Posted by Walker Smith on Wed, Feb 20, 2013 @ 08:00 AM
Each type of line has specific uses, according to Marty Stone
By Walker Smith
If you’ve hung around your local marinas long enough, chances are you’ve heard the debate between monofilament and braided line for bass fishing with topwaters. While many anglers utilize a more new-school approach by solely using braided line for all topwater applications, some of the more old-school anglers stick with monofilament for their topwater presentations.
Vicious Fishing pro Marty Stone has a tried and true “hybrid” system that utilizes both schools of thought. Whenever he’s on a hot topwater bite, you’ll find him using both types of line for very specific reasons.
Braided line for walking baits
Whether he’s using a Heddon Super Spook, Lucky Craft Sammy or Lucky Craft Gunfish, Stone opts for 30-pound Vicious Braided Line. Because these baits are highly effective search tools for schooling bass on areas such as points and expansive flats, he finds the no-stretch qualities of braid essential for maximizing his hookups.
“It never fails—any time you make a long cast with a walking topwater bait, more times than not, you’ll get bit on the end of the cast,” Stone said. “Braid doesn’t have any stretch, which transfers the energy of my hookset directly to the fish, allowing me to get a solid hookup before the bass spits the bait.”
The absence of stretch in braided line also aids in proper presentation with walking topwater baits. After a long cast, you need to have the ability to work the bait with ease.
“Braid also transfers the twitches of my rod tip directly to the bait,” Stone said. “With the most subtle twitches, I can walk my topwaters from 40-yards away without having to jerk my arm out of socket.”
In addition to helping your hookup ratio and presentation, braided line allows for extra-long casts, which proves invaluable when covering large, open areas. If you’re bombing a 7/8-ounce Super Spook on 30-pound braided line, you’ll be able to cover twice the water as you would with monofilament.
Monofilament for poppers and prop baits
When using poppers and prop baits, Stone exclusively uses monofilament line. If he finds himself around heavy cover, such as fallen trees, he’ll stick with 17-pound test. For lighter cover, such as grass lines, he’ll bump his line size down to 15-pound test.
“With poppers and prop baits, I’m making precise casts to specific structure in close quarters,” Stone said. “Not only does monofilament increase my casting accuracy, but it also has enough stretch to assure a solid hookup. The rigidity of braided line pulls the bait away from the bass too quickly in close combat.”
The stretch of monofilament acts as a shock absorber when using these baits. While a quick hookset is necessary, the split-second delay that mono gives you allows the bass to eat the entire bait, therefore increasing your hookup ratio.
Through a lot of trial and error, Stone has also found that braided line can wreak havoc on prop baits. Because braid floats so well on the water’s surface, any slack line immediately tangles in the blades, making it nearly impossible to ensure a proper presentation.
Exciting topwater strikes get every angler’s adrenaline pumping. As winter slowly fades and the bass become more active, these guidelines will help you catch more fish and decrease your topwater heartbreaks this spring.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Dec 20, 2012 @ 08:00 AM
Learn how to cure the headache of knowing what rod has what line on it with multiple combos
By Jason Sealock
You climb into your boat and start pulling your rods out of the rod locker for a full day of fishing. Before you know it you've got 10 rods on your deck and several that don't have the baits you want to throw today. You start cutting the baits off and digging new baits out of the box. Wait. What pound line is on this combo. Where's my 20-pound line and rod for flipping? Shoot. Which one did I put that 10-pound monofilament line on just for jerkbait fishing? Before we know it, you've slept a time or two and have forgotten what line is on which combination.
You start making wild guesses about which rod has the right line, or how old that line is or if that's actually fluoro or monofilament. It can be frustrating to break off a fish and then realize you're not throwing the bait on the combo you thought it was.
I've been at the avid (aka obsessive-compulsive) bass-fishing lifestyle for about 20 years now. In that time, as you might imagine, I've amassed a lot of tackle, including rods and reels. Keeping up with how much the line deteoriates on 25 combos and what pound test and type of line surpassed the limits of my brain capacity years ago. About two trips to the water and I've developed full-on amnesia in regards to my line and rod and reel combos. That's not a good deal for several reasons.
First, if you do have problems with a certain line type, brand or pound test, you might want to know all the rods that have that line on it and get it off there immediately. Fishing line goes bad. It's a fact. So keeping up with it is really imperative.
Second, because fishing line goes bad, anglers need to know how long line has been on a reel. Chances are if you're not a touring professional angler, you might leave your fishing line on your reel for more than a day, sometimes more than a month. So keeping up with how old the line is becomes more important.
Finally, with varying diameters from differing brands of line, it's hard to just grab fishing line and know if it's 12 pound Trilene XT monofilament or 16 pound Sunline Sniper FC fluorocarbon. So keeping up with the line on each reel helps alleviate mishaps and gives you confidence your bait is being tied to the right line for the job.
There are lots of ways to keep up with fishing line once it's spooled on a reel. Anglers can choose manufactured tags you can add to Rod Gloves that tell you the technique for that rod, and that can clue anglers as to the pound test and type line probably on the reel. There are tags you can stick on the rods or the reels to tell you pound test and technique at a glance in a full rod locker. There are new rod bands from Sunline that can tell you what pound test is on that rod.
These are all helpful, but you still will have to keep up with when you put line on your reel.
The best solution I've found is to just make a spreadsheet. I've been using one and throwing a copy in my boat's rod locker in case I get confused about what is on which rod.
Basically, log everything from which reel to put on which rod, the gear ratio of the reels, the length and action of the rods, the size, type, brand and date spooled for each line and at times even the techniques intend for each rod, although that can change throughout the year as seasons and tendencies change.
It takes a bit to make the first time but once you have it made you can fill it in and keep up with it. I just print off a sheet without the lines filled in and then take it out in the shop and fill in the blanks as I get my combos ready for fishing.
I will sometimes go back in and type all the information in and keep it in my rod locker so at quick glance, I know exactly what rod has what line on it and can go from there as I start changing baits on a trip or span of trips.
Here is a file for you to download to get you started if you have Microsoft Excel:
Rod-Reel-Line Chart
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Posted by Walker Smith on Wed, Nov 21, 2012 @ 10:00 AM
Line type and leader length are two huge factors that will catch more fish
By Walker Smith
Many of today’s anglers are infatuated with fishing quickly and covering water. While this method will absolutely lead to some great days on the water, sometimes conditions call for us to take a deep breath, slow down and present our baits in a methodical fashion. Although the Carolina rig has been around for years, we seem to overlook this technique when fishing gets tough. Learning about and correctly fishing the C-rig, however, can totally change the way you fish and exponentially increase both the size and quantity of your catch.
In part-one of this Carolina rig series, we talked about the individual components that either “make” or “break” the C-rig. Without quality gear, it is nearly impossible to have an enjoyable experience with this technique. While the aforementioned gear is certainly important to successful Carolina rigging, there is an even larger element to this technique that is so important we had to set it apart from the rest—line selection.
In cold water conditions, we exclusively use a 5-foot leader when fishing the Carolina rig. As the water cools, bass are much less likely to aggressively chase prey, making a natural, slow presentation essential. A long, 5-foot leader allows for just that—a slow, gliding action that presents your offering in a non-threatening fashion. Although a long leader is fairly standard for cold water C-rigging, it is important to understand the different applications for each type of line.
Monofilament
Years ago as I was just beginning to experiment with the double-splash rig, I made a fatal error in my line selection when I used monofilament for my main line. When you’re setting the hook from long distances, nothing is worse than using monofilament. With the stretch that mono possesses, it allows for too much play between you and the fish which results in more missed opportunities.
While monofilament isn’t ideal for main line use on a Carolina rig, don’t write it off completely because it definitely has its place in the C-rig arsenal. Whenever you find yourself around submerged vegetation in grass lakes such as Guntersville and Lake Seminole, a monofilament leader is indispensable.
Monofilament is more buoyant in the water, and when paired with a heavily salt-impregnated lure, such as a Zoom Brush Hog, it allows the bait to glide and sink much slower as you move it. It may sound like a small, subtle difference, but the added buoyancy gives the bass a much better look at your bait. If your bait is dredging the bottom of a grassy area, you will constantly pick vegetation off, resulting in lost fishing time. Monofilament allows the bait to sink much slower, almost float off of the bottom, aiding in a natural presentation in areas with thick vegetation.
Braid
Braided line can be a Carolina rigger’s best friend in many situations. It’s not effective for leader line, but it is outstanding when used for main line in deep, lightly stained water. Many anglers tend to shy away from braid when throwing the rig due to its high visibility, but we have had great results with it. When using a 5-foot leader, it is important to realize that the bait will be a long way from your weighted main line. This distance allows the fish to focus on the leader-end of the rig, instead of the main line. For this reason, we aren’t afraid to use braided main line in fairly clear water conditions.
Braid is also outstanding for getting a solid hookset on deep water bass. A long, wintertime leader puts a lot of distance between you and your bait, making it difficult to transfer the full power of your hookset to the fish. Jason believes that braided line allows the angler to “close the distance gap” on fish with ease, as its lack of stretch allows for optimum energy transfer.
There is one caveat to be mindful of, however, when using braided main line on a Carolina rig. When fishing around gnarly structure such as rocks and shell beds, A heavy weight can cause the line to fray on the sharp edges of structure. To combat this issue, use the lightest weight that you can get away with. Heavier weights will drag your line across the crud, resulting in premature line wear.
Fluorocarbon
When it comes to Carolina rigging, it is nearly impossible to go wrong with fluorocarbon line. Whether you’re targeting fish in ultra-clear water or in stained water, fluoro is up to the task.
When faced with gin-clear water clarity in highland reservoirs, we always use fluorocarbon main line on our rigs. Although there is a large distance between the main line and the bait on wintertime C-rigs, clear water bass can become unusually spooky, especially in cold water. Fluorocarbon main line allows the angler to present the bait naturally while also aiding in long, deep hooksets due to its limited stretch. Fluorocarbon and braided line both share a similar disdain of sharp structure, so it is also important to avoid a weight that will dredge your line through any line-cutting structure.
Fluorocarbon is an ideal selection for leader line when the fish are relating closely to the bottom. Because it sinks, fluoro keeps your bait glued to the bottom when lethargic wintertime bass are positioned on deep rocks to obtain heat in cold water conditions. When rigged up with fluorocarbon for both main line and leader line, anglers have the ability to naturally present their bait while maintaining the power necessary to hook and land big wintertime lunkers.
It may sound like we threw a lot of information your way, but the best way to learn and understand the fish catching abilities of the Carolina rig is to get out on the water, have fun and experiment. As with any unfamiliar technique, we suggest hitting the water with only a Carolina rig rod. This will force you to throw it throughout the day while familiarizing yourself with its intricacies while also learning to detect deep water bites. If you get on a hot bite with another lure, try pulling out the Carolina rig to build your confidence with the rig.
To help keep things simple while learning the C-rig this winter, here is a succinct outline of proper line selection:
Monofilament: Use for leader line when fishing submerged vegetation or when the bass are slightly suspended off of the bottom.
Braid: Not for leader use. Use for main line when targeting bass in stained or lightly stained deep water.
Fluorocarbon: Use for main line when fishing ultra-clear water. Also great for leader line when bass are positioned tightly to the bottom or to add a clear leader to braid or otherwise more visible line in clear water.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Oct 25, 2012 @ 11:59 AM
We received information of a cool new knot from Sunline about a month ago. Word was that several folks in the Sunline offices back in Japan were using this knot and loved how strong it was in the breaking strength tests. So we asked them to send instructions on how to tie it and let us play with it for a while.
The knot is unique in that the harder you pull, there is no change in the tightness of the knot. So you don't have to worry about slick braided line slipping through as the knot is pulled and tag ends are pulled in tighter to the knot. You don't have to worry with fluoro digging into itself either because it's not a cinch knot. It's basically jamming double half hitches under themselves.
So to demonstrate how to tie it for other readers we built a diagram with large rope and a comparable sized object to a lure with the bigger line, in this case a gallon jug of Lucas 2-Cycle Marine Oil.
The first step is to double your line and pass it through the eyelet of your lure or hook (1). Now where you differ from a Palomar or other double line knots is you're going to pass the loop over the lure and back around to the top again (2-4). Now that you have the loop over the lure and snugged back on the eyelet ( 5) line up your main line and tag end so that the tag end is on your right and the main line is on your left. Now take your tag end and loop it OVER your mainline and come under (6) like you're tying a half hitch and slide it down to the eyelet (7).
Now repeat this except this time go UNDER your mainline and come through (8) and slide it down. Now you have two half hitches jammed together with a loop over them both (9). Now start again and take your tag end OVER your mainline and loop through (10) and slide it down. And then go under your mainline and loop through (11) and slide it down.
Once more go over your mainline and loop through (12) and slide it down and the go under your mainline loop through (13) and slide it down.
Now to close the knot off, all you do is make a half hitch but before sliding it down, loop your tag end through the loop a second time (also called a double half knot). This essentially makes almost another double half hitch jam on the tag end to keep it from backing out of the knot because again this not does not cinch and bind on itself. The result is a fairly tall knot but the breaking strength is really good and it won't bind or cut into itself from what we've seen.
We're continuing to experiment with this knot but what we've seen in tying it a bunch now is that you need to slide your half knots down and pull them tight and try to maintain the tension as you tie the under half hitch. When you have two half hitches jammed neatly together make sure they are tight before you start the next two. The folks at Sunline said you should do this 6 or 8 times So you'll have 3 or 4 double jammed half hitches but we've found that 8 just makes too long of a knot.
Here is a video also showing how to tie this knot. Try the knot out and let us know what you think on our Facebook page or here in the comments section!
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Apr 23, 2012 @ 09:11 AM
We recently spent a week with several top bass fishing pros from the Bassmaster Elite Series and the FLW Tour on Table Rock Lake in between the FLW Tour event there and the Bull Shoals event for the Elite Series. Table Rock is a highland reservoir with generally very clear water. However, because of the crazy weather we’ve had this spring, the lake actually turned over.
So it made for an interesting week of fishing. The water was still somewhat clear but it also had a weird tannic color to it. So you not only saw great crankbait and jerkbait fishing but you also had great finesse fishing with shaky heads, wacky rigs and drop shots. The lake was also still up some so there was quite a bit of cover in the lake. So we found it interesting that you could finesse fish in shallow cover.
But more interesting than the conditions was the trend among the pros that were finesse fishing. Every rod that was rigged for finesse fishing, save for one rod Aaron Martens pulled out just to shoot a video, had braid with a fluorocarbon leader. At least four pros we worked with who were finesse fishing were using some sort of light braid and a fluoro leader.
Obviously we’ve known and used the braid to fluoro combination a lot but over recent years, we have seen such an adoption of the tackle among the pros. The fact is nearly every pro we see now fishing finesse baits has the braid and fluoro combination working for them. Which prompted us to quiz some of these top sticks on why the braid.
“I don’t get as nervous as I used to,” Kriet said. “I mean I’ll still sometimes fish just straight 6-pound fluorocarbon. But it makes me really nervous when I get a big one on. If I can get away with 10-pound braid, then I’d rather use that and not be so worried about a big one busting me off.”
The strength of braid is obviously a critical factor among the pros. The fact that you can keep a small diameter and have increased breaking strength opens up a lot of great options for finesse fishing. Strength, however, may not be the most critical aspect of using braid though.
Another aspect we hadn’t considered until we fished with Shinichi Fukae was visibility. Fukae had about 6 rods on his deck while we were at Table Rock. The Japanese pro knows a lot about highly pressured bass in ultra clear water from his days spent fishing and competing on tough fisheries like Biwa in Japan.
He uses a 16-pound braid from Yoz-Ami YGK (not readily available in the US) with an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader. The braid is a sinking braid made of the highest quality materials very tightly woven. The tight weave gives him incredible distance on his casts but more importantly, the yellow line acts as a strike indicator for him on subtle bites especially on the fall.
“A lot of the bites occur on the fall with wacky jigheads, drop shot, split shot and shaky heads,” Fukae said. “With the yellow braid, I can see my line if a bite happens before I feel it.”
So there is strength and visibility aspects to the line, but other factors still may make it a better reason to change. We talked with Arizona pro Brett Hite about how he and his travelling partner, Brent Ehrler have adopted the braid in their finesse fishing.
“It’s all we use now,” Hite said. “We’ve experimented with a lot of braids and a lot of leaders and even things like knots, leader length and more. Now we have it down to a science and it’s made us so much more efficient – especially when you’re talking hooking and catching bass from a distance.”
Hite gave us an example of what he was talking about from a recent FLW Tour event on Lake Hartwell earlier this year. It’s not always just about casting distance but also the distance straight below the boat.
“Rob Newell had pulled up to me on the first day of the Lake Hartwell event as I’m pulling up to my starting spot,” Hite said. “I had a channel swing that came in close to a little island and I was way out off the swing easing up to my spot with my trolling motor. As I move up there I see an arch in 65 feet of water on my graph. So I open my bail and drop my Roboworm down on the fish. Next thing I know, the fish bites, I set and land a 5 ½-pounder. My first fish was a 5-plus-pound bass out of 65 feet of water. Braid gives you that ability to get a good fast drop with a drop shot because of the small diameter, but the no stretch to give you a good hookset at the end of a long drop or long cast.”
Hite has been experimenting with pound tests and really likes a 10 to 12 pound new prototype Sunline SX-1 that will be unveiled at ICAST this year. The new braid is a dense, tightly woven braid that sinks. It’s made specifically for those deeper contact presentations like shaky heads, drop shots, wacky rigs and more.
An added bonus to using the smaller diameter braid is casting distance. When you’re finesse fishing, it often means that water clarity is an issue. That also means the further you can keep your body and boat from the fish, the less defensive and spooky the fish will be. With 10-pound braid, we’ve found we can cast way ahead of the boat to unsuspecting bass. We caught a 15-pound limit this weekend on shaky heads by making very long casts to areas where bass were guarding fry. Keeping that distance in clear water was a big deal.
“A lot of anglers use too heavy a braid,” Hite said. “You want a 10 or 12 pound test braid with a good fluoro leader. If you go much over 20 pound test, it’s not as manageable on your reel. The 10-pound braid casts so good. You won’t believe how far it casts and how good your hooksets are. I use a 7-pound Sunline Sniper fluorocarbon leader that I measure to about the first guide in my rod.”
What Hite means is he ties the leader material to his braid with an Alberto Knot (which we’ll be showing a how-to tie video of this week) while the fluoro is still on the spool. Then he winds it through his rod guides until it reaches the feeder or butt guide, the last guide before his reel. The key is to keep the fluoro from going into your reel where it will slam against that first guide as you cast.
“If I can keep my knot from banging that first guide, I won’t have any issues with casting, knot strength or wind knots,” Hite said. “And that Alberto knot is the deal. It’s so small; you can’t even hear it going through your guides. And my line twist problems are gone on my drop shots with braid. So it’s really the best of all worlds.”
Take a lesson from the guys who have to be sure they capitalize on every way possible to hook and land all the fish that bite through the course of a day of bass fishing. Braid can give you added security in strength, castability, visibility, no stretch, good hooksets and more. Keep your pound tests to a reasonable strength and small diameter and you’ll enjoy a lot more bites and a lot less problems.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Dec 27, 2011 @ 08:00 AM
Everyone knows that your fishing line is the most critical link between you and the fish. The slightest imperfection can mean the difference between landing that big fish or being spun into a fit of foul obscenities. After all, is there a more empty feeling than breaking off a big fish, especially on those days when the bites are few and far between?
But caring for your line is probably more about lacking laziness than anything. We get in a hurry, racing from spot to spot, and we often just try to get our rods strapped and ready to run as quickly as possible. Those few seconds of haste can really damage your line and cause a weak link in the chain between you and the fish.
So we thought we should give guys a heads up on some of the common ways fishing line is damaged. Here are 10 things we commonly find anglers guilty of when it comes to compromising fishing line.
1. Missing an eyelet – This seems like such an easy one to overcome but we’ve found with the emergence of microguides that the frames have small gaps between the frame and the actual eyelet. And the eyelet itself is very minuscule. The combination has lead to several rods we’ve seen over the last few months actually have the line running between the frame and the eyelet rather than threw the eyelet. We don’t have to tell you how scraping on the sharp edge of those frames can damage your line.
2. Lures strapped too tight – Adding a hook hangers to rods really gave anglers a way to store their rods neatly with baits already attached. However we’ve seen a lot of rods stored in this manner with big kinks in the line. The reason is they attach the lure to the rod and then ratchet down the reel as tight as possible. The top eyelet is pinching a groove in the line as the rod is stored. The longer it is stored, the worse the kink can be and now there is a weak spot in the line. The solution is to simply not fasten the line down so tight. With the advent of Rod Gloves you really don’t have to tighten everything down so much. Even if the lure pops loose, the Rod Glove keeps it in place.
3. Bird’s nests – we all get them, even professionals. If you fish enough, you’re going to get that “professional overrun” on your reel. It’s no big deal but as you pull and pick it at, it often pulls loops in the line into points and the pull against them again creases the line and makes a weak spot. It also will lead to further backlashes as that crease has a tendency to resist as it goes through the line guide. Obviously reels have a lot of mechanisms to control backlashes, but nothing works better than your thumb. The tendency to let the reel handle the line is what leads to backlashes. Train your thumb to be more sensitive and be mindful of changing situations like turning into the wind when cast to avoid more overruns.
4. Rushing knots – This is one place a lot of compromises in fishing line occur. A lot of anglers will get in a hurry to get a new lure tied on or the same lure retied (which is good practice) that they don’t wet the knot and cinch it down quickly causing a friction and burning of the line that can break down the strength of the line. When tying your knots, avoid twisting or overlap in your knots, pull them tight slowly to avoid burning friction and always wet your line before cinching it.
5. Not retying often enough – We have a tendency when the fishing is fast and furious to just keep casting without ever checking our line. That can be a real problem when the bigger fish are biting. The deeper a fish takes a lure in its mouth, the more the line has opportunity to rub on the rough teeth in their mouths. Just pinch the line between your fingers and run it from the lure up a foot or two and check for nicks after every fish to avoid that errant break off.
6. Not changing enough – Fishing line doesn’t last forever. That mono from last season is not going to be as good as it was last season. The cheaper the line, the more you need to change it too. Today’s more advanced lines like braid don’t have to be changed as much as fluorocarbon and monofilament. The weather, heat and light can all have effects on the line. If your line is feeling brittle, breaking easily and not casting smoothly you need to put fresh line on before you have a costly mishap.
7. Stored under lights – heat can have effects on fishing line, but studies have shown that light seems to do even more to breakdown fishing line. If at all possible, try to store all your fishing line in a cool dark space. That will prolong its life and keep it fishing like new line should fish.
8. Hooking lures to your reel – This is another one of those quick fixes we do when we’re running around on the lake. Not only will the lures scratch your reel, but they digs and nicks in the reel can compromise fishing line. Not to mention a hook swiping back and forth against your spool of line and line guide has the potential to knick your line as you bounce down the lake. Use the hook hanger on the rod. A scratched rod is better than a nicked line.
9. Reeling lures into top guide – this may be one of the biggest pet peeves we have with anglers not caring for their equipment. Nothing will damage a top guide more than reeling a lure into and running down the lake. With advances in weights like Tungsten, a very hard object like tungsten rattling against ceramic as you run down the lake is a recipe for cracking, chipping and breaking of the top guide on your rod. And nothing cuts line like a damaged top guide.
10. Overlapping line – this is a little less common, but we’ve seen instances where line spooled on a reel has been a combination of loose and tight spooling and actually spooled on lopsided so that the line had a tendency to crisscross on top of itself. Then when you wrench it down under the weight of a heavy fish or snag, the line digs into itself making creases and kinks that compromise the line. Try to keep even tension on the line when spooling and keep your tension centered on your rod to get a nice even spool on your reel.
Obviously there are other ways that fishing line is compromised, like fishing heavy cover. It’s imperative to check for nicks, creases and imperfections in your line. If it starts behaving differently like not casting as smoothly or backlashing more, it’s time for a fresh spool of line.
What other ways have you found that line gets damaged?
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Dec 08, 2011 @ 08:00 AM
We last week listed some of our favorite reels for the new fishing season and now we're moving on to some of our favorite bass fishing terminal tackle and accessories related to fishing. Everything from instructional DVD's to soft plastics keepers. We chose some of our favorite new tackle that anglers will want to add to their "must have" list.
Berkley NanoFil | $19.95
This new nano filament line has really impressed us with its amazing castability on spinning tackle. We've fished everything from drop shot worms in 30 feet of water to Zoom Super Flukes in 2 feet of water. It's a specialty line that is slick with no memory which makes it a dream on spinning tackle. You will immediately notice 10-30 percent increase in distance on your casts. But keep in mind that it's not made for fighting fish in heavy cover. It's not an abrasion resistance line. It's finesse line made for increased distance and supple handling on light baits. The price is a hard pill to swallow but it's a specialty line and we've found that it will last all season if not fished in heavy cover.
Eco Pro Tungsten Diamond Pegs | $3.79
These interesting looking wire clips are amazing little tools. They do a great job of pinning your plastic to hook and keeping it locked down through lots of fishing and fighting fish. You having to rethread your hook on a bait, having a bait keep sliding down as it gets worn out. They come in a large pack of four sizes and we like creative tackle like this that just makes life easier.
Lazer Trokar Treble Hooks | $6.99
This is one hook we're pretty excited about. It won't be a hook that you replace all your baits with. But it's one we've put on a few special crankbaits and topwaters and we're really impressed with the sharpness and the way you can just lean into the fish and stick them. We're still evaluating them on various baits, but we're really impressed with their shape, strength and of course sharpness. You'll want to trick out your favorite popper or your most subtle jerkbait.
Seaguar Senshi and Kanzen | Starting at $7.99
Seaguar really put their mark on fishing when they released fluorocarbon lines years back. They are hoping to do the same thing again with monofilament and braid. Their Kanzen braid is strong, abrasion resistant and very castable and manageable. We've fished everything from frogs to jigs on it and even some topwaters this fall. It handles well. Senshi on the other hand is the soft, supple cousin that handles well, spools nicely on a reel and handles the stress of fish and fast fishing.
These are high quality lines that really feel like quality when you spool them on the reel.
Vicious Elite Fluorocarbon | Starts at $14.99
We've thrown this fluorocarbon a lot this summer and fall and several aspects of the line really stood out. The first was virtually no break offs this fishing season. It's a great line at a great price and it's not only very sensitive but it handles pretty well and seems to really take some abuse fishing a variety of techniques. If you're hard on your gear and how you fish is crashing through the stuff, then this is your fluorocarbon.
VMC Spin Shot | $3.99
VMC realeased this hook at ICAST but we had it before and we were wacking fish on a drop shot all summer. We've caught hundreds of bass on this hook. The hooks are sharp, and stay sharp but most importantly they take out the frustration with fishing a drop shot in deep water. Because the swivel spins in the hook eye your line will untwist itself as you reel it in. That's everything when fishing light line in deep water. A great hook at a great price.
Ben Parker's Bass Under Glass DVD | $39.99
Parker spent one day finding, catching and explaining what he found in this 1 hour video. It's not an overly produced and overly boring fishing tape. He runs viewers through his tweaks on his side imaging units and then talks about how he approaches finding big schools of bass offshore with his electronics. Then he shows how he catches and confirms what he sees on his units. He litterally finds schools of fish during the making of the video and then turns around and catches them, even two at a time. IF you want a good reference material for your side imaging units, this is the one for you.
Southern Trout Eaters | $19.99
This DVD is a departure from those music videos about swimbait fishing out west. This is a lot slower pace, with a strong focus on showing you everything that leads up to a strike and everything that came before the strike with big swimbait fishing in the southeast. The video is full of raw content. Another great video that isn't heavily produced and formalized into a boring dissertation. Instead it's education mixed with entertainment. There is tons of info on rigging big swimbaits, equipment suggestions, approaches, destinations, and even things as simple as how to position your feet and angle your casts on cover. If you want to shorten the learning curve on big bait fishing, you should check out this video. Heck just get it to see all the 8-12 pound bass these guys catch on fisheries in the south and midwest.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 @ 12:14 AM
Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Aug 26, 2011 @ 08:43 AM
Everyone who bass fishes loves to catch fish. So for us this year, it's been about finding the biggest schools of bass we can with our electronics (more about that in future articles). However, a good portion of the schools of bass have been in water deeper than 20 feet. The question then comes, how do you bass fish the water carefully and seine the bass from a location effectively when they are that deep.
There are a variety of applications that work but we found that one has worked better than most and surprisingly it has produced some fish weighing more than 6 pounds as well. Drop shotting with light line and wispy rods may not seem like a way to power through an area, but it works surprisingly well as a way to cover a small area when you know bass are present.
The drop shot has been a go to application ever since it hit the scene out west decades ago. Borrowed from our friends in the orient, the drop shot technique became a staple in Japan as a way to coax highly pressured bass in crystal clear water fisheries. The technique continues to be refined more than 20 years later.
For most folks the drop shot has become something "they have to do" to get a bite on a clear water fishery, but we're finding it's equally effective in darker waters. Many riverine fisheries have sediment that is stirred by rain and current and it can give the fisheries a "color" to them most months of the year. The water isn't muddy but the visibility isn't much beyond a couple feet either.
Yet on various fisheries around the country, we've had 50 to 100 bass days on drop shots by fishing them just as we would other lures even though the water wasn't crystal clear. The key is putting the bait in the right place, choosing a worm that works for that water clarity, and patience for the bite.
The biggest key to catching them on a drop shot is finding the fish. It can be a good search tool, but honestly your electronics do a better job at that. Once you locate a good structure or some form of cover or a school of bass that shows up on your electronics relating to either/or, then start by making a cast to the area and feeding your line until it's on the bottom.
Choosing a weight for the depth is critical. A 1/4 ounce weight works well even in depths 20 feet and deeper on calmer days. However as the wind or current picks up, it may be necessary to go a little heavier with your weights. Generally speaking you want the weight on the bottom the entire time. There are many times where a drop shot excels at catching suspended fish, but for this piece, let's stick with bottom loving bass.
Once your drop shot is on the bottom. Start by weighing your drop shot. What this means is pull ever so slowly until you feel the weight of the drop shot dragging. Then stop and let a semi slack bow to form in your line. As you do this the worm is seductively falling back to the bottom. Now pick it up again until you just feel the tension of the weight.
With practice, you'll be able to raise and lower your worm and make it dance slowly and seductively in place without ever moving the weight. Once you have a good feel for the drop shot, slowly drag the weight along the bottom until you feel something a little more substantial. Maybe it's a bigger rock, a stump, a piece of brush or some other obstruction that would give a bass an ambush point.
Then begin the dancing of the worm in one spot trying not to move the weight. What you've done is taken a big area and focused on fishing an ambush point in the area. Your dance should be slow and light. No need to violently shake your rod tip. That might work on occasion but I've caught more fish on a drop shot just holding the worm still and letting the waves and currents move it than I have actually shaking my rod a bunch.
For some reason the more you can make the worm just sort of hover and undulate the more strikes you get. The thing folks have to remember is the bass aren't just sitting in one spot all day. They ease around slowly and it might take them a few seconds of studying the worm. The more you can just let it sit there, the more that bass is getting curious. Then when you make a move he reacts out of impulse and grabs it.
This is where the patience comes in with drop shotting. You move it slolwly, find a rock or stump or something and then just try to coax a bass into taking the worm. Always think a bass is watching your worm and you're trying to make him react to it just taunting him.
The bite most of the time on a drop shot will feel like one of three things. You'll either feel a light peck or series of pecks. Don't set the hook there. Or you'll feel like someone cut the weight off your line and the whole drop shot just gets a lot lighter. That's a fish swimming up with it. Don't set the hook. Or you'll feel pressure. This is where you set the hook.
If you feel the first two. Slowly reel the slack out of your line to get a tight connection. If you feel just a little more weight than what you've been measuring with your drop shot, then sweep your rod upward in a smooth controlled sweep as you continue to reel faster. This works most often because we almost always nose hook our worms for this application.
Nose hooking is simply taking a worm and a drop shot hook and starting about 1/4-inch down on the worm and running the hook point in and forward to the nose of the worm. With a drop shot hook tied correctly, which is now a lot easier thanks to hooks like the VMC Spin Shot, the hook lays out to the side and the worm lays perfectly horizontal in the water. So in essence the tip of the hook is covered in plastic keeping it from snagging. As you catch a few fish, you'll want to make sure the nose of your worm is still covering the hook tightly. We often bite the ends of our worms off and keep moving it down to keep a good solid cover on our hook point. But with this rig a reel set is all you need to hook a fish well.
For the worms, we've experimented with a bunch and have found for darker water, color matters more it seems on certain days than the size or shape of your worm. We've caught them on 10 inch worms and we've caught them on 4-inch worms. But day in and day out we reach for Zoom Trick Worms, Zoom Finesse Worms, Roboworm 6-inch worms, and we've had good luck with the new drop shot worms from Trigger X and Z-Man.
The most important thing to remember is to not just go with the colors other folks tell you are good. We often will go from a light pink worm to a dark grape worm and keep changing until we find one that seems to work better in that deeper water. Some days when it's sunny it seems like a lighter translucent color works good while on those darker overcast days a more solid color seems to work better.
If the area you fish is fairly free of dense cover you can get away with 6-pound line, a good spinning reel with smooth drag and a rod with a light tip but good strong backbone to pull a hook into a fish and be able to control a big fish on the fight. The key is to not get in a big hurry when fighting them. Just ease into them and then keep tension and let them run. I'm a fan of back reeling on a big fish which is why we always use spinning rods and reels with light line.
There is a lot more to drop shotting than most people give it credit for. It's been our No. 1 producer on the deep schools this summer and we've kept it under wraps until now because we've had so much fun catching 100 bass a day on this rig on Kentucky Lake. A bass weighing 6.6 pounds was the biggest we've taken on the technique in the last month.
It's definitely a technique you need to add to your arsenal especially when the fish move deeper than 15 feet.
We'll have a feature on fishing the drop shot for suspended fish in a couple of weeks as that's likely to play a big role next year in the tournament scene. And we're also compiling video footage for an on the water demonstration of the techniques effectiveness as a follow up. But for now, give the drop shot a try for your deeper fish and let us know how you do.
Here's a quick look at our tackle we've been using for our own drop-shot fishing.
Abu Garcia Revo Spinning Reel
Shimano Stradic Ci4 Spinning Reel
St. Croix Legend Extreme Spinning Rod
Abu Garcia Veritas Spinning Rod
St. Croix Mojo Bass Spinning Rod
6-pound Trilene 100-Percent Fluorocarbon
8-pound Seaguar Invis-X fluorocarbon
No. 2 and No. 1 VMC Spin Shot hooks
Eco Pro 1/4-ounce Pro Drop Shot Weights
Zoom Trick Worms
Zoom Finesse Worms
Roboworm 6-inch Straight tail worms
Trigger X Probe Worm
Berkley Havoc Bottom Hopper
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Aug 08, 2011 @ 08:00 AM
American Fishing Wire / Hi-Seas announced their new co-polymer monofilament line, Grand Slam® Select. The new 100% copolymer line combines strength with manageability. Produced from the highest quality copolymer, this advanced line is said to be soft and handle well on both baitcasting and spinning gear alike. The line is offered in fluorescent clear blue color so anglers can see their line during low-light conditions. Once submerged, the fluorescent clear blue color is said to appear as clear, and makes this a perfect “line-watching” line. It is also easy to tie to any bait or terminal tackle using a Palomar knot.
“It works exceptionally well on spinning reels because it’s so manageable and so soft," said legendary angler Bill Dance. "It takes perfect inset on a spinning reel.”
“Grand Slam Select is a professional grade copolymer line that is unmatched from our other lines thus far," said Steven Miller, Sales Director of HI-SEAS. "Its abrasion resistance is unmatched, knot strength is incredible, and it has low memory."
The new Grand Slam Select will range in test from 4-pound to 30-pound in filler, 1- and 2-pound spools. MSRP ranges from $6.99 to $9.99
Look for these new lines in retailers this fall.
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