Hi to all. I'm new to this bb,been reading it for a while...trying to learn the fishing game-both fresh and salt. I live Visalia and just got back from Kaweah lake. It's real low. I have no boat / want to start float tubing. I did better than the boys in boats from what I could see right from the shore today. I'm a beginner and happened have a couple of Rapala lures I picked last week. The bass were hitting it like crazy. Only problem was they were all small. Where were the big ones?I didn't see any size come out of the lake at all today. I did notice that everybody that fished from the shore seemed to think it was ok to just leave their trash there when they left. I'd love to catch somebody doing that once so I could call them on it and/or report them. It looked like a frickin trash dump on the shoreline there. Anybody else fish this lake? Tried for cats last week using chicken liver by the dam with no luck. Got hit by what felt like shiners. Any advice would be more than welcome. When it cools down I think I'll try the aquaduct over by Avenal. Anybody ever fished there?

I'd fished at Kaweah Lake before. Biggest lmb I'd ever got out of there was 19 inch on a live crawdad fished from shore. Not sure of the weight. As for Avenal, I heard that there's alot of stripers there but it's hard to get a legal (18"). Any ways good luck and let us know how you do.

We were just there the other night(8/22) and I did O.K. We fished the dam to the rock wall leading into Greasy Cove. Then across from the dam a little. I caught about 10 assorted spots and largemouth ranging in size from 11" to about two pounds. Caught em' on drop-shotted MM3, Aarons Magic, and People Worm colored Robos. Also caught some on a Norman crank(DD22), wacky-wormed senkos, and shad colored sluggos. You are going to catch a lot of small ones at that lake. If you want to catch bigger fish, try jigs and cranks. Or if you're real desperate, do the crawdad thing. You might also try Success. It's about time for the 2 to 4 pounders to make a regular showing. Stock up on some more plastics and what not. Margarita Mutilators in just about any presentation will likely work. Try Lure Point or there's a couple of rocky humps out off the dam that will produce. You have to try real hard to not catch fish at Success now. The fish in my avatar image there is about a four pounder I caught at night beginning of July on a drop-shotted Margarita Mutilator. Drop-shotting with that worm will always catch fish for me if they are on the chew. But this technique can be tricky at first. Maybe try dragging them on a split-shot rig if the drop-shotting doesn't work for ya. You'll find the bulk of your fish in 8-15' of water now. But there are so many fish in that lake, you can catch them anywhere, just about.

Just about everything you just said is Greek to me. I truly appreciate your response but I don't understand much of it. I am a real beginner. You might as well have just told me to use a reticulated fanortner rod in conjunction with twin spotted hog flanges on a six pound enlish setter line in tandem with a yoked arkee set. Please clue me in or e-mail me with more specifics. Thanks.

Try picking up some books and/or magazines so learn some of the basic technics, too. That will give you a head start. Some of them give good diagrams and pictures of the rigs and what baits to use. Also, if you have a local tackle store go in and ask them to help you get started. They should be happy to set you up and let you know what's working right now.

Well all of what I'm telling ya is what works for me. Luckily, right now the fishing is a real no-brainer for the most part at Success. Try going to the tackle shop(not Wal-Mart). Get some Robo-Worms in Margarita Mutilator and Aarons Magic. Get the straight tail in 4" or 6". If you want, also pick up other straight tail type worms in this size range. There should be some worms that are poured by local folks. Maybe try picking up colors like amber green, amber blue, green weenie, or purple weenie. Split shotting is probably the easiest way to fish and will more than likely put some fish on the end of your line. For this I use size 1(not 1/0) gamagatsu worm hooks. Get the economy pack of 25 because you'll be losing some to the rocks. Put a split shot weight anywhere from 12"-18" above the hook. The deeper the water, the bigger the split shot. Now, this technique doesn't work that well in deeper water(25+ feet). At least not for me. The split shotting is a good place to start though. Cast towards shallow water and drag it back to you slowly. I like to lift my rod tip up slowly and let it back down slowly. This will help you to figure out where the fish are at depth-wise. Once you get an idea of where they're at, then you'll want to cast parallel to the bank. These depths will change as the day(or night) wears on. I'm almost positive you should be able to get some action this way. One of my buddies was at Success last Friday and he caught around 50 at Lure Point. He said at least 30 of them were 12" or better. This kind of fishing is good for helping you get some confidence in using this technique. I think a buddy and myself might hit it up on Friday night. We'll be at Lure Point in FishCat9 kick boats. If you e-mail me at tgulley@wellheadinc.com on Friday, I can tell you if we'll be there for sure. I'm sure we could help you catch some fish. Welcome to the crazy and addictive world of bass fishing.

I'm takin your bait and heading on up their this Saturday morning. I looked up Success lake on the net and found that the marina rents out fishing boats. We plan on renting one for a day. If you're gonna be there - then let me know, we might work out some way to meet. BTW-where is a good tackle shop near Visalia? I have a couple of new rods(a 7' Fenwick baitcaster, and 6.5' Berkely spincaster) but am waiting on new reels to come in from Cabela's. I've ordered two Prodigy's-one baitcaster and one spincaster. What do you think of those?

I'm not really up on all of the rods and reels. I can't afford to buy the "good" stuff. i.e. G-Loomis, Calcuttas, etc., etc. But I believe the stuff you're getting is good quality. I have a couple of Berkley Lightening Rods and a Shimano Convergance rod. All of which are outfitted with Okuma reels. I do have a Calcutta 50 that I picked up for $70(barely used, $170 new). There is a noticable difference. You should be able to put together some good combos for around $100. I actually took Angler of the Year in our small float tube club last year with some of the cheapest equipment you can get. I'm talking $25-$35 combos. So, unless you have a bunch of money, I'd say keep it simple. If I go at all this weekend, it will have to be Friday night. I'm not sure about the tackle shops because I live in Bakersfield. Check the phone book. When you get that boat, head south towards the dam and fish the first point(Lure Point). The people at the marina will tell you where it's at. There's also a couple of humps(little islands if the waters low enough) out in front of the middle of the dam. They may be marked with buoys. This should be another spot to find fish. The Margarita Mutilators should for sure get you some fish.

Thanks for all of your input. Hope to hear back on how you do tomorrow. My sister lives in Bfield so I do know a little about it...it gets smoggier and hotter the further south you go-and your way down there. Do you fish Isabella much? Mr. Brown truck man showed up early today with my new toys so I'm going to have something to play with Sat. I'm now set up with a new 7' H action Fenwick/Cabela's Prodigy baitcaster and a 6.5' M action Berkley Series 1/Cabela's(made by Daiwa) Prodigy spincaster. Both are loaded with 8lb test mono. I'm lousy with a baitcaster so I'll have a lot of fun getting rid of bird nests. I'm bound and determined to learn how to use one though- no matter how dorky I look figuring it out. Luckily I've got a couple of cheap back up spincasters to play so I don't spend all day monkeying with the reel and looking like a total BARNI out there Saturday.

Well we didn't do as well as I expected. I did well enough to give myself a terrible case of bass thumb. Let me know how you did.

Got three each and my wife got a small sunburn. We were glad not to get skunked. She got all of hers on a watermelon Senko by the dam, I got two with a watermelon Senko and one with a drop shotted Roboworm-nothing hit on the margaritas. Fished 9am to 1:15pm. Wish it were about 20 degrees cooler. BTW-found a nice tackle shop off of 198 on the way towards Kaweah from Visalia.

It'll get better. Even after it gets better, you'll have crappy days. I can't believe you didn't get anything on the MM's. If you ever get a tube, I fish with a small tube club. The next tourney is a two dayer at Success on the 18th and 19th of September. You could just come out to hang out and fish. It may be a small turn out as the club is in kind of a transition. Fishing with these guys taught me a lot. Go to www.nkft.com to see the schedule and some pics of a couple of tourneys from this season.

fish24, do you know what's up with Millerton? Probably fishing Pine Flat in September but I want to check out that lake- thanks for any info-

Sorry dude, don't know anything about Millerton. You might check the reports on www.westernbass.com. There may be something recent there. I've heard the striper fishing can be good there.