Now, before we get into the specifics, let’s set the stage for May. We’re talking about the transition from spring to summer, and this month is all about spawning fish and their post-spawn recovery. Up north, think places like Virginia and beyond, you’ve got fish on the beds, fish guarding fry, or just about to spawn. Even in upstate New York or Canada, you’ll find some pre-spawn action. Down south, places like South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana, it’s more about the post-spawn phase as the fish start moving towards deeper waters for the summer. Alright, let’s kick things off with […]
Tag: The General Worm
April Top Baits
Alright, folks, here we are, diving into the nitty-gritty of my top four baits for the month of April. April is that time when the fish wake up from their winter slumber, stretching their fins, and gearing up for some serious action. Now, depending on where you’re located, April could mean a variety of things for those fish. Up north, we’re talking about pre-spawn action, with those fish making a beeline for their spawning grounds. They’re staging, getting ready for the big show, and most importantly, they’re hungry. That’s right, in April, those fish are packing on the pounds before […]
Top Four Bass Baits for May
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 […]
Top Four Bass Fishing Baits for March
When I think of the best months of the year for bass fishing, March is at the top of the list. Of course, the bass are doing different things in different parts of the country, but almost everywhere, they’re big and they’re biting. North of the Mason-Dixon Line – from Virginia on up – the bass are still in their pre-spawn movements. They’re coming shallow, closer to their spawning grounds, but not yet spawning. South of the line, March means spawning fish. They’ll have moved shallow, crashing the bank. Either they’re setting up on shallower cover or actually on the […]
Micro Jigs for Big Winter Bass
The jig has been a staple of bass fishing since before I was born, but there’s one category of jigs that I’ve become extremely fond of in the past half dozen or so years that doesn’t get a lot of love. They’re called “micro jigs” and while we’ve long had compact versions of flipping jigs and casting jigs, these aren’t just downscaled versions of those staples. They’re a category all their own, and while I carry them in my boat all year long they’re especially valuable in the winter. That’s because they excel in tough conditions, including cold water. They […]
The Most Versatile Bait of All Time
All of us love to buy and test new tackle, but in order to maximize your efficiency it’s important to find lures that cover a lot of different situations. What would you say if I told you that there’s one lure that’s more versatile than the rest? No matter what month you’re fishing, what the water clarity might be, or what kind of cover you’re around, I have one lure that I think is more versatile than all the rest. That lure is the soft plastic stickbait. You’ve probably seen them before. It’s just a straight tail worm looking thing. […]
Colors for Cold Muddy Water
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 […]
How To Fish The Moment
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 […]
My World, with Jim Miller
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 […]
My Bait for Extreme Conditions
Here we go, guys. We all know that spring is almost here. That’s a good thing, but it also presents us with problems — wild weather and extreme conditions. On Monday it might be a picture-perfect day, but on Tuesday it’ll be spitting ice and snow. When that happens I reach for the one bait I know they’ll eat — a hair jig. I’m talking about when all of the standard finesse baits and techniques don’t get you even one bite. The thing is, though, about hair jigs is that no lure made has more small, seemingly insignificant differences to […]