Top Three Lures for Imitating Blueback Herring

Top Three Lures for Imitating Blueback Herring

Herring are a prolific baitfish in a lot of our eastern lakes. From Virginia north, they’re mostly alewives, and from Virginia south it’s generally bluebacks. Despite some differences, they’re very similar – long, skinny, and they just about always travel in schools. When they’re spawning, bass gorge on them because they’re an easy meal. While a lot of other baitfish dart left to right or make a wide glide, bluebacks tend to move in a straight line. They’re also not necessarily blue – they have white or pearl sides and a greenish or brown back. Don’t believe me? Google them. […]

Top Four Bass Baits for May

Top Four Bass Baits for May

May is really one of my favorite months of the year to fish for bass no matter where I find myself in the country. Depending on where you are, it’s either the late spring or the front side of the summer and that’s a terrific time to catch fish. Today I want to share with you four baits that never leave my boat in May. Two of them are primarily for north of the Mason-Dixon Line (from Virginia and Maryland on up) and two are for south of it (from the Carolinas on down to Texas and Florida). Actually, the […]

So You Want a Giant This Fall

So You Want a Giant This Fall

Fall is a great time to go bass fishing. The weather is cool but it’s still comfortable, there are fewer recreational boats around and the bass are feeding like crazy. It’s also a great time to catch a giant, maybe the biggest one of your life. If you want to catch one like that, though, you have to use the right lure. Here are my three very best fall baits for giant bass. But here’s the thing — one of them isn’t necessarily any better than the other. It’s about which one will best match the hatch. The first one […]

Now’s the Time for a Buzzbait or a Walkin’ Stick

Now’s the Time for a Buzzbait or a Walkin’ Stick

At this point it’s postspawn or early summer almost everywhere. That’s important because fish are totally controlled by their environment. They’re slow when the water’s cold and they’re active when it’s warm. The water’s warm right now, and that means they’re active. They need to eat.  When they’re active and feeding heavily there are lots of ways to catch them. One of the best — big fish and explosive action — is on top. And, there’s not a better pair of topwater plugs to do that with than a buzzbait or a walkin’ stick. The reason I picked these two […]

Fall And Early Winter Bait Choices, Part 2: Walking Sticks

Fall And Early Winter Bait Choices, Part 2: Walking Sticks

Last time we talked about buzzbaits. This time we’ll look at walking sticks. The allure of a simple stick sliding from side to side across the water’s surface is something we humans don’t fully understand. My thinking is that it looks exactly like a baitfish feeding along the surface. Other anglers believe it looks like something — anything — in distress so a bass strikes at it out of instinct. I say simple stick because that’s what I like to fish. In truth, however, you can walk any number of baits if you have the experience. But, we aren’t going […]