Guiding You In Your Quest For More And Bigger Fish
Union Springs, New York – For the second time in three tournaments, Jamie Hartman took home an Elite Series trophy.
Only this time, he did it in his home state and came from behind.
Every day of the tournament, he improved, until finally on Sunday, he overtook the lead.
[Read more…]When we posted the 2012 FLW Tour schedule a while back, I was understandably excited. After all, the big day is going to be happening in my back yard.
Not long after that article, I took a trip out to Lake Lanier to target some Spotted Bass. Because the water level was so low at the time, I was able to get a few pictures of some things that not a whole lot of people know about. Lake Lanier features man-made structure piles specifically so bass can congregate and ambush their prey.
Obviously, these are going to be fantastic places to fish, as they provide everything a bass would ever need. In fact, if we go back in time a little more than a year, we will see just how productive these little brush piles can be.
In 2010, Kevin Hawk narrowly qualified for the Forrest Wood Cup. Knowing that the tournament would be held on Lake Lanier, he made a bold move.
He decided to pack his bags, and move to Georgia 9 months ahead of the tournament so he could practice all day every day. He found a place for rent on Craigslist, threw everything he could in his truck and boat, and made the 2,500 mile drive across country.
He still fished on the FLW Tour during this time, but did so as a co-angler. All told, he was fishing 4-5 days a week on Lanier, specifically searching out these man-made brush piles. And it payed off!
On the final day, when his closest competitors barely cracked double digit bags, Hawk weighed in 14lbs. 13 oz.
His strategy was to run and gun from brush pile to brush pile—spending no more than 7 minutes at a spot.
By now, you are probably curious as to what these brush piles look like. Check out the picture on the right. I was able to get this photo
There are a ton of these in Lake Lanier
because the lake levels were down on a recent trip.
Of course, they don’t all look this way, but most of them are intentionally placed in such a way as to create a perfect place for bass to hide, live, and ambush their prey. They will also attract a lot of sunfish, which the bigger bass will eat just as happily as they will a blue-back herring.
When Kevin Hawk moved from California to Georgia in preparation for the Cup, we new about these piles. He spent months and months, and hours and hours on the water finding as many of these as he could find.
He was the only angler on the water following this strategy—a strategy he developed from months and months of dedicated practice.
It is safe to say that as much research goes into being a successful angler as anything else. These aren’t just a bunch of guys drinking beers and fishing all day—they are dedicated to the sport, and they work hard to get the success they have.
Guess what? Lake Sidney Lanier is not the only lake in the world that features these types of man-made structures. Lots of lakes, maybe some you’ve fished time and again, have this kind of structure.
For as long as people have been fishing, there have been a group of people trying to preserve fishing for the next generation, and helping mother nature help anglers is a good way to do that.
Do a Google search of your favorite lake. Look for anything you can find. Search for man-made structure, or anything else that is published that would help fish hold, and attack their prey.
When I did this, I found the Blueridge Resevoir (one of my favorite local smallmouth fisheries) had at least 20 man-made structures consisting of large plastic tubing and other items. They are like jungle gyms for fish!
Finding these in your local lake, whether you fish in tournaments or not, will help you have a lot more fun on the water, and catch a ton more fish!
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
Sometimes, the bass are right up close, and don’t require a long cast to get to them. You might be out there, walking the shore or running the trolling motor, and want to get a weedless jig or a drop shot rig into some lily pads.
Flipping and pitching are probably the two best bass fishing techniques for getting there. But people often get these two techniques mixed up. [Read more…]
Tonight’s review is on more than a particular lure but also a specific technique. We have been sticking to our theme here at MVF and looking at those lures that will catch bass in the cold weather. [Read more…]
Bill Dance is a name and a face known by anglers from all over the United States.
Hailing from Tennessee, Bill Dance was originally going to be a doctor, like his father and grandfather before him. In the 1960’s, he happened upon a grizzly motorcycle accident that turned him off to that idea, and started competing in bass fishing tournaments. [Read more…]
Well folks, it’s getting quite a bit cooler around here these days and from what I’ve been seeing in the news, it’s getting down right cold in a lot of places.
Now I know that the weather alone isn’t going to stop us true addicts from going fishing but it sure is going to make us switch some of our lures out to ones that we believe will be more effective during the end of this year and the first part of next. So here goes for what I will have tied on for my next fishing [Read more…]
One subject I think all fisherman can relate to is what I like to call the, “just one more cast”, syndrome. I don’t know a single addict that doesn?t have a story about the JOMC affliction. The oddest part about it this particular disease is that it happens in spite of all other conditions. [Read more…]
I arrived in Georgia Monday, November 1, at about 6:30 in the morning knowing that “The Kid” and I had nothing to do that day but make sure everything was arranged for the next four days of fishing. The day turned out to be drop dead gorgeous, warm with a slight breeze, the leaves on the trees turning colors, a promising start to the next few days fishing. [Read more…]
Here it is, the first week of October in good ole So-Cal, which has the potential to be one of the best bass fishing times. I went fishing the other night expecting to find some changes in the lake and did indeed. What I found was that the vegetation has been receding somewhat although, due to the fact that it is still hot during the days, not as much as would have thought. [Read more…]