An entire multi-million dollar industry is built around this sport through the FLW(Forest Lakewood) tours and the Bassmasters Classic. What used to be something done to survive has now become a competitive sport with several different intricate styles and methods.

In colonial times men would fish as a necessity to feed their family, and go to any means necessary to put food on the table. This means using the most effective bait to catch fish, which of course is the real thing, live bait. When the first artificial bass lures came on to the scene from Rapala in the mid-20th century, hundreds of years later, a new and highly skilled style of fishing was born. Bass fishing, however, did not spring up overnight as a professional sport, it had to pass through the middle ground of being a popular hobby and pass time. As more and more people became interested in the sport aspect of fishing, there became a larger market and several companies were born, and Rapala, originally exclusive to Finland, had a large enough market in North America to expand.

To become a professional angler nowadays one must be able to adjust to an ever changing environment. A largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) has been proven to be the most intelligent of a group of fresh water fish tested by Chicago's Shedd Aquarium recently (Largemouth Bass 1). Largemouth bass performed highest in visual perception and the ability to recognize a lure, or bait as non-edible after their first strike(Largemouth Bass 1). Micropterus salmoides, translating to "Small fin" and "Trout-like," is the largest member of the sunfish family (Largemouth Bass 1) and is known for its ability to give an angler a good fight only to be topped by the smallmouth bass, which are known for their aerial acrobatics once hooked. Bass in general will live out a cycle of four parts each year. These parts are Pre-spawn (early spring), Spawn (late April to early July), Post Spawn(mid-summer to fall), and in the winter bass seek deeper waters that are less affected by the freezing temperatures of the winter, when they remain generally inactive. Each of these parts of the year must be approached differently to have a successful outing. Within each one of these patterns, a bass' feeding habits will change depending on many other factors such as: water temperature, cloud cover, water clarity, wind direction, wind speed, and the type of naturally occurring prey that the bass are normally feeding on. A professional angler will have up to eight rods on their boats at any time to be ready for any situation they may face.

For example an angler may be on his boat and notice that it is a windy day out and choose to fish a spinner bait which are known for their ability to catch fish in choppy stained water. Now that the angler has selected the type of lure to fish, he must choose what size, color, and configuration of spinning blades he will use that will be most effective. Lets just say for the sake of this example, that in the weeks of research leading up to this tournament, that he found an abundance of yellow perch in the fishery he is fishing, and therefore will "match the hatch" with a fire tiger colored skirt. Since the water clarity is low in stained water he then must choose a set of spinning blades for this lure that will best capture the profile of the bait fish he is to mimic and will provide enough flash to catch a fish's attention in the murky water. In this instance the angler would choose a Colorado blade, which is a small round blade that will create a vibration in the water to key on the bass' sense of sound and feel to feed when it cannot see its prey (Iaconelli 120). Now that a lure is chosen , he must analyze the direction and speed of the wind and plan his boat position such that he can cast with the wind at his back to optimize his casting distance. On top of this he will choose what pole and line combination to use for this situation as well as what depth and presentation to use.

As you probably noticed, there is a lot more to being a successful angler than you ever could have imagined. This is just one of the thousands of possible combinations an angler must sort through in a time restricted tournament, and the fastest most accurate interpretation of the situation and location will win the tournament. Since professional tournament fisherman aren't allowed to fish live bait, like colonial anglers did in order to survive, there is a big contrast between fishing back then, as a necessity, and now, as a form of entertainment and even a profession. An angler now can choose from an array of millions of combinations of types, colors, sizes, and presentations, where the most creative and persistent angler comes out on top.