Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Feb 28, 2012 @ 12:57 PM
We talked with several of the anglers the last day about their tournament and what they were doing in the event. Here is what each of the guys had to say about their tournament and the fishing. We didn't get to talk to every guy but here is what a handful of them said about the fishing.
Greg Vinson (2nd, $45,000)
"I locked down on a long run down to Pool 4 and fishing Little Jungle. I was making a big run but it really paid off for me with that little area I was fishing. Today I caught those fish and saddle up to run and had a tear coming down my cheek behind my mask as I was running because it hit me finally what this all means. So I'm just excited.
"I caught fish on a lot of different baits this week but pitching soft plastics and deadsticking them around matted vegetation got most of my fish the last two days. I caught a lot of fish on a spinnerbait on the first day when it was so windy, but also caught some fish on a Bandit 100 crankbait. That was early but the final day I was just casting and pitching plastics to target fish moving up to spawn."
Alton Jones (4th, $30,000)
"I fished all week with a Yum Vibra King Tube and a Yum Dinger 6-inch watermelon with purple gold flake. If you're fishing on the Red River and you're not using a Yum Dinger, you're missing a lot of bites.
"All you can hope for is to be in contention for the win on the final day. I came close. But I've had a blessed week. BASS's motto is every catch is big. And that's true. I'm just so excited to have this opportunity. Everyone thinks I'm some great fisherman but the Lord provides for me. That's all. It's all my Lord and Savior. "
Ott Defoe (5th, $25,000)
"I was fishing two primary areas. One was in McDade and the other area was a smaller one I don't know the name of. The McDade fish were prespawn the first day and I was catching them on a No. 5 Shad Rap when it was windy. It was custom painted in a rootbeer color. The second day when it cleared and got calm, I was fishing a Rapala X-Rap in a Tennessee Shad color. I was fishing it around on the edges of the coontail and little breaks off those coontail flats. The other fish came flipping a 1/4 ounce Reins tungsten weight and a Berkley Havoc Pit Boss and a 5/0 VMC flipping hook.
"The weights are pretty close to what I expected them to be. I never got a big bite yesterday. That surprised me a little bit. I never caught a fish over 3 pounds yesterday. I worked mats in 8 inches to 2 feet of water. I caught two 3 pounders and 5 pounder the first day in the McDade area and then I had a 6 and a few 3-pounders today in there. I don't know there was many more big fish in there.
"It was an incredible experience. This is my first Classic and I've been dreaming about it since I was 10 years old. You think about it and dream about it a lot but walking out on that stage here with that big bag of bass was an incredible experience. "
Timmy Horton (6th, $22,000)
"I was fishing a mixture of stumps and lily pad stems. Nothing really surprised me this week. The water was a little more stained up and muddy than we’re used to here. I fished a Booyah 1/2 ounce spinnerbait. The shallow stumps and pad stems in white house is where I fished all week. I was getting a reaction bite in that stained to clear water. I spent my whole tournament in Whitehouse. "
Edwin Evers (8th, $21,000)
"It's such an honor to be here. Maybe one day I can win one of these. I don't know what to say really, but I'll just keep trying and maybe one of these days I will win one of these.
"I fished down in Little Jungle all week. There was a lot of fish in my area, but I missed a lot of them on the swim jig and that cost me. They just weren’t eating really well on that second day, just running it off like guarding a nest. I had a chance at a monster bag that second day and it just didn’t happen. I would use the swimjig to imitate bream around the beds and then when I saw a fish on the bed I would pitch a Yum Wooly Hawg Craw and a drop shot to catch them.
Todd Faircloth (9th, $20,500)
"The main thing for me in pre-practice and during the tournament was water clarity. When those fish are moving up trying to spawn, you want to find the cleanest water you can and that’s where they pull up first or do it first. These are the very first fish moving up to spawn. There will be a huge wave of fish coming into the bigger bays and such and fishing is about to be really good here.
"Nothing really surprised me about the fishing this week. It fished small. I figured the fish would be prespawn and spawn and that was pretty much the deal. I feel like I lost the tournament on the first day. I made a bad decision to leave an area. And I went to another area and one of the guys that was either going to win this or come in second was in that spot and if I had been able to go there or stayed in my original area it might have worked out in my favor.
"I caught my fish on an All-Terrain Tackle Swim Jig, Sebile Small finesse spinnerbait and Yamamoto Flapping Hog were my primary baits this week. I threw the spinnerbait on the first day when it was windy and the swim jig and flipped the Flapping hog when it got calm and cleared."
Bill Lowen (10th, $20,000)
"I used a black and red Tightline UV tube and a Black and Blue Reins Ax Craw. I caught some fish on an Ima square bill and a spinnerbait. I fished all week down in the Sullivan area of Pool 4. I was basically just junk fishing all week but flipping caught a lot of my bigger bass. I was trying to concentrate on banks with deeper water on them because I didn't know we'd have this warm up like this. In practice during the cold days there was a bunch of fish on my banks in that area. But as it warmed up I started having less and less fish using my area and that's what cost me."
Kevin VanDam (11th, $15,000)
"I tried to step it up the second and third days. I had the opportunities the first day and I just didn't get em in the boat. The last two years in the Classic I’ve got those key fish and they stayed buttoned up. I've made good decisions the last day and had a good day but I expected to have a monster day. I had three good ones but couldn't get two more good bites but I caught everything that bit. You get those key bites and get them in the boat when things are going your way.
"You got to take the good with the bad. You always need to learn what you missed. For me it was real important to make that third day because I know we'll be back to Shreveport because we've had two awesome Classics here. So I wanted to learn for the next time.
"I learned when they dropped the water 6 inches and they were only in a foot of water, they leave. So I had to make adjustments. I found a spot that didn't have some deeper water around it so I had to change locations. My best bait this week was a Strike King Rodent. I threw a Strike King Pure Poison, a KVD Spinnerbait, and a KVD Black and Blue jig. I had 12 rods on my deck shallow power fishing."
David Walker (14th, $13,250)
"I fished a good event and it’s not like I have all these stories about big fish lost. I lost a few fish the first day but after that I caught about everything after that. It started off in really cold water in mid 50 degree temperatures and for some reason these fish went all the way up into sight-fishing mode over the course of two frosty nights. No one could have predicted that. Whoever said they did is just blowing smoke up their own rear ends.
"It just sort of came to them. They were like, ‘look that’s a fish on a bed.’ The warmest water I saw was 60 degrees and guys were talking about catching them off of beds. I don’t like sight fishing. I want prespawn or post spawn. There just seemed to be a bunch of fish in this tournament that moved up.
"I caught most of my fish on a jig and a few on a Live Target Square Bill. I used a Chatterbait some. Those three lures accounted for all my fish. I fished down there in Pool 4 in Sullivans the first two days and I fished the last day in the Bobo Hole.
"But I feel good about the event. Anytime you can get yourself in contention. My goal two years ago was standing working a show, I said, ‘I’ve got to make it back to the Classic.’ So I fished the Bassmaster Opens then I fished the Elite Series and now here I am. So I got back as quickly as I could, but it took me that long. So I’m happy with how it went.
"I love how the Elites shake out for me. I love the fact that there are no co-anglers. I love that there are smaller fields. I like the fact that the fans know who you are. The fans come to watch B.A.S.S. and Elite guys. It just really fits me."
Kevin Wirth (14, $14,000)
"To live through day two was tough. It was very emotional for me. I broke down a few times thinking it could be the last day. So to survive that was hard. It was a lot easier today. I got real emotional a few times running down the river. We fished a good Classic though. "
"I fished right there next to the ramp where I had shook one off near a stump. I fished that stump all three days, and Sunday I pulled in there and a caught a 4-15. She finally bit. I made my run and went on down. I went into my main area and the water had dropped so I had to move around and make adjustments and I figured out a pattern about 10:30 and I went to catching them pretty good. I lost one great big one then caught a 4 pounder and a couple 3-pounders.
"The water dropped and they moved out a little further and I found out I could catch them winding a little Strike King KVD square-billed crankbait. "
Editor's note: This was Wirth's final tournament. He's retiring from fishing.
Keith Combs (16th, $13,000)
"I threw a frog a lot the final day trying to catch a big one. I had two real quick on day two as I was leaving my primary area and I thought I smoke them on it the final day. I gave it three hours. I like to fish a frog. I think I would have been better off just blind flipping the last day and not really sight fishing for them.
"Faircloth and I fished fairly close to each other. I had no problem with it. He’s a class pro and he catches them. That gives you confidence in an area and it lets you know what’s going on around you when you have another good angler around you. So it was more beneficial than harmful in my opinion.
"I caught them flipping and I caught three sight fishing on day two and three sight fishing the final day. I caught all my fish the first day on a spinnerbait and a ¼ ounce swim jig. And on day two I had two on a frog and three on a Strike King Game Hog. The final day I had one on a spinnerbait, one on a senko and the rest flipping the Game Hog.
"There were stumps in my area but patchy milfoil and sand is what made it perfect for spawning fish moving up to spawn. I fished in Little Jungle all week. You couldn’t just fish stumps or pad stems or milfoil. You had to fish it all to catch your fish and it changed day to day. "
Greg Hackney (22nd, $12,300)
"I've been making a long boat ride, but I had the water all to myself. I had a great practice, but the water fell out of my area about 2 feet during the tournament and that really hurt my fishing. It's been a great week. It's all about going for the win here, so I made the gamble and it didn't pay off. But I wouldn't change a thing.
"I was making such a long run I figured I fished 8 hours in three days. I cut myself down on time because I felt like I had an area that had better potential to win. But when you do that, you don’t have any time to adjust. That water was falling out of there and I never could slow down. I felt like I was in a flurry the whole time with no chance to slow down and figure out the changes. I felt like it was a worthwhile gamble.
"I wouldn’t change a thing. There were some variables I didn’t have any control over. This is one Classic I didn’t feel like I made mistakes. I fished real clean all week."
Stephen Browning (24th, $12,100)
"The first day I ran down to the Coushatta area. I had a good area for the tournament, but I just didn't fish well. I had a 10 on my strategy and a 4 on my execution. It was a big stump field with a ditch running through it. I was fishing it the first day with a Live Target Red Crawfish Sub Surface crankbait. I caught 25-30 bass that first day but they were all buck bass. The second day, the wind laid down and the water got real clear and the crankbait bite went away, and I caught all my fish on a ZinkerZ soft plastic stickbait.
"You pick up a flipping hook you are supposed to fish on fluorocarbon line and you're using it on braid and you bend it out and lose a 6-pounder. That's just not using your head. I had a good area with big fish but I lost a key fish or two. On the crankbait I lost a couple but it's not like the hooks were bad. They would bite, you'd reel it two or three turns and they would come off. They just didn't always get it good and they didn't stay hooked up. "
More Photos:
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Feb 28, 2012 @ 10:25 AM
A look back at Chris Lane's winning moment and the emotional victory shared with his brother, family, friends and fans. It was another great Bassmaster Classic moment.
Photos by Dustin King
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Sun, Feb 26, 2012 @ 03:42 PM
Photo by Dustin King
Chris Lane won the Bassmaster Classic on the Red River
Chris Lane of Guntersville, Ala. won his first Bassmaster Classic in just his second appearance, thanks to a three-day weight of 51 pounds, 6 ounces. Lane bested Greg Vinson by 3 pounds, 7 ounces. Lane incorporated a strategy he put together on the off day between practice and the start of the tournament and seemed maybe the most confident that he was on the right strategy to win this event, given the conditions that put the fish in somewhat of a foul mood.
The big divide among the pro competitors this week was whether to stay and fish in one area, or to move and fish new water each day knowing that fish would be picked off as the tournament progressed. Lane was in the minority fishing multiple new areas each day and sometimes going with the unpopular strategy is what it takes to win.
Lane's strategy revolved primarily around focusing on hitting a few places each day and going for just big bites and then moving to another fresh area for more big bites. Obviously you can't predict where the big bites are going to come but he felt like fishing pressure was going to be a critical component this week, and if he could avoid the fishing pressure as much as possible, he could ultimately win by just having the mindset to go and get one or two bites in an area and then moving on to fresh water.
We talked with Lane on Thursday at media day. He was the first angler we interviewed. He was the first one we thought was going to be a player in this event. He was first in the tournament because of what he told us in that meeting. Here is what he said:
"The guy that will be champion here will be the one who figures out when to stay and when to go. Not the guy who sits in one area and fishes just to cull ounces. Culling ounces here won't win you the Classic. You need that 4-pound bite. You can't kick just field goals to win the Super Bowl. You've got to get touchdowns. You can't just fish for a limit. You've got to fish for that one good bite and then go fish for another good bite."
Today on stage was the culmination of that winning strategy.
"There is only one thing I'm going to go to do when I get that trophy and you'll see it when I get it in my hands," Lane said. He set the trophy down, kneeled in front and prayed and pointed to heaven. "The man upstairs, if you'll listen to him, good things will happen. There is nothing more important than my wife and kids, and it's been a dream to put them in that boat.
"Me and Bobby have been dreaming about this ever since we started watching these shows after the Dukes of Hazard and finishing our homework. It's something we've been working towards since childhood and now it's real."
Here's what the rest of the field had to say.
B.A.S.S. Communications
Greg Vinson (2nd, 47-15)
"I've been locking down on a long run down to Pool 4. I was making a big run but it really paid off for me with that little area I was fishing. Today I caught those fish and saddle up to run and had a tear coming down my cheek behind my mask as I was running because it hit me finally what this all means. So I'm just excited. "
B.A.S.S. Communications
Alton Jones (4th, 45-14)
"I fished all week with a Yum Vibra King Tube and a Yum Dinger 6-inch watermelon with purple gold flake. If you're fishing on the Red River and you're not using a Yum Dinger, you're missing a lot of bites.
"All you can hope for is to be in contention for the win on the final day. I came close. But I've had a blessed week. BASS's moto is every catch is big. And that's true. I'm just so excited to have this opportunity. Everyone thinks I'm some great fisherman but the Lord provides for me. That's all. It's all my Lord and Savior."
B.A.S.S. Communications
Ott Defoe (5th, 44-14)
"I was fishing two primary areas. One was in McDade and the other area was a smaller one I don't know the name of. The McDade fish were prespawn the first day, and I was catching them on a No. 5 Shad Rap when it was windy. It was custom painted in a rootbeer color. The second day when it cleared and got calm, I was fishing a Rapala X-Rap in a Tennessee Shad color. I was fishing it around on the edges of the coontail and little breaks off those coontail flats. The other fish came flipping a 1/4-ounce Reins tungsten weight and a Berkley Havoc Pit Boss and a 5/0 VMC flipping hook.
"The weights are pretty close to what I expected them to be. I never got a big bite yesterday. That surprised me a little bit. I never caught a fish over 3 pounds yesterday. I worked mats in 8 inches to 2 feet of water. I caught two 3 pounders and 5 pounder the first day in the McDade area, and then I had a 6 and a few 3-pounders today in there. I don't know there was many more big fish in there.
"It was an incredible experience. This is my first Classic, and I've been dreaming about it since I was 10 years old. You think about it and dream about it a lot but walking out on that stage here with that big bag of bass was an incredible experience. "
We'll have a lot more from the competitors as well as more about Lane's pattern and baits and more later tonight and tomorrow.Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Sun, Feb 26, 2012 @ 01:38 PM
Todd, Dustin and Terry spent a good bit of time in the Expo the last couple of days, here's just some of what they saw over there that they liked! Going to the Classic Expo and looking at new tackle and equipment always gets us excited about going fishing.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Sun, Feb 26, 2012 @ 09:28 AM
We ran out to the launch this morning one more time to see the top 25 anglers off for one more day of fishing in the 2012 Bassmaster Classic on the Red River. Here a few more photos from the launch this morning.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Sat, Feb 25, 2012 @ 11:27 PM
A few photos from the day two weigh-in at the Bassmaster Classic in Shreveport, La.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Sat, Feb 25, 2012 @ 10:22 AM
Day two of the Bassmaster Classic bass fishing championship greeted anglers with a lot colder temperatures, frost but no wind and a lot of sunshine. This will be the day that makes or breaks the Classic for a lot of anglers in our opinion. Here are several photos from Todd Hammill from this morning's brisk launch
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Feb 24, 2012 @ 11:51 PM
Just a few random shots from today's Bassmaster Classic bass fishing championship weigh-in we thought we would share from a bit different perspective.
Photos by Dustin King
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Feb 24, 2012 @ 10:16 AM
We ran out to the launch this morning to see the competitors off for day one of the Bassmaster Classic in Shreveport, La. The Red River has been giving up some nice fish already this morning. It should be a fun weigh-in.
Here a few photos from this morning's launch for those that couldn't be there.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Feb 22, 2012 @ 10:30 AM
Kevin VanDam was making some last minute bait preparations before heading out for the final day of practice for the 2012 Bassmaster Classic. Click on the image for a larger size desktop background for you.
Here are a few more photos from today's practice launch on the Red River in Shreveport. Mouse over the photos to get a description of each photo.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Feb 21, 2012 @ 08:00 AM
Article and Photos by Shaye Baker
Few people outside the fishing world can understand the relationship that you have to have in order to fish with someone. And I don't mean just going out to the lake for a Sunday afternoon to burn a few hours. I’m talking about trust. Full disclosure. The kind of relationship where you know you can tell or show each other anything and also know it won’t come back to haunt you.
It's often associated with a father-son or brotherly relationship because that’s where it usually starts. Years of trust are poured into a partnership before either partner really knows what’s happening. And by the time it comes down to needing to trust someone out on the water, it’s just second nature. Relationships like this don’t come about very often outside of the family. But if they do form, water can be thicker than blood. A friendship forged through fishing is one of the most powerful there is.
Very few of these relationships start in the heat of battle. Few begin on the first day of a major tour event between two anglers standing in the front of their respective boats competing for $100,000. Usually that’s when the gloves come off – when it's kill or be killed and win at all costs. Tournament fishing has become a cut throat sport. Pure love for the game isn't felt by all of the upper level touring anglers. It has become a means to an end. And screwing over the guy fishing 100 feet from you is a common practice.
So both Randall Tharp and Brandon McMillan had reservations when they met on their best stretch of Lake Okeechobee vegetation a little over a year ago. It was the first day of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour event in February. The two met a few years back, but didn't really know one another at all. And through no other means than assumption, they both knew they were about to be screwed over.
But it didn't play out that way. Tharp and McMillan met halfway down the hundred yard stretch they were both fishing, and then they politely went around each other, made their way to opposite ends and turned around and made their way back again. This continued throughout day one. Each time, the both knew this would be the pass where something went awry. But it didn’t. And with each pass a bond began to form. After a whole day of fishing like this, McMillan knew he didn't have to worry about Tharp and Tharp needn't worry about him.
The two met on the same stretch on day two. Day three and day four started the same way as well. Neither angler ever crowded the other or intentionally tried to catch one that the other missed. On day two, it even went as far as McMillan loaning Tharp a flipping stick after he broke one of his own. That rod helped Tharp catch 32 pounds that day. Each did their own thing, to which McMillan credits their success.
“I had already made up my mind before we fished past each other on day one, that if he was going to be a jerk, I was going to be a jerk,” McMillan said. “That’s just the way things go now a days. You don’t really expect a lot of respect or loyalty out there. But he never gave me a problem, so I never gave him one. After day one, I never thought twice about it. It could have gone a lot different if we’d both tried to mess each other over, and neither one of us would have done as well as we did.”
Trust starts with respect. Both anglers showed a boat load of that by treating one another the way they did and ultimately the duo finished the event in first and second with McMillan pulling off the win. Knowing that very few fishermen would have handled the experience the way Tharp did really impressed McMillan.
“That showed me a lot about the type of person he is. He wanted to beat me but he wanted to beat me heads up,” McMillan said.
Tharp saw the situation the same way. He just knew that McMillan would burn him if he got the chance and yet he never did. And as Tharp watched McMillan win the event, a great respect developed within Tharp not only of McMillan’s skills on the water but also for the man he is and the ethics by which he fishes.
“I’ve left Okeechobee a lot of years mad or unhappy with the way I fished, but last year I left the lake satisfied,” Tharp said. “I was happy finishing second, and happy that Brandon won. I’m never happy about finishing second. It’s hard to explain, but I was just really happy for Brandon.”
Tharp, like many anglers, has been burnt before by people he thought he could trust. People who swear not to go back to his hard-found honey hole and still do. Fishing is competition. And competition, unfortunately, brings out the worst in some people. Naturally he’s developed a thick skin to envelope what he does on the water. Trust isn’t something that comes easy for Tharp.
“I think there are a lot of guys out there that share information, and I’m sure there are a lot of guys that trust somebody. I usually have a real problem with that, and Brandon is one of the first ones I have ever trusted,” Tharp said. “It’s really weird, but I knew from that point on when we fished against each other last year, that I could trust him about anything. I feel like in what we do, that kind of trust is a very rare thing.”
The trust spawned a friendship which developed into a partnership out on the water this past winter. Tharp and wife Sara relocated to Okeechobee like they did last year to winter there and fish the lake for a few months in preparation for the EverStart and FLW Tour events. Within the first couple days, they had already been out to dinner with McMillan and his new bride Brianna. While the ladies chatted about whatever ladies chat about, the boys talked fishing. They started fun fishing together shortly after that and entered into a local team tournament to feed that competitive urge.
Once word got out that the two big sticks would be fishing together they were deemed the “Dream Team” by the other anglers planning to participate. Everyone gave the duo a hard time stating they might as well not even waste their time and money, Tharp and McMillan were sure to win. The truth is the Dream Team might as well have not even weighed in. Their measly 19 pounds garnered a lot more ridicule than winnings and two of the most competitive fishermen on the lake replaced a victory dinner with a plate full of crow.
But the “dream team” didn’t give up. They set the record straight with their next tournament outing bringing in a whopping 34.64 and winning the event with big smiles on their faces. Brandon’s father Jimmy and little brother Dillon looked on with pride as they finished in third with more than 30 pounds themselves. The day couldn’t have gone better.
Then tragedy struck. Brandon’s father Jimmy was murdered a week later. Instantly Brandon’s life was turned upside down. In an instant nothing made sense anymore, and fishing was the last thing that Brandon wanted to do.
“That was our thing,” McMillan said of fishing with his father. “We’ve always fished Okeechobee together. That was our place.”
Understandably, McMillan didn’t want to go back out on the water. There would be no way to make a single cast without thinking of his dad. No way to fish a spot without seeing his face. If he caught a big bag, he wouldn’t be able to pick up the phone and call his dad up to tell him about it. There was just no point.
Though his family encouraged him to get back out on the water, he just couldn’t. He knew that would be what his father wanted, but it was just too much. Ultimately it was Tharp who convinced him to get back to fishing.
“After all that happened, I didn’t want to fish at all,” McMillan said. “I could care less about fishing the EverStart or the Tour, but my family kept saying ‘You have to do it for your dad.’ I didn’t know what to do so I asked Randall, what he thought I should do. And he told me if I couldn’t put my whole heart into fishing and get my head right, then I shouldn’t do it. And that’s the main reason I fished them. That and the fact that I wanted to beat him. My whole goal in life now is to beat Randall.”
Well McMillan didn’t beat Randall in the EverStart or Tour Open this year but he did bring home solid ninth- and fifth-place finishes, honoring and bring pride to his father’s name. Tharp finished an impressive second place at the EverStart and dominated the Tour Open, winning by more than 23 pounds. Odd happenstances in both events just added to the chemistry brewing between the two. The first day of the EverStart found Tharp and McMillan tied with exactly 19-12 and day one of the Tour Open had them atop the leaderboard 2 ounces apart with 33-7 and 33-9.
McMillan’s wife Brianna confessed to FLW Outdoors’ host, Jason Harper that she feared the two had entered into some sort of “bromance.” I asked McMillan if he wanted to defend himself so in my best effort not to misquote him I’ll write out his exact words:
“Somewhere in the story can you please put that Randall and Brandon are happily married, I don’t want people getting the wrong idea.”
After pausing just a second, he realized what he said didn’t sound like what he meant and added, “You know what I mean," with a laugh. “We are happily married to our wives. You writers will misconstrue anything.”
We get the point, and all of America has been put on notice about the Batman and Robin, Starsky and Hutch, Ponch and Jon, or whatever dynamic duo fits the mold for these now famous Florida-fishing anglers, friends, and brothers in the sport.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Feb 17, 2012 @ 09:30 AM
The rod jiggled. Then three rods jiggled. Then six rods jiggled. Then all shook violently, baits and weights flopping to and fro as lures struggled in a knotted mess like calves with bolos wrapped around their ankles. Don’t you just love when your baits get tangled up and tie all your rods in a knot? Your drop shot weight has taken a correspondence class in basket weaving apparently and has now woven him in to nooks and crannies in your favorite reel that it won’t even budge.
Meanwhile your Alabama rig makes five hooks on five swimbaits seem like 25 hooks on a gill net. There are hooks through other hooks through swivels through clasps. It’s bundled up so tight a pair of snips sounds like a better alternative than spending the next hour breaking your lures out of their harnessed imprisonment.
Pro anglers Chad Brauer and Dave Wolak have an ongoing joke when they see anglers with their rods strapped to the passenger seat ramp in the back of the boat and the baits hanging 5 to 12 inches off the end of their rod. They will pass by the boat and motion to the other one with a circular helicopter motion. They call it the “butterfly effect.” By the time the boat runs down the lake at 60 mph, and stops on the first spot, that loose lure has found a way to tie every one of that angler’s rods in a knot.
Tangled rods are frustrating. No denying it. Sometimes you just have to cut your way out of the mess. Drop shots and the new castable umbrella rigs have become particularly annoying when stored or riding on the deck of a boat, not to mention storing open rigs in a tackle box. But we found a little trick to tame these tangle-prone rigs.
The secret: a Velcro strip.
Velcro comes in a lot of different shapes and sizes but the kind we’re talking about has the hard prickly stuff on one side and the soft sticky stuff on the other. It can be wrapped around itself and locks itself in place with … itself (sorry for the Austin Power’s moment). You can buy the strips in rolls and these things are dynamite for a variety of uses with fishing tackle
.
We’ve used them recently to store all the different umbrella rigs we’ve been testing them. Rather than bend wires in and out and cause stress points in the wire, we simply wrap the rigs with Velcro and throw them in a big Plano waterproof box. When we unwrap them, the wires spring right into place, and the rig is ready to go.
With a drop shot, we’ll fasten it to the rod first and then begin wrapping it. Before we secure the last wrap around, we’ll slide the line and weight underneath and then finish the wrap. The weight is held against the rod and it keeps that tag-end ball-and-chain effect from tangling other rods. It’s quick and easy and holds the drop shot in place well on a split grip rod.
We’ve used them to secure cables around a trolling motor . It’s a quick and easy way to hold cables in place, makes a great temporary fix for transducer swaps, Hydrowave swaps, etc. The Velcro strips seem to hold up to water, although I have seen some cheap ones finally lose their stickiness over time.
There are probably a lot more uses for Velcro strips for managing tackle and removing some of the frustration. What tricks have you found to organize a fishing mess with Velcro?
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Feb 16, 2012 @ 10:41 AM
Reports came to us Saturday about a possible record spotted bass that had been caught on Lake Norman in North Carolina over the weekend. We had a bit of time tracking down the angler and we finally got to talk with Terry Trivette about his possible new record catch.
Trivette of Pinnacle, N.C. caught a 6.97-pound spotted bass while fishing on Lake Norman, Saturday, Feb. 11. He and his partner were competing in their Troll-Eze Bass Club tournament on Lake Norman. Trivette fishes at minimum once a week, but they usually fish Lake Norman in the winter and will cherry pick different tournaments on the lake like the Ryan Newman tournament throughout the year.
They started out the morning throwing the now famous Alabama Rigs. Their first fish was a good one and came on an Alabama Rig. About mid day, however, they pulled up on a point and started casting crankbaits. He was casting a Rapala DT 6 in Hot Mustard when the fish bit. He had already made about 10 casts, and on this cast, he fired it up right to the bank. Two to three handle turns into his retrieve, the fish bit and he set the hook, seeing her roll up in the shallow water. He knew it was a big fish immediately. The fish took him from the passenger side of the boat to the back deck, around to the front deck and then back down the drivers side. He was constantly thumbing the fish let it have line when it would surge under the boat. His partner held the net sitting in the driver's seat and blocked Trivettes view of the fish. About that time, Trivette felt the weight release on his line but he couldn't see if the fish had gotten off or if it was netted. His partner spun around and set the fish in the boat and the crankbait just fell out of the fish's mouth.
They went on to win their club tournament and not surprisingly the big fish pot. He knew he had a special fish and weighed it on a couple different scales on the lake before heading to The General Store in Denver, N.C. to have it weighed on certified scales. Then he called Bass Pro Shops to see if they wanted the fish.
They were not able to take the fish until Tuesday, so Trivette had to keep the spotted bass alive for more than 3 days. He constantly took 3 gallons of water out of his livewell and replaced it with 3 gallons of water from his pond. He did that for several days to make sure the spot lived. He had hoped to deliver the fish on Monday and when he found out Bass Pro Shops in Concord Mills couldn't take her until Tuesday, he figured she might be dead when he opened the livewell Tuesday morning. Trivette runs a landscaping business and works full-time at Cook Medical. Two jobs hardly leaves any time for fishing moreless caring for a fish night and day.
"I babied that fish like a newborn, but I think spotted bass are a lot tougher fish," Trivette said. "I don't know if I could have kept a largemouth alive that long. I just kept recirculating new water into the well and adding Rejuvinade as I did to keep the fish healthy. When I reached in to get her out Tuesday at Bass Pro Shops, she was as strong as the day I caught her."
The fish has to be quarantined for 30 days before it can be mixed in with the other fish at the Bass Pro Shops tank, but he called yesterday to check on the bass, and it was doing fine and had eaten six to eight 5-inch trout already.
If the fish is accepted as the North Carolina state record spotted bass after genetic testing, it will beat the previous record of 6.5 pounds caught by Eric Weir on Lake Norman in 2003. Weir's fish fell for a Zoom Finesse worm in chartreuse and pumpkin.
Several photos have circulated of the spotted bass and that's Trivette's partner in those photos. These photos are of Trivette himself with his trophy catch. What a fish and she's alive to be shared with NC anglers for some time to come.
Trivette caught the bass on an American Rodsmiths David Fritts Cranking rod and a Quantum Energy baitcaster with 10-pound green Sufix Deep Cranking line. Read More
Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Feb 15, 2012 @ 01:15 PM
Janet Parker with a nice J-Rigged bass - photos by Todd Hammill
Necessity, they say is the mother of all invention, or in the case of fishing, maybe the mother of all ingenuity in rigging. Competing in bass fishing tournaments can be a pressure cooker. It forces folks to speed up, fish too fast, race from spot to spot, and often over think what needs to be done to get pressured bass to bite.
Randall Tharp made everyone look silly in the recent FLW Tour Open on Lake Okeechobee when he won the event by more than 23 pounds just hunkering down and flipping small areas on the massive grass laden fishery. His sit and soak yielded impressive catches in cold-front riddled event.
Janet Parker has been making a name for herself on the Bassmaster Open trail. She’s really focused again this year on earning that elusive Elite Series berth. She recently shared one of her “ace-in-the-hole” techniques and more importantly her J-Rig way of rigging a wacky style soft bait to methodically pick apart an area.
The J-rig is an extension of a wacky rigged soft stickbait like a Yamamoto Senko that makes it weedless and extremely effective for fishing a bit deeper than other anglers.
“I fished as a co-angler on the FLW Series and FLW Tour for a number of years and really learned a lot about how pros fish wacky-rigged soft plastics,” Parker said. “They would fish them deeper by inserting nail worms into the bait. But it limited the action of the bait so much. I thought if I could weigh the hook I could keep the action of the bait but fish it deeper.”
What she finally settled on after a bit of trial and error on the tournament trail was a 2/0 Owner Mosquito hook that she wrapped with about 1-inch of golfer’s lead Gamma tape. Since that time there has been an influx of wacky jigheads but she still sticks with the tape for a number of reasons.
“The tape has been perfect for several reasons,” Parker said. “I can quickly alter the rate of fall by adding or taking away some tape. So I can modify it on the fly. Those new jigheads you can change the head. You have to have a bunch of different sizes. And they are so expensive. So this is a much cheaper alternative. You can get 3 yards for something like $3.”
Parker employs a very vertical approach to how she fishes her J-Rig. She will skip it up to or around vertical structures like bridge pilings, retaining walls, dock posts, moorings, grass line edges and more. From there she feeds line off onto the top of the water as the bait falls and starts studying her line. She uses 20 pound braid always because she likes the added power she has to set a hook and it’s so easy to watch her line lying on top of the water.
It’s a lot like fly fishing. She’s watching the line floating on the surface. If the line jumps or just starts going under a lot faster, she knows she has a fish. But if she casts it out and it sinks to the bottom without a bite, she’ll reel up the slack, then lift the bait slightly and let it fall again. If nothing bites again, then she reels up again and shoots for her next target. The only exception to this is when fishing around grass.
For submerged grass she’ll cast up to the edge of the grass line and work the bait out with lifts and drops if nothing bites on the initial cast. She’s looking for those fish suspending off the grass lines or hanging on isolated clumps. IF it’s bank grass, she’ll cast up to the bank and flutter it across the top of the grass. Sometimes they will pounce it like a frog, but usually the bass follow it to the edge and when she kills it and lets it sink, they jump all over it.
Parker favors the rig around boats docks. She’ll use a skipping cast to get it as far back under the cover as possible and let it sink. Sometimes she’ll make 30-40 casts on a single dock to make sure she covers all the ambush points.
“It’s really effective for fish busting on the surface,” she said. “If I see one bust, especially in shallower water, I will throw over to it with the J-Rig and 8 out of 10 times, the fish will eat it.”
Another key situation for her J-Rig is long distance casting to bedding bass. She follows the theory that a bass that is not on the defensive is a lot easier to catch. So she will line up the beds and make blind casts to the beds from as far as possible. The bass are not as spooky and skittish and the subtleness of the bait really makes them attack.
“I like to scale down to a 5-inch Yamamoto Thin Senko on bedding bass,” Parker said. “The bait is so subtle and because I’m so far away, the just run off the bed and grab it before it sinks all the way down. It’s so effective on deeper beds to. I don’t have to see the fish. The rig makes them show themselves. I’ve not found any other bedding bait that they will chase out and grab before it gets into the bed like this bait and rig.”
The gear for fishing the J-Rig is pretty simple. She uses a Dobyns Champion Elite Series 743 spinning rod and spinning reel. She likes 20-pound braid with a 4- to 6-foot fluorocarbon leader. She’ll use 8 or 10-pound fluorocarbon if where she is fishing is free of grass or abrasive cover. If it’s cover that could shred the line, she’ll go up to 14 to 15-pound leaders.
The fish are reacting to the presentation; even though most anglers would consider it finesse fishing. They are not looking at the line or studying the bait. They are seeing something that looks alive slowly sinking and reacting to it. Parker has found the fish really eat it, even on the beds.
She also uses it as a follow up bait. If a fish comes up and busts on a topwater lure, she’ll reach down and grab the J-Rig and catches those missed topwater fish more often than not. For that reason, she always has a J-rigged and ready.
Her favorite lures are Senkos, Thin Senkos and finesse worms.
“I rig it like you’re hanging the worm vertically on the short part of a ‘J’ with the hook point buried in the plastic,” she said. “This looks like it wouldn’t work, but that Owner hook is so sharp it just cuts through all the plastic and you stick them every time. It’s really weedless and falls right every time.”
Clear fisheries are the best for this technique as the bass need to be able to see it. Lightly stained fisheries will work but you’ve got to put it right on the fish’s nose. The best days for Parker have been on those flat slick calm blue bird days when fishing can be tough on clear fisheries.
She would have blanked at Table Rock last year in the Opens until she picked up the J-Rig and took off down some docks and scraped out a fish in the waning hour of the tournament. She also caught several key fish at the Arkansas River in Muskogee, Okla.
It doesn’t work all the time, but when the conditions set up for it, she thinks she can compete with anyone.
“I’m really looking forward to the Open on Table Rock this year,” she said. “Those fish will be on the beds and roaming and if we get some calm days, I’ll really catch them. I had some quality fish found on Table Rock last year before the floods hit. So I’m excited to get back there and throw the J-Rig.”
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Feb 14, 2012 @ 12:01 PM
Warm water discharges. Power-plant lakes. Hot ponds. Whatever you term these fisheries, finding a lake that has warmer than average water in the late winter and early spring can produce some of the best bass fishing all season. There is no mistaking it, bass on those hot ponds live a different life than bass in your average fishery with water temperatures often mimicking cold winter air temps.
These lakes that feature water that has passed through a cooling system for a power plant add warmer than average water back to the lake. Now this may not sound appealing in August in the blazing heat of summer, but January, February and March offer prime-time hot-pond bass fishing.
Obviously as is the case with anything in bass fishing, it's not enough to simply know where a hot pond is and start chucking and winding all around it. There is more of a method to the madness than most realize. It's not just throw it up as close to where the water is coming out, in fact that can be some of the least productive water at times. But there are several nuances to fishing warm water discharges to make your approach to bass fishing more effective here.
Obvious factors like size of the fishery, current, consistency of water discharge, available cover, available forage and more can help you predict where the bass are staging, feeding and migrating throughout the fishery. We can provide several scenarios and examples that will help illustrate these points better.
Todd Hammill and Scott Glorvigen frequent a hot pond in Minnesota. The pond itself is just off the Mississippi River and is only around 11 acres in size. The hot water discharge area on this bay off the river is lined with reeds, cattails and other vegetation. Of course in the winter months, the vegetation is dead or dormant but offers great canopies for the bass to tuck under out of the current and still take advantage of the warmer water.
The area produced one of their largest bass of 2011 weighing more than 6-pounds.What they found is that because of fishing pressure, as it can be some of the only open water in Northern Minnesota, they've had to really delve into the cover itself and fish those bass out of thick cover. Often there are fish caught on current edges as well. But day in and day out, they like to nose up into the cover.
Conversely I spent many years fishing a hot water lake in Northern Arkansas. What made this fishery unique is it's one of the furthest north lakes that is stocked with Florida strain bass. Ever had to knock the ice out of your guides while sight fishing for cruising Florida-strain largemouths getting ready to go on the beds? I have. This lake was unique in that it was a bit larger and the lower ends of the lake near the dam actually could have pretty cold water in it while the upper ends of the lake could be balmy at 70 degrees.
The lake has quite a bit of standing timber, a few points and pockets and some rock. However we often found the best fishing to be in the mid-lake area. You could catch bass up at the discharge, but more often than not our best fishing was thinking a few months ahead of normal Arkansas fishing and concentrating on the warmer mid-lake temperatures that put the fish in a comfort zone to feed and think about the impending spawn.
To this day, my largest five-bass limit came fishing that power plant lake in early March. I found a school of very large bass suspending off a main lake corner. I could see them on the graph and tried for a while with various different baits. In the end, it turned out to be a weightless Senko, allowed to sink as deep as 18 feet that yielded all my big bass that day. A drop shot also caught a lot of fish, but those bigger fish just related better to the slow fall of the Senko.
It was finding that temperature zone within the lake that was concentrating the bass. The air temp was holding right around freezing, yet the water temp was between 60-65 degrees. The big bass on a hot-water fishery will often congregate in one section of the lake and that can be the biggest part of the puzzle is just sampling the different sections of the lake until you find that temperature range the bass are really relating to.
The consistency of water discharging from the cooling towers at the power plant fed fisheries can have a key role. I know at the hot lake in Arkansas, the power generation shut down for several weeks there and there was a huge fish kill. The bass were not accustomed to surviving in water temperatures below 40 degrees and the lack of generation stunned and ultimately killed a lot of them. That was more than 10 years ago now and the regularity of water generation has kept the bass fat and feeding. Power plants often have outages that will also mean there is no flow or warm water coming in so be prepared to adjust your tactics accordingly.
There are hot lakes like Newton Lake in Southern Illinois that offer size, and various structure and cover to fish. Terry Brown has found patterns you don't often think would work in January and February on other fisheries, work on these hot water fisheries. Deep cranking might be a May or June pattern on your average lakes in the Midwest, but at Newton, it can be the deal in February. Flipping and pitching is often thought of as a good way to fish in the winter, but keep in mind the days start getting longer every day after the first of the year and if the water is already a comfortable temperature, the increasing activity levels, longer days can accelerate the fishing and effective patterns.
Don't overlook that fact that fish can still have winter patterns on a hot lake. We've said how it can often fish like different times of the year. But a hot pond can also fish like other lakes. The further you migrate from the warm water source, the more those fish will fall into typical winter patterns. I've seen days where jerkbait fishing in the coldest water on the lake was better than jig or crankbait fishing in the warmest water.
I’ve also seen where being as close to the current and letting lures tumble down through and around the eddies of the strongest current coming into the lake from the power plant, have yielded some big catches. Current positions fish in predictable ambush points. It disorients baitfish. Knowing all of this should factor into fishing the discharges.
Lake Dardanelle, in Russellville, Ark., is also the home of Arkansas Nuclear One, a nuclear power plant with a cooling tower and warm water discharge. Before the days of 9/11 and homeland security, we would fish there as kids right up by the discharge gates, catching stripers and whatever else was in there feeding on disoriented shad. My father worked at ANO and would take me up there and fish on the weekends.
As I got old enough to go on my own, I learned the nuances of the current and caught many 20-pound limits working current seams and eddies with crankbaits, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits and other lures. Learning where the big rocks were that broke that current took time and cost me some baits, but it also made my fishing very efficient. I knew where those bass like to hide and how they would make mad dashes and rolls against the bank rip rap to snag a seemingly disoriented shad. Some days a lipless crankbait would wreck them. Some days a slightly weighted soft jerkbait did.
The thing to remember is to not just assume the bass are lined up in the warm water waiting for lures to fall from the sky. You still have to put in the time to learn current breaks, water temperature ranges, generation schedules, forage activity, fishing pressure, season of the fish and more. But learning these things can also make it a lot easier bass fishing than you experience on other highly pressured fisheries with much colder water.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Sun, Feb 12, 2012 @ 12:01 PM
Several folks showed us how they had the Wired2Fish logo on their cell phones, tablets, computer backgrounds and more. So we figured maybe we'd give you all a few to show off to your friends how much you love fishing. It's not our brand. It's your brand. It's the brand for everyone who loves fishing and is proud to tell folks they love fishing. It's a pride thing. A passion thing. So fly your flag with pride!
We made them in several different colors and sizes to fit various screen sizes.
Thanks for making us part of your daily fishing routine! Right click on these images and click Save As to save them to your desktop. You can email them to yourself and open the emails on your mobile device. On your iphone just press and hold the image until it gives you the option to save it. Then go into the image and click on it and choose set as wallpaper or background.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Feb 08, 2012 @ 12:01 AM
By Terry Brown
The Bass University is a concentrated high level training class and one that the novice and seasoned veteran will take away knowledge to make them better anglers. I recently had the opportunity to emcee one in Chicago, my second, and again was not disappointed.
The information the group of pros that included Ott DeFoe, Pete Gluszek, Mike Iaconelli, Randy Howell, Fred Roumbanis and Kevin Short provided was top notch. Each angler talked about their individual area of expertise and didn't leave anything out -- no secrets, no hidden agendas and no BS. Just straight talk about their experiences and what works for them. I really like the openness of this school, and everyone I spoke to in attendance felt it was well worth the time.
I really liked that it ran in conjunction with the Chicago Outdoor Sportsmen Show. It was two full days of fishing talk, training and interaction.
To be honest I have been to more classes and seminars than Carter has liver pills and some of them are actually pretty bad. Not BU. It is a first class operation and first class information and I even took notes. I hope to bring more from the class in later articles, but one I felt needed passed on first was Ott DeFoe's co-angler advice.
As you know Ott fished the FLW Tour prior to coming to the Elite Series and has experienced the back seat himself. He had some great tips for the backseater that may be common sense to some but others may not have thought about thoroughly.
Here is his breakdown of things a co-angler can do to improve the odds in the back of the boat:
1. Watch the guy in the front of the boat like a hawk. Look for tendancies on his approach and casts. Does he always cover one side of the target? Does he hit all sides of it? Could there be other submerged objects around his target? What type of bait is he using? Knowing the routine of the front seater can be an advantage to the back seater. Keep your eyes peeled for shad activity or bluegills popping pads. That can key you into color or type of bait and may clue you in to what the bass may be looking for. It the pro is fishing a jig on a point pick up a crankbait or a topwater.
2. Look for new angles. Determine what angle the cast is made by the pro and look for other angles that may work. Mix up your casts. Sometimes wait for the boat to move a bit before you cast. That could create a new cast angle that he may have missed. Also be aware from where the fish came in the water column. For example, if he is fishing a hollow bodied frog over slop, use a spoon with pork trailer or a plastic frog like a Horny Toad. Small subtleties in bait selection can be huge. If he is throwing something quiet, throw something that makes noise and vice versa.
3. Change retrieve types and speeds. What part of the water column is he fishing? He may be ptiching to a target and fishing the bottom. Choose a different retrieve and speed in your cast. Mix it up and don't be afraid to do something diffferent like shaking a spinnerbait or swimming a jig. Observation of the front seater again plays a significant role. Don't do exactly what he does, especially on tough bite days.
4. Use different baits. Do not throw the same bait as the pro. Again, mix it up. If he is power fishing a jig, go subtle with a Senko or cast a squarebill in and around the cover. Let the fish tell you what they want. Mix up your colors too. A small color change can be huge.
5. Watch where and how the fish bite. Watch the small things. Is it a subtle bite or are the fish agressive and reacting to the bait. Don't be afraid to crash your bait into the object you are fishing and don't be afraid to get hung up. Use baits that are weedless when possible to avoid confrontation, but hit the spots he missed. Hitting the same hole in the grass or the same side of the brushpile usually doesn't pay dividends. Don't be afraid to experiment and watch for what he misses.
The bottom line for the backseater is dedicated observation and mixing it up. Small changes can make for big results.
One final thought: If you are wondering if Bass University is worth the investment, the answer is a resounding yes. A weekend in a classroom can pay big dividends on the water.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Feb 07, 2012 @ 12:01 AM
The water curved around the log, creating a rim of glistening current as it rebounded off the solid structure. To the other side a glassy window showed a few boulders and some grass under the surface of the slack. The jig landed reticently in the still waters as the angler closed the bail quietly on the spinning reel. The current grabbed his line as he raised the rod tip to escape its tow. Slowly scratching the surface of the pebbles, the jig inched closer to the log.
The invisible line suddenly became visible as it popped off the surface like a small damsel fly startled by an approaching predator. The line snapped tight and began redirecting into the current. The rod loaded under the catapulting upward snap and a big smallmouth leapt out of the water froth with anger that his prey was fighting back.
Wading creeks as a kid was always somewhat akin to living the life that Hemmingway described in his short stories. There was a beauty and a romance to the trickery, conflict, struggle and reward of each cast and catch. But the real allure for me was “being first” to that untapped hole in the river. I’m not talking about a specific fishing hole but the next “piece” of the fishing puzzle that no one else had found that day, that week, that month, that season … yet.
I learned at an early age that knowing a good spot was not nearly as effective as knowing when a spot was good. Moreover knowing a new spot had just become a prime ambush place for foraging fish was even the better. I would often wade and canoe streams with other anglers and it was always an adventure to be the one who figured out the next rock, the next log, the next pattern to run down the length of that day’s trip on the river that made the fishing such an enjoyable experience.
That one small piece of fishing wisdom has carried with me 25 plus years and led me to many great catches on many different fisheries. There are always popular ways to catch fish on any given fishery at any given season of the year. In the winter, everyone might be chasing bass with jerkbaits and small jigs. In the spring, the soft stickbaits and sight fishing might be the hot ticket. Later that summer, soaking worms and burning crankbaits might be the magic pill to load a boatload of bass.
But following the masses and listening to dock talk, can also cause more anglers than not to miss the boat entirely so to speak on some of the best fishing on the lake.
It seems to me bass are always about to be in transition. About the time winter really sets in, the days start getting longer and those occasional warm sunny days and warmer rains suddenly make the shallows a little bit warmer. I can’t tell you how many big bags I’ve had finding those warm runoff creeks in the early prespawn period. The same thing happens in the late summer. Everyone is out deep fishing, and you slide up to some flooded grass or shallow stump-laden flat and find it teaming with feeding bass that moved shallow to enjoy the ample forage and higher oxygen levels.
In the fall everyone is probing the backs of the creeks when fish are suspending off channel swings getting away from the flats of forage.
No one can tell you when to go do this because that is the nature of “being first” in fishing. You’ll switch gears and move to the next place the bass are transitioning to and hit them with a new approach totally different from what had been catching the fish. Some seasoned anglers would say it's instinct, to go with your gut when you get those feelings. That’s just a slang way of saying tap into your years of experience when you found the fish on a pattern no one else was looking for yet.
A recent example came last week, and got the juices flowing for that same discovery enlightenment I felt as a teenager, chasing bass in those small creeks back home with my school chums.
Everyone knows how powerful The Alabama Rig and subsequent knockoffs have been at catching bass through the fall and winter. Most folks fail to realize its success has been because the fish have suspended from October to February thanks to one of the most unseasonably warm winters on record. In essence, we’ve had four or five months of fall in a large part of the country.
Everyone and their brothers are throwing castable umbrella rigs of some sort on every point, hump, ditch, steep bank, bay and ledge they can find – us included. We make no declarations of allegiance for or against the new castable umbrella rig craze in bass fishing started by Andy Poss of The Alabama Rig. We’ve caught piles of bass between 5 and 8 pounds since October on the rigs. No doubt they work.
But what we’re even more elated about is the fact they have left a bunch of bass unmolested in a bunch of places. We’ve thrown the umbrella rigs as much because folks bragging about big strings as we have because of our own successes. That can lead you down the wrong path because you quit trying to be first with your fishing.
The lake had some current in it last week, and the water clarity was stirred up and muddier than usual although I wouldn’t call it muddy by normal standards. I threw The Alabama Rig and the Yumbrella a bit that day, and honestly the fish had moved on me were not biting either one where I fished. I changed up swimbait configurations and still didn’t have a bump. Obviously I must not be around the fish right?
As I approached a secondary point, I remembered having caught some bass in the early prespawn time frame a couple years ago on a crankbait, a Bandit 300 to be exact. The point had some current wrapping around it, so I picked up the crankbait and fired a cast or two across the point from a couple different angles. On the third cast my rod bounded back and forth and I leaned back into something heavy. The fish came up and rolled and it was a nice largemouth.
After a short fight and a couple of surprising jumps in the 51 degree water, I landed the fish. I was beaming like that 15-year-old holding a big smallie from the Kings River with soaking shorts and sloppy sneakers. The fish was 5 pounds, 2 ounces and was fat and unscarred in any fashion, just a beautiful prespawn bass that had moved up in the warmer waters.
What had I found I thought? Was it a fluke? I picked the rigs back up and worked the area thoroughly, but never had another bite. So I headed up lake looking for some more productive areas. The lake water temperature had been 44 degrees a week before and not it was reading 51 on my Lowrance HDS 8 on the front deck. I hit the next rocky bank working my rigs slowly and methodically around any rocks, stumps, brush I could feel. No bites and no takers.
As I approached the next point, I reached for the Bandit 300 again. Two casts in with the crankbait and the rod loaded again. I reared back on the rod and fought another great keeper bass into the boat weighing a little more than 4 pounds.
“I’m an idiot,” I thought to myself. The fish were up there feeding on those points, right on the bank and apparently didn’t like five big swimbaits crashing in on the party. But shoot a diminutive crankbait into the crevices of the rock and pull it out slowly, and it was easy to catch the bass. It felt just like those stream bass of my youth. Those things would bite like they’d never seen an artificial before, and I’m convinced to this day a good many of them had not until falling for mine.
I only had about a half hour to run a couple more points and was astonished to find that I had caught more than 18 pounds on a crankbait only running the pattern for about an hour total. These fish hadn’t been touched yet and I got there first. I’m sure other anglers had probably fished these areas, but not the way I was and not with what I was.
It was a good reminder that following the crowd might catch some fish, but beating the crowd to the party can lead anglers to some of the best fishing days of their life. Staying ahead of the pressure, and looking forward to the next transition for the fish. Understanding your weather variables and how that could change where the fish are feeding and holding as one season transitions to another puts a lot of fish in the boat for a lot of great anglers.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Feb 03, 2012 @ 12:35 PM
If you’re just getting started in bass fishing or any type of fishing, new bodies of water can seem like vast oceans and knowing where to start can be a daunting task. Even if you’re a seasoned veteran on a certain fishery, trust us and the other successful pro anglers when we say there is something to be learned every year on your favorite fishery.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Feb 02, 2012 @ 09:12 AM
Pickwick has been showing out this week. In a fishery not really known for a surplus of double-digit bass like those in Texas, Florida and California, two fish over 10 pounds have now shown themselves thanks to umbrella rigs on the AL-TN-MS fishery.
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