By popular demand, I’m going to tell you about a tackle box that never leaves my boat. Twelve months out of the year, from New York to Texas to California, it’s always with me – it’s my panic box. It has saved my butt over the years and that’s why I always want to have it accessible, in the compartment behind the driver’s seat of my boat. It’s kind of like a bright red or bright white fire extinguisher. When I’m in situations where I’m struggling, it’s obvious and ready to help me salvage the day. Why do you need […]
January is typically among the coldest months of the year. Depending on where in the country you live, that could mean ice, or the water temperature could be as high as the low 60s. It’s a relative thing, but my starting point is to look for deeper, more vertical areas. Up north, that could be a bluff where the depth drops from 10 feet to 30. Down south it could be a deep-water canal that is 8 feet deep. In either situation, expect the fish to be relatively lethargic. As always, I’m going to give you two baits for up […]
Depending on where you are in the country, November is often the month when bass get off of the heavy fall feed and start moving toward their winter holding areas. It’s getting colder, the days are shorter, and they realize that they need to make a change. It’s a great month for fishing. Up north, they’re truly making the transition and down south they’re enjoying the tail end of the fall feed before moving. Let’s examine my two favorite baits for each of those scenarios. In the north, my number one choice is a tight wobbling crankbait. You’ve heard about […]
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 […]
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 […]
When I look back at some of my greatest successes in my tournament career, a lot of them are directly attributable to crankbaits. Why are they so good? The biggest reason is their ability to get bites from fish that are feeding as well as fish that are not actively feeding. Sure, a lot of baits will produce “hunger bites,” but the ability to trigger reaction bites puts them in a different class. So what are we talking about when we use the term crankbait? It’s a lure, made of wood, plastic or resin, that has a bill that helps […]
When it snows the barometric pressure drops, and that’s a trigger that makes bass bite. Learn more.
Last time we talked about soft plastic jerkbaits because they look like baitfish. This time I want to talk about a Rapala Shallow Shad Rap for the same reason — everything’s shallow and something that looks like a minnow will catch them. But that doesn’t mean they jump in the boat. Let’s face it. Fall fishing can get tough. When that happens I switch my presentations to something a little different. In my world that means I downsize my lures and make absolutely sure they’re the same size as the forage. I’ll talk a little more about that in just […]
Hot weather, deep water?? Go with a crankbait.
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 […]
This Site Made Possible By These Great Sponsors
