Many, LA- The FLW tour blew into Louisiana over the weekend, and it was exactly that wind that made all the difference.

Glen Freeman, a resident of Converse, Louisiana, made all the right adjustments to stay on top of the fish, despite the fact that the wind was making finding them a tough task. The weather did not cooperate or stay consistent day to day.

On day one, calm conditions greeted the anglers, only to give way to a storm in the mid-morning time frame. Day 2 ushered in clearer skies, but also winds that churned up the water and produced waves—some as high as six feet. On the final day, all hope of predicting Mother Nature went out the window, as winds shifted and changed seemingly out of nowhere. [Read more…]

Today we are bringing you a video tip on a very simple method for rigging soft plastic jerkbaits.

In the video, Pops will demonstrate where to hook the bait, and how to align it for proper hook setting and greater hook up ratios. [Read more…]

Green Bay, Wisconsin– The wait officially came to an end today.

At 2pm, EST, Bassmaster revealed the location of the Mystery Lake for the upcoming event to be held June 28-July 1.

Lake Michigan will get the nod, and the Elite pros will descend on Green Bay. [Read more…]

Versatile strategy for post-spawn bass fishing

We get some really good questions here at MVF from our readers so today, we’re going to answer another that is a compilation of recent e-mails. To paraphrase, “Now that the spawn is over, I’m having a hard time getting bites. Are there any techniques that I can use for these conditions?”   [Read more…]

Combats surrounding fleet of other anglers to bring home the win

National Harbor, MD–

For those who haven’t heard yet, Scott pulled off a wire to wire victory which is itself unusual. More odd than that however is the fact that he did this by fishing basically the same areas all four days. He didn’t have a few “secret” spots that he saved to fish just the last day or two.

On the contrary, he fished areas that had a virtual armada of other boats around him the entire tournament. In an interview, he said that the key was realizing that all the pressure on the fish from other anglers around him pushed the fish into spots that weren’t getting hammered. [Read more…]

How a common household item can save you some cold hard cash!

This time of year, we go through a lot of line. Between testing new baits and new fishing spots, we have to re-spool line a fair bit. Let’s face it, line is not inexpensive anymore, particularly flouro’s and braids. With that in mind, we have decided to answer another reader’s question concerning how you cut down on spending so much money just to make sure you have fresh line on all your casting reels.

We all know that you never use all the line on your reels before you make a change. For that matter, how often do you actually get more than 50 – 60% of the line on your spool wet? You get to a certain point from re-tying and or break-offs that you’re deep enough in the spool that casting distance and other factors are negatively affected which by default, forces you to strip the remaining line and spool up with new relegating bunches of yards of perfectly good line to the trash can in the process.

I’m going give you a little tip that I learned a long time ago that seems to have been forgotten or overlooked these days. This sounds a little weird but don’t totally dismiss it before you try it. Prior to putting any new line on my casting reels, I almost always take a 4 – 6 inch strip of electrical tape and wind it tightly around the spool.

Electrical Tape, Really?

I know this sounds a little weird at first blush. However, there are several advantages to using this method as opposed to using backing. To begin with, electrical tape is easily accessible. You can find the stuff almost anywhere.

Hardware stores, discount stores, even your neighborhood gas station usually has a few roles sitting on the shelf. Not to mention the fact that this stuff is inexpensive. You probably already have a role of it sitting in your garage or tool box that has hardly been used!

Why electrical tape as opposed to other kinds of tape? One of the main reasons is that it is so flexible. With a little practice, you can wind it around your spool, keeping it just as flat and smooth as a new born baby’s bottom.

So, in terms of answering the original question, how does this help?

Obviously, it cuts down on the yardage of line necessary to re-spool your reels, which saves you money.

Secondly, whether you’re using flouro, braid or any other line, the tape provides a non-slip surface that doesn’t allow the line to slip like it can when tying directly to a polished aluminum spool.

Another advantage to using this little trick is the fact that all casting reels quote line retrieved per handle turn when at full spool. This simply means that the less line you have on your spool, the less line you will retrieve per handle turn. All things considered, this might not appear to make a beans worth of difference but when you’re using a technique that requires you to pick up a lot of line in a hurry when you set, every inch of lost capacity can be the difference between you landing that fish or missing it.

You’ll never use every inch of line that is on your reels but, by wrapping your spools with some electrical tape, you can cut down on the waste associated with normal fishing a great deal.

Once again, I hope that I’ve answered the question adequately and clearly.

See ya’ on the water …

When Jeremy Starks won on Douglas Lake, he kind of let the cat out of the bag (while putting the bass into it!).

He used a technique sometimes called long-lining for getting his crankbaits down further than could be done with a standard cast and retrieve.

It is possible to to get a crankbait to dive in excess of 40 feet by using this technique, thus allowing you to get an effective bait in front of bass who have made their way to the depths. [Read more…]

In this video, Pops is going to walk you through some of the basics of getting your baitcasting reel all set up and ready to get out on the water.

Notice what he says about spool tension and birds’ nests—that will really help you determine if you need more spool tension or more breaks. [Read more…]

We received a great reader question about catching bass spawning on beds, and wanted to take a little time to answer it today.

Here is the question: [Read more…]