If you're driving to the ramp, and the cows are lying down... turn around! I still go, but it seems to be true every time!!

When cows are feeding in the fields on the way to the lake the day will be a good one. When they are laying down, the fish wont bite.

If the squirrels are busy, the fish are biting. If the cows are chewing, the fish are biting,and last but not least, WIND IS YOUR FRIEND!!

Here's one: A lot of folks think every bass in the lake comes to the bank to spawn. I fished Ray Hubbard in the mid to late 70's a lot. We caught fish in March & April pulling spinnerbaits & lizards through tree tops in 10-20 feet of water. Those fish were spawning on the forks of the limbs. And I'm not talking 2 pounders here.

I believe the largest bass in Fork never go near the bank even to spawn.

So many stories from the old days and fishing with the older guys, I could go on for hours. They knew absolutely what a bait had to have going for it to produce more quality Bass. You can't imagine all the techniques and tricks you can learn form fishing with those old guys, if you can even get them to go out on the water any more. These experiences have prompted me to modify baits that play upon every sense that Bass are looking for in sight, sound, smell, taste, vibration and believe it or not a heat signature.

I picked up bits and pieces from many older guys; but none stand out more then the first one I fish with in Texas back in 1982. Mr. Martin seemed to have all the senses put together in his select few baits that he took on the water each day.
- He did not believe in the flash. His skirts on jigs and spinner baits were of the old school wide living rubber using the earth tone colors as most of the West TX. lakes were stained water.
- He hammered the heads flat to get the largest rattling disk eye on the bait as possible for sound and visibility. He believed that Big Bass would always turn on their side and look their pray in the eye before taking it by the head.
- He worked the Scent and Taste to the max. He kept the spinner bait, spook, crank bait and sassy shads in a minnow bucket over night with two dozen minnows. All 4 lines tied on ready to fish without touching the baits the next morning.
- He kept a Blue Flake Lizard and Worm in a Night Crawler box so they were ready to fish. He always handled the wad of Night Crawlers before putting the plastics on the hook.
- He kept his favorite Jig in a coffee can with Crayfish and a mud bath.

The Heat Signature:

Here is a great story on catching a fish on the first cast. The first older gentleman I fished with in Texas ask me that question; "Have you ever wondered why you catch a fish on the first cast then never get another bite on that lure"? It has happened to me over these 60 years that I have been chasing Bass hundreds of times and never thought anything about it until I fished with Mr. Martin.

His theory was that the lure was laying in the sun on the deck and was very hot. Bass are cold blooded just like a rattle snake and are constantly seeking pray that has a different body temperature than their own. A worm or spinner bait for example thrown in the shallows is several degrees warmer than the water and represents a critter that has been in a bush or on a rock sunning then enters the water. More often than not it gets eaten immediately as it enters the water. For the first 20 years of fishing I threw spinner baits exclusively and this is what I did about this presentation to win two tournaments in a row in early spring when the water was cold.

I had noticed that the blades were hot laying in the sun. I could usually catch a fish on the first cast if I was on fish then nothing else until I picked up another spinner bait. I developed a 6 cell flash light that could be plugged into a cigarette lighter. I lined the inside with cork and aluminum foil to hold the heat and used the tail light of a car flipped over and shinning inside to heat up the blades of the baits. I kept a dozen spinner baits tied on and hanging in this HOT BOX. It was somewhat time consuming to unscrew the lens cover, take one out and replace the one just used; but it worked. It produced 12 keeper fish on 12 consecutive cast to win both tournaments. This was done at the beginning of Feb. on one lake and the end of Feb. on another lake. This gave me the confidence to know that it was working. The down fall is that the blades being very hot would be cold by the time I retrieved it back to the boat and had to change on every cast. If you were not on fish you worked your azz off and I lost interest pretty quickly.

Mr. Martin would simply carry a roll of aluminum foil and a small metal bucket. He would line the bucket with the foil to reflect the heat and just lay his baits in there while fishing. He would take them out one at a time and catch a fish then make a change.

Here is the concept behind this:
Over the years I have determined that Bass have the ability to sense a heat signature different from that of their own. �This comes from the lateral line on the fish and is the most important factor in the way a fish feeds. �It is more important than sight, sound, taste, vibration and smell. �It has to do with them being cold blooded like a rattle snake.

Using the lateral line, a bass can feel the nearness of a prey or obstacle before it can see the object. Especially in water of low visibility, fish that swim in tight-knit groups, called schools, use their lateral lines to sense and coordinate sudden turns. Highly sensitive olfactory, or smell organs, permits fish to sense chemicals in the water, which helps identify food. Some fish, such as minnows, are also sensitive to chemicals in the skin of other members of their species. When released to the water during a bass attack, these chemicals stimulate a fright response that warns other minnows to escape, and at the same time gives Mr. Bass a trail to follow. The lateral line is also used for the fish to determine its depth in the water. This helps to distinguish up from down.

It is my belief that there is a fourth sense of the lateral line; sensing hot or cold thermal temperature changes in the food chain. As organisms move to the surface to feed, their body temperature is different from the organisms on the surface. The Bass�s lateral line processes this information and allows the Bass to track and feed on baitfish that have a different body temperature than their own. Any critter entering the water off the rocks or a bush is warm and produces a vicious strike.

If you would like to help in the development of this concept send me a PM..

If water wasn't such a good insulator, this would have merit. Unfortunately thermal changes happen very slowly underwater. You tell it with such vigor though.

No Bass can sense the heat of it's pray. They seem to single out bait that is a different body temperature than their own.

We took 3 minnows out of a large aquarium that had bass in it. The tails were marked with a magic marker to tell them apart. Took those to the minnow tank where the minnows was being raised which was much warmer water. Just left them in the dip net for about 5 mins. to up their body temp.. When we put those 3 back in the aquarium with the other minnows they went straight to the school of minnows. One of the larger Bass moved into the school and chased down all 3 of them. She did not bother the others.

We thought the results might be because of the fright chemicals or stress in the minnows that the Bass was sensing. The next test was with 6 minnows. 3 went to the warm water tank and 3 stayed in captivity in the Bass tank. We saw the same results. The 3 HOT minnow were immediately eaten.

We did these same test by lowering the body temperature of the minnow to less than that of the aquarium with the same results. We tested Bluegill, Crappie, and salamanders with all having the same results. They truly hate any critter with a different body temp. than there own and will chase it down quickly.

When cows are feeding in the fields on the way to the lake the day will be a good one. When they are laying down, the fish wont bite.

What if they are laying down in one field and feeding in another?

So you store all your tackle trays in the cooler full of ice on your boat?