Listen, I’m gonna say something that might get me in trouble with the old guard of bass fishing. Are you ready? I’m giving up the goods on a technique, a method, that’s been hush-hush for way too long. This one’s been kept in the vault. I’m talking lock and key, man. One of those techniques that guys have been doing on the down-low, never wanting the cat to get out of the bag, but guess what? I’m cracking it wide open right now. We’re talking about skipping a buzzbait under stuff! Now listen, if you’ve ever fished a buzzbait before, […]
Hot weather, deep water?? Go with a crankbait.
After some street fishing in Paris late this summer, we moved on to Spain. We — Becky, myself and the youngest kids — spent a couple of days in Madrid before I fished the Soner Euro Cup on Lake Cigara near Madrid. My partner and I won it! How cool is that? The Euro Cup was a really exciting experience for me. There were something like 125-130 boats with two man teams in them. As best I can remember there were something like 25 or 30 countries represented, some of them from thousands of miles away. And, as you might […]
Ice Fishing Lures for Warm Water Bass.
From now until winter, buzzbaits will prove to be some of the most effective lures you can throw. They are good in a wide variety of cover situations, or when there’s no cover at all, and they’re easy to fish. This is the way I see it… My preference in buzzbaits is the Molix Lover Buzz and the Lover Buzz SS. They’re a little different from any of the others that are around. Instead of having a sharp bend down with a wire back to the shaft it has a short bend down and the wire drops right into the […]
You don’t hear much about them anymore. I really don’t understand that because they’ve been a staple in my fishing since 1998. It’s true that there are new plastic designs coming out every day, if not every hour. But that doesn’t make any difference to me. I never leave home without a few sacks in my truck or in my boat. I’m talking about a simple, old-fashioned 6-inch lizard. There’s a good reason for that. They catch fish. Some guys think it’s because they look like the real thing. Other guys say they look like something alive no matter if […]
We don’t hear much about monofilament line anymore. That’s understandable in some ways, I suppose. Fluorocarbon and the new braids are taking over. However, the real story is much more complicated. Monofilament still has a place in serious bass fishing, even if it’s a somewhat limited one. The reason it still has a place in our sport is because it has some qualities that, when put together, no other line can duplicate. For openers, it’s buoyant. It floats. Another thing is that it has stretch. Sometimes that’s a real advantage. And last, but not least, it has low memory when […]
Many anglers think of topwater presentations as something of a fun deal. They really don’t think of them as a primary pattern or something that can be used on a regular basis. That thinking limits their ability to put bass in the boat because a skillful topwater angler can often out fish other anglers two-to-one. That’s especially true if he or she chooses the right lure and presents it properly. The best lure and the best presentation — at least for covering water and catching bigger fish — is a hard stickbait gliding back and forth across the water. We […]
You don’t hear much about line conditioner these days, except in passing. I think that’s a shortcoming in the bass fishing media because line conditioner is one of those things that can make a big difference in your fishing. Or should I say catching? In my world it has four primary uses. Spooling line I always use line conditioner — my brand is Reelsnot — when I put new line on a reel. I soak a cloth in it and then run the line through the cloth as I spool it on my reel. Casting or spinning makes no difference. […]
I use Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line about 70 percent of the time. I only use monofilament with some top water lures — those that need a floating line to perform properly — and braid for a handful of especially heavy, tough situations. Here’s why: It has less stretch than monofilament. That gives me a better and more secure hookset. I don’t have to worry about the give in the line taking the penetrating power out of my hookset. And, the lack of stretch allows me to feel everything that’s going on under the surface. If I pick up a tiny […]
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