Choosing the right equipment doesn't have to be that complicated. I will give you as much information on the three basic setups I think will give you a good start without costing you a fortune. I would suggest going with two bait casters and one spinning rig. In the past I would recommend going to a dedicated sporting goods store to get what you need, but now most retail stores are carrying a good selection of quality rods and reels. In my area, Walmart is now carrying brands like Diawa, Abu Garcia, Falcon, Wright and McGill and Quantum.
The first setup is a 6”6” Med Heavy graphite bait cast rod paired with a high speed bait cast reel, like a 7 to 1 ratio. This is a good all around rod that can be used for fishing worms, jigs, senkos, spinnerbaits, Carolina rigs and even jerkbaits. There are a couple of options you can choose on a rod. Some anglers prefer a solid handle, while others want the split grip which reduces the overall weight of the rod. Both are great choices and it basically comes down to personal preference and what feels good in your hand. The graphite component rod gives you the feel you need to detect a strike and feel your lure moving through cover. I chose a high speed reel for this set up which will give you the ability to take up more line per each turn of the reel handle which is an advantage when fighting a fish. It also will allow you to move the bait more quickly and burn a spinnerbait with little effort.... READ MORE
Last weekend we headed up to Suffern, NY for the World Fishing and Sports Show, which was great. We got an opportunity to speak with Bill Carson from Johnson Outdoors about the Humminbird 360, Minn Kota iPilot Link and Lake Master® Mapping.
When it comes to finding fish these guys definitely prove why they are the leading innovators of fish finders.
Check out our video interview with Bill Carson.
Features of the Humminbird's 360 Imaging accessory:
Ability to mark waypoints anywhere on the 360 Imaging screen
An audio alert is given when the boat nears a waypoint within casting range
Capable of recording video and screen captures
Eight color palettes
Four sonar speed settings
Specific area can be selected and zoomed in on
THIS IS I-PILOT® LINK™, THE GAME CHANGER IN BOAT CONTROL
For more information about these new technologies visit Humminbird and Minn Kota
A lot of myths are commonly associated with topwater fishing. We've all
heard that the technique is just something you do in early morning or
late afternoon hours. Or they only work in the spring or fall. Or that,
because of increasing fishing pressure, bass simply aren't fooled by
topwaters like they once were. Forget these myths.
A topwater can
pay off for you if you give it the chance and put the typical
misconceptions out of your mind. Topwater baits can be dynamite during
all hours of the day and are more versatile than most realize. I agree
that early, late, spring, and fall are the prime times for the surface
lure. But anglers who believe this is the only time are really limiting
their ability to catch bass.
Rivers are excellent for topwater
fishing because in this swift environment bass live in less than 5 feet
of water. When fishing current with a topwater plug there are a few
things to think about. The position of the fish and the angle in which
the current will move your bait. Always through 3 feet or farther past
your target, so you won't spook the fish, and move the bait with the
current as close to the target as possible. Lures of choice are the Zara
Spook Jr., Spitting Image, Cotton Cordell's Crazy Shad, and the Tiny
Torpedo.
So the next time you're on a river system and the bite is slow, tie on that old topwater plug. You'll be surprised.
Here's a modified way to tie a blood knot... The blood knot is great for joining two types of fishing lines together. It works especially well for joining braided line to fluorocarbon line. Hope you find this helpful. If you already know this knot, there's an unrelated funny clip at the end of the video (2:55 min in)
Thursday, June 7, 2012
A wind devil runs right over our bass boat while filming a bass fishing
show. High winds come out of no where, and a mini water spout begins to
form like a tiny tornado funnel cloud and heads right for us.
Everyone thinks “a bass is a bass no matter where you go“; Lake Fisherman
will say that bass relate to the same cover and that bass move the same way on
any body of water. Well, myself, and a lot of river rats know that’s not
true!!
Rivers add a different mix of situations to deal with, current and water
fluctuations are two of the major issues to contend with on river systems. In
the spring it’s the most crucial piece. Water movement can change the movement
of the bass and start or stop the pressman migratory run to the shallow water
spawning bed. One of the best tools to use to get update info on your water
levels is the Army Corp of Engineers river gauge reader. This reader is the
actual water level read out that the Army Corp Lockmasters has allowed to flow
in and out of the locks. This read out can change every day or every hour. You
can get this piece of info by going to the Army Corps Website or calling your
local river lockmaster! This information tells you how much water flow have
come in & how much water is flowing out of those locks, you can use that
information to help make better decisions on where the bass will move into to,
and where the bass will spawn.
When bass move up to spawn & the water flow is
strong and rising, normally the bass are easier to catch, but with high water
comes dirty water so sight fishing becomes impossible. When bass move in to
spawn & the water levels start to drop the bass don’t leave their beds,
however bass become very spooky so you have to make long casts & use finesse
presentations to get them to bite. Some the lures I like to use are finesse
worms, Sinkos and my favorite is a Horny Toad lure. Mainly, I use baits that
don’t make a lot of noise.
Bass don’t like strong currents when it comes to spawning time so look for
areas that don’t have a lot current when looking for spawning bass (canals,
chutes, backwater areas & any current break areas). Low water during the
spawn look for areas with quick access to deeper water (bluffs, points, deeper
pockets & marinas). Knowing your river current flow by checking your water
levels will give you a better understanding on where to concentrate your time to
get the most productive bite!!!!
Want to learn how to quickly pin point the most productive feeding zone while fishing for bass? If you can master this one tactic, you will consistently catch more bass.
One of the most important factors you can determine is if bass are looking for a “vertical” or “horizontal” presentation? When you can identify this one piece of the puzzle quickly, the rest will fall into place easier.
At the very least if you only get the “vertical/horizontal” preference determined, you’ll be 50% more productive while you are out fishing.
If you are in a boat with decent electronics and you know how to use them to determine what the predominant depth zone (top, middle, bottom) bass are using, you should find this fairly simple to do. If not, there’s a tip below that will help you.
For this technique I would recommend using a 6’ to 6’6” Medium Power Fast Action rod. I like fast action rods with single hook lures. I pair mine with a Daiwa Sol 2500 reel or a Shimano Stradic MGFA 2500. For line I recommend using a tuff 6 pound test line like Berkley Trilene XT. In really clear water I like to use fluorocarbon lines, but it’s not a must.
So here’s what you need to do. You'll need to start by using a 3” soft plastic grub rigged on a ¼ oz mushroom or ball head jig. Choose a color that you have confidence in. A color that you know produces on the body of water you are fishing.
Cast it out and start counting as soon as it hits the water surface (1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi). Let it go all the way to the bottom then and let it sit for a few seconds (vertical presentation). If you get hit on the drop or after the lure is sitting on the bottom, they are most likely looking for a vertical presentation. Pay attention to on what count the strike occurred. If you did not get hit on the drop or after letting the grub sit for a few seconds, then begin to reel it in slow and steady (horizontal presentation). It is very important that you do not move or twitch your rod while reeling in. Just keep the grub coming along steadily. If you get a strike or notice a bass following the grub back to the boat/shore, they are most likely looking for horizontal moving lures.
If you are fishing deeper water, you might be wondering how are you going to be able to know where the bass hit in the water column? Here’s a little trick you can use. When you make a cast with the grub, start counting as soon as it hits the water surface (1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi). See how long it takes for the grub to hit bottom. If it takes a "10 Mississippi count" to hit bottom, now you have a baseline to work from. Just break it into thirds and put the left over in the middle column. Meaning Top= 1,2,3 Middle=4,5,6,7 bottom=8,9,10
Now make a cast, give it a 3 count (top) and start reeling the grub back in slow and steady. Repeat the process a few times paying close attention for strikes or follow-ins.
If you do not connect, try a 7 count (middle) and again start reeling the grub back in slow and steady. Again, repeat the process a few times paying close attention for strikes or follow-ins.
For vertical presentations, you can do the same thing by counting down on the fall. Now when did the strike occur (on what count)? Let’s say you got a strike on “3 Mississippi”, try and fine-tune your presentation by making another cast and only let the bait fall for a “4 or 5 count”. If you continue to get strikes during the first “5 count” you now know that the bass are using the “TOP COLUMN” for the active feeding-zone. So you can simply fan cast around and only let the grub fall for a five count, then reel it back in steadily and cast again… no sense letting it go all the way to the bottom if you do not have to.
It’s important to remember that you’ll still need to try both vertical and horizontal presentations regardless of which feeding zone you find bass using, (top, middle or bottom) until you find their preference. When you can consistently put these two pieces of the puzzles together quickly, your fishing consistency will rise dramatically. You will be able to eliminate unproductive water more quickly and ultimately find where the bigger bass are feeding.
Sometimes they'll be all over a grub and you can just adjust the retrieval speed, depth, color, size, etc. to fine tune your presentation. Other times if you switch over to a crankbait, spinnerbait, swimbait or something that moves horizontally, you'll be able to start connecting with those bass that are aggressively chasing down baitfish.
Let's say you notice that your first strike occurred on the drop, you should try and duplicate that presentation. Make another cast and let the grub to fall vertically. If you are able to trigger more strikes, you now know that the bass are looking for a "vertical" presentation. Let's say that you are getting some strikes on the fall, but not really connecting with the bass that strike, you already have one piece of the puzzle solved (they want a vertical presentation) so now you can try using a different lure with a vertical presentation.
Personally when faced with short strikes, I like to immediately "down-size" the lure I am using. You might choose to throw a smaller grub on a lighter jig head (let's say a 2" grub on a 1/8 ounce ball head jig). Cast it out and let it sink to the bottom. Pay attention to where you get your strikes. Near the top? On the way down? At the bottom? This will let you know where preferred feeding-zone is. You will quickly start to see better and better results as you figure out more of these details. This is called fine-tuning a presentation.
As you start to imagine trying this, you’ll probably have a lot of “what if'” questions come to mind. Like, “what if the bass hits after the grub is sitting on the bottom after the 10 count is over”, or “how long should I let the grub sit on the bottom before working back in”, or “should I work it back in”. What I can offer is simply “experiment”… but pay close attention to when the strike occurs. For more insight on fine tuning your lure presentation, Frank Lapinski from our NY Prostaff wrote a great three part article that can help explain this in more detail, here's the link to "Bass talk, are you listening? - part 2"
The better you get at this, the more and bigger bass you will catch. I know it may sound complicated at first, but it is really very simple once make a habit of this process.
Everyone thinks “a bass is a bass no matter where you go“; Lake Fisherman
will say that bass relate to the same cover and that bass move the same way on
any body of water. Well, myself, and a lot of river rats know that’s not
true!!
