W2F Blog

From humble fishing roots to National Sales Manager

By Walker Smith

It’s a dream that many anglers have shared since childhood—work your way up the ladder and become an executive of a popular lure manufacturing company. Working in the industry you love, managing an all-star pro staff and knowing about new lures long before they hit the market—what could be better? During a recent fishing trip with Syd Rives, the National Sales Manager of Spro Corporation, I learned that his dream was no different.

Growing up in Macon, Ga., Rives was an avid outdoorsman from the very beginning. Most Saturdays were spent with his father in the woods of Middle Georgia hunting anything from turkeys to deer and everything in between. Although he shared his father’s passion for hunting, Rives always had something else lingering in the back of his mind—bass fishing.

While he and his father enjoyed spending time together on the water, Rives’ passion ran a bit deeper than most. Regardless of the weather conditions or the time of year, he would stop at nothing to chase bass on local fisheries. He didn’t know much about the sport at first, but his relentless pursuit of knowledge turned him into a successful angler at an early age.

“Just like hunting was my dad’s thing, fishing was mine,” Rives said. “I was pretty much self-taught from the beginning by reading every magazine and catalog I could possibly get my hands on.”

At age 17, Rives finally saved up enough money to buy his first fishing rig—a small aluminum boat with a 25-horsepower outboard. At a time when fancy bass boats were emerging, his modest outfit had everything he needed to further pursue his passion. Practically living on Lake Juliette, a 3,600-acre lake outside of his hometown, he fine tuned his craft and quickly discovered his calling.

“I always wanted to tournament fish, but I never had enough money to do it,” Rives said. “Regardless, I still spent every day on the water, learning more with each day. I was flat-out obsessed with it.”

After graduating from the University of Georgia, he did what any bass fishing addict would do—he got a job selling fishing tackle at the local Bass Pro Shops. Throughout his tenure, he met many influential names in the local fishing industry, and before he knew it, he landed an entry-level job at Spro Corporation. Little did he know it would be the first step in his dream career.

Through many promotions within the company, Rives worked his way up to become the National Sales Manager. After working many years in marketing, inventory and new product development, including several trips to China and Japan, he has gained an intricate knowledge of not only the company’s product line, but most importantly, the needs of avid anglers.

“I believe that my passion for the sport of fishing and my experience on the water is hugely helpful in developing the most quality baits possible,” Rives said. “I’m just like every other angler out there—I want baits in my tackle box that will catch fish.”

Whether he’s managing and listening to his pro staff’s fishing needs or helping develop unique baits that catch big bass, Rives’ love for fishing helps him continuously exceed his business goals.

“There’s no substitute for time on the water,” Rives said. “If you’re a young person out there wanting to get in the industry, don’t give up. Keep fishing and associating with the right folks, and you’ll be surprised how fast you can reach your dreams.”

Two key factors dictate Jimmy Mason’s selection of Alabama rig components

By Walker Smith

Although the excitement surrounding the Alabama Rig and subsequent rigs has largely died down in the past year, castable bass umbrella rigs remain effective fish catching tools under the right conditions. Alabama fishing guide Jimmy Mason has zeroed-in his approach to the rig over the past two years. He narrowed down bait selection to two important environmental cues:

•    Water clarity
•    Water temperature

Clear water

The most important factor to Mason’s bait selection is water clarity. In clear water, the eyesight of a bass is largely enhanced, making a proper presentation a huge factor of success. In these high visibility situations, he doesn’t get too creative when chunking an umbrella rig.

“The clearer the water is, the more I want my baits to match,” Mason said. “It’s much more natural for the bass to see a ‘school’ of matching baits, so I want to throw 5 identical baits.”

While clear water does dictate a set of matching baits, the color of these baits is equally important. Just as he would opt for more natural-colored hard baits in clear water, Mason keeps this philosophy intact when he’s on a hot rig bite.

“I’m a big believer in translucent baits in clear water,” Mason said. “One of my most productive baits in these conditions is the 3 1/2-inch Emerald Pearl-colored Yum Mud Minnow, especially on sunny days. When the sun reflects off of the green flake, it’s a dynamite combination.”


Stained water

As long as the water has at least 1 foot of visibility, Mason doesn’t hesitate to throw a bass umbrella rig. When faced with these low-visibility water conditions, he tends to get a bit more technical with his bait selection. Larger baits and brighter colors have produced some unforgettable fishing days for him in the past year.

“In dirty water, I’m going to play with my baits a lot more,” Mason said. “I love using 5-inch Yum Money Minnows in the middle of the rig because they give it a much bigger profile that displaces a lot more water. This extra visibility and water disturbance draws attention to my Yumbrella Rig a lot better than smaller baits would.”

The Tennessee River system received an insane amount of rain last year, but that didn’t stop Mason from putting his clients on monster bass. With the river continuously moving at nearly 100,000 cubic feet per second, the muddy water forced him to improvise his A-rig approach.

“The only way we could get consistent bites was by using 5-inch chartreuse grubs on the outsides,” Mason said. “I was running a full size, 5-inch Money Minnow in the middle and the 5-inch grubs on the outside of the rig in order to help the bass see the bait better. It ended up reducing our short strikes and dramatically increasing our hookup ratio.”

Water temperature

As with any bass fishing technique, water temperature is an essential element in Mason’s Alabama rig bait selection process. In water temperatures above 50-degrees, big bass won’t hesitate to attack an A-rig with 5-inch swimbaits, but when the water drops to below 45- to 50-degrees this time of year, downsizing baits can make a lot of difference.

“Whenever the water temperature gets below 50-degrees, bass become lethargic,” Mason said. “A big, bulky presentation isn’t appealing to these wary bass, and can actually spook them. This is a time where I like to use 5-inch grubs on the outside of my rig—it’s less imposing and matches small forage better.”

Umbrella rigs never ended up being the “magic baits” that some anglers thought they would be, but that doesn’t mean they won’t catch fish. Keeping a close eye on the surrounding water clarity and water temperature not only leads to smarter bait selection, but also more fish in the boat. 


To fish with Jimmy Mason, visit jimmymasonbasspro.com.

•    environmental conditions effects on fish
•    competition conditioned the bass

First, a little background on why the rig was so prominent last year but not as much this year.

The craze of the rig is history
The Alabama Rig generated a tsunami across the bass fishing tackle landscape in the fall of 2011. Andy Poss took a simple 5-wire umbrella rig and applied it to it for bass fishing. When Paul Elias won the FLW Tour event on Lake Guntersville in October of 2011 with 100 pounds of bass, a time when most anglers were saying the fishing was horrible, the flood came almost immediately.

Anglers were willing to pay $50 to $100 for one rig. Guys were tying wires in their kitchen. The bass lure market exploded with thousands of castable bass umbrella rigs. The bait shops were flooded with new contraptions for rigging the hundreds of various swimbaits on the market. Shops couldn't keep their shelves stocked with rigs, jigheads or swimbait bodies on fisheries like the Tennessee River, Table Rock, Grand Lake, the Alabama River and many more.

Yet fast forward to now and most tackle shops have a surplus of both umbrella rigs and swimbaits. Things obviously have changed.

The forage came and went with the wind
The wind can affect fishing, but water temperatures, current flow, water clarity and other environmental factors affect the bass and the forage more. Last fall/winter, there had been significant rainfall across the country that put a little color in the water of many of the nation's fisheries. The resulting flooding generated consistent current that seemed to keep the bass feeding in groups.

Warmer than average temperatures spawned an explosion of forage. The bass roamed nomadicly, grouping up to ambush bait instead of relating to contours and bottom composition. A lot of baitfish suspended and so did a lot of bass. It was a perfect storm for the Alabama Rig. The suspending fish, which were normally very hard to catch, seemed almost too easy to catch on 5 swimbaits raked over their heads.

This year however we had almost exact opposite conditions around the country. A lot less precipitation, a lot less current flow, a lot more scattered bass and forage that was not suspending. Then winter seemed to come almost two months early bringing much colder water temperatures, extremely clear water and a lot less schooling bass.

Competition conditioned the bass
Bass get conditioned. I've seen a school get conditioned in minutes to a certain lure and a simple lure change gets them fired right back up. I've seen days where a guy throwing one bait crushes his buddy's hopes and dreams on just slightly different bass lures.

Last fall and winter the lakes were overcrowded with boats full of anglers chunking 5-swimbaits at a time haphazardly for bass. I'm sure this year started out much the same, but as folks have quit having success, they've quit braving the elements.

The bass umbrella rig storm was over for many. It is no longer just a matter of going down the bank throwing five lures instead of one. But the truth of the matter is there are many anglers across the country still having a lot of success with the umbrella rigs.

It didn't end bass fishing like many predicted. It didn't become the only lure you had to throw to be competitive in bass fishing tournaments. It didn't even become a factor for most tournaments this year.

Quite simply, it became another weapon to trick our favorite quarry. It followed the same path as the buzzbait, the topwater frog or the Senko. All effectively deceive bass. But they don't work all the time in all conditions. The Alabama Rig, the Yumbrella, the Flash Mob, the Cure, the Roll Tide Rig, the Schooling Rig, the Yellow Hammer Rig and all the other versions of bass umbrella rigs simply became another spinnerbait, crankbait, jig or worm in your tackle box in the span of a year.

But there are still ways to make the most of these bass lures, and I'll dive into that in part two of our look at the changing approach to using bass umbrella rigs.

Kevin Short shares when and why he uses plastic or balsa crankbaits

By Walker Smith

Crankbait fishing is one of the techniques in our sport that can be made either very simple or quite complicated. Instead of overthinking things, Vicious Fishing pro and renowned crankbait guru Kevin Short keeps crankbait fishing as simple as possible. When choosing between balsa and plastic crankbaits, he considers 3 important elements above all else. Those include the following:

• Type of cover
• Crankbait durability
• Buoyancy
  

His bait choice depends on the characteristics of each crankbait that can easily be broken down into positive and negative attributes for each type of crankbait.

Pros of balsa crankbaits

When faced with areas full of snag-inducing wood cover, Short reaches for his balsa plugs. The buoyancy of a crankbait is determined by material or the amount of air that is trapped inside its body. Balsa is a highly buoyant light wood.

“If I’m fishing around stumps, brush piles or docks, I’m going to throw a balsa bait,” Short said. “A balsa crankbait floats above and away from wood much quicker, which drastically reduces your number of hang-ups.”

Cons of balsa crankbaits

Although it may seem as if a balsa crankbait is a perfect choice for all heavy cover situations, Short avoids balsa baits when he finds himself around thick grass. His reasoning may surprise you.

“If you crank around grass enough, you’re going to get it tangled on your bill and treble hooks—it’s unavoidable,” Short said. “Instead of picking the grass off with your fingers, it’s easier to simply slap the bait on the water. If you do that with a 20 dollar balsa bait, you’re going to bust it wide open and ruin it.”

Pros of plastic crankbaits


There are certain times of the year, such as winter, when big bass love to position on rocks and gravel. Plastic crankbaits are a must-have for cranking this hard cover due to their increased durability. When faced with this situation, Short keeps the balsa in his box and opts for plastic crankbaits instead.

“Any time I’m beating and banging my crankbait around hard objects, you can bet I’ll have a plastic crankbait in my hand,” Short said. “Buoyancy isn’t as big of a deal around rocks, so I want a crankbait I can use and abuse without worrying about it shattering or taking on water.”

Cons of plastic crankbaits

You’ve probably guessed it by now—plastic crankbaits aren’t always ideal for thick cover. While they still float over cover, especially when equipped with a square bill, they rise to the top more slowly than their balsa counterparts.

“You can take a balsa plug that has the same relative size and weight as a plastic plug and the balsa will have more buoyancy every single time,” Short said. “When my crankbait hits a piece of cover, I need to be able to quickly pause it and have it float above the obstruction quickly to draw those vicious reaction strikes.”

Crankbait fishing doesn’t always need to be complicated. If you pay close attention to surrounding cover and understand the pros and cons of both balsa and plastic crankbaits, you'll save yourself a lot of headaches and make fishing and catching bass on crankbaits more enjoyable.

Two simple ideas to keep the warmth in and the cold out

By Walker Smith

Unless you have the ability to pay hundreds of dollars for state of the art gear, staying warm while fishing can seem difficult. Not only is it simply uncomfortable to have a permanent chill in your spine during your time on the water, but it also makes simple tasks, such as knot tying, a pain. If the cold keeps you from chasing big winter bass, there are 2 simple and inexpensive things you can do to maintain a warm core temperature.

Hand warmers in your wrist bands


Many anglers use hand warmers to keep their hands warm on the water. More often than not, however, I’ve found hand warmers to be a very temporary relief. Sure—they feel good when you’ve got them in your gloves, but they get annoying eventually and end up stuffed in my jacket, never to be used again.

To combat this problem, I like to put these hand warmers under the wrist band of my sweatshirt, directly on the underside of my wrist. The veins in your wrist are a major highway for blood, and when you warm those veins, your blood also warms up and pumps into the rest of your body.

Keeping these hand warmers out of your gloves allows you to firmly hold your rod, therefore increasing sensitivity, while also freeing your hands for knot tying, fish handling and lure modifications.

If you’re having problems keeping the hand warmers in place, simply wrap them loosely with athletic tape. Be careful not to wrap them too tightly, and if it feels too hot on your skin, remove them immediately.
 
HeatWraps on your back


Nothing is more uncomfortable than leaning over in cold weather, exposing your bare back to the elements. If you thought you were cold before, you’ll be miserable in a hurry if this happens. Once that chill gets to you, it’s hard to get rid of. To avoid this situation, here's a little secret a duck-hunting buddy gave me.

Get some HeatWraps at your local drug store and wear them on your lower back while you’re on the water. Depending on what’s comfortable, you can either put them directly on your skin or over a thin first layer. They don’t get too hot, but provide the perfect amount of warmth to keep your core temperature at a reasonable level.

HeatWraps come with an adjustable and reusable fabric wrap that doesn’t itch or dig into your skin. When worn correctly, they won’t ride up when you cast or move around the boat—you’ll forget you’re wearing them. If you’re the thrifty type, most major drug stores carry generic brands that are available for nearly half the price.

Don’t let the cold weather scare you away from bass fishing this winter. Whether you’re on the ice or the open water this winter, these quick and inexpensive tips can make your fishing days much more enjoyable. Stay tuned for more tips on keeping warm!

Tackle modifications that will help you catch more fish

By Walker Smith

One of the best parts of our job is when we have the privilege of communicating with our readers. We read every email and comment from our readers and we always appreciate and enjoy your feedback. Just as we hope to keep our readers up-to-date on the latest fishing information, we often learn some pretty cool tips from our fans as well. In the past few months, several of our readers have commented on our feature pieces with their own tackle modification ideas.

Being the bass fishing addicts that we are, we’ve tried many of these ideas and have been impressed with the functionality and simplicity of them. In order to keep you “in the know”, we have compiled a list of some of our readers’ simple ideas that will help you get the most out of your fishing day.

Double split rings on jerkbaits


Try adding an extra split ring to your hook in place of a longer shank! I do this on my jerkbaits and it works just fine.
Posted on Wednesday, December 05, 2012 7:21 AM by Michael Clifford on Short-Shank vs. Long-Shank Treble Hooks

Not every angler has the available tackle to quickly switch from short-shank to long-shank hooks—and that’s totally fine. If you’ve ever experienced the heartache and frustration of multiple short strikes when fishing with your favorite jerkbait, you may want to consider adding an additional split ring to it.

Just as a long-shank hook allows for better hookups on a jerkbait, double split rings will serve the same purpose if you don’t have a wide selection of treble hooks to choose from. In addition to giving the bass a better opportunity to get hooked, doubling up your split rings is also a great way to alter the buoyancy of your jerkbait in different water temperatures and conditions.

Spinnerbait blade dye for hooks


Red hooks are dyed red and it doesn’t take long for the red to come off of the hook, so get a bottle of red blade dye—you can dip the hook in the dye without taking the hook off the bait.
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 8:44 AM by Larry on When and Why to Use Red Hooks for Bass Fishing

With the right water clarity and sunlight, red hooks are a great way to get extra bites when the fishing is tough. It’s not always easy to get your hands on the right size or style of red hooks, but don’t worry—red spinnerbait blade dye makes for a very effective hook dye as well.

If you’re fighting the battle against short strikes, especially in time-sensitive situations, it’s a hassle to rummage through your terminal tackle box, untangle a big ball of sharp hooks and replace them all. Red blade dye saves a lot of time by allowing you to keep the hook on the bait and simply dip it into the dye—it’s that simple.

Don’t be concerned about the dye dulling the hook points, either. Blade dye is formulated to be extremely thin as to not alter the weight of spinnerbait blades. When you experiment with this modification, you’ll notice that the blade dye is no thicker than water.

Coffee stirrer in the tail of a Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm


To get the paddle tail or any plastic worm tail up off the bottom, insert a thin, plastic coffee stirrer in the tail section. This creates an air pocket, raising the tail slightly off the bottom while giving the extra action often needed to entice a strike.
Posted on Friday, December 21, 2012 8:37 AM by Richard Ziert on Four Ways to Fish a Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm

This simple tackle tweak can make a big difference on the water, especially when targeting pressured bass. As if the Ultravibe Speed Worm doesn’t make enough racket in the water, inserting a simple coffee stirrer into the tail of the worm will make it irresistible to big bass. To make it easier to insert the stirrer, simply dip it in the water to minimize any tearing.

Whether you’re fishing the UV Speed Worm weightless, Texas rigged or on a shaky head, this handy modification will get more bites. Not only does the coffee stirrer allow the tail to float when at rest, but it also creates a ton of bubbles as you drag or swim the bait in the water. Several of the best grass lake anglers have been doing this for years with consistent success.

Feathered treble hooks on walking topwaters


Great article! I also love to use walking topwater lures. I often change out the rear treble with a feathered treble hook to increase chances of a good hook up.
Posted on Friday, October 05, 2012 9:44 AM by David J. Gutierrez on Big Walking Topwaters in the Early Fall

There’s something about a feathered treble hook on the back of a topwater bait that big bass simply cannot ignore. In the fall and spring, bass see a plethora of topwater baits whizzing overhead every day and eventually become wise to them. In order to differentiate your offering from others, adding a feathered treble hook to the back of the bait can draw strikes from even the most finicky bass.

Because many bites on walking topwater baits can come while the bait is paused, feathered trebles are a great way to add a little more action to the bait while it’s at rest. As the bait sits in the water, the feathers quiver and pulsate with the movement of the water, making it a tantalizing addition to any topwater bait.

Loop knot for “walking the dog”


A Loop knot also makes “walking the dog” easier for me.
Posted on Sunday, October 07, 2012 4:40 PM by Rollie Van Cleave on Big Walking Topwaters in the Early Fall

“Walking the dog” is an age-old technique that has caught big fish for years. Although it is possible to execute this retrieve with a generic Palomar knot, many anglers prefer a loop knot instead. Because the loop knot allows the bait to move more freely, anglers are able to perform a wide-walking presentation with the slightest twitch of the rod tip.

If you’re just learning this technique or if you’re tired of jerking your shoulder out of socket to make your favorite topwater walk, this simple tweak is a must-try in our book.

We cannot thank our readers enough for the constant support and feedback over the years. As we continue to do everything in our power to help you become better anglers, we hope that you keep the lines of communication open with more awesome tips and suggestions. Thank you for being Wired2Fish!