Tag: rod

The Ultimate Guide to Crankbait Tackle

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<strong>The Ultimate Guide to Crankbait Tackle</strong>

In previous columns, I’ve talked a lot about diving crankbaits. They are a great lure because they’ll catch fish that are hungry and they’ll also trigger bites from non-feeding fish. We discussed color, size and the importance of making your lures deflect off of something and change direction. That’s how you generate reaction strikes. In order to complete the circle, though, we need to discuss the proper rod, reel and line. Without that system in place, you can’t fully appreciate what a great lure a crankbait can be. Let’s start with the rod. Crankbait rods are very different than most […]

Tight line ‘em

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Tight line ‘em

This time we’re going to talk a little about tight lining an aspirin head jig. It’s a great way to use your electronics in cold weather to catch huge numbers of bass. Here’s how I do it: Cold water bass tend to suspend, and there’s no tougher bite than that. So what I do is move around likely spots watching my SONAR until I find a school of suspended bass. When I find them I drop a VMC Neon Moon Eye jig straight down off the bow of the boat. With quality electronics you can actually watch it drop down […]

How to Fish a Squarebill

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How to Fish a Squarebill

A bait that’s really started to shine over the past few years is the squarebill crankbait. Their shine is well deserved, too. They catch bass in heavy cover when they’re shallow, and there are always a few good ones shallow regardless of the season or the weather. Squarebills will create a true reaction bite and often catch bass when other lures won’t. My favorite is a Rapala Balsa Xtreme BX Brat Squarebill. It’s made from balsa, and that’s a good thing. It floats high and has that unique vibration that only balsa can produce. But because it’s covered with a […]

Taiwan: The Land of Aggressive Fish

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Taiwan: The Land of Aggressive Fish

In a lot of ways our trip to Taipei, Taiwan, was one of our best. It’s an amazing place. The culture is so different from ours that it’s striking. You can see and feel the magic the minute you step off the plane. I’d never been there before. And like I said, everything there was really neat but there was one thing that really stood out — it’s such a clean city. The streets are clean, the drainage ditches are clean and even the buildings are clean. It’s an example of what can be done when everybody pitches in and […]

Subtle Topwater Fishing for Postspawn Bass

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Subtle Topwater Fishing for Postspawn Bass

It’s the postspawn all around the country and with that comes a topwater bite. The thing is, though, sometimes a noisy, splashy topwater plug runs them off rather than fills the livewell. When that happens I go subtle. That means I reach for a Berkley HAVOC Subwoofer. It’s a unique bait in that it has a short (4 inches), fat body with a classic cut tail that’ll move a lot of water when you crank it fast. And, you can do that with this lure because of the way the body is designed. It not only has a fat, shad-like […]