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Mono vs. Braided Line for Bass Fishing with Topwaters

Posted by Walker Smith on Wed, Feb 20, 2013 @ 08:00 AM
  
  
  
  
  
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Mono Topwater Prop Bass Lur

Each type of line has specific uses, according to Marty Stone

By Walker Smith

If you’ve hung around your local marinas long enough, chances are you’ve heard the debate between monofilament and braided line for bass fishing with topwaters. While many anglers utilize a more new-school approach by solely using braided line for all topwater applications, some of the more old-school anglers stick with monofilament for their topwater presentations.

Vicious Fishing pro Marty Stone has a tried and true “hybrid” system that utilizes both schools of thought. Whenever he’s on a hot topwater bite, you’ll find him using both types of line for very specific reasons.

Braided line for walking baits

Whether he’s using a Heddon Super Spook, Lucky Craft Sammy or Lucky Craft Gunfish, Stone opts for 30-pound Vicious Braided Line. Because these baits are highly effective search tools for schooling bass on areas such as points and expansive flats, he finds the no-stretch qualities of braid essential for maximizing his hookups.

“It never fails—any time you make a long cast with a walking topwater bait, more times than not, you’ll get bit on the end of the cast,” Stone said. “Braid doesn’t have any stretch, which transfers the energy of my hookset directly to the fish, allowing me to get a solid hookup before the bass spits the bait.”

The absence of stretch in braided line also aids in proper presentation with walking topwater baits. After a long cast, you need to have the ability to work the bait with ease.

“Braid also transfers the twitches of my rod tip directly to the bait,” Stone said. “With the most subtle twitches, I can walk my topwaters from 40-yards away without having to jerk my arm out of socket.”

In addition to helping your hookup ratio and presentation, braided line allows for extra-long casts, which proves invaluable when covering large, open areas. If you’re bombing a 7/8-ounce Super Spook on 30-pound braided line, you’ll be able to cover twice the water as you would with monofilament.

Monofilament for poppers and prop baits

When using poppers and prop baits, Stone exclusively uses monofilament line. If he finds himself around heavy cover, such as fallen trees, he’ll stick with 17-pound test. For lighter cover, such as grass lines, he’ll bump his line size down to 15-pound test.

“With poppers and prop baits, I’m making precise casts to specific structure in close quarters,” Stone said. “Not only does monofilament increase my casting accuracy, but it also has enough stretch to assure a solid hookup. The rigidity of braided line pulls the bait away from the bass too quickly in close combat.”

The stretch of monofilament acts as a shock absorber when using these baits. While a quick hookset is necessary, the split-second delay that mono gives you allows the bass to eat the entire bait, therefore increasing your hookup ratio.

Through a lot of trial and error, Stone has also found that braided line can wreak havoc on prop baits. Because braid floats so well on the water’s surface, any slack line immediately tangles in the blades, making it nearly impossible to ensure a proper presentation.

Exciting topwater strikes get every angler’s adrenaline pumping. As winter slowly fades and the bass become more active, these guidelines will help you catch more fish and decrease your topwater heartbreaks this spring.





































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How to Fish Grass for Bass

Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Feb 18, 2013 @ 07:00 AM
  
  
  
  
  
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Grass fish with jig

By Jason Sealock

Anglers either love it or hate it. Fishing grass can be some of the best experiences or some of the most frustrating and that's generally determined by an angler's attitude and strategy. Just because there is grass doesn't mean you ignore all the other variables in fishing. How you fish grass is important, but knowing where in a field of grass to fish is probably more important.

We picked Greg Hackney's brain about how he likes to fish grass and ran a video series, but folks have asked us to organized his thoughts into an article. We broke it down to essentially four easy parts:
  •    Seasonal approach
  •    Lure choices
  •    Line choices
  •    Identifying grass

Four seasons of grass fishing

"I find more times than not that grass fishing has more to do with the bottom than it does the grass," Hackney said. "It's more about the hard bottoms, sandy bottoms, spawning areas around the grass depending on the season and the fishery."

In the early spring the fish will get on inside edges of grass. As the summer sets in, they may get in and under the grass more as it mats up and makes cooler, cleaner and darker areas for them to ambush. In the fall we often target bass on those outside edges. If the grass stays in some capacity, bass can relate to those grass edges on river breaks and such all through the winter. Even grass that goes dormant and gets real short in the cooler months will hold populations of bass.

Grass can keep fish from making big migrations from the main lake to the backs of the bays. Hackney has found on many fisheries that the presence of grass keeps bass in one general area through prespawn, spawn, post spawn, summer, fall and winter. As the lakes fluctuate, the bass just reposition in proximity to the grass and forage relating to the grassy areas.

Pressure can also reposition bass on grass areas. Hackney still looks for those structural changes like creek channel bends, points and humps and then targets the grass on those changes. But often the best places can get too much angling pressure and you have to adapt how you fish grass or move down slightly to find where those bass have repositioned in the grass away from the key areas.


Choose the best baits not your favorite baits

Folks probably think all Hackney does if flip and pitch grass with jigs. If he had his choice that would be right, but fishing grass is like anything else. You choose the tool that fits the situation, not your favorite technique.

In the early spring period when the grass is often shorter and more submerged than later in the year, Hackney focuses on lures that cover water and draw reaction strikes like a Strike King Red Eye Shad or his Strike King Hack Attack Heavy Cover Spinnerbait fished over and around the grass edges. Bass will get shallower in colder water around grass than they will on lakes without grass. They will get up there even in water as cool as 40 degrees. He likes to fish over the grass and just tick the tops of it and ripping it out when it snags for a reaction bite.

As it warms up he starts targeting the bass spawning around the inside edges of the grass with a Strike King KVD 1.5. He thinks those bass cruising and looking to spawn react better to that smaller profile worked on the inside edge of grass and ripped off the top of submerged grass.

Flipping and pitching also starts to be effective with soft plastics like beavers or soft stickbaits around the spawn.

After the spawn he really likes a topwater bait like the new Strike King Sexy Dawg or the KVD Sexy Frog. He also likes a spinnerbait with a big blade during this period when he's targeting grass fish around the shad spawn.

As the grass gets matted and thickens in the warmer months. He'll go with his Strike King Hack Attack Jig or a Strike King Rodent.  He goes with the heaviest weight he can get away with because he can be more efficient punching through quickly. But if he's not getting bites, he will go down in weight for a slower more enticing fall.

He'll stick with the jig and rodent one-two punch all the way to winter.

Your line can make grass fishing easy or difficult

When you talk fishing grass, anglers automatically think power fishing with big heavy line. And that's true to an extent. But Hackney chooses his line based on the fish behavior and time of the year.

When he's fishing lipless baits early in the year, he'll use braid because he wants to clear his bait of grass easily and quickly. Since the fish are cold, they won't jump and throw the trebles as easily either on the no-stretch line.

When he's flipping or pitching, he always goes with braid because the bass can't differentiate the braid from the grass. He will go with fluorocarbon if he's pitching a stick bait to the inside or outside edges of the grass because the fish are looking at it more in open water.

With his spinnerbaits, topwaters and crankbaits he's usually going with fluorocarbon and monofilament especially as the water warms up and the fish have softer mouths and he wants to keep them hooked better with the give of monofilament. Still he uses heavy line—20-pound line with the mono and fluoro and 65-pound with the braid—around grass to give him more control and power to move fish over and out of the grass.

Identifying your grass improves your approach

Folks often get hung up on types of grass and scientific names for them. Most good grass anglers identify two types of grass -- "under grass" and "next-to grass."  Hydrilla, Milfoil, Lily Pads, Hyacinths and some other grasses grow with thin stalks but lay over or form large canopies over the top of bass. These are the types of grasses that form the famous mats that anglers love to punch. While grasses like Coontail, Tules, Pencil Reeds, Arrow Heads and other types of grass that are thick and grow close together, form "edges" that the bass will get on top of or next to.

The type of grass isn't as important as recognizing whether the bass will setup under or next to the grass. That will also help decide which lures offer the best presentations. Grasses like hydrilla tend to be the most popular because they can form edges and canopies and it gives the bass and anglers a lot more good options.

Most of the grasses will be shorter in colder water allowing you to fish baits over them. As they grow and the water warms they will create canopies or edges to fish more.  Sometimes fishing can be as easy as knowing the bass are on the inside grass lines or outside grass lines.

Learning to find grass near other structural changes, with the right bottom composition and then reading the grass in those areas to make educated choices on line and lure selection will take most of the frustration out of grass fish.

To learn more on how Hackney targets grass fish, check out this series of videos:

Fishing Grass | Seasons
Fishing Grass | Line Choices
Fishing Grass | Bait Selection



































































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Hooks for Bass | Choosing the Right Style

Posted by Walker Smith on Wed, Feb 13, 2013 @ 08:00 AM
  
  
  
  
  
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five hooks for rigging plastics for bass fishing



Five basic types of bass fishing hooks for any application

By Walker Smith and Jason Sealock

Walking down the hook aisle of any tackle store can be pretty intimidating—the different numbers, bends, shapes and advertising slogans are enough to make even a seasoned angler’s head spin. As much as we love testing new hooks and delving into the technical aspects of things, we’ve put together a simple list of tried and true types of hooks for bass fishing.

Whether you’re an angler on a budget or trying to limit the size of your tackle collection, these 5 versatile types of hooks will help you simplify your selection process while reducing any confusion.

•    Octopus
•    Wacky
•    Straight shank
•    Round bend offset
•    Extra Wide Gap (EWG)

Octopus hooks

They’ve got a weird name, but a very specific purpose. We use octopus hooks exclusively for drop shotting due to their compact profile. These days, most drop shotting is done by nose-hooking soft plastics. Anytime you rig your bait this way, you want your line tie and hook point to be as close as possible to each other to avoid hook failure. In addition, the compact profile is less likely to spook suspicious bass.

Recommended baits: Strike King KVD Dream Shot, Zoom Finesse Worm, Missile Baits Fuse 4.4

Wacky hooks

Think of a wacky hook as an octopus hook with a wider gap. Because wacky rigging involves hooking a relatively thick stick worm in the middle, wacky hooks have a larger “bite” than octopus hooks to increase hookups. Similar to their octopus hook counterparts, the line ties and hook points of wacky hooks are located close to the bait for maximum hook penetration.

Recommended baits: Yum F2 Dinger, Zoom Trick Worm, Berkley Heavy Weight Fat Sinkworm

Straight shank hooks

These hooks are ideal for flipping and pitching soft plastic baits into heavy cover. As the name implies, these hooks have a perfectly straight shank, allowing you to achieve a direct line pull on the hook itself. This proves essential when quickly pulling big bass from ultra-thick cover.

We also occasionally use straight shank hooks for casting in grassy areas, as they’re fairly resistant to thick, submerged vegetation.

Recommended baits: Berkley Havoc Rocket Craw, Yum F2 Big Show Craw, Strike King KVD Perfect Plastic Rodent

Round bend offset hooks

This particular hook style is simply a straight shank hook with an elbow beneath the line tie. This notch comes in handy if you’re seeking a streamlined profile with “straight” plastics without much bulk. Without the elbow, smaller soft plastics tend to become crimped at their midsections, which adversely affects both the profile and presentation.

We like to use these hooks for a variety of presentations, most notably for weightless techniques such as soft jerkbaits, finesse worms and stick baits.

Recommended baits: Zoom Fluke, Trigger X Drop Dead Minnow, Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm

Extra wide gap (EWG) hooks

EWG hooks have a wider, more aggressive bend than your standard round bend offset hooks, making them an ideal choice for bulkier soft plastic baits. The extra space between the shank and hook point allow bigger baits to collapse easier, which increases the hook penetration. If you’re getting a lot of bites with other hooks but having trouble hooking up with thicker plastics, this style of hook will more than likely remedy the problem.

Effective for both flipping and casting, we use these hooks for big, “meaty” soft plastic creature baits.

Recommended baits: Strike King KVD Pro-Model Tube, Zoom Brush Hog, Berkley Power Bait Power Hawg






















































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Dyeing Soft Plastic Bass Lures in the Spring

Posted by Walker Smith on Mon, Feb 11, 2013 @ 08:00 AM
  
  
  
  
  
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dyeing plastics with dip and markers

Russ Lane adds color to his plastics for all phases of the spawn

By Walker Smith

Spring is known for excellent bass fishing, but there’s an underutilized technique that can easily turn good fishing days into outstanding ones. As anglers target the shallows in hopes of intercepting big, transitioning bass, Big Bite Baits pro Russ Lane does the same—with one minor difference. During all phases of the spawn, he’s a huge believer in dyeing soft plastic bass lures.

While many of us only reach for our bottles of dye when faced with short-striking bass, Lane has developed a solid soft plastic dyeing system that produces more bites and bigger fish.   

Prespawn

Throughout most of the country, prespawn water clarity is often limited. With abundant winter precipitation muddying many fisheries, Lane looks to a specific dye color to combat the cold, murky water.

“If I’m fishing dirty water in the 50-degree range, I put orange dye on all of my plastics,” Lane said. “More times than not, I catch prespawn fish that spit up orange and red crawfish pinchers, which tells me they’re primarily feeding on crawfish.”

Not only does Lane look for crawfish in the mouths of these bass, but he also inspects the color of their mouths. When he notices their crushers and teeth stained red or yellow, he knows it’s time to break out the orange dye.

“Whether I’m flipping and pitching a Big Bite Baits Russ Lane YoDaddy or using a Big Bite Baits Chunk, I just dip the pinchers in the dye,” Lane said. “It’s a perfect imitation of a crawfish and it gets me a ton of extra bites.”

Spawn

When the water temperature hits the 60-degree mark and the bass start to get locked onto their beds, Lane still dyes his plastics, but he opts for a different color. Although it’s a subtle change, it makes a big difference in his success.

“I use chartreuse dye on all of my plastics when I’m bed fishing,” Lane said. “Just a little bit of chartreuse on the tail helps trigger a lot of aggression from bass protecting their beds from bluegill and bream.”

While the chartreuse dye generates more aggressive strikes from bedding fish, it also aids in his ability to see the bait. Dark-colored soft plastics can be tough to see when bed fishing, but the added color helps Lane detect bites faster, resulting in more fish catches.

Post spawn

As the bass finish spawning, sunfish, such as bream and shell crackers, move into the shallows to do the very same thing. During this time period, Lane continues using chartreuse dye, but for a very different reason.

“When sunfish get on bed, their colors get really bright and their yellow tails are highly visible,” Lane said. “Female post spawn bass will often stay in the shallows to feed on them, so a Big Bite Baits WarMouth or Big Bite Baits Russ Lane Coontail Worm with a chartreuse-dyed tail fished around bluegill beds is a great way to catch some big post spawn bass.”

As spring winds down, Lane still utilizes chartreuse dye, but becomes more selective. When the bass first move to their summer dwellings, such as humps and river ledges, a Big Bites Kreit Tail Worm dipped in chartreuse works wonders for him.

“If the water clarity is less than 2 feet, I always use chartreuse dye to give the bass a better look at the bait,” Lane said. “In clear water, however, I prefer more natural colors unless there’s a lot of cloud cover.”

As you knock the dust off of your fishing gear this spring and head out to enjoy warmer temperatures and spawning bass, make sure to remember your soft plastic dye—sometimes the smallest modifications yield the biggest results.











































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Ice fishing for Crappie with the Ultralight System

Posted by Jason Sealock on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 @ 07:00 AM
  
  
  
  
  
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Ice fishing crappie with ultralight jigs

By Jason Sealock and Todd Hammill

Ice fishing is a big deal in the northern half of the country right now. A good portion of the northern anglers look forward to this time of year but several folks want to try ice fishing without knowing where to start. Todd Hammill is our resident light line ice expert and has been having some good success ice fishing crappie with ultralight tackle. So we thought we'd share his strategy with other ice anglers looking for more success crappie fishing on their local frozen lakes.

There are several key elements to the ultralight system:

•    Choose the smallest line
•    Knot placements matters
•    Find the active fish
•    Trigger the impulse
•    Detect water displacement bites

Gear matters when fishing ultralight

When you're ice fishing crappie with light line and micro ice jigs, the gear you choose can make this fishing very efficient. Choose a rod with a light tip but enough backbone to take up the line and move the jig. But more importantly the line you choose can make all the difference.

"This is a total water displacement bite," Hammill said. "The lighter the line, the less resistance there will be when the fish sucks the bait in."

The fish might suck the bait in from 4 inches away or from 4 millimeters away and you've got to be able to detect that. For that reason, Hammill sticks with 1 pound line even sometimes opting for 1/2-pound ice fishing line.

It's not just which knot but where the knot connects

Of course with light line, anglers must tie a good knot and check it often. But more important is the position of your knot on your micro ice jig. If the knot it too far forward or back on the eyelet of the jig, the jig will not sit horizontally in the water, and that's critical to a good presentation. Hammill checks his knot after every bite or fish to make sure the fish didn't alter his presentation.

Good fish finders speed up the game

Hammill grew up using flashers but has since settled on portable sonar units to tell the whole story.

"I am looking for active fish," he said. "Not just active fish, but I want to know where they came from and where they go after they go away from my bait. I get a lot more data and can interpret it immediately with sonar.  You can watch your sonar and see when bait and plankton move into the area and when the fish might turn on instantly. I also like to follow how the fish reacts to my lure on the screen. I call it video-game fishing."

Hammill will try to "lift" the fish on his sonar, getting them to react and move with his bait. The more he sees them move on the screen, the more he finds active biting crappie.

Making them bite changes from hour to hour

Sometimes the lighter lures entice the fish better with an ultra slow fall. Sometimes you have to constantly work the jig in one place in the water column to get them biting. Hammill calls it pounding where he's just saturating a certain level in the water column with constant movement of his offering. Other times a quick move of 3 or 4 inches and the fish will respond. It can change hourly or daily.

To make his offering more enticing, Hammill adds "spikes" or euro larvae to the hook of his jig. A small jighead and 1 or 2 spikes on the hook can be more than curious ice crappie can stand.


The key is detecting the bites

"I firmly believe many anglers are getting bit and never know it," Hammill said.

When ice fishing crappie, they don't grab it and run. The ease up to it slowly, stare and decide. Then they simply pull water slowly through their gills and the lure slides into their mouth. Because there is so little movement, bites can be extremely difficult to detect.

Hammill uses a custom made spring bobber with a chartreuse bead so that he can see it easily against the glow of his heaters and electronics. The line runs through the spring into the bead and down to the lure. He fixates on the bead, and if the bead rises or lowers, he immediately sets the hook into a crappie.

It's an extremely focused way to fish. It's not kick back, watch TV and wait for a bite. You've got to study the spring bobber for the slightest movement. Sometimes they suck the jigs in from such a close distance that you just see the line tighten and the bobber doesn't even quiver. But the rewards to patient perception can be many when ice fishing crappie with ultralight gear.

Hammill's Gear Recommendations:

•    Rod/Reel:    Frabill’s Bro Series – 18” Micro-Light combo 
•    Line:            Sufix Ice Magic in 1-pound test 
•    Electronics: Humminbird 386ci
•    Micro Jigs:   Northland Tackle Mooska Tungsten Jig 1/57 ounce       
                          Berkley Powerbait Atomic Dogbone in 1/32 -1/64 ounce
































































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Choosing the Right Gear Ratio Reel

Posted by Walker Smith on Mon, Feb 04, 2013 @ 08:00 AM
  
  
  
  
  
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Gear-Ratio-Reel




By Walker Smith and Jason Sealock

Buying new fishing reels overwhelms many anglers, as an abundance of options  can muddy the waters. One of the big decisions involves choosing the right gear ratio reel. Understanding gear ratios in fishing reels will increase your efficiency on the water and decrease your stress level when faced with a big purchasing decision.

Some quick technical talk

The gear ratio of a reel is measured by how many times the spool turns for each single turn of the handle. For instance, if a reel has a gear ratio of 6.4:1, every time you turn the handle, the spool inside turns exactly 6.4 times.

As a result, a reel with a gear ratio of 5.1:1 is going to be a much slower reel than one with a 7.1:1 gear ratio—the spool of a 5.1:1 reel will spin 5.1 times with each handle turn, while the 7.1:1 spool will turn 7.1 times with each handle turn.

It also helps to know the IPT of a reel or Inches Per Turn. This is a measure of how much line is retrieved into the reel with a single handle turn. It can also mean a gear ratio reel that claims to be the fastest may really be the same as other high speed reels.

Because spool size, depth and width can impact IPT, just because a reel is 7.3:1 or 8:1 doesn't necessarily mean it reels in more line per turn than a 7.1:1 reel-- it also depends on the spool and line size.

Uses for a low gear ratio reel | 5.1:1 thru 5.4:1

•    Deep crankbaits
•    Big swimbaits
•    Deep water spinnerbaits

A lower gear ratio reel is ideal for big baits that pull a lot, such as deep crankbaits. These reels have the highest amount of torque, allowing you to put less effort into retrieving the bait and more energy towards finding the fish.

These reels are also great for slow rolling big, heavy baits such as spinnerbaits and swimbaits. In cold water when bass are especially wary, a slow gear ratio is perfect for these slower, non-threatening presentations. A slow reel also aids in keeping these baits in the strike zone longer, which can prove invaluable when fishing moving baits in deep water.

Uses for a medium gear ratio reel | 6.1:1 thru 6.4:1

•    Squarebill crankbaits
•    Medium depth crankbaits
•    Shallow spinnerbaits
•    Shallow castable umbrella rigs

These reels are great for multiple techniques and presentations, making them very popular among bass anglers. Whether you’re plowing through nasty cover with a squarebill during the prespawn or bombing spinnerbaits on shallow flats in the fall, a medium gear ratio reel will do the job.

I prefer a 6.4:1 reel whenever I’m using anything that triggers a reaction strike. The extra speed lets me fish the bait quickly, forcing the most aggressive fish to react. Conversely, I’ll opt for a 6.1:1 reel when fishing crankbaits that run in 8- to 14-foot range. The small decrease in speed helps keep them in the strike zone longer, while still maintaining enough speed to solicit a reaction strike and giving me added torque.

Uses for a high gear ratio reel | 7.1:1 thru 8.1:1

•    Jigs and big worms
•    Shaky heads
•    Texas rigs
•    Carolina rigs
•    Topwaters
•    Jerkbaits
•    Lipless crankbaits

If you’re fishing any lure that you primarily work with your rod, a high gear ratio reel is the way to go. You’re often pulling the bait with your rod tip, but you need to have the ability to quickly take up your slack when you get a bite. A fast reel also helps when fighting a big bass—you need all the speed you can get in order to quickly pull it away from any line-fraying hazards.

Topwaters, jerkbaits, jigs, plastics and even lipless crankbaits warrant the use of a high speed reel. These techniques create a lot of slack in your line, and if you get bit 30 yards away from the boat, a high gear ratio comes in handy for getting a solid hookset.

Choosing the right gear ratio reel can be a bit confusing, but with some basic understanding of what the numbers really mean, it gets much easier to understand. When purchasing your next reel, try to keep things simple by remembering this simple gear ratio guide.
 
                   Left to Right: Abu Garcia MGX, Abu Garcia Revo SX, Lew's Pro Team, Lew's BB-1

























































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