The Jointed Fluke Rig

The Jointed Fluke Rig

Most bass anglers know about fluke-style soft plastics. They can be deadly from coast to coast in a variety of circumstances. However, most of them rig it in a similar manner. What I want to tell you about today is a rigging method that’s new and which gives these already-effective lures a unique side-to-side action. It’s something that’s super easy to do, and you probably already have the components in your garage or your boat. Start with a simple soft plastic jerkbait in a reasonably large size—4-, 5- or even 6-inches. I like the Berkley Powerbait Jerk Shad, but there […]

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 […]

Prespawn Bass Fishing Techniques – Spinnerbaits

Prespawn Bass Fishing Techniques – Spinnerbaits

While a crankbait is a great choice for transient prespawn bass, it’s not the best option in every circumstance. Another lure that just about never leaves my deck this time of year, especially if I’m around big fish in stained to dirty water, is a spinnerbait. We tend to have a lot of rain early in the season and the water gets color quickly, so this is one I can’t live without. It’s been cold, but now water and air temperatures are creeping up. The days are longer, with more daylight. Those fish want to be headed toward their spawning […]

Prespawn Bass Fishing Techniques – Crankbaits

Prespawn Bass Fishing Techniques – Crankbaits

When bass are moving from their wintertime habitat toward the spawning grounds, a crankbait can be a great lure not just for numbers, but also for big fish. Those fat females are full of eggs and they’re feeding up to have the energy to reproduce. When I think of this time period – no matter where in the country you’re fishing – the water temperatures are still comparatively cold but warming and the fish are moving. Moving fish love a moving bait, and you have to cover water, so the crankbait is the perfect tool, but not just any crankbait […]

Top Four Bass Fishing Baits for March

Top Four Bass Fishing Baits for March

When I think of the best months of the year for bass fishing, March is at the top of the list. Of course, the bass are doing different things in different parts of the country, but almost everywhere, they’re big and they’re biting. North of the Mason-Dixon Line – from Virginia on up – the bass are still in their pre-spawn movements. They’re coming shallow, closer to their spawning grounds, but not yet spawning. South of the line, March means spawning fish. They’ll have moved shallow, crashing the bank. Either they’re setting up on shallower cover or actually on the […]

Bass Fishing With Lipless Crankbaits

Bass Fishing With Lipless Crankbaits

When the water is cold, or cold but warming up, a lipless crankbait is an absolute killer. There’s a misconception that it’s only good in the spring. I hear that all the time, but this is a lure that works in all four seasons. It’s during the winter and pre-spawn when it really shines, though. abyLet’s back up for a second. What is a lipless crankbait? Well, as the name suggests, and you probably guessed if you didn’t already know, it’s hard-bodied like a crankbait, minus one thing…The lip! It’s that design that makes it so effective for bass because […]

Picking the Right Flipping Plastic

Picking the Right Flipping Plastic

In many of my previous articles discussing wintertime techniques I’ve been focused on comparatively deep water scenarios and the tools to attack them. But what about places where it typically doesn’t get very cold? Or where there’s not a lot of deep water? In Florida, 5 feet may be considered “deep.” On the Louisiana Delta lots of bass live their entire lives in water shallower than that. Whether you live in one of those places, or in California or South Texas, the reaction of the fish to cold fronts may not be to go offshore, but rather to bury deep […]

Picking the Right Metal for Cold Water Bass

Picking the Right Metal for Cold Water Bass

If you’re a hard core bass angler, you probably don’t stop fishing just because the water is cold, and you know that one of the best wintertime categories of lures is typically referred to as “metal.” That describes them perfectly, because all of them are simply a hunk of metal shaped to resemble a baitfish. They are the deal when the water is cold, and start to become a player when the water is mid-50s or lower. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t have at least one tied on under the right conditions, but it’s also critical to […]

Micro Jigs for Big Winter Bass

Micro Jigs for Big Winter Bass

The jig has been a staple of bass fishing since before I was born, but there’s one category of jigs that I’ve become extremely fond of in the past half dozen or so years that doesn’t get a lot of love. They’re called “micro jigs” and while we’ve long had compact versions of flipping jigs and casting jigs, these aren’t just downscaled versions of those staples. They’re a category all their own, and while I carry them in my boat all year long they’re especially valuable in the winter. That’s because they excel in tough conditions, including cold water. They […]

Secret Wintertime Technique – Downstream Deadsticking

Secret Wintertime Technique – Downstream Deadsticking

There are plenty of well-known wintertime bass techniques – things like fishing a jig or a blade bait or a spoon – and they all have their time and place, but recently I was reminded of one of the ones that hasn’t been explored quite as broadly. I call it “downstream deadsticking,” and while it’s not written about much (or precisely because no one’s discussing it), it can be one of the deadliest patterns any time you have cold water and current. One of the reasons that it’s so hard for many anglers to grasp is because it flies in […]