The Newest and the Best from Flambeau

The Newest and the Best from Flambeau

I’m really excited about two new products from Flambeau, the Zerust Max Blade Krate and the Zerust Max Crank Bank! It’s no exaggeration to say that these boxes are a must-have for any angler. They’ll make all the difference in your ability to store your tackle, organize it, and catch more bass. They both start with the Zerust feature. That’s a vapor that circulates through the box that inhibits the formation of rust on whatever’s in the box. I’m not a chemist so I can’t give you all the details but I use boxes with Zerust in them and they […]

Position Your Boat Correctly

Position Your Boat Correctly

I haven’t seen much media coverage lately about boat positioning. That is not a good thing. If your boat isn’t positioned correctly in relation to what you’re fishing, you’re doomed. We all know that to fish a log correctly you need to cover the top end, the bottom end and both sides. To do that you must have your boat positioned correctly and move it a little with each cast so that you have the right angle. The same thing is true with a brush pile, a rocky flat or a drop. You have to cover it all, and from […]

The Dragonfly Bite

The Dragonfly Bite

This time we’re going to talk about how to catch bass when there’s a few dragonflies around. Before we do that, though, I want to make sure that we’re all thinking about the same creature. A dragonfly is a dragonfly. It’s not a mayfly. It’s an insect all to its own. Most of them have a wingspan of somewhere between 2 and 5 inches and they’re very colorful. They are expert flyers, too. They can move in any direction — up, down or sideways — and some of them live for up to a full year. I first saw evidence […]

Summer Cover

Summer Cover

The weather is hot. The green cover in our lakes and rivers is growing like crazy.  That’s good for us. That’s bad for the bass. It’s a simple situation. We know where to find them when they’re shallow — somewhere that’s green. I’m not going to talk about all the types of cover that’s out there, only two types that grow — grass and trees. Before we get into that, however, I want to say something about deep and shallow. Right now a lot of the bass are out deep on main lake drops and channels, but a lot doesn’t […]

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 […]

Six Pre-spawn Lures I Never Leave The Dock Without

Six Pre-spawn Lures I Never Leave The Dock Without

Before we get into the actual lures I use we need to talk a little about the pre-spawn. I define it as somewhere between the middle to upper 40 degree mark on up into the upper 50 degree mark. Another thing is that the bass are feeding right now. Once they go to their beds eating isn’t so important anymore. The final thing I want to mention about the pre-spawn is that the fish can sometimes be hard to find but when you do find them they’ll be all grouped together. You can catch a ton of them from one […]

Top Secret! The MJ Rig

Top Secret! The MJ Rig

This time in our Top Secret Series we’re going to talk about the MJ rig, otherwise known as the spinner-jig. It’s super simple but it gives the fish something they haven’t seen before, something totally different. Basically, it’s a combination of flash and true tracking through the water. Let’s get started… You’ll need three things to build the MJ rig:  We’ll start with a soft plastic stickbait. I use the Berkley Powerbait Maxscent The General Worm. The most important part of the stickbait is that it must have a big, fat blunt end on the back for the spinner to […]

Top secret! The Tiny Child Rig

Top secret! The Tiny Child Rig

This rig is basically a weedless version of the Ned rig. At the same time, though, it has a completely different look to it. The weedless part is a big deal. We all know that the Ned rig is one of the hottest finesse techniques around. And for good reason. It catches bass by the ton. But we also know that it’ll hang on anything and everything in the water. And, even with a weedless hook hangups can be an issue. The tiny child rig solves those issues. You’ll need four things to build this bad-boy: We’ll start with the […]