Spring is a season of transition, not just for nature but also for anglers. As temperatures rise, fish move from their winter habitats to the shallows in preparation for spawning. However, spring also brings unpredictable weather, including heavy rains that can turn clear waters into cold, muddy challenges. Understanding how to adapt to these conditions is crucial for a successful fishing experience. The Impact of Weather on Water Conditions In many regions, March through May are months of significant rainfall. When cold rainstorms hit, especially those originating from the north, they can rapidly cool water temperatures and introduce murkiness. This […]
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 […]
For a lot of us around the country, it’s early winter right now. The leaves are off the trees, the mornings are cold, and water temperatures are down. That typically means that fish have left their fall patterns. They’re headed to or in their wintering holes, but they’re still feeding. That often means you can still catch them with power fishing techniques. I have five lures that fit the bill The first, without a doubt, is a suspending jerkbait like the Rapala Shadow Rap. I can’t think of a better bait for this time of year. It emulates a struggling […]
In a recent column I described the five categories of jigs that you need to be an effective bass angler, so now I’m going to build on that and refine my descriptions – because if you have the right jig but the wrong size or the wrong color, you won’t be as effective as possible. Let’s go from the smallest to the biggest, which means the first one is the micro jig, those super-small, itsy-bitsy tiny offerings that came from the Japanese market. I use them in anything from a 1/16 to a 3/16-ounce size. Why pick it? Well, forage […]
I’m really excited about this series of videos and blogs because it gives me a chance to talk about one of the best lures ever created: The skirted jig. It’s a lure that can intimidate a lot of newcomers because it doesn’t necessarily look like anything natural and there are lots of different options on the market. That can be confusing. I can vividly remember when I was 17 or 18 years old and I started hearing about this lure category. I bought a few and had no idea how to fish them. In fact, the first few times I’m […]
Fall is here. The water is cool. The fish are shallow, or at least moving in that direction. It’s time for shallow baits to take advantage of that. Here are my top three… But, before I start talking about the baits we need to think about shallow water. It’s different in different parts of the country and in different lakes. It’s a term of art, not science. For this blog I’m going to tell you that I’m talking about water that’s no deeper than 3 feet. That’s pretty skinny, I know. Nevertheless, it’s fall and that’s the water I’ll target […]
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 […]
There must be a thousand fishing lures on the market. Choosing only six of them for this blog was no easy task. But sometimes we need to downsize so I did just that. I’ve listed the baits below in no particular order. The first three are power fishing lures. The last three are more in the finesse category. A crankbait This is a great bait because you can cover a lot of water with one and because they search out the bass. It’s almost like they’re calling the fish in to them. Although there are hundreds of them available, picking […]
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 […]
This Site Made Possible By These Great Sponsors
