If there’s one question I’m asked over and over it’s this one: “What baits do I recommend for big bass?” Most of the anglers don’t define what they mean by big so I’ll do it. I say that any bass in the 5-pound class or better is big. I know that where and when you’re fishing has a big impact on size but it general that’s a pretty good place to start. A 5-pound bass has some size to it but, at the same time, it’s doable in most waters. After that I group my big bass baits into three […]
Is there anything more challenging than cold muddy water? I don’t think so, but that doesn’t mean you can’t catch a few. You just have to approach things a little differently. When it’s cold and muddy the fish have to use their senses, just like when the water’s clear — vibration, sound, scent and sight. All those senses are important but the one that’s not talked about enough is sight. It’s like anglers think that the fish are blind in muddy water so there’s no reason to take that into consideration. Well, they aren’t blind. They just need a little […]
This is really a continuation of my thoughts about fishing the moment. It’s about where the fish are on any given day or any given hour, and how to find them. In most waters that we fish, there’s hard cover and soft cover. Hard cover is stuff like docks, laydowns, rock, and concrete. In the video I want you to watch along with this blog — you can view it here — the bass were on laydowns. Soft cover is stuff like weeds and other kinds of vegetation. I fished that off and on but the bass weren’t relating to […]
In the fall there’s one issue with bass fishing — baitfish. The thing is, though, not every day on the water is the same. Just because it’s fall and you think you know what’s going to happen doesn’t mean you don’t have to fish the moment or that you can predict what the fish will want with any degree of certainty. That’s what we’re going to talk about in this blog. There’s a video that goes along with this discussion that shows everything happening on the water in real-time. You can link to it here. It’s important that after you […]
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 […]
The hottest new bait on the market is the Berkley Powerbait Gilly Swimbait. We won Best of Show at this year’s ICAST with it, and for good reason. This bait is unbelievable. It has it all — natural colors and a swimming action second to none. I’m telling you, you can’t tell the Gilly from a real baitfish when you see it in the water. Not only does the Gilly look and act like the real thing, it’s the right size, too. It’ll come in a 90 mm, 110 mm and a whopping 130 mm size for those of you […]
The show this week was with UFC fighter Jim Miller. He’s a tough dude. I’ve been a fan of his for a while now, but I really didn’t have any idea of what it was all about, how technical mixed martial arts is when it’s practiced correctly. When he’s actually fighting, he looks completely disorganized. It’s like it’s just a bunch of arms and legs flopping around. In reality, though, it’s a number of carefully choreographed moves that he practices over and over so that when he needs one he’s ready to do it right, and his record shows he […]
This is the first part of a series on a rig that has revolutionized bass fishing rigs. At one time it was called the leadered punch shot rig. But, now everyone calls it the Tokyo rig. Here’s the general idea: The line from your reel attaches to a barrel swivel. Attached to the swivel is a welded O-ring. It’s not a split ring. It’s solid. It’s closed. Also attached to the O-ring is the hook. Now, over the next few weeks we’ll talk about what kind of hook we want to use. VMC has four setups with different style hooks […]
Most of you know something about the chicken rig. Traditionally, the chicken rig was a weedless way to Neko rig a straight tail worm. I’m in love with doing that but I’ve expanded the concept to include one of the most effective and natural looking bass baits on the planet — the craw. We’ll start with the hook. My favorite, by far, is the VMC Finesse Neko hook. The thing I really like about it is that there are two pieces of heavy fluorocarbon line on the top of the shaft of the hook up towards the eye. That keeps […]
This is one of the toughest blogs I’ve ever written. The bait I’m about to tell you about has been my money springtime bait for many years. I’ve always kept it a secret. I hate to give it up, but you’re my fans. I want to help you catch more bass this spring. I guarantee you this will do it. It’s good for prespawn, spawning and postspawn bass as well as when you’re fishing behind another boat. You’ll catch bass that you didn’t know were there and bass that won’t bite anything else. And, it’s inexpensive and easy to rig. […]
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