Guiding You In Your Quest For More And Bigger Fish
Looking back on 2011 and the many great stories that came out of that year, one stands out a bit to me.
It isn’t often that a fishing technique can be so polarizing—causing debates about legality and fairness, and even prompting a few states to take legal action.
But that is exactly what the Alabama rig has done, and will probably continue to do. This rig is actually nothing really new, but it rose to prominence on Lake Guntersville. [Read more…]
Fierce Lures In Package
As most of you who have been with us know, we here at MVF like our swimbaits. We almost always have one or more tied on and ready to go when we hit the water because this class of baits catches fish consistently. Today we get to take a relatively new entry into this market out on the water and see whether or not it has what it takes to earn a permanent spot in our tackle box.
The Fierce Lures Hawg Whisperer is a multi-segmented, seven to be precise, swimbait. These lures are 3.5 inches in length, weigh 1/2 ounce, have a medium-slow sink rate and come in some unique color patterns. [Read more…]
Trout Dough Series
It’s now trout season again around here so we thought we would take a look at a new product from Berkley. They have introduced a new series of rods called the Trout Dough series.
We obtained one for the purpose of throwing very lightweight jigs, split-shotting and drop-shotting small plastics like Berkley micro’s. I have to say at this point that we do not use dough style bait. Personally, I would rather chunk and wind all day with nothing to show for it than bait and wait just to catch a couple of fish. Yeah, I live for the strike! [Read more…]
As most of you know, we like to keep our reviews in line with the seasons that you get a sense how we are using the baits that we discuss at any given moment. Today is no exception to that rule. Overnight temps have fallen into the mid-thirties around here and the bass are sluggish but obviously still catchable. [Read more…]
Tiki Stick In Package
We’ve talked quite a bit about using stick baits when old man winter comes knocking and today we’re going to take a new offering from an established company out for a few spins around our local waters. The Wave Worm Tiki Stick Super Soft Pro was recently introduced and is now becoming available at retailers and e-tailers. It is the same size as the original Tiki Stick but uses a new formulation for the plastic as well as the introduction as their proprietary “Molopo scent”. [Read more…]
Down here in the South, we love frying things! There really is nothing better than frying up a fresh catch and having your buddies over to watch a game and have a beer.
Here’s the problem though—my wife hates when I fry fish in the kitchen. If I want to fry some fish that I’ve brought home, I have to open every window in the house, turn on the fans, and grab a bottle of Febreeze. On top of that, it’s usually a good idea to bring her some flowers and apologize in advance! [Read more…]
There are times when you need to downsize your offering, so today we’re taking an in depth look at the new Strike King KVD 1.0. We have reviewed the 1.5 and 2.5 and were very pleased with these baits. When we saw the 1.0 at ICAST, we knew that we had to pick up some of these and get them on the water. [Read more…]
I went out to the river the other day, and one thing was clear—it was cold! Since we are only in early December, things are only going to get colder.
For me, staying warm is a critical part of having a good fishing trip in the winter time. I can’t tell you just how bad I can’t stand being cold. The right gear makes all the difference, and this is the gear I use.
Great outerwear is crucial.
Columbia has been around forever, and has always delivered some of the best in quality outerwear. Not only is their gear functional, but it looks nice too, and there’s nothing wrong with getting a few good style points.
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Think of these two products as super advanced long john’s.
They take the idea of long underwear to the next level. On top of offering a layer of warmth, they are also constructed of moisture wicking fabric to help keep you dry.
The main reason you will always find me wearing Under Armour underneath my waders when I’m out fly fishing is because they are not bulky, and they won’t restrict your movement. I want to be warm and cozy, but I also need to be able to move so I can wade to the best spots, and cast naturally.
Under Armour let’s me do all of that.
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There is nothing worse than when the cold starts biting at your ears. You have to keep those guys cozy.
While you’re at it, you might as well spread the warmth to the rest of your dome as well! That’s why I have fallen in love with this Chunky Ear Flap Cap from Columbia. It keeps me warm, protects the ears from the wind, and looks nice too.
If you only had one thing to keep your head warm, this would be the best choice.
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Keeping the hands warm can be a puzzle, because you need mobility in your fingers to cast, retrieve, and grab your fish.
These gloves from Redhead solve the problem. Really, they are fingerless gloves, but they have a mitten type attachment that you can move over your fingers when you need them.
These are a must have if you are out on a boat!
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Those are my top picks for keeping you toasty and comfortable while you are out on the water this winter. Don’t let a little frost or a cold front keep you from some killer fishing.
Bundle up right, and you will find you are probably the only one out on the water—and it doesn’t get better than that!
See ya on the water…
We’ve talked about lipless crankbaits in the past but haven’t done a complete review of today’s subject, the Strike King Red Eye Shad in the 1/4 ounce size. I know that there are plenty of folks out there who are used to using the 1/2 ounce but this is something that you might want to give a go. It is smaller than the original but not by as much as you would think. The 1/2 is 2.5 inches in length while the 1/4 is 2.25. Only a 1/4 inch difference but in profile, especially when the bass are keying on smaller bait, this is a substantial difference. However, not as important to its action as the fact that it weighs half what its larger sibling does!
You can put this bait out there easily for distance with casting gear and due to its relatively light weight, control its position in the water column by either adjusting your retrieve or your choice of line size. In my opinion, this is the single most important factor in our success with this bait as it is what influences the other attributes the most. The baits that we obtained have all run true out of the package as well as all of them having a very consistent action.
While some of the other baits in this class tend to dig down on you, the Red Eye Shad is easier to control horizontally. Another quality of this lure is that the action does not stop when you pause your retrieve. Even on the fall, this bait displays a nice tight wiggle so that when the angler is employing a stop and go, yo-yo type retrieve, you can rest assured that this little crank is still fluttering.
For this review, we chose the rattling version although there is a silent alternative. We did this to see how it performed against other baits in this class which almost all have rattles. The Strike King’s pitch would be considered a mid-range tone. I know that this varies from one manufacturer to the next and can, when the going gets tough, make the difference between getting bit or not. In our time with this lure, we didn’t have any outings where this proved to be a noticeable negative when going head to head with its competitors nor did it necessarily pan out as a shining positive. Really, it didn’t seem to have much of an impact at all.
In my opinion, the attributes that most influenced the bass to hit this bait are its action and ability to remain in the strike zone as well as the proven colors that are available. While the running angle of some other offerings are considerably more nose down, the Red Eye Shad has a slight nose down angle on the retrieve. This may also account for the fact that keeping it running horizontally in the water column isn’t as difficult as when using either heavier lipless cranks or some of its competitors. Either way, Strike King has struck a good balance between size, weight and ease of use for this lure.
One of the things that we noticed is that the paint on the Red Eye is not the most durable out there. Our test baits sustained damage after having caught several fish on them. Of course with this type of lure, the bass tend to mouth the entire package when they hit it. None the less, we would like to see a more robust clear coat in the future. Not that this has made much of a difference in terms of fish being willing to hit the lure. As tends to be the case with reaction type baits, the fish are not really scrutinizing them closely when they hit!
All in all, we’ve been very pleased with this smaller Red Eye Shad. This is a bait that both the novice and experienced angler can use effectively for a good part of the season. Its size lends itself very well to a lot of different situations and it is fairly versatile in terms of where in the water column it can be fished. The angler can employ several different retrieves based on what the fish are wanting and there are color patterns that will mimic most prevalent forage where ever you chose to fish. Add to that a reasonable retail price of about $5 each and you have a lure design that is a good all around value.
If you’ve been thinking about adding smaller lipless cranks to your arsenal or if you’re just getting started fishing this style of bait, this is one that deserves a thorough inspection.
| Strike King Red Eye Shad | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |    |
| Reasonable price for a solid bait | |
See ya’ on the water …
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D Hold Weighted
We’re going to look at another piece of terminal tackle that was debuted at ICAST and is now showing up on shelves. The Damiki D Hold Hook Weighted. We already reviewed the un-weighted version of this hook and found that it simply couldn’t replace our gold standard but we figured why not give this one a shot?
This product makes use of the same keeper system as its cousin but uses an interestingly shaped weight molded onto the hook shank. We obtained this product specifically for use with swimbaits but there are secondary uses for something like this.
So off to the lake to see how they would perform. We tried a variety of baits with this hook including the Double Diamond and Netbait BK. In both cases, the D Hold keeper did indeed keep the bait on the hook and did this quite well. Unfortunately, we had the same issues with this one as we did with the un-weighted version.
Before we go into that, know that the D Hold is sharper than the average bear and is strong. You can use this hook on heavy mono or braid without worrying that you’re going to bend it by putting the wood to a good strike. It penetrates well and the barb does its job. We didn’t have a single fish shake this hook after being stuck. However, those nagging little design irritants kept cropping up.
While rigging your bait straight is a no-brainer on the Damiki, the other issues surface when you penetrate the bait with the hook point. The first of these is that the keeper makes contact with the hook shank. This throws the bait slightly out of plumb. I may be splitting hairs here but it is at least a minor annoyance in my opinion as it makes the baits that we were using run just a little bit off.
Again, like its un-weighted stable mate, the angle of the hook is such that it makes tex-posing virtually impossible. I like to make sure that when I’m fishing a swimbait, there is no exposed point of the hook. Fishing baits like the BK, you have to have the confidence to throw them into and drag them through stick-ups, lily pad stems, submerged tree branches and other forms of cover that will catch bare hook points. The Damiki does not inspire that sense of security.
We also used this hook by not penetrating the back of some of the baits that we experimented with. If you enjoy fishing weighted senko style baits for example, this isn’t a bad alternative. By not going all the way through the bait, you eliminate both the issue of the keeper making contact with the hook and the angle of the hook sticking up and out of the back. This proved to be an effective way to use this hook but still wasn’t exceptional. Again, the Damiki didn’t have enough going for it to replace what we already carry in our tackle boxes.
| Damiki D Hold Weighted Hooks | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating | |
| Not enough here to replace what you have | |
See ya’ on the water …