No doubt hooking up a feisty largemouth or smallmouth bass is an adrenaline pumping experience. If you land it, well, that's CATCHING. It is certainly the payoff, but it's not FISHING!

Now admit it folks, half the fun, more really, is found in messing with all the wonderful gear that is this great sport, the rods, reels, lures, baits and boats; the preparation for a trip and sharing it with good friends, how we do love it all!

We go to bed the night before a trip eagerly anticipating the coming morning. We've prepared and organized our gear. We've carefully selected our lures, put new line on our reels, assembled our rigs, and checked our maps.

Next morning we arrive on the water. Who of us does not find peace in the calm and stillness of the lake, pleasure in the coolness of the morning air and beauty in the sunrise? Any stress we may have in our lives slips away as we cast a topwater plug to a near bank. Then, WHAM, the water erupts and the fight is on. From calm serenity to heart thumping excitement in an instant! Now that's fishing and catching!

The inspiration for this site comes from my personal passion for spending a day on a lake or drifting a river in search of bucketmouths and smalljaws. The foundation of its information comes from my own and my long time friends and fishing buddies experiences chasing bass. It is also the collective wisdom of years of researching and reading hundreds of articles, books and web sites and from my personal fascination with experimenting with every kind of fishing lure, reel, rod and accessory there is.

Now, before we go further, I must tell you that those interested will find a lot of biological and technical information in this site, for all you budding biologists and ichthyologist fishermen. Hey, I gotta include that stuff too. However, for all you guys that are Bass Bums™ like me and my fishing buddies, you'll also find information and experiences about what we all love, "great fishing stuff" and "catching lots of bass"!

So what are a few of the things you will find exploring this site?

• Read about bass fishing equipment like rods and reels, spinning versus casting, when to use which where and why some are better than others.
• Learn about the many different fishing lines available, why there is no single, all-purpose best and find out how to tie fishing line knots for many techniques.
• So many different bass fishing rigs. Carolina rig, drop shot rig, wacky rig, Texas rig, dead sticking. Get familiar with how to put these and others together and learn tips and techniques for fishing them properly.
• Bass fishing lures? They're here too, in abundance! Crankbaits, plastic baits, topwaters, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, jigs, swimbaits and even live bait.
• How to find bass? You can't catch them if you can't find them. You will find out about seasonal movements, feeding habits, spawning and where they just like to hang out. Learn about tools such as depth finders, GPS, maps and underwater cameras and how they can help in the search.
• Ever tried fly fishing for smallmouth bass and bluegill? What about fly fishing for largemouth? If not you don't know what you're missing, it's a hoot! Become versed on fly fishing techniques for bass.
• What about fishing tactics for jig fishing, fishing swimbaits, using the drop shot and the new dead sticking method for smallmouth bass? They're here.
• Bass fishing techniques are discussed for fishing structure, ledges, grass, humps and rocky point fishing.
• Lure making? Not much better than catching a hawg on a lure you made yourself. You'll see how to make lead head spinnerbaits and jigs, plastic fishing baits; bass swimbaits and where to find fishing lure parts.

This is a gathering place for all who find joy in fishing for and catching smallmouth and largemouth bass as well as their smaller cousins, the bluegill and crappie, all members of the sunfish family.

We welcome and encourage you to share your tips, techniques, stories and experiences. Learn and share in return.

So climb in the boat....let's have some fun bass fishing and catching!

Oh, by the way, this site is continuously expanded with new and additional information. So check back often. We'll be looking for you.