You are here: Home / Archives for Bass Fishing

FLW Clear Lake Results

September 26, 2011 by ·

The FLW tour rolled into Clear Lake California over the weekend, and saw Michael Tuck take home the top prize.

Over the course of three days, Tuck managed to bag 76 pounds, 9 ounces of Clear Lake largemouth. Tuck also had the distinction of weighing in the event’s largest one day bag, at 27-12.

All in all, tuck brought the trophy home with big fish, and a simple strategy.

The Winning Bait

Primarily, Tuck used a swimbait called the Trashfish by Little Creeper Baits to bring home the title. He rigged the four and six inch versions of the bait onto Owner Twist Lock hooks with quarter ounce belly weights.

While the bite started to become slightly infrequent due to an approaching cold front, the approach paid off big in the end.

Runner Up

Joe Uribe Jr. of Lake Forest California managed to bag an impressive 71-10 of his own using a Spook bait in the morning, then switching off to a Zoom Horny Toad later in the afternoon.

All in all, it was a fantastic tournament and both anglers have a lot to be proud of.

Filed Under: Bass Fishing · Tagged: ,

2011 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Northern Open Results

September 26, 2011 by ·

Another win for Ish

Ish Monroe grabbed an early lead, and never really looked back. Riding a frog bite, and mixing in some action with a prototype flipping bait, Ish brought 51 pounds, two ounces to the weigh in stage over three days. This proved to be more than two pounds more than his nearest competitor

Since he had already qualified for the 2012 Bassmaster classic, Ish was pretty much just having fun. All in all, he’s now won an Open, Elite Series, and Federation event. Not too shabby!

The Winning Baits

Ish was tossing one of his own signature baits, the Snag Proof Ish’s Phat Frog, on top of matted grass along the bank.

When things got windy, Ish switched to a prototype bait designed specifically for flipping. The full details have been a bit hush-hush, but one two details have come out—first, the bait was black and blue, and second, he used a River2Sea specialty flipping weight.

Hopefully, more details will start to become available soon.

Runner Up

Michael Simonton of Fremont, Ohio, made a hard charge at Ish, trying to make a tournament of it, but the lead just proved too much. Simonton had to settle for 2nd place, which is nothing to hang your head about.

 

 

Filed Under: Bass Fishing · Tagged: ,

How To Tie A Drop Shot Rig

September 23, 2011 by ·

The other day I went to a local tackle shop to pick up some drop shot hooks. While I was there, one of the employees started asking me about the drop-shot rig and how specifically to tie it. It seems as though he was having problems when he was tying the hook to the line and just couldn’t get the hook to stay in a right-angle position on his line.

He was pretty sure that this was the cause of his lack of success with this rig and wondered if I had some secret that might help him. I asked him what knot he was using and when he told me, it was clear that he just wasn’t using the right one.

With that in mind, I figured that I would go over specifically how to tie a drop-shot rig. I’m sure that some of you are aware that there are several companies who will soon be releasing entire systems for drop-shotting that are designed to make tying easier as well as address the main drawback to the technique which is line twist. We will be reviewing these in depth when we get them and use them for a period of time but for now, let’s look at the traditional way to tie this rig.

To begin with, I only use spinning tackle and relatively light line, 4 – 6 pound test. For hooks I prefer Gamakatsu Drop/Split Shot Hooks. These are light wire, penetrate quickly and easily and are sturdier than you would think by looking at them.

The most important part of the rig is the knot that you use to tie the hook onto the main line. This is what will keep the hook, and

Notice The Loop

therefore, the bait in that horizontal position while in the water. We always use an overhand Palomar knot. To tie this you go up your main line about 18 inches, pinch the line together so that it is doubled then thread it through the hook eye.

Making sure you always have that same doubled over line to work with, now tie a simple granny knot in the line. Moisten the line and begin to cinch it down without tightening it all the way. Now take the loop from the granny knot and go over and around the entire hook. Finally, cinch it down completely and your hook will stick out at roughly a right-angle from your line.

Now all you have to do is put a weight on the end of the main line and choose a lure. I prefer the tungsten weights because they are smaller than their lead counterparts which increases sensitivity and is more environmentally friendly. Most of them have a clip on the top so that all you have to do is tie a simple knot at the end of your line, thread it through the wide part of the clip and then pull it up into the apex of the clip. This keeps the weight firmly on the line without much fuss.

Most of the baits that you’ll use with a drop-shot rig are designed to be nose-hooked which doesn’t require any special talents to do successfully. I just like to make sure that I can see at least 60% of the hook, the bait is vertically aligned with the hook and that the gap is not filled completely. I believe these precautions equate to a better hook-up percentage.

So there it is our complete guide to tying the drop-shot rig.

See ya’ on the water …

The Final Rig

Filed Under: Bass Fishing · Tagged: ,

Bass Fishing Gimmicks Part 2

September 21, 2011 by ·

When we wrote the original bass fishing gimmicks post, we thought we were just having a little fun. Turns out, that would become one of our most popular articles ever.

Well, we went searching for a few more. After the first list I thought we had pretty much done it all, but I was incredibly wrong. So here it is, the second collection of bass fishing gimmicks that probably won’t catch a fish, but probably will make you worthy of a You Tube video on your next trip to the lake!

1. Chuck Woolery’s MotoLures

If the first thing you thought of was, “Wait, isn’t Chuck Woolery the game show guy?” you are absolutely right. Apparently, Chuck is quite

I'm not sure this will lead to a Fish Connection

the fishing enthusiast, even boasting an instructional video on his website.

Well, these little lures look like toys, and feature a mechanical tail. Basically, as you retrieve them, the tail starts kicking along. I have no idea what kind of hooks they use, or any of the other parts for that matter, but like I said, they look like toys.

But hey, a guy who spent all that time on the Love Connection has to know what he’s talking about, right?

Special Note: I actually found these things for sale on Amazon for a few bucks. Anyone dare me to give it a shot and write a review?

2. The Blade Dancer Lure By Berkley

Hey, even a company like Berkley can make a mistake or two. When they do, it’s our job to poke a little fun.

It seems like The Blade Dancer lure was designed trying to be every thing to every one.

It’s essentially a small, curl tail swim bait that has a strange, bent, spoon like attachment. Apparently, you can walk it, swim it, jig it, and a whole lot more. In my experience, you can’t use one bait in every situation, and the more specific you get the better.

3. The Alive Lures Bee

Really?

All right, the Moto Lure looked like a toy, but I’m pretty sure this one is a toy!

Yet another battery powered lure that promises to catch fish when nothing else will work. The bee itself looks like a badly drawn cartoon.

But on the bright side, it is “water activated!”

4. The Birdee Lure

Billing itself as a work of art that also catches fish, we have the Birdee Lure.

It’s a bird, it’s a lure… it’s probably a huge waste of time.

I’ve actually heard of some fish being caught on dead birds or mice, but those are usually large catfish feeding by scent at night.

Now, I have no doubt that pike, muskie, and even really big bass will occasionally eat a small bird if the opportunity presents itself, but it is certainly often enough to warrant fishing for them with a plastic bird.

5. Popeil Pocket Fisherman

Invented by Ron Popeil, and now owned by As Seen On TV giant Ronco, this may be the grand daddy of all craptastic fishing gimmicks.

Trying to describe just how awesomely bad this thing is would be almost impossible, so, for your viewing pleasure, here is the original TV commercial.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fh_YwAnv7w]

Yeah, it’s that bad!

Believe it or not, this is not the complete list! We actually found a few more, and will be compiling them and publishing a third in this series. Stay tuned for that, and hey, if you don’t mind wasting a few bucks, try ordering one of these things and giving it a try!

Filed Under: Bass Fishing · Tagged:

One Simple Tip For Catching More Bass On The Shaky Head Worm

September 19, 2011 by ·

We’re going to answer another question today from our readers. This one concerns slowing down your presentation. There seems to be some folks who are finding that, due to limited time on the water, they can’t narrow things down to an approach that will work. This is nothing unusual. I still get the shakes before I take that first cast in anticipation of the first strike of the day. However, I’ve been doing this long enough now to realize that this doesn’t always translate into a more productive day, or several hours, of fishing.

If you’re a baseball fan you know that the best hitters in the game tend to be those who have learned to be patient enough to swing at only the good pitches. You just can’t hit every pitch that is thrown so swinging at all of them will more than likely earn you a strike out as opposed to a hit. So how does this translate to fishing?

Anglers have to learn to approach those lure choices that are designed as finesse techniques with the same patience as a big league hitter.

A case in point is a buddy of mine who fishes almost exclusively with soft plastics. Why? Because he has read that there are more tournaments and money won on the cast for cash circuits with plastics than any other genre of baits. Okay, can’t argue with him there. But, he fishes a shaky-head as fast as I fish a spinner-bait. You can probably guess the outcome of that strategy! He’ll get the occasional bite but when we go head to head, I tend to out catch him 3 to 1.

I’m not bragging, we just fish this rig two completely different ways. The reason for this explanation is that the question I’m attempting to answer is, “How slow should I fish a shaky-head rig?”. This is paraphrasing, but it is the core concern that we’re going to try to shed some light on in this article.

Slow It Down…WAY Down

The short answer is, as slow as you can without allowing rigor-mortis to set in. Given that you have found the fish and the water clarity lends itself to this technique, a shaky-head can be a very effective presentation at this time of year. When I was first learning how to fish this rig, I had to train myself to move my bait inches at a time and then kill it and shake it on semi-slack line before moving it again. This can be tough to master when you’re used to running and gunning.

One of the ways you can practice this before you put it into play is taking your gear out to the back yard. Make a cast across the lawn and see if you can move your bait no more than two inches at a time. Learn how far to move your rod tip to limit the lures movement to just a couple of inches. When you have that perfected, practice moving the lure, then barely shaking it for 10 to 30 seconds before moving it again.

When you have both components of this retrieve, time it beginning from when the lure hits the ground to when it is within a few feet of you. This will give you an idea in real terms of how long one cast and retrieve should take you when you’re on the water. Now all you have to do is to replicate what you’ve already done. This simple process is what it took for me to start catching fish on a regular basis using the shaky-head technique.

I know that this sounds a lot like watching paint dry but it can be extremely effective for sluggish or heavily pressured fish. No, you’re not going to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for most casts in the shortest period of time using this method. But that isn’t the point is it.

You’re doing this because you aren’t catching any fish by moving quickly and realize you’ve got to slow down to get those bites! If you take the time to learn to do this, an added benefit is that this presentation can be used with more than just a shaky-head. It translates well to a whole host of other baits and techniques like drop-shotting and dragging.

Let us know how you’re doing with this. We enjoy hearing the follow-up.

See ya’ on the water …

Filed Under: Bass Fishing ·

Ott DeFoe Displays The Values That Make Fishing Great

September 14, 2011 by ·

We have talked in the past about how professional bass fishing seems to hold to values that are becoming more and more rare in other sports. Perhaps it’s just that the media can’t resist a story that pits one contestant against another both on and off the field of play. The drama that seems to have become the norm, with guys calling each other all manner of foul names and suggesting they do things that are physically impossible, has become mainstream fodder and seems to fill entire sports casts. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Bass Fishing · Tagged: ,

Late Summer Shore Fishing Tips

September 12, 2011 by ·

Here at MVF we like to take the time to go through the mail and try to answer those questions that have a recurring theme to them. One

With the right approach, shore fishing can be great

of those, especially lately, is regarding what the shore bound angler can do, this time of year to catch some fish when they can’t get to the deeper water because they don’t have access to a boat. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Bass Fishing · Tagged:

BASS Elite Series 2012 Schedule

September 6, 2011 by ·

Special thanks to our friends Picasso Lures for sending out the tweet that prompted this article. Be sure to check them out on Twitter @picassolures.

The 2012 season will kick off with the Classic which will be held on the Red River out of Shreveport, La.The dates are February 24-26 and will feature some new twists, not the least of which will be the inclusion of the Bassmaster College Bass Champion.   [Read more…]

Filed Under: Bass Fishing · Tagged: ,

Breaking Into Bass Fishing For Less Than $200

September 1, 2011 by ·

Bass Fishing Ain't All About The Benjamins

The other day a guy came up and started asking me some questions about fishing. He explained that his 11 year old son has taken to watching fishing shows on TV and really wanted to give it a try.

The father didn’t have any idea as to how to get started since he had never fished for anything in his life and said that the boy has now saved $200.00 and was itching to spend it on gear so that he could go out and catch some bass. He also asked me if I had any suggestions that would allow his son to utilize this money in such a way that he could get enough gear to give it a try. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Bass Fishing ·

Fishing After The Blender

August 9, 2011 by ·

We had another great question from one of our readers that we felt we needed to address. This gentleman asked why, when he went fishing the other day, he caught lots of fish in areas that seemed as though they had been disturbed by something.

He also wondered why his usual spots didn’t produce as well as these area that obviously had been subject to some kind of unusual, seemingly destructive grinding of the vegetation. Without any pictures to see exactly what he was talking about, we’re going to do our best to explain what most likely occurred.   [Read more…]

Filed Under: Bass Fishing · Tagged:
« Previous Page
Next Page »