December, 2011 | Wired2Fish Bass Fishing Blog - How to Fish Articles and Videos

Float-n-Fly for Nostalgic and Productive Fishing in Winter

Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Dec 30, 2011 @ 06:00 AM

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Jimmy Mason talks fishing a float-n-fly rig for winter bass

By Shaye Baker

If you want to test your patience, try fishing the float and fly on a cold winter day. It’s quite possibly the slowest way to fish for the most lethargic bass of any season. It’s a technique, however, PRADCO pro Jimmy Mason relies on to heat up even the coldest winter day because it is so effective.

Having used the rig to amass several top 10s in recent years, Mason has also developed a knack for the bait on his home waters in Alabama. Any lake where the water is cold and clear is a great place to sample the technique. As the water temps sink below 55 degrees, Mason will add the bait to the arsenal It is when the water drops to the 43-45 range, however, when the bite really ignites.

If you’re a fan of fishing a jerkbait in the winter time, then locating the fish shouldn’t be a problem. The fish that eat the float and fly are oftentimes the same fish that were attacking the jerkbait when the water was 7 or 8 degrees warmer. But as the water cools, the fish become increasingly lethargic and many shut down to the point that they won’t even hit a jerkbait on the pause. But they can’t resist a fly in their face.

These fish set up in areas where they can suspend. Generally steep chunk rock banks or bluff walls will hold fish at some level in the water column. You can also use the bait to pull bass from below docks. However a lot of times the fish will be further off the structure than you would expect, especially in windy conditions.

“It’s not one of those deals where you are making really tight parallel casts,” Mason said. “You’ll actually catch a lot of the fish half a cast from the bank. Bluffs are definitely my favorite, but marinas are also really good. The best docks have about 30 feet of water under them.”

Although you may be sitting in 30 feet of water you are typically only fishing a third as deep. Mason will start his bobber out around 8 feet from his fly. This makes casting a little tricky, which is why he uses a special Tennessee handle Float and Fly rod made by B’n’M that is 10 feet long in non-tournament situations. Guiding as much as Mason does on Pickwick and Wilson, he often uses the rod and is confident that the extra 2 feet makes all the difference when casting.

If using the technique in a tournament, however, the 8-foot rod rule comes into play, and Mason will move to the Dobyns Champion Extreme Spinning Rod DX 762 SF. This rod also has a very light action and parabolic bend that proves important when fighting a big fish on light line and a little hook. The shorter rod does present a larger problem when casting though. Especially considering the bobber starts 8-feet from the fly for Mason and only moves farther away.

Therefore Mason’s casting technique has to borrow a little from the fly fishing guys. He brings the fly behind the boat and makes sure it touches the water before he brings the rod forward again. This contact with the water takes slack out of the line and helps make the cast go a lot farther.

Since the line used by Mason is only 4- to 6-pound test Vicious Elite Fluorocarbon, landing the fish can be rather difficult as well. Add to that the fact, 8 to 10 feet of line is un-retrievable by the reel due to the bobber, so you have a real battle on your hands no matter how docile the bass may be. The only option is to handline the fish in, being sure not to put too much pressure on the light line nor bend the small hook on the fly.

The fly Mason chooses when employing the rig is a Punisher Lures Float and Fly Jig with a blue back, pearl sides and a pink belly. If the water is extremely clear he’ll change over to a duck feather fly also made by Punisher Lures since the duck feather gives off a great, subtle look in the clearer water. Both flies start out for Mason at 1/16 ounce and move up to 1/8 or down to 1/32 depending on the conditions.

“If the wind gets up, you’ll need the heavier weight,” Mason said. “But sometimes you have to use the 1/32 ounce fly for the slower fall.”

Working the bait consists of a series of slow pulls each accompanied with a pause. The fly is so light that as you pull it along it will actually rise in the water column and then settle back down on the pause. Each of Mason’s casts will typically last 2 to 3 minutes. Fishing this slow calls for a little something extra in the scent department which is why Mason will coat his flies in the YUM F2 shad or garlic scent.

Perhaps the most important part of the rig is the weighted Bob’s Bobber that Punisher Lures makes. Since the bobber is weighted, it tips over a lot easier when the weight of the fly is taken off of it. With the fish as inactive as they are this is often the only indicator of a lot of bites.

“Some of your biggest fish will just inhale the fly and sit there,” Mason said. “You’ll never see the bobber go under. It just lays over flat.”

Then again some will pull the bobber out of sight. A vision that will take many of us back to the old creek bank or lake shore where we first fell in love with the sport of fishing. A reminder of time spent watching some small panfish snatch a cork under only to find our golden Eagle Claw hook as barren as it was when we first pulled it from the pack.

Bass fishing is all about the chase. If you are looking for something different on your local lake this winter, give the float-n-fly a go. It may be just the ticket to get the slow moving, suspended bass in your lake to bite. Just make sure the water is clear and that enough time is invested in each cast and you may just find a passion for the rig as strong as Mason’s.

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First Impressions of the New Lowrance HDS Generation 2

Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Dec 29, 2011 @ 11:00 AM

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As new technologies emerge in fishing, it seems like anglers adopt these technologies quickly, puzzling over how they ever caught fish before it. Sonar took anglers leaps and bounds over their previous flasher follies on the water. GPS and detailed map chips relieved us of triangulating with paper maps and that empty feeling of realizing you’ve been fishing a spot 20 yards from the “actual” spot.

In recent years, side scanning, or as Lowrance terms it, Structure Scan gave us a new way to interpret what’s on the bottom. Now we not only see below and out to the side of us, but we determine if what was out there was a rock, a brush pile, a pod of baitfish or something else.

Down scan gave us a more detailed look at what was showing up below us on the sonar. We could make out individual branches and fish relating to each individual branch. Sonar, GPS, structure scan and all the improvements to each, without a doubt make us more efficient in our search for the best schools of fish on each fishery.

Now a new advance in contour graphing may be the last frontier of exploration in fishing. The new HDS Generation 2 Units will soon be hitting the shelves and showing up in anglers’ fishing boats. These units boast a lot of improvements over the current HDS units, but the flagship feature on these new units is something called Structure Map. We spent a few days reviewing the units before their release a couple months ago and have some observations on the new units.

Structure Map can be a little tricky to explain, but the technology is going to take a lot of the trickery out of figuring out previously uncharted waters. With Lowrance’s Structure Map, the contours are graphed just like in Structure Scan but then overlaid onto your GPS map. So now you can drive back and forth over a section of the lake that might not have contours on your map chip and chart all the rock piles, stumps, creeks, and more in that area.

Structure Map has many options and easily turned on and off with the same method you activate weather, radio, radar and other overlays on your Lowrance HDS units. You can save the graphing to a SDHD Card and then load it later. So an angler can now take his time and go back and forth over an area and have a saved reality of what the bottom of the lake looks like.

This is going to be immensely helpful in those bays and creeks or smaller bodies of water where accurate mapping has not been done on map cards. Pinpoint brush and cover, break lines and more and then drop waypoints on your map to go back and fish them effectively and efficiently. It’s going to maximize your time fishing and minimize your time looking.

Structure Map is not a replacement for Down Scan or Structure Scan. It’s an added tool in the toolbox. Over the next several months we’re going to take a year’s worth of research on how we best implement Sonar, Structure Scan and Down Scan in our fishing pursuits and turn those into instructional articles to help you use your electronics to their fullest.

One thing you will notice about Structure Map as compared to Structure Scan, is Structure Map cuts out that part of the picture that is from the bottom of the boat to the bottom of the lake. If you’re familiar with Structure Scan, you know each side shows you not only what is on the left and right but also what is below you from the bottom of the boat to the bottom of the lake. Structure Map only looks out to the side so that there is no void area in the middle.

As you see in this in this screen shot, on the left is Structure Map and on the right is Structure Scan looking out 50 feet. You’ll see a house foundation I scanned. On the left pane, my boat is moving left to right on the map. So the foundation is about a half inch from the left of my boat cursor because it just passed over it.

But on the right pane, Structure Scan runs top to bottom so the same foundation is about a half inch from the top. We added a boat icon there too so you can see where your boat is on Structure Scan. Notice on the right there is a black space. That is the water directly below the boat before it starts reading the bottom left and right. This is imperative for actually seeing fish lined up along the structure or suspended off of it, something you won’t see as clearly on the left in Structure Map.

But another cool feature is the save and load features of Structure Map. You can turn on Sonar Log, turn on the option to convert to map when complete and you can save your work as you idle back and forth marking structure and cover on the lake. One word of caution though. If you record a big long trail with the SL2 sonar log file, it will take the unit quite a while to process that log into the structure map file for viewing in save mode, on other units or in programs like Dr. Depth.

Structure Map was not the only pleasant surprise to the Gen 2 HDS units from Lowrance. The overall speed of the units and map updating is greatly enhanced, largely because of cost effective upgrades in hardware. When Structure Scan software was developed, the original hardware that fit the budget constraints of building the first units was not enough to meet the demands of the robust NSS software. Now with the Gen 2 units the hardware can keep up with the software better and there aren’t the delays between screen switching, mapping and other functions that sometimes occurred in the Gen 1 units.

The units are a bit darker in appearance but have the same look and navigation that anglers are now accustomed to with HDS units. The HDS 8 and 10 units feature the shortcut buttons like before, card slots for map cards and cards for recording waypoints and saving structure and sonar logs.

“Each technology will enhance the other in different situations,” says Scott Glorvigen, the only angler to ever win the FLW and PWT Walleye championships. “When I see the structure on both Structure Map and Structure Scan, it fills the gaps between each other.”

“It’s going to be huge for ice fishing,” said Chris Meyer, Dealer Service and Prostaff for Lowrance. “That was my first thought. I could drive the lakes in my boat when the water is open and then come back drive on the ice in saved mode with Structure Map in my truck to get back to all my favorite spots. But really I think it’s going to be a great tool for helping enhance and reinforce what guys are seeing. Folks that have gotten in my boat that did not fully understand Structure Scan see Structure Map and immediately they understand Structure Scan better. It just makes sense for folks.”

The Generation 2 Lowrance HDS units are shipping now. In fact we’ve already heard of at least one prostaff angler who ordered and already received his new units. These are going to be hot items for avid anglers in 2012. We’ll have a lot more shorts on understanding individual features in the HDS units and how to apply them to your fishing.

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Tags: Fishing, new products, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, electronics, anglers, tips, how-to, fishing biz, tackle review

10 Common Mistakes in Fishing Line Care

Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Dec 27, 2011 @ 08:00 AM

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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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Tags: Fishing, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, accessories, line, tips, how-to, fishing biz, tackle review

5 Small Water Tips for Bigger Fishing

Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Dec 26, 2011 @ 08:30 AM

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We all crave confidence. Confidence comes when you master enough of the skills to feel you can outperform the competition on any given day. Whether it's badmitton or bass fishing, you want to get to that level where you feel confident that you know enough about it to make a good effort and find success more often than not.

Folks always want to short cut processes to get to that level. Shortcuts never lead to experience. And experience is ultimately what will give you the confidence you crave in fishing. No one likes that feeling or thought in the back of their mind when they are not successful doing something that says, "Do I know what the heck I'm doing or am I just spinning my wheels here."

But there are methods to improve your success in any endevor. Practice is often one way, but again you have to have some method to know you are practicing correctly to get better and gain experience which will utimately lead to consistent success at something.

In fishing, one thing I've learned after the fact is that fishing on small waters actually made me a better fisherman on big waters. Sure there are a lot of fundamentals and more complex situations to learn and gain experience problem solving on big waters that anglers may not encounter on small waters, but there is also a lot to be gained from learning on small waters that can give you a wealth of experience and confidence to fish more effectively on big waters.

I spent most of my childhood and the better part of my teenage and college years fishing streams, creeks, rivers and ponds near where I lived in Arkansas and Florida. I loved to fish the big waters most, but when I couldn't do that, I was honing my skills and testing theories and techniques in these virtual test labs. Afterall, on a fishery like a farm pond, the bass are basically captive. They have a finite amount of space, limited cover and limited forage. Which makes them willing subjects to study, learn and gain valuable experience from.

Likewise, your fishing on a moving waters like streams, feeder creeks and rivers can yield impressive results and more impressive confidence in a certain technique or adapting to certain fish behaviors.

Here are five key concepts taken from many years fishing small waters that ultimately made for better angling on big waters.

Fish feed on specific prey in their environment

A phrase, "matching the hatch," gets thrown around loosely but basically the fish are conditioned to eat the forage available to them. That doesn't mean if they are feeding heavily on shad, they won't eat your crawfish crankbait. But it does mean that if they are conditioned to look for something swimming rather than something crawling, you might want to pickup that spinnerbait and not that jig. Just learning to experiment and figure out which prevalent type of forage mimicers the fish are relating to can make a world of difference.

Learn to pay attention to whether the bass are reacting better to bottom bouncers or swimming reaction type lures and you can further refine your approach and spend your time more effeciently finding fish on big waters rather than spending all day guessing throwing the wrong type of artificials.

Fish look up or down for food

A successful angler once said that he could pull crappie out of the lake and tell if they were looking up or looking down when they bit his jig and that determined how deep or shallow he fished for them. I don't know how true that statement was, but he sure had a lot of confidence built up in his fishing. More than likely he had become so accustomed to interpreting when he got bit on certain retrieves closer to the bottom or closer to the surface, that he knew the fish were feeding up or feeding down in the water column.

This is very easy to practice on small fisheries. Varying the speeds and changing between lures you can drag along the bottom and reel up off the bottom can sometimes lead to a pattern that can be duplicated. It may not be the final answer on how to catch fish on a bigger fishery but it can get you a lot closer to catching them better than just haphazardly trying different lures.

Fan casting effectively covers water

I'm still floored with how many anglers still don't cover water effectively. They make a cast to this one spot on the bank, then shoot down to some other random spot ahead of the boat, then straight out from the boat, landing nearly in the same spot as the boat moves forward. A lot of covering a small body of water is fan casting across one section of the fishery that you can reach from one spot. It's nothing more than casting at 9 o'clock, then 10 o'clock, then 11 o'clock and so on and so forth until you've worked across an area left to right and front to back.

That is very evident and effective on bigger waters when fishing things like ledges. You want to find that one sweet spot on a ledge. That often takes a multitude of casts to different spots on the ledge, trying to cover as much of it as you can from as many angles as you can. Then when you start getting bit, it's often just a matter of making that same exact cast over and over again to catch fish every cast. A smart angler will often drop a second buoy or mark a second waypoint on his GPS so he has a perfect line on his target every time.

Fish bite on the fall

This is a very basic premise of fishing that many anglers still don't grasp. It's not just the change of direction that triggers fish, but often how a bait seems to struggle as it wiggles back to the bottom. Much of how fish feed is based on swiping at a bait, attempting to injure it and then making a second pass to eat the struggling bait as it falls.

This is a great technique to master in smaller waters like a farm pond where those captive bass can often give you lots of opportunities to test the lift and fall on controlled slack line. Snap the rod tip up and then lower it slowly, trying to let a loose but not completely slack bow in your line follow the bait back to the bottom. A strike will often just be a slight bump in the line as it falls, a violent snap of the line, or it will merely quit falling a lot sooner than you thought it should. In any of those cases, simply reel tight and then lean into the fish as you do.
The weight of the lure and diameter of your line can impact how a lure falls so it's also good to experiment with both. this will help you perfect not only being a great line watcher but also about staying in tune with your bait during different parts of a retrieve.

It doesn't matter if it's crappie or bass, learning to watch your line as a bait falls is a skill every good angler has mastered. And many of them probably did it on a small body of water where they had lots of chances to practice.

Slow and steady is often better than erractic action

There are times when the more erratic you make a bait, the more bites you'll get. To me that's a lot easier to learn than when they don't want the lure moving hardly at all. One of the places this became very evident to me growing up was watching fish strike lures in real clear ponds. You would throw your baits and just steady crank them in or hop them up and down on the bottom without much action. Then you'd throw a bottom bouncer out there and just let it sit. Then move it a foot and let it sit. Then you'd notice your line was swimming off.

You could watch bass follow and turn off of baits. Then work a slow bait through the area and watch them inch in on it watch it as it lie motionless on the bottom. Then as it started to ease off again, they'd pounce on it and suck it in.

This weekend we hit a farm pond in Arkansas over Christmas break. The water was cold. The air temps had been cold. The bass weren't willing to chase. We tried our small swimming baits that had worked just a month ago without any action whatsoever. But if you took a small craw on a jighead and just deadsticked it, occassionally pulling it a foot or two at a time or even just reeled it super slow along the bottom, you'd catch some nice fish.

I've seen the same exact thing happen on the big water. We have a tendency to fish fast on big water. An angler will try something for a few minutes, and then it's on to some other place to see if they are biting there. Before he knows it, the day is half gone, and he's raced all over the place not catching anything. He finally hunkers down, fishes slow in some productive areas and starts catching fish.

Honestly this is probably why the shaky head is so effective. It's very subtle, doesn't have to move much horizontally and looks like an easy snack. I tell every angler that asks how to fish better to really think about your bait lying on the bottom and a fish is looking at it. Then think about enticing that fish to pick it up with subtle but natural movements.

We like to fish bigger fisheries these days in our fancy boats. Plus I've always felt you won't ever figure out the bigger fisheries if you always fish small fisheries. There are a lot more variables, pressure being the biggest, on a larger fishery that is something anglers have to learn and experience to better overcome.

Catching fish out of your neighborhood pond that has very little pressure is easy and it should be. That doesn't make you a great angler or an authority on fishing. But it can give you valuable experience and confidence to take to bigger situations. There is a lot to be learned fishing on smaller ponds and streams. Take what you learn there and expand those principles on the bigger lakes and rivers. Soon you'll find you're able to quickly break down a big lake like it's a series of small ponds and figure the fish out faster and better every time out.

When you peel back all the layers in fishing, that's what the sport is all about. Finding the fish faster and figuring out how to get more bites when you find them.

What other small water principles have helped you overcome the puzzle on the bigger lakes and rivers?

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Tags: Fishing, plastics, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, jig, anglers, tips, how-to, destination

A Wired2Fish Christmas Message

Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Dec 23, 2011 @ 07:54 PM

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The festivities have probably already begun for a lot of anglers and their families. A few lucky souls are probably even getting a little fishing in this weekend. And several more anglers will pencil in some fishing trips the following week.

Our Christmas wish is that all of you enjoy the outdoors and time spent fishing for what it is. So much of fishing has become about bigger, more, faster, money and other ancillary objectives to the act of finding the fish, getting a fish to bite and landing that fish in that moment.

It's the pursuit that will define you as an angler and a person, not the catch. It's finding not catching that makes you a better angler. It's becoming more consistent at catching fish from season to season and situation to situation that will earn you the respect of other anglers, but your own fulfillment is all that should matter.

Our Christmas wish is that you find that spark in your own fishing for the pursuit of knowledge and improving on a craft we all love.

The folks that make Wired2Fish a part of their daily lives humble and honor us. We mean that sincerely. We read every comment, feedback, email, Facebook post, tweet or communication we get, even if we can't always make time to respond to every one. We are blown away with your support. We promise to work our tails off for those of you that look to us as one of your primary fishing resources. No one will put in more hours than us for you.

The contests have given tens of thousands of dollars of tackle and equipment to anglers like you. It's just the way our partners and us can say thanks and give back to the angling community and to let you see for yourselves that this stuff really works.

To all our friends, family, fans, partners, peers, and anglers out there we haven't yet got acquainted with, all of us and our families want to wish you and your families a blessed and loving Christmas and a prosperous, healthy and love filled New Year.

May every fishing trip be fun, rewarding and one for the memory bank. And we promise to do everything we can to help by sharing what we learn from our own experiences and time on the water as well as that of other great anglers all over the world. We'll work hard to keep you up to date on all the new tools available to you in your pursuits on the water.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and may God Bless you and your families in 2012.

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Tags: Fishing, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, tournaments, anglers, fishing biz, tackle review

The Complete List of Wired2Fish 2012 Wishlists

Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Dec 22, 2011 @ 10:15 AM

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It's Christmas time and of course that means sharing time with family but it also means there is going to be some gift exchanging going on. We get asked all the time what folks should buy for the fishing significant other. That's what started us doing the Wired2Fish Wishlists.

But we don't like to lead people astray and tell them to buy something just because it's new. We like to have held the lure, coat or rod in our hand before saying whether someone should give it as a gift to someone they care about.

It's impossible for us to review all the new tackle that comes out between ICAST and Christmas but we sure make an effort to. A lot of stuff will be coming in reviews over the next few months, tackle on these lists and not. But these are a few items that if we were buying some last minute Christmas gifts we might look for. We've provided links below to all our wishlists and in each wishlist is hopefully a link to each product and where you can buy it. Obviously a few things are not available yet so we did the best we could with that.

For those that missed our 2012 Wishlists, here are the links to each one:

Reels

Rods

Apparel

Terminal Tackle and Accessories

Sunglasses

Lures

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Tags: Fishing, Industry, reel, jerkbait, crankbait, hooks, new products, frog, plastics, Fishing Tackle, rod, bass fishing, bass, accessories, topwater, tournaments, jig, anglers, fishing biz, tackle review

Wired2Fish 2012 Wishlists | New Bass Fishing Lures

Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Dec 22, 2011 @ 10:00 AM

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Finally, our last Wired2Fish Wishlist for the upcoming 2012 fishing season. Today we're tackling artificial lures for bass fishing and well maybe some other species too. These are some of the lures we've had a chance to fish with and really like and look forward to fishing more when the water warms again.

If you're looking for a few new lures to check out next year, we recommend you put these on your list.

Bandit Square Billed Crankbaits

These square bills offer a unique wobble and color patterns that are a great addition to your bass fishing arsenal and come at a welcome price. The baits have a wide S-shaped swimming motion and really displace some water. We really liked fishing them in shallow cover laden dingy water this fall. Bandit makes a bunch of great colors to choose from so you can always find something that works on your fishery.

Lucky Craft Fat Smasher

This is a unique bait that we call a three-way hybrid. The Fat Smasher is part swimbait, part one knocker and part wake bait. You better have good command of the spool with your thumb because this thing launches. We've fished it around docks, points, over submerged cover and more. It has some great features that we think the bass are going to react to and it comes in a variety of sizes to make it a great offering for a lot of different fisheries. But we prefer the largest size to really offer a big meal in that shallow to mid range depth in the water column.

Mann's Slick Lures Alabama Rig

The rig that started it all, is now available exclusively through Mann's. The Alabama Rig set the bass fishing world on fire this fall and hasn't let up from the constant introduction of knockoffs and posts of big catches on Facebook. If you haven't heard about this rig, you might have been hiding under a rock. But it's basically an adaption of the old striper umbrella rig that has a minnow type head anchoring five hard wires to which you can attach grubs, swimbaits, or other lures to mimic a school of bait. The rig itself is light but once adding all the lures it will require some stout equipment and line to fish it effectively and avoid injury. The catches this fall have been simply amazing on it.

Megabass Ito Vision 110 Plus One

The Ito Vision 110 has been "the hot jerkbait" among the pros over the last several years and now they have introduced it's deeper cousin with the Plus One. This bait will reach new depths which is going to be a key on highland clear water impoundments in the winter and early spring periods. It still has that same great erratic action, weight transfer system, attractive styling and rattles that the Vision 110 is known for. We've already had some good catches on it and we expect to have a lot more.

Optimum Top of the Line Swimbaits

This type of soft swimbait is very popular from coast to coast, but the original versions of these big head line through type swimbaits was that the hook is dangling on the bottom. And that really limited where it could be fished like around standing timber or submerged grass because of how prone it was to snag. Now with this new Top of the Line swimbait, the hook is actuall on the back of the swimmer yet still free after hooking a fish. That way you can work it right over the top of the cover but still not give the fish an advantage with the weight of the bait to throw it during the fight. It's definitely a bait we're adding to our fishing next season.

Snag Proof Guntersville Frog

We got to see first hand how well the bass reacted to this frog on a blustery cold front day on none other than Lake Guntersville. The fish really honed in on the rattles nose slapping action of the frog. We liked that it was very easy to cast in the wind, worked very fast across mats for more aggressive bass. The bait skips really well too which is an added advantage when fishing around less obvious cover like docks and other manmade structures. It's another great addition to anglers growing box of productive frogs.

Strike King Hack Attack Heavy Cover Swim Jig

We got a lesson on the heavy hooks from Greg Hackney a few months ago and now the Heavy Cover Swim Jig is top of our list for new products for next season. If Jason had to pick one way to catch bass the rest of his life, swim jigging might be it. With this swim jig you can use heavy braid and just lock into the fish and winch them out of heavy cover without a second though of hook flex or losing bass. And the wire keeper we found to work great with a variety of trailers.

Stanford Cedar Deep Cedar

We're always looking for a crankbait just a little bit different that what everyone else is throwing. Usually that means a custom paint job. But in this case it can mean a completely different make up. Not many guys are throwing cedar plugs these days and the unique properties of cedar in the water make the Deep Cedar and welcome addition to our deep cranking. The bait is quality built and looks great in the water. If you haven't seen what cedar can do, you need to pick up a couple to play with next season!

Rapala X-Rap Pop

We got this bait before ICAST during the prime topwater time and it was a winner the first time we fished with it. It's a very unique popper in that you can work it with a subtle spit-spit-spit pitter patter on the surface or a big deep gulp pop in a much slower but louder cadence. We also found that if you hold your rod right and jerk with more of a pull you can get the bait to almost mimic a bass busting the surface. A trick that worked numerous times for us to start a school busting on bait. The VMC hooks are tacky sharp as we can attest to with an ER visit on one trip. So be careful; this dog defintely hunts!

Reaction Innovations Kinky Beaver

Much like the Alabama Rig, the Sweet Beaver started the whole beaver body type craze for flipping and pitching. Now RI is back with a new twist on their original creation with the Kinky Beaver that adds tantalizing tentacles and legs that kick and swim on the drop or behind a jig. It really gives the Beaver a more classic craw shape and profile and we think this one could be even more popular than the original because of the added action.

Z-Man Punch Crawz and Shaky Headz

This is the clear water killer and farm pond wrecker. Some folks don't like Elaztech plastics. Some folks love them. But we found this combo to be the crossover. If rigged on the Z-Man Shaky Headz, the Punch Crawz have a very natural look in the water but most of all they will hold up to fish after fish. We fished three days with one offering before finally snagging and losing the rig. It's amazing how effective it is when fish are feeding on crawfish in clear water.

Zoom Super Salty Tube

One glaring hole in the Zoom product line that their customers have been begging for is a salty fat bodied tube for flipping and fishing on jigheads in deepwater. Zoom finally answered their customers' wishes by adding the tube to their line and coming out with all their great color options. The tube walls are thick, it's easy to rig on a jighead and on a Texas Rig.

Zoom W.E.C. Prop Bait

Okay this might be a big tease as it hasn't even been decided if it's going to be sold to the public yet. But we got our hands on a homemade prop bait from Ed Chambers. Of course it features his great paint jobs and attention to detail and craftsmanship. It's weighted perfectly to make it easy to cast and explosive on the retrieve. If you like to fish these shad body props in the post spawn period, you're going to love this prop bait. We'll keep you updated if and when they go on sell. But we all have to have that one special Christmas wish that might be beyond our reach but it's still worth asking for anyway. Right?

That's it for the Wishlists, check out all our wishlists here.

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Tags: Fishing, jerkbait, new products, frog, plastics, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, topwater, customizing, anglers, fishing biz, tackle review

Braving Cold Fishing Nights for Big Smallmouths

Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Dec 21, 2011 @ 07:00 AM

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Mitch Looper with a Big Smallmouth caught bass fishing at night

Targeting smallmouth bass can be productive after dark in the winter

The air seemed sliceable. A cold misty like fog enveloped the lake as water droplets seemed to float across the beam of light coming off the spotlight. The motor’s purr came to an abrupt stop and the sound of the whistling wind muted any other ambient noises in the darkness.

The sounds of lines zipping through guides a faint splashes in the distance kept the mind focused on the task at hand as it has a tendency to wander without any visual stimulus. A light grunt and seconds later a frothing sound in the water grew closer.

“Get the net! It’s a freaking giant!” exclaimed Mitch Looper, well known big bass angler from Hackett, Ark. Looper kept the tension on the rod and swung the big fish into the net. It was a beautiful golden brown smallmouth from the frigid clear waters on Lake Tenkiller in Oklahoma.

“This is why you brave the cold weather at night,” Looper said as he held the bass up beaming with pride from a quick catch on a cold night.

The bass fishing can slow a lot in the winter, but it’s often a time of year when you catch big fish just laying around fattening up. Smallmouths keep very unique schedules. In fact, I’m not sure anyone fully understands their cycles and movements as well as the largemouth bass cousins. They seem to be more nomadic, less affected by terrible weather than their black bass cousins.

“I keep my fishing really simple this time of year,” Looper said. “It’s either a jig or a tube for me. I’ve tried and tried to catch them on a spinnerbait, but where I fish it just never works out. It could be the clear water. It could be the types of areas I find big smallmouths, but a jig and a tube catch so many more big bass.”

Looper’s two baits of choice are a Booyah Pigskin Football Jig and a Yum Mega Tube in Ozark Smoke. The latter might seem like an odd lure for night time fishing, but Looper’s research and time on the water have shown it to be far superior in numbers and numbers of big smallmouths than a jig or even another colored tube.

“Everything we’ve learned about fishing at night says we have to use solid dark colors because the fish are honing in on silhouettes not colors and hues,” he said. “But I’ve proved it over and over to myself. I’ll give my partners the Ozark Smoke tube and I’ll fish with black neon, black and blue or some other dark color. They will catch 10 fish to my 1 until I finally switch over.”

For his tube fishing, Looper sticks with 1/4 ounce. The reason for this one size no matter what approach stems from many years training to weigh the tube at 1/4 ounce. He picked one weight early on and learned to measure and feel what the tube did in a variety of situations with that one weight. Now if anything changes that weight or what he knows he should be feeling, he sets the hook. The jig is most often 3/8 ounce.

Looper said timing smallmouths is often different this time of year for night fishing than he’s found for other species or other times of the year. His prime time is one hour before dark until midnight. After midnight, the bite dwindles. But in the 6 hours or so prior to midnight Looper believes the smallmouth are taking advantage of their nocturnal prowess before the water cools down too much. Its had all day to warm up and they get warm water with low light conditions to feed.

The other key to his timing involves moon phases. Looper does most of his damage on full or ½ moon phases. He’s tried to catch them on new moon phases and he knows other anglers have great success but for his system, he has to have a little more influence from the moon on those bright full moon and half moon nights.

The search for big brown bass starts on steep 45 degree banks that offer some larger broken or chunk rock. Early in the winter these steeper banks tend to hold smallmouths that suspend during the day and then move up on the banks to feed at night. The best depths are regularly 2 to 12 feet deep.

As the winter moves closer to spring, his most productive banks change from steep rock to long tapering gravel. The type of points that come off the bank and gradually drop and then extend far out into a bay or channel before falling off at the end. An ideal setup this time of year for Looper showcases a gradual flat gravel bank that slowly tapers to about 12 feet in depth and then extends for a bit longer before dropping into the channel. When he finds this type of long flat point, he often has big catches in terms of numbers and size of smallmouths.

His technique is always the same though, a slow steady drag. He calls it scraping the rocks. Just trying to feel each rock as his tube or jig slides over it. The fish will often just pick the lure up and start moving off with it. Because Looper doesn’t use any lights, being in tune with his jig or tube enables him to catch most of the fish that bite.

“I take people with me and they are surprised that we catch 30 to 40 smallmouths in one 6 hour trip and all the fish are 3 pounds or better,” Looper said. “On a good night, we’ll have several fish weighing more than 5 pounds and pretty consistent action all night. But don’t get me wrong. If you think a smallmouth is hard to land during the day, you should try it at night.”

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Tags: Fishing, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, Boats, jig, anglers, tips, how-to, destination

Wired2Fish 2012 Wishlists | Sunglasses

Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Dec 20, 2011 @ 07:00 AM

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An integral part of bass fishing is your awareness of what’s under the water. Electronics help a bunch in that regard, and visual cues along a shoreline also help. But sometimes the best determining factor in finding a good fish-holding location is what you can see under the water with your own two eyes. The tool that generally helps you achieve that is polarized sunglasses.

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Tags: Fishing, new products, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, accessories, anglers, fishing biz, tackle review, Classic

Wired2Fish 2012 Wishlists | Rods

Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Dec 15, 2011 @ 12:02 AM

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There’s no denying it. A new rod can make you feel like your fishing has improved almost overnight. Probably nothing else in our fishing arsenal has that immediate and dramatic effect on how we feel about our fishing than a new fishing stick.

Rods and reels were definitely the big hit at ICAST this year. We listed some of the reels we like for 2012 in our Reels Wishlist. So now we’ve put together a bunch of new rods and maybe one or two “new to us” rods that we think you should check out.

Abu Garcia Veritas Microguide Casting Rod

This is an affordable, good looking, functional baitcasting rod that features lightweight, microguides, a nano-fiber knick proof coating, exposed rod blank at the reel seat, split grip handles and of course the attractive price for all those features. The rod casts really smooth.

The reel locks down tight with the unique fore grip. We have several of the original models of Veritas rods that we bought through Tacklewarehouse.com. But we just recently got to test the microguide rod. We’ll have a full review soon, but we’re happy with the performance, especially at the $99 price point.

Denali Jadewood Flipping Stick

We think the Jadewood series of the Denali rods is one of the best rod buys in fishing. The small company designs their rods in Arkansas and has them made to their specifications through careful testing and analysis with various techniques and input from their growing prostaff.

The Jadewood Flipping Stick is new to their line-up. The rod offers great comfort, great accuracy when pitching and flipping. It loads well and really lets you lean into the fish. The rod has served double duty as a swimbait rod and castable umbrella rig rod as well. Both are great to fish on this rod, and we’ve taken numerous bass in the 5 to 7-pound range already on the rod. If you want a budget priced flipping stick, this is the one.

Dobyns Randy McAbee Cranking Rod

This rod came out a little while ago, but we’ve just recently got to experiment with it. We're so blown away by how well it casts big deep diving plugs, we figured there were probably a bunch of folks like us who didn’t know about it that needed to know. It’s unique features are a little more backbone and an amazing 8-foot length. That sounds like too much rod, but it launches a big plug like no rod we’ve ever seen before. We’ve been throwing it a bunch lately on some different areas where we’ve had some big bass lately and the rod loads well, has great sensitivity and is comfortable to fish with, even at 8 feet.

If you need a new deep diving crankbait rod, you should definitely check out this rocket launcher.

Fenwick EliteTECH Smallmouth Spinning Rod

There have been very few rods and reels designed just for smallmouth bass. They often fight differently and strike differently than largemouth, and Fenwick tapped some top smallmouth resources to make several rod models for spinning and casting in their new EliteTECH Smallmouth series.

The spinning rods feature very comfortable hybrid cork grips, a unique reel seat, and thin but strong blanks with very attractive frog green blanks. The rods were light, sensitive and had good tip actions with powerful back bones. It’s key when fishing for smallmouth to have a rod that can continually drive a hook as they often trap lures in their crushers and keep the hook from sliding into place. So constant pressure from a strong rod can often hook those bass that clamp down. We’ve caught several largemouth and a couple small smallmouths on drop shots so far and are very pleased with how it casts and loads under pressure.

Pinnacle Perfecta Microguide Spinning

We received a prototype to photograph and test on this unique concept rod that features a hybrid microguide system. The first guide looks almost flared in reverse that tapers the coil off the spinning reel into the micro guides up the rod. We’ve fished it a couple times and the rod is amazingly light, very sensitive, features a comfortable cork grip and casts fairly well for a new concept guide system.

The rods are not yet available but should be after the first of the year. Many folks have been raving about how good the new Tournament Class of rods and reels from Pinnacle are now, and the new spinning rods seem to expand and extend their growing improvements in rod and reel manufacturing.

St. Croix Rage Rod

The new rods from St. Croix are all the Rage. Okay that’s a really bad pun, but we’ve been fishing a medium heavy 7-foot Rage rod for a few months and have caught several bass on jigs, chatterbaits, lipless baits and spinnerbaits on the rod. Anglers will notice an increase in the number of guides on this rod as well as a very unique grip that won’t get slick, even in the rain. It’s comfortable and even seems to keep your hands warmer on those cold days.

This rod has an astounding 13 guides. The increased number of guides seem to keep the line off the blank of the rod and provide a nice even load when setting the hook and leaning into a bass with some shoulders to it. If you’re looking for a great all purpose rod, this might be a good choice for you. Check them out locally because the new grip is interesting and you’ll want to see how it feels in your hand.

St. Croix Legend Tournament Walleye Rod

The St. Croix Legend Tournament class rods are newly redesigned for the upcoming season. Both the bass and walleye lines added rods and totally re-engineered the blank construction with a new process involving NSI (Nano Silica) to make them lighter but stronger and more durable. We like when companies take popular tackle and figure out how to make them better from season to season. It shows a commitment to quality and customer loyalty to a product line.

We checked out the Legend Tournament Walleye Snap Jigging rod. Scott has played with it some and likes the way the rod controls his rapid and violent rips on the jig but also has enough tip and backbone to hook and play big walleyes out of the depths. The rods are noticeably lighter and more sensitive, and if you loved the original series, you’ll really like the new and improved versions.
Rod Gloves

Once you buy all those news rods, you want them to last. Buying a rod is an investment in your fishing, just like buying a boat. So you'll want to keep it covered and protect it from those knicks that ultimately lead to breakage and compromise the rod's strength.

We love our Rod Gloves. They fit snuggly to the rod, but the mesh material keeps it from dinging and scratching while riding in our trucks, boats, rod lockers or wherever we might carry a rod. They come in tons of colors and you can even brand them with custom logos. Definitely worth a few bucks to protect a $100 - $300 investment.

Obviously there are a lot more new rods out for the upcoming season, but we wanted to share the ones that we fished and liked. Rods are getting better every season and a good rod can give you a lot of confidence in a new fishing season.

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Tags: Fishing Tackle, rod, bass fishing, bass, anglers, tips, fishing biz, tackle review

Bass Fishing Feature | Keys to Coldwater Currents

Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Dec 14, 2011 @ 07:00 AM

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Horton looks for "switchback" areas for bass when fishing current fisheries in the winter

Learn the key ambush areas and when to be there in a current driven fishery

By Shaye Baker

Even though the cold has swept in and gripped most of the nation, fish will still eat moving baits, especially when they are relating to current. One of the most popular current driven destinations in the southeast is that small stretch of the Tennessee River just below Lake Wilson dam on Pickwick Lake. It was there that BASS Elite and Bass Pro Shops pro Timmy Horton developed his current fishing skills many years ago and where he continues to polish the pattern into a fine art.

Current breaks provide crucial ambush points year round, including the winter as well. The bass lay in these slack water areas and have a plethora of bait washed right into where they are. From our perspective, it’s easier to pull up a chair in a local diner and wait for the food to be delivered to us than to wander the country side hoping to find a free meal.

For bass relating to current, the table is already set. All they have to do is find their way through the door and into these “switchback areas.”

“When you have current on a bluff or bar it creates a switchback where the current flow meets the eddy,” Horton said. “The switchback is usually a 3- or 4-foot wide area where the water is slack and the fish can sit relatively still and ambush the prey.”

Hitting this spot dead on is crucial. Five feet to the left or to the right and the cast is wasted, so boat positioning and cast accuracy are the name of the game. In order to achieve the best possible outcome, Horton will position his boat below and hopefully in the eddy to where he can make a cast at a 20 to 40 degree angle upstream toward the switchback area.

Repetitive casting is recommended since fishing current breaks involves constant motion. Even if the cast was right in line and tore the switchback directly in half, the bait moves through so fast that the fish might not have had time to react to the bait. It’s also a good idea not to leave after catching a fish since another could be washed right in behind the one you just caught. If everything was right for that first bass to be there, then there is a good chance another will take his seat at the table.

One way that Horton makes the most out of a switchback is through the use of his Power-Poles.

“Downstream from a bar there is a little wash area where it is usually a little bit shallower and I will let my Power-Poles down and have them hold me,” Horton said. “These are areas where you need to make several casts since the fish will move in and out.”

Timing in relation to time of day is not nearly as important on a current driven reservoir as it is on still body of water in the winter time. The sun coming up and warming the water throughout the day plays a huge roll in activating the fish on a lake with little to no current. However with a lake dictated by river currents in the winter, timing in relation to when the current is strongest can be the difference in getting bit and just getting cold.

When the water first starts to move can be the best part of the day for the simple fact that it activates and concentrates fish that haven’t fed in a while. It’s like first thing in the morning or late in the evening throughout the majority of the year. Those are two of the heaviest feeding times for bass and the fish will typically react the same way to those first few minutes of current. So it is always a good idea to hit your best stuff first when you start to feel the water move.

Finding “your best stuff” is understandably a little easier said than done, but Horton does have some tips on locating those sweet spots as well. He often seeks changes in the contour up on the banks. Any transition from bluff to gravel or a change in the topography like a drain or small creek are usually good indicators that something will be different in the water right out in front them as well.

“As you are running down the river, look up on the land, and you’ll see where those drains come out and they make a wash of gravel and sand that the bass will use to break the current,” Horton said.

A neat aspect about a flood control fishery is that, in its draw down to winter pool, a lot of the sweet spots that would typically be found through the use of shoreline indicators or electronics are exposed for the world to see.

Use this to your advantage, especially if you are out fishing on a day with little activity. A few hours of reconnaissance spent running around marking boulders, stumps and other cover on otherwise featureless bars that are exposed at the time could lead to big catches when the water has returned to full pool and the bass are using those same areas to feed, spawn and rest out of the current.

However, if the water is moving, then the bass are likely biting somewhere, and it’s best to keep your lure wet. For Horton, it’s a one-two punch in the winter time. He’ll use a deep diving Bomber Switchback Shad and a 5-inch Yum Money Minnow to extract the bass from behind the current breaks.

Rod and reel choice for the Bomber is a 7-foot 2-inch Duckett White Ice Cranking Rod that Horton designed paired with a Lew’s 6.4:1 Laser MG baitcasting reel spooled with 12-pound test Vicious fluorocarbon. Horton will use a 7-foot Medium Heavy Duckett Rod paired with same Lew’s reel and a little stronger line in the 15- to 17-pound range.

The ideal depth is 6 to 10 feet, though the fish will move a little deeper in clearer water and move shallower if the water stains. Largemouth typically hang in the current breaks and eddies a little closer to shore whereas smallmouth will setup on humps and bars out in the middle of the river directly in the current. Overall depth isn’t as important with the humps out in the river as is the differentiation in depth of the bottom and top of the hump.

“If the main river bottom is 10 feet deep, it could be a hump that rises 5 feet. If the river bottom is 20 feet deep it could be a hump that shallows up to 15,” Horton said. “There just has to be enough to create a current break.”

Remember that anytime you are fishing current in the winter, accuracy is everything. Although everything around may seem to be a mixed up mess, there is a defined switchback area where the bass are sitting still and ready to feed. The key is positioning the boat and making the cast to pluck them out. And don’t get discouraged if you put the boat in and low and behold the water never moves. Making the most of low water situations by marking exposed structure can convert a slow winter day on the water into a big bag blowout when the fishery comes back to full pool.

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Tags: Fishing, crankbait, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, Boats, tournaments, anglers, tips, how-to, destination, fishing biz

Wired2Fish 2012 Wishlists | Fishing Apparel

Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Dec 13, 2011 @ 12:01 AM

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It's getting cold all over the country now, and a lot of folks are inside more planning their fishing for 2012. Those of us die-hards are still hard at it, and our ice-fishing-loving brethren are chomping at the bit to start drilling holes and snatching fish from the depths.

Fishing is often about endurance. Weathering the elements and staying comfortable and dry all day enables you to out last the fish or make it until they finally start feeding. What you wear can be a big part of success on the water and not to mention your own health. Protection from harsh weather and the bearing sun is becoming more important to more anglers as they see what it has done to some great men of the sport. So we take our apparel as serious as our gear.

The last few months we've been fortunate to sample a lot of apparel from several companies. There is some great new apparel out now geared specifically to folks who spend their time on the water.

Simms Pro Dry GORE-TEX Jacket and Bibs

Simms came out with new raingear this year that they first shared with pro fishing anglers to introduce the new gear to anglers all over the world but to also get insight on what improvements needed to be made in the raingear.

The result is one of the top rain suits on the market. Simms has a long history for making high end gear for fly fishermen and outdoorsmen, and their gear is well made using the best materials. They spare no expense and don't skimp to make high-quality, long-lasting gear.

Todd and Terry have been wearing the Simms rainsuit this summer and fall and both have liked their suits for fishing and also for inclement weather days away from the water.

Columbia Blood and Guts Superlight Long Sleeve Shirt

This shirt from Columbia has a lot of great features that makes it a great all year fishing shirt. It's lightweight but the long sleeve features the Omni Shade technology that blocks UV rays while keeping you cool on hot days. Worn with a baselayer shirt, it's a great fall fishing shirt. But one of the best features we found is that it's stain resistant. Slime, blood and other things that get on you when out fishing won't ruin this shirt. It's another high end offering in the apparel category, but one we really loved.

Columbia Silver Ridge Booney II Hat

Big hats are great for big shade in the summer. Yeah they're not much to look at, but the functionality is undeniable. They keep your face neck and even back cooler and help with vision into the water when sight fishing by blocking odd sun angles that your shades don't block.

This hat features a drawstring to lock the hat on your head on windy days and loop lock on the back of the hat to alter the fit on your head. The white color reflects the suns rays, but it's available in other colors as well.

This is a great option for those dog days of summer.

Frabill FXE Windproof Fleece Jacket

The wind. If you're an angler who spends any time on the water, you know wind is a big part of figuring out the fishing. Some days you love it and some days you hate, but either way you can stay comfortable with the right apparel.

Probably Jason's favorite piece this fall has been the Frabill FXE Windproof Jacket. It's comfortable, light and makes a great in between layer on really cold days. But it's amazing how well it blocks the wind for being so thin. It has well thought out pockets on the chest and sides. It has zip flaps under the arms to make the jacket more breathable as it warms up. We like the longer cut in the back and shorter cut in the front. It dries fast too if it does get wet and it does a good job repelling water in light rain and spray although it's not fully waterproof. This is a great all the time jacket for any angler.

Frabill FXE Task Gloves

Every angler who fishes in the fall, winter or early spring needs a good pair of gloves. Whether it's for running the boat, warming a hand while fishing in cold water, or trying to keep the rain and snow off your hands to keep them warm, a good pair of gloves that will last is invaluable.

The new Frabill FXE Task Gloves are waterproof, windproof and not so bulky that you can't grip your rod and reel. They have great diamond mesh traction patterns on on the palms with straps around the wrist to keep them snug on your hands. The gloves are cut well. We tested the XL pair which was good on Jason's large hands for a variety of fishing applications like driving the boat, casting in the wind and cold and even landing fish in icy cool water.

Buff Sport Series Water Gloves

Our hands are one thing we often neglect as outdoorsmen and women. The sun and wind can make your skin dry chapped or worse. The new gloves from Buff aim to keep your hands looking good while protecting you from the elements in warm weather. I've actually warn them this fall too and they do a good job knocking the wind down too. And we found out they are like velcro when landing bass which can be an added bonus when trying to wrangle a fish at the boat without a net.

Tasc Beaver Falls Long Sleeve

Another new company that anglers are going to want to check out in 2012 is tasc. They feature new clothing made of bamboo performance material. It's a departure from polyster that's been used in most other performance clothing.

What we can tell you is the tasc base layer is noticeably softer, like a 2000-thread-count bed sheet. Jason has been wearing his all fall and loves it. It works perfect under sweatshirts, the Frabill FXE Fleece and other top layers. It's extremely comfortable, fits tightly to your skin but doesn't feel constricting. So it's great to fish all day in this base layer whether it's hot or as an under layer when its cool.

G2 Gemini Neck Gator and Beanie

We've been testing and helping get the cuts right on the new G2 Gemini Neck Gator and Beanie. Both are being developed out of great materials, feature fully customizable design options and will complete a great look while being extremely functional.

We're big fans of wearing face guards to keep the sun and wind burn at bay and also for keeping ears covered when fishing in cold weather. So having warm layers sewn into soft great looking customizable soft layers on the Beanie will make this one of the best available. The Neck Gator is comfortable, breathable, and looks great while keeping the sun and wind off your face and neck.

There are lots of great new apparel products for next fishing season, but these are some of the ones we've been able to wear, test and report back to you as some of the best we've tried.

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Wired2Fish 2012 Wishlists | Terminal Tackle & Accessories

Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Dec 08, 2011 @ 08:00 AM

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Berkley NanoFil is neat new specialty line just for spinning rods

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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Tags: Fishing, hooks, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, accessories, tournaments, line, customizing, fishing biz, tackle review

Choose The Medium For Early Winter Bass Fishing

Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Dec 07, 2011 @ 10:00 AM

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Bryan Thrift likes to crank the mid depth range when bass fishing in the late fall early winter time.

By Shaye Baker

Bryan Thrift burst on to the professional fishing scene a few years ago, winning an FLW Tour Angler of the Year title early in his career and has since solidified him in the sport earning a spot on the prestigious Chevy Pro Team and several wins and top 10s under his belt. One of his favorite techniques late in the fall, early in the winter, when most of the pro tournament fishing has died down is mid-depth cranking his home waters in North Carolina. But it’s a technique that he says will work on a lot of fisheries throughout the country.

As fall turns to winter, the tried and true technique of mid-depth cranking triggers increasingly lethargic bass. Bass migrate in and out the creeks in search of both warmer water as well as food. Although bass feed on all sorts of forage, shad offer anglers the easiest option to find in many fisheries not already icing over for the winter. They should therefore be regarded as the first sign that you are in the right place.

“The main thing you want to look for in the late fall early winter is bait,” Thrift said.

If you find the bait, you will typically find the fish. Not to say that there aren’t fish in other areas feeding on crayfish for example, it’s just a lot harder to pick up crayfish on a Structure Scan than it is a giant ball of bait. Targeting what you know is there instead of what you hope is there takes out a lot of the guess work.

Once you find the bait, you should notice they are typically suspended, not along the surface but also not stuck to the bottom. You want a lure that will mimic this as well. That’s why the medium diving crankbait works so well during this transition when the bass and shad are suspended between 8 and 12 feet deep.

Instead of bumping the bottom like an angler typically would with a deep diving crankbait or square bill other times of the year, target the fish up off the bottom, bringing the medium diving crank through the school of shad. As the crankbait barges through, it scatters the shad and the bass will come up and target the straggler of the bunch, which unfortunately for him has six hooks dangling off of it.

“I might be fishing a channel swing bank where it’s 15 feet deep, but I’ll be throwing a crankbait that only runs 8 to 12 feet deep,” Thrift said. “They are relating more to the bait than the structure. It’s not a reaction strike where you have to bump something to get the fish to bite. Those bass are around those shad for one reason – to feed.”

Thrift’s plug of choice for this style of fishing is the new Damiki DC400 in Real Shad. The color is somewhat like a chartreuse shad derivative and gives the bait just enough similarities with a real shad for it to blend but is still different enough from the surrounding baitfish for the bass to be able to single it out.

A constant retrieve is the standard for the suspended bite but pumping, jerking and pausing the crank can trigger strikes on any given day. It’s best just to sample a little of everything and let the fish tell you what they want. Just make sure not to get in a rut. If you haven’t had a bite in a while, try a little something different.

Though the water temp plays a large part in where a lot of anglers choose to fish as the whole fishery begins to cool, Thrift focuses solely on the bait.

“Mainly I’m looking strictly for bait,” Thrift said. “I don’t care if the water is 5 degrees colder than it is anywhere else on the lake. As long as there’s bait there, I have confidence that there are fish suspended in it somewhere.”

Using your graph and the naked eye you’ll eventually find the shad somewhere in the creek. The thing that Thrift has noticed more times than not is that, even in a creek that is several miles long, once you find some of the baitfish, you’ll typically have found them all. Ninety percent of a 5-mile long creek’s entire bait fish population might be congregated in a 300- or 400-yard stretch.

Channel swings and bluff walls require a little different boat positioning. If the shad are concentrated in the channel, Thrift will line up parallel to the channel where he can try to bring his bait through as many schools of shad as he can with each cast. However if the shad are scattered out all around, boat positioning plays a smaller roll and it becomes more of a cast where you wish type pattern in which you fan cast all around hoping to intersect a pod of baitfish here and there.

As far as the tools needed for this type of fishing, Thrift has it down to a science.

“Damiki makes a 7-foot medium-action rod that I use for a crankbait, and it’s hands down my favorite cranking rod of all I’ve ever thrown,” said Thrift.
He pairs the rod with a Revo Winch reel spooled full of 12-pound Trilene Fluorocarbon and argues that this combo is about as good as it gets for a mid-depth crankbait.

If you are in a late fall early winter situation, on a lake that isn’t dominated by shad, then you only have to modify the technique slightly. The same channel swings and deeper banks where you would have found the shad schooled up will still hold the bass. The difference in the technique is as simple as shifting your focus from the channel to the bank.

“I am going to run the same pattern but instead of looking for the bait I’ll look more for rock and wood like cover along the bank itself,” said Thrift. “I’ll look for structure and transition banks where the bank goes from clay to rock and run that medium diving crankbait right down it.”

So whether you’re milling through tons of shad on a southern impoundment or you’re making rounds on a lake closer to home with a lot less shad to go around, you can target and catch lots of bass this time of year by simply looking at the topography of an area and targeting the highways and byways that shad and bass alike use to relocate in the winter time.

Don’t get caught up trying to feel something with your bait if you are around baitfish. Remember that you are fishing the shad and not the structure. But if you aren’t around a lot of shad you need to focus more attention on the bank and not the open channel, being sure to keep contact with the bottom and bump as many pickoff points like rocks and logs as possible.

Get the right rod, reel and line combo put together and you should be able to take these tips from a tour level pro out on your next trip and capitalize on the not too deep, not too shallow, just right mid-depth cranking bite.

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Taking Bass Fishing Wraps to the Next Level with Denny Brauer

Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Dec 07, 2011 @ 12:01 AM

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Strike King Pro Denny Brauer got a Next Generation wrap this offseason

By Chris Himstedt

It’s that time of year again. Lights are hung on the house, decorations are being pulled out of storage, the tree is going up and if I play my cards right, in no time at all, I hope to be wrapping Christmas presents earlier than last year. I am, however, not very good at wrapping gifts. This takes patience and skill that I simply don’t possess – especially with the big presents.

If you’re a pro fisherman, however, and according to Denny Brauer, this is the time of year you gear up with a new boat that needs to be wrapped and readied for the coming fishing season. No, not wrapped with paper and a bow, but with a beautifully designed, custom vinyl wrap that tricks out even the prettiest of boats.

A few short weeks ago, I learned that Denny’s boat was being wrapped just a few miles from my house. I’ve often wondered what goes into this process so after a few quick phone calls, everything was set up for me to see how this boat was to be transformed.

Meeting up with my friend John at Vinyl Images and Design, he told me that they wrap everything from trucks, trailers, boats and bikes to helmets. Looking at the pictures hanging on the walls of their workshop, I was already fascinated. However, sitting right in front of me was a beautiful new, decked out Ranger Boat with a 250HP Evinrude power head.

The wrap was already applied to one side of the boat and the interior almost finished. Already, I was impressed. The detail being put into the wrap was beautiful. The interior, covered in blue flame across the console and step riser to the deck added detail to areas that I’d never seen before. The stock seats had two stitched carbon fiber-like stripes down the back and bottom. John took advantage of this look and matched it perfectly with a wrap around the center console. Had he not told me that he wrapped the console to match the seat stitching, I would have never known.

The vinyl is printed with inks that are guaranteed to last 5 years without fading and you can print whatever design you can dream up. John told me that they offer services to help create just about any design. I watched him pull a sheet of vinyl from the printer table that was longer than the boat in front of me and start taping it in place, measuring carefully to mirror the other side of the boat. In no time at all, the boat was being transformed from an already really nice Ranger and into Denny’s Strike King fishing machine.

A few days after the boat was complete, I learned that Denny’s truck was in the shop getting wrapped and he was going to pick it up himself in a day or so. Again, I had to go see it and arranged to be there when it was being picked up. When I pulled into the lot, the entire rig was sitting in the parking lot. Denny, Chad, and John (from Vinyl Images) were looking it over. The truck matched the boat with more blue flames and Strike King logos all around and again, I was mesmerized at how good it looked. Especially when they were hooked together.

After introductions, I learned that Denny had the first wrapped boat on the Bassmaster Tour nearly 12 years ago. Budweiser was involved in the first wrap with him and the idea took off from there. Not long after, sponsor’s names and custom graphics were wrapping all the touring boats. Clearly, the process of designing and wrapping boats and trucks has been refined and improved.

“This year, there’s going to be a lot of jealous fishermen on tour once they see this boat,” Brauer said.

These shots will give you a sense of the detailing that went into this incredible wrap job. Every square inch of fiberglass on the boat is covered. And check out the rims!

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Five for 5 | Improving on Fishing Lures - The Report Card

Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Dec 05, 2011 @ 11:40 AM

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Bass fishing with a Chatterbait was good on variety of lakes and seasons

An exercise to improve fishing with five key baits in 2011

Last Winter, I spent some time debaiting on five lure categories I wanted to improve on in 2011. Some geared around the bass fishing holes that I frequent. And some just geared towards making me more well-rounded angler. I think as an angler I was getting into a rut with my bass fishing.

If it was cold I threw finesse cranks or jerked jiggings spoons. If it was warm and the bass were offshore I threw a big worm or a football jig. If it was spring I flip and cast soft plastics around. If it was fall I threw a spinnerbait. Just choosing lures based on "we've always done well with this" type of beliefs can really limit us as we move from various fisheries and the fish become more conditioned to the same old offerings.

I often advise folks to pick up other lures when they are really catching the fish, especially ones outside their comfort zone to help them build confidence with them. Confidence is everything in fishing, and building confidence in various lures will make you a better angler.

So I picked 5 lures which I had thrown some and in a few cases had thrown a lot. A few I had put away for a while because the fisheries I am around a lot now don't really fit that type of fishing anymore. Or so I thought. But that's just it. What if you could find fishing spots that fit those patterns? An angler could have them virtually to himself if everyone else wasn't doing it.

So I picked through Tackle Warehouse and looked at various categories of baits and came up with five categories of which I wanted to improve my skills. The five baits I decided on were bladed jigs, deep crankbaits, dropshot worms, big spoons, and swimbaits. Here is my report card and hopefully a good lesson in how you can develop your skills with new lures.

1. Bladed Jigs - The Rad Lures Chatterbait created a new category of jigs. Not a swim jig and not a casting jig but a jig with a blade on the front of it that made it shake violenty on the end of your line and attract bass with a new thump. Now owned by Z-Man, the Chatterbait has become a staple in my fish after a year of implementing it in various situations.

I started the season using it as an alternative to shallow prespawn bass with my crankbait and flipping baits. I found it extremely effective around bushes and along hard wood areas and what was key was making multiple casts with it to likely cover. One instnace in particular in the early prespawn, I found some bass stacked up where some current was funneling through a bottle neck in fairly dingy water. Usually dingy cold water can be tough but the Chatterbait really gave them something to hone in on and the fishing was pretty fast and furious.

Later this year I took the Chatterbait around stake beds, or cribs as they are often called up north, and fished for bass that were relating to the shad that was congregating around manmade wood cover late in the summer.I would make casts beyond the target then lay my line between the wood posts and run the bait through there. We had some big bass on this technique throughout the summer in a relatively small window when the bait was congregating around the stake beds.

Then we got on the docks and started skipping Chatterbaits under docks, something I'd seen pros like Andy Montgomery and Bryan Thrift do with great success during my years with FLW. Well it still works. And worked for big fish and keepers often. The key to skipping the chatterbait was choosing a trailer that helped it glide. I found the smaller Rage Tail Craw, Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw and Optimum Double Diamond to be some of my favorites for this technique.

Report Card Grade: B-

Reason: I got the bait hung quite a bit. I've got to learn to run the bait around obstacles and not let the line lay over the obstacles. Also need to improve my accuracy when skipping around docks and I lost a few big fish this year on it, so I've got to work on my hookups, fighting and landing with the bladed jigs.

2. Deep Crankbaits - I'm a dragger at heart. That means when the fish get out deep, I'd rather drag a jig slowly than burn a crankbait. But goals are about improving on things you're not comfortable doing as much.

I have caught plenty of bass on deep crankbaits and have had some good fish on them but I wanted to do it more consistently when the fish grouped up offshore. I played around with a lot of crankbaits this season but really focused on finding the fish and then triggering them with big crankbaits.

A Strike King Series 6 XD was the first bait to really get me on the right track. I found several groups of fish staging next to deep water but positioned in 10-14 feet of water. I was able to grind the Series 6 XD through the schools and pump and pause the baits with fast erratic retrieves and get the schools going. For at least a month we were having 50 plus fish days every time we went. I also found how competitive the fish can be on those fast erratic retrieves, often catching doubles or catching bass in odd places like the back, tail and or side of the face. A sign that multiple fish are slashing at the baits as they shoot through the school.

I also found that changing from one bait like the 6 XD to another productive crankbait like the Spro Little John DD or the Bomber Fat Free Shad can re-trigger a school or get a few more bites at the end of a feeding session.

Report Card Grade: A-

Reason: Probably the most fish I've caught in a single season on a deep crankbait was this year. I had several days over 100 bass, albeit mostly just keeper to non-keeper in size. I also had several 20-pound days early in the post-spawn period on crankbaits. So I gained some more insight on making the fish bite with varying retrieves and angles and figuring out the exact cast in relation to my lineup on the buoy. But I still have a lot of experimenting to do with colors, different baits, line sizes, etc.

3. Big Flutter Spoons - Kelly Jordon unlocked Pandora's box when he brought to light the effectiveness of big flutter spoons on deep schooled bass. We have had several big catches on the spoon but again I wanted to understand how to make it more effective in fishing.

What I found was it's particularly effective when the bass aren't locked on the bottom. I spend a lot of time just driving and looking at Lowrance Structure Scan on my HDS 10. I was finding big schools of fish on ledges and a lot of times they would be 8 or 10 feet thick up off the bottom. With the spoon you can move it 8 or 10 feet on a hard sweep and work it all through the school.

Also how you sweep it and sometimes just barely shaking it up off the bottom can really trigger the fish. And it seems once you get one to bite, getting that one unhooked and your spoon back in the water is the biggest key. The flurry usually only lasts for several minutes, and the more you gawk over your catch, the more fish you miss.

Report Card Grade: B

Reason: I lost my personal biggest bass I'm sure this year on the big spoon. I hooked it in 21 feet of water and it shot to the surface like a submarine missile. It jumped probably 5 feet out of the water. I about had a heart attack. I survived two big jumps, but when the fish surged under the boat it pulled off. My fault for not thumbing the spool after seeing how big it was. But the fact is I lost several fish on the spoon. They jump and knock that metal off their head and pop the hook out. I also need to experiment on line size and types of line.

4. Drop Shot worms - Another bait that I thought I was pretty well versed on was a drop shot worm. I lived on Beaver Lake for 10 years and fished a lot on Beaver and Table Rock for bass in ultra clear water. But this season I dedicated myself to using it to catch bass that were grouped up deep to see if you could catch good fish, especially on those days when current was slack, there was no wind and extreme heat -- the summer doldrums.

I experimented with light line and also braid with fluorocarbon leaders. But I was able to refine how I worked the worms both casting and straight vertical fishing and I was able to really master my hookset with the drop shot in deep water. Two things that had limited my success in the past. We hooked hundreds of bass this summer on a variety of soft plastics. but a 4-inch or 6-inch straight-tail worm was usually the winner.

Using a good rod with a soft tip but a good back bone for driving a hook in deep water on light line. I found that just barely moving the bait, imagining it undulating slowly under the surface, then moving it again slowly. Detecting bites gets easier with time but a lot of times all we felt was a slight added pressure. Then you could start to raise your rod up slowly and if the pressure was increased you would just reel into them while raising the rod up in the air. Nearly every bass was hooked in the roof of the mouth and stayed buttoned up all the way. Now if I could figure out how to keep them from throwing my nose hooked worm off while fighting them to the boat, I'd be a happy camper.

Report Grade: A

Reason: I had as much fun as I've had in a long time getting back to a technique I had used a lot in ultra clear water and making it work in stained to slightly stained water. I hooked an landed a very high percentage of fish using Eco Pro Tungsten weights and the new VMC Spin Shot hooks all summer. I figured out how to coax fish I saw on my graph and that I marked with Structure Scan and buoys on several different fisheries this year. That's ultimately what I want to do is improve with each lure on a variety of fisheries.

5. Swimbaits - This is my sixth year of throwing swimbaits off and on, and I really wanted to spend time learning to adapt them to the bass fishing lakes I frequent. I played around in the past with a wide variety, but I wanted to spend more time this year applying some sepcific ones to how and where I fish.

I fished several different kinds like the Berkley Mullet, The Bull Shad and then of course several soft bodied baits like the Zoom Swimming Fluke on the new craze with Alabama Rigs and castable umbrella rigs.

The swimbait bite on the deep schools never really played out this year like it had in years past. I still caught fish on it with long casts and slow retrieves through schools I'd found on Lowrance Structure Scan but it didn't seem that the schools had as many big bass in them this year on several fisheries due to high water. But we did find some different retrieves like lifts and drops that yielded some good numbers in the schools.

The Bull Shad was one hard swimbait that I wanted to really learn about this season. I got a custom painted one from Baitwerks and threw it quite a bit in the late summer and early fall. I did manage to catch a few fish but where the fish were holding never seemed to intersect with where the bait would work effectively. My version was the slow sink and it meant fishing it in the upper water column. I did catch some fish in the bays, casting around points, docks and schooling fish with just a slow retrieve or a stop and go retrieve.

The Alabama rig came on like a wildfire this fall although the rig had been out since early spring. But after seeing what Paul Elias did on Guntersville, Dan Morehead did on Kentucky Lake and hearing what others had done with it, I was pretty excited to try it out. Wouldn't you know it we caught the fish like crazy on an old umbrella rig I had for striper fishing. I still have a lot to learn, mostly when and where it will work and won't work, because it's not a magic pill. You still have to be around bass. And you still have to fish it right, which for me has just been a steady retrieve. But the bait already has me to thinking about other possibilities with multi rigs.

Report Card Grade: B-

Reason: I still have a lot to learn, especially when it comes to fighting and landing fish on swimbaits. I had some big fish, landed some big fish and lost some big fish. And I need to work on when and where to throw the hard swimbaits. I think with another season of fishing with baits like the Bullshad I can figure out the times and approaches on my fisheries for catching big foraging bass.

I'm pretty settled on bigger line like 20 to 25 pound fluoro or mono and using a longer rod to heave the baits pretty far so I can maximize the time in the strike zone while keeping the big splashes away from the areas I intend to entice bass.

So overall I'd give myself a B on the five baits I wanted to improve on this past bass fishing season. I feel like I got better at each and every one of them, but that I still have a lot to learn on fighting and landing fish on the various baits and about their applications. Timing, seasons, conditions, forage all impact our bait choices and be versatile in many types of situations with many types of baits will make catching bass a lot easier from season to season.

What baits did you work on improving your prowess with and what ones do you want to work on for 2012?

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Tags: Fishing, crankbait, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, tournaments, FLW, anglers, destination, fishing biz

Winter Pool Bass Fishing

Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Dec 02, 2011 @ 08:30 AM

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Newton works wood on last deep water in bays with minimal shad

By Shaye Baker

Fall came and went for us here in the south like a beautiful woman just flirting to make her boyfriend jealous. There was no time to enjoy her company because by the time you knew she was here she had already stormed off leaving you cold and confused. For those who were able to partake in the fall fishing fun, congrats. For the rest of us, it’s time to bundle up and brave the cold as the frigid nights start to turn the thermostat down for the bass as well.

National Guard pro Jonathan Newton of Rogersville, Ala. has fished the winter pool waters of Alabama and beyond. As the water temps begin to fall and the shad migrations reach their peak, he has discovered that there’s a definite turning point in how to approach fishing for these bass. The active chasing along the surface starts to decrease, and anglers have to rely more and more on electronics to find bait and bass.

However don’t get too excited when you see 10 clouds of bait on your graph in one pass because that’s not necessarily the indication you’re in the right spot. Too much of a good thing is actually a bad thing, and it becomes more and more evident as you try to fool the bass that have now located and gorged on shad for weeks if not months.

“In the fall, the bass follow the bait fish from the river back into the creeks,” Newton said. “If an angler spends enough time on a lake, he can actually follow the migration too and catch them really good early in the fall as the first groups of shad get into the creeks.”

The problem arises when all the shad hop the train and end up filling a creek with succulent silver treats for munching bass. The option to stay and stick it out is yours, attempting to somehow trick the keen-eyed bass into biting something other than their version of manna from Heaven, but it’s not recommended by Newton.

You actually want to find an area without an overabundance of forage. Three or four balls of shad in an area of a couple acres can be just enough to pull the bass in without conditioning them to the real thing to the point they won’t bite anything else. Sometimes this can be an area that the shad haven’t quite congregated to or perhaps it’s an area where the majority of the shad have come and gone.

If shad aren’t still popping the surface giving you any visual indications of the population then Newton recommends a quick pass through using your units to scan the area.

“As the water temp drops the baitfish don’t come up as much,” said Newton. “You might see them up late in the afternoon when the water has warmed up but for the most part you have to rely heavily on your electronics.”

Newton uses his Lowrance Structure Scan to idle around the backs of bays and creeks in search of schools of shad. Again the key is seeing some shad but not too many. Shad and fish may be in any part of the creek but the best place to start you search is on the last bluff wall or chunk rock bank going in to the backs of the creeks. The steepness of the bank is an indication that the channel swings in close to it. Newton takes advantage of this natural funnel and uses it to coral the bass and baitfish.

“You can take your boat right down the middle of the channel with the steep bank to one side and typically a shallow flat to the other,” Newton said. “This way you can fish the chunk rock and bluffs or fish the flat which is sometimes good too.”

Newton uses a standard assortment of lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits on the 1 to 3 feet deep flats and will keep the spinnerbaits and buzzbaits in play on the deeper side but also employ a jig, square bill crankbait and Zoom Z-Hog pitching bait. The water on the “deeper” side is typically still a mere 4 to 8 feet deep as is the case throughout the country, deep, is a relative term.

Matching the hatch is usually a good place to start when fishing around baitfish so Newton will search for spinnerbait blades that adequately mimic the size and flash of the shad or look for a lipless or squarebill that best exemplifies the characteristics of the real thing but sometimes it is good to step away from the same old same old.

“I use a Zoom WEC E-1 in chartreuse and black,” he said. “It’s my go to crankbait on the Tennessee River when I want to offer the bass a little something different.”

One of the keys to catching bass with the E-1 is picking clean every piece of wood left available once the water has fallen to its winter pool. Presentation is key, and you basically have to scrape the bark off the tree from every angle looking to place the crankbait directly in front of a bass no matter where he might be on the log.

Remember these fish for the most part have stuffed themselves slap full much like ole Uncle Ned on Thanksgiving. Now they have made their way to some limb, knob or other fishy recliner and are in a shad induced coma. Even though that fish is literally stuffed to the gills he’s still Uncle Ned at heart. You go and slip a piece of chocolate cake by his nose, he’s going to eat it.

Some days the fish will relate more towards the bushier trees with lots of limbs. Some days they will concentrate on the straight barren logs. Then again there are some days where the fish will focus solely on the chunk rock. Newton recommends that you take each day as it comes and focus on where and how you catch each fish trying to build a pattern as you go.

Pitching the Zoom Z-Hog on a lightweight can also offer the fish an alternative option to the shad that they have become accustomed to. This eliminates the importance of attention to detail since it looks nothing like a shad and works best along any wood you might find. Zoom’s latest color in the Z-Hog, scuppernong, seems to work best as an all-around color for Newton.

A little stain to the water helps all these techniques and usually isn’t a problem in the late fall and early winter as weather and draw downs tend to put a little color in the water. If the area receives a lot of rain and the creeks muddy, it isn’t a bad thing. The more color to the water, the easier it is to fool the fish. Newton will make small adjustments to his approach to offset the change in habitat.

Replacing willow leaf blades with Colorado blades helps add a little thump to pull the fish, and using a square bill or jig with a rattle will help the fish locate the bait quicker. Don’t be scared to throw a topwater in the colder water either.

“I have actually caught them good in 47 degree water on a buzzbait, and that’s a lot of fun this time of year,” Newton said.

As is usually the case with bass fishing, an open mind will go a long way. Don’t think that just because the air temperature is freezing the bass aren’t actively feeding. Experiment and don’t get stuck in a rut fishing the same set of trees because you caught bass there a few days earlier. Try to find an area with some shad, sample some cover there and focus on the last steep banks occasionally firing a cast or two out to the adjacent flats.

This time of year you can load the boat while bass fishing without fighting for the best spots, but you’ve got to change gears a little to tempt shad-gorged bass in the early winter draw downs.

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Tags: Fishing, Industry, crankbait, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, Boats, tournaments, anglers, tips, how-to, destination, fishing biz

Wired2Fish 2012 Wishlists | Reels

Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Dec 01, 2011 @ 09:00 AM

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Abu Garcia Pro Max Baitcaster for bass fishing

We thought it might be a nice idea to put together a few wishlists based on the new tackle for 2011-2012 that we've been able to get our hands on and sample that might make good presents and or items to take a look at for next fishing season.

Here are a few new 2012 reels that we've been able to test and fish that we think will be pretty good investments for anglers next season.

The Abu Garcia Pro Max [$79.99]
We just got this reel from the folks at Abu Garcia, and quite frankly it's a great reel. It's very smooth. It casts and retrieves very well. It has very fine tune adjustments, a good braking system and a smooth drag albeit not quite to the level of the top end Revos. The sides and body are composite.

The Ardent Edge Tournament [$149.99]
This new line of Edge reels from Ardent have a lot of people excited. There are four models in the in the new Edge line. We got the new Edge Tournament 6.5:1 reel. So far it's been a pretty smooth reel. It's got a much smaller profile than their XS1000 and C400 reels which is good to see. The new Drag Tracking Technology will be interesting to see how it handles big fish this season.

The Lew's Tournament Mg [$129.95]
The new Tournament MG offering from Lew's is another tight and smooth reel with a more power feel to it. It's got a bigger more rugged handle and a deep spool for spooling up with a bit heavier line. It still features the super smooth casting and retrieve, micro-click adjustments on tension, drag and brakes. The reel looks like a workhorse and so far it has been hucking around umbrella rigs with 2-ounces of tackle on them. This power reel at this price point is a great buy.

The Quantum Exo [$249.95]
This reel started the biggest buzz at ICAST this year, and it's going to keep buzzing all over angler's bass boat decks next season. It's super light, looks killer and we were pleasantly surprised at how smooth and tight the reel feels when fishing it. Being that this is a departure from the norm in making frames and side plates so we were concerned there would be a let down somewhere. Not the case. This reel was real smooth, light and a joy to fish with all day.

The Abu Garcia Revo MGX [349.99]
Another reel in the "amazingly light category", the Revo MGX is the best in materials, top of the Revo product line reel. It's a magnesium frame. The word magnesium means too things. It's extremely light and extremely expensive. The reel is an amazing 5.4 ounces. They are using a X-Mag alloy frame with C6 Carbon side plates to reduce weight and keep the rigid strength in the reel. The variable brakes are awesome as is the drag on this reel.

The Abu Garcia Orra SX Spinning [$99.95]
Another new Abu Garcia reel for next season is the Orra SX spinning reel. It's been very smooth and we like the larger spool size of the SX30 for keeping the line a little looser and making long fluid casts. The 9-bearings and Carbon Matrix drag give this reel ultra smooth performance when reeling in lures and fighting big fish. The X-Craftic alloy frame looks good and seems to keep the real durable.

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Tags: ICAST, Fishing, reel, new products, Fishing Tackle, bass fishing, bass, fishing biz, tackle review

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