My ICAST pick: The Rapala BX Brat

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My ICAST pick: The Rapala BX Brat

Most anglers who fish a lot with crankbaits like balsa. It’s buoyant and has a unique vibration in the water. The thing is, though, it also has drawbacks. Handmade versions are expensive and not every one reacts the same. Buy a dozen and you’re sure to get a few duds. Buy two or three and you might not even get one you like. Another thing is that balsa is soft. Make a 50 foot cast into a rock that’s only 30 feet away and you’ll often see a military-like explosion. At that point there’s little you can do other than […]

My Pick for Best New ICAST Product: The Missile Baits Flip Out

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My Pick for Best New ICAST Product: The Missile Baits Flip Out

Whenever I’m around a tournament, a sport show or the dock I’m often asked about jigs. The prevailing wisdom seems to be that a jig is a jig. Why should anyone spend their hard earned money on a new one? Well, the answer is because a jig is not a jig. There are good ones and ones that are no so good. The new Missile Baits Flip Out is one of the good ones and that’s because we — John Crews and myself — took the time to do it right. We tried to do everything right from the very […]

Good Sunglasses Help You Catch More Bass

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Good Sunglasses Help You Catch More Bass

I put catching more bass in the title of this blog because I know that’ll get everyone’s attention. The truth is, though, that there are other reasons that are more important — like protecting your vision. Those reasons fall into three groups. The first, and most important in my mind, is to protect your eyes when you’re fishing. Running down the lake at high speed can be problematic for your eyeballs. Even a small bug can become a dangerous projectile at 70 mph.  And what about the lure snapping back towards you when it gets caught in a tree and […]

There’s Nothing More Important than Your Electronics

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There’s Nothing More Important than Your Electronics

You’ve heard me say it before, but I’ll say it again: There’s nothing more important than your electronics. They are your underwater eyes. Good SONAR will tell you what’s under your boat and where you should be fishing. The importance of that is obvious. The best lure in the world, fished with the best tackle in the world, from the best boat in the world won’t do a thing if there isn’t a bass living in the neighborhood. You can’t catch them if they aren’t there. Almost every bass I’ve ever caught — at least 99.9 percent of them — […]

My Sleeper Crankbait

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My Sleeper Crankbait

Every so often I think about a lure that everyone who want’s to catch a bass should know about, and so it is with the David Fritts designed Rapala DT Thug. It’s a small balsa crankbait — 2-1/2 inches long with a weight of 3/8 of an ounce — that’ll dive to between 4 and 8 feet on a normal retrieve. It has a hard, wide wobble, is hand tuned and comes in 15 colors. I don’t care where you live or where you fish you can match the local forage with one of them. What really makes it special, […]

Snap A Tube Jig This Year

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Snap A Tube Jig This Year

When anglers think about fishing a tube they usually think about dragging one along the bottom while looking for smallies or, in some situations, flipping and pitching them into heavy cover for largemouth holding tight. But when I think about fishing a tube — at least some of the time — I think about snapping it. It’s a super efficient technique when you want to target deep bass that have seen every crankbait and every jig that’s ever been made. Snapping isn’t a hard thing to do. Just cast it out with a fairly long cast, let it fall to […]

Spinning or casting?

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Spinning or casting?

I’m frequently asked about using spinning or casting tackle. Anglers want to know what they should be using when they go fishing. The answer, of course, is that there is no answer. You can catch bass with either type so you should always use what you feel comfortable with given the way you fish and your level of experience. I will, however, tell you what I use — when and why. If my lure weighs less than 1/4 ounce I almost always go with a spinning outfit. Lighter baits are easier to handle with spinning tackle. You can cast them […]

Big Worms, Big Bass

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Big Worms, Big Bass

When I’m talking about big worms I’m talking about ones anywhere from 8 to 12 inches long. And, in my case I even have some custom ones that are around 15 inches. All my worms, other than the custom jobs, are made by Berkley. I have used their Powerbait Power Worms exclusively for years. The reason is that most big worms are round. Power Worms have a flat side on them that’s about a quarter of their circumference. That’s just enough to let me rig them with the flat side down. That gives them a more natural action and a […]

Summertime Bass and Structure Spoons

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Summertime Bass and Structure Spoons

In many waters, summertime bass fishing means deep bass fishing, and deep often means 20 feet down or more. Getting bass to bite at that depth isn’t so much of a problem. We can do that. I mean, they still have to eat. The real problem is getting something down to them that looks realistic, something they’ll bite. I do that with the Molix Mike Iaconelli Lover Spoon. Over the last few years — maybe six or eight — structure spoons have come into vogue, and for good reason. They get down quick and, if they look like a dying […]

Better Tackle Storage

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Better Tackle Storage

Tackle storage isn’t the sexiest topic we can talk about. Nevertheless, it’s important. Knowing what you have with you and where it’s at can mean the difference between catching bass and not catching them. I’ve been frustrated with ordinary storage boxes for a number of years. They work OK for some things but little things can be a problem. The dividers slip up and terminal tackle like small hooks, split rings, snaps, swivels and nail weights get mixed up and end up in a jumbled mess. The result is that you don’t always know what you have and, even if […]