Exploring New Fishing Techniques and Baits – by Shaw Grigsby

Posted on April 24, 2012 by admin

Today’s blog post is penned by Shaw Grigsby, host of One More Cast with Shaw Grigsby.  For more information about Shaw, please visit his website at www.one-more-cast.com

One of the keys to fishing success is to be constantly learning new techniques and new baits.  The problem is that when I go fishing, I want to catch fish. It is real easy to use the baits or techniques that I have the most confidence with, instead of something new.  The way I accomplish this is by leaving all of my tackle at home, except for the bait I want to focus on.  This prevents me from falling back on my confidence baits.

When I film One More Cast, I focus on a single bait for each episode.  This has forced me to use a specific bait for the whole day, I don’t have the option of changing to something else.  Using a bait for an extended period of time, forces me to experiment more with the bait itself.  I try it at different depths, different retrieves, different speeds, etc.  I learn what the bait can do, what the fish like and what they don’t like.  I learn how the bait works or doesn’t work in the different types of cover.

Shaw with Bass

Shaw with a nice Largemouth Bass

The best example that I can think of occurred several years ago at the Stick Marsh in Florida.  I was filming a tube bait show with a Strike King Denny Brauer Flip-N-Tube, and pitching it just inside the edge of the grass.  During the day, I noticed fish movement deep in the grass under the algae.  I took the tube bait and rigged it with a real light 1/8th or 1/16th ounce tungsten weight and threw it on top of the mat just like I would have done with a frog.  I immediately had bites with a high percentage of catches.  I learned that a tube bait could be used much like a topwater bait.  I still use this technique and I would never have tried it if I would have had access to a topwater frog that day.

If you want to become a better angler, don’t be afraid to force yourself to take only what’s needed to fish a new bait and leave the rest on the bank.

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Pre-Spawn Bass Tactics with Mark Romanack

Posted on April 19, 2012 by admin

Today’s post comes from Mark Romanack of Fishing 411 with Mark Romanack.  You can learn more about Mark be visiting his website www.fishing411.net or watch his show on Tuesdays at 2:00 AM ET and 5  PM ET, or Sundays at 11 AM ET.

The world of “catch and release” has changed bass fishing forever.  Now that most states have adopted no kill seasons, the bass fishing fun begins weeks and even months before these fish spawn.

The tactics used to catch bass in the early spring vary considerably from those commonly used in the summer By making some simple adjustments in mind set and the places fished, early spring bass angling can be some of the best action of the year.

Mark Romanack

Mark Romanack, host of Fishing 411 recommends using jerkbaits to target shallow water pre-spawn largemouth and smallmouth bass.

THINK SHALLOW

Both smallmouth and largemouth bass love to hunt for minnows, crayfish and frogs in extremely shallow water. This pattern starts immediately following the ice melting. When the majority of the lake is icy cold, a ribbon of warmer water forms along the shorelines where the sun can quickly warm water temperatures. The north shore of these lakes get the best sun exposure and are the first to warm and attract fish. Dark bottom areas warm quickly and start to attract fish first. Gradually other bottom types like sand, gravel or clay warm up and start attracting fish.  For several weeks these fish feed actively and spawning is the last thing on their minds.

WEIGHTLESS SOFT PLASTICS

When bass hit the shallows, the water is so skinny the back of the fish is nearly exposed! Almost always when a fish strikes, the water boils on the surface! Fishing in water this shallow forces the angler to cast a fair distance to avoid spooking the fish.  Unweighted soft plastics are ideal for this style fishing. Wacky rigged worms, Texas Rigged Flukes, action tail grubs, paddle grubs and beavers are great baits for pitching into the shallows. A seven foot medium light spinning outfit equipped with six pound test fluorocarbon line is the ideal way to fish these lightweight baits.  Shallow bass aren’t typically found just setting out in the open. Bass like to snuggle up to cover when possible, and use these spots as ambush sites. Sunken wood, rocks, dock posts, sea walls, clumps of cattail or other vegetation are all great visual targets to try.

As the spring progresses, anglers can travel north to encounter cooler waters and extend their pre-spawn fishing action. Here Fishing 411 pro staffers Jake Romanack (left) and Kendall Ulsh show off some amazing Grand Traverse Bay smallmouth caught (and released) near Traverse City, Michigan.

OTHER BAITS TO CONSIDER

Jerkbaits and shallow diving crankbaits can also be effective when the bite heats up. These hard baits are ideal for fishing over the top of emerging weed flats that often attract the most fish.

ETHICS

Fishing for pre-spawn and spawning bass requires anglers to exercise good ethics. It’s important to return landed fish to the water as soon as possible. If you want a photo, keep your camera handy, snap a quick pic and release the fish immediately.  By starting with lakes in the southern part of an angler’s fishing area and moving north as warmer weather encroaches, anglers can tap into great pre-spawn fishing opportunities for several weeks. So long as anglers respect the resource and handle fish with care, no harm is done to future fishing opportunities.

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Swimming Jigs Advice from Doug Stange

Posted on April 17, 2012 by admin

This post is a continuation of the last post, which was adapted from the “More Tinkering with Trailers” article in the Oct/Nov 2011 issue of In-Fisherman by Doug Stange. Watch Doug and the crew of In-Fisherman TV Saturdays at 8 pm & 11 pm ET and THIS Sunday during “Attack of the Bass” at 7 am ET.

Bass anglers so overlook the last category (the boot-tailed soft swimbait category) but it can be so deadly, that I want to offer a few examples of options to get you started. For rubber-legged jigs most often fished by bass anglers - compact jigs in the 3/8 to 1-ounce range – try 3.25 or 4.5-inch Lunker City Shakers. The Shaker has a flat body and it does a nice job of making most of the jigs move. Experiment by shortening the softbait body to get it to couple with the jig you’ve chosen.

One of my favorite conehead jigs is the 5/8 ounce J-mac jig. yes, it’s a big one designed by muskies. Bass anglers spend too much time fishing too small. The 1-ounce J-mac also works well. At times you need to trim the skirt back a little. The weedguard works in weeks, but it doesn’t deflect wood. A few options include:

Doug with a nice smallie

1. Add a 4.5 inch Lunker City Shaker body and the jig swims (wobbles) modestly on a straight retrieve – and swims well in the fall.

2. Add a 5-inch Berkley Flatback Shad and the jig swims more distinctively on a straight retrieve, but goes dead (doesn’t swim) on the fall. Overall, I prefer the jig to swim on the fall, but many times bass like it on a dead fall.

3. Trim a 6-inch Lunker City Shaker body back by an inch and it swims the package superbly on a straight retrieve and it wobbles a bit on the fall. This one starts to get a bit big for a 2 and 3-pound bass. Trim the Shaker by 2 inches and it still swims great on the retrieve by no longer swims on the fall.

 

4. Add a narrow-bodied swimbait – hybrid swimbait, as I call them. Many companies offer bodies like the Lunker City SwimFish and the Berkley Havoc Grass Pig, both 5 inches. The bodies move the jig modestly on a straight retrieve and the fall. It’s one of the hottest new options.

I won’t complicate it by discussing at length coupling jigs designed for swim jigging with swimbait bodies, although you should consider it if you fish these jigs. Swimbait bodies work best with heavier jigs. The bodies need a sturdy pivot point to work against in order to swim; so 3/8 ounce is about the minimum weight for jigs with even a thin skirt.

Good fishing to you.

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More Tinkering with Trailers

Posted on April 13, 2012 by admin

This article was adapted from the “More Tinkering with Trailers” article in the Oct/Nov 2011 issue of In-Fisherman by Doug Stange. Watch Doug and the crew of In-Fisherman TV Saturdays at 8 pm & 11 pm ET and THIS Sunday during “Attack of the Bass” at 7 am ET.

There’s a lot of discussion about one of the best bass lures of all time: the rubber-legged jig, which usually doesn’t fish as well without the addition of a soft-bodied trailer to make it come alive. Bass anglers often find it difficult to decide which trailer to use. You never know for sure until you start fishing and comparing the options. It’s easier to work through the choices if you divide tipping options into three categories.

1. One trailer category adds bulk along with the slightest vibration. The classic option here is the #11 Uncle Josh Pork Frog, but today many similiar chunks are made of soft plastic. In the last post, I mentioned the 4-inch Berkley Gulp! Shrimp, which adds a nice glide to a jig on the fall. Bass respond visually to the jig as it swims and falls. With their lateral line, they also feel the jig pushing water.

2. The second category is a big one. Within it fall all the options that add bulk and vibration, but add it without doing what the last category does, which is add vibration along with swimming movement. The options begin with the addition of subtle movement, by using say a Berkley PowerBait Power Hawg, which has straight legs and thin tails. To step up the vibration package, trim about an inch off the head end of a 7-inch PowerBait Power Worm and slide the remaining action tail on the jig hook.. To add even more distinct vibration, use a Berkley Havoc Craw Fatty, with its two wildly paddling arms. Again, each trailer adds a bit of bulk along with different vibration patterns bass can discern with their eyes and their lateral line.

3. One of the most appealing of all vibrations is produced by lures in the boot-tailed soft swimbait category. That’s the final trailer group. It can be incredibly deadly, and it remains mostly underutilized by bass anglers. The idea is to add a soft swimbait body to a jig so the entire package swims. That is you want the jig and trailer wobbling back and forth as the boot tail also thumps on a straight retrieve. It’s almost like fishing a wobbling crankbait, with the option to kill the jig at anytime and have it swim to the bottom, always a key triggering move.

The best jighead design is cone style, which works in concert with the soft swimbait to get the jig to swim. Head designs like the football head, by comparison, allow the thumper tail to do its thing, but the head remains too stable to get the package to swim. Meanwhile, the swimbait body should be rigged flat instead of up and down like it was designed to fish.

Bass often prefer options from one category over others, depending on fishing conditions. Once the water gets cold, for example, bass often prefer almost no vibration; so choose options from the first category. Fishing can be tricky at times. Once you discover which category is working best, work through various options from within the category to discover the best possible option overall.

Good fishing to you.

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Tinkering with Trailers – Bass Jigging Advice

Posted on April 9, 2012 by admin

This article was adapted from the “Tinkering with Trailers” article in the August/Sept 2011 issue of In-Fisherman by Doug Stange. Watch Doug and the crew of In-Fisherman TV Saturdays at 8 pm & 11 pm ET and THIS Sunday during “Attack of the Bass” at 7 am ET.

The addition of trailers to tip leadhead jib designs, ranging from hair jigs to rubber-legged jigs, has been around since each option hit the scene. In the case of hair jigs like the Cap’s Rock-A-Roos that I began fishing in the late 1960s, most early trailers were portions of pork rind. One favorite for smallmouths was a 1 to 1.5 inch portion of individual tail from a split-tailed U-3 Uncle Josh porkbait. The result gave the jig package a little more bulk, which meant a slightly slower fall and bolder profile, along with a bit more tail action to enhance the motion of the flowing hair. This was – and remains – a high-percentage option during the late summer and fall, especially now that anglers are discovering the versatility and productivity of hair.

Doug Stange with a nice Largemouth Bass

 

These days I tip with softbaits like Berkley PowerBait or Berkley Gulp!. One favorite is a 1 to 1.5 inch portion of the tail end of a 3-inch PowerBait Minnow. Slip the hook up through the trimmed end of the softbait so the split trail rides up and down.

Many different trailer designs are specifically tailored for tipping rubber-legged bass jigs. Most, like the PowerBait Chigger Craw, add vibration and bulk to the package. Don’t forget to add to your experiment at times just bulk, without much vibration. One favorite bulk-tipper is either a 3 or 4-inch Gulp! Shrimp, with the tail and underside of the shrimp laying flat. This adds a nice glide to the jig as it falls. It’s a deadly combination that no one uses.

More often than not, though, vibration is a vital part of the package. Beyond the flapper-like appendages offered by the Chigger Craw and others, I’ve tinkered successfully by adding swimbait tails to jigs. They have to trim down to fit the package, and only a few do that well. One is the 3.25 inch Lunker City Shaker, a swimmer with a thin body. Use about a 2.5 to 3-inch end portion of the tail and thread it on the hook so it rides flat. This adds bulk and glide but the tail still adds attractive swimming vibration to the overall package.

Doug Stange with a nice Smallmouth Bass

 

Another deadly tipping option for largemouths is a 7-inch Berkley PowerBait Thump Worm trimmed just ahead of the ring on the worm. Thread the ring onto the hook and it’s the perfect length to allow the tail to “buzz” on a straight retrieve – a unique sort of jig-crankbait hybrid. Fish take on the straight retrieve, but are more likely to be attracted by the intense vibration and then eat the jig once you kill it and let it fall. I usually rig the flapper tail so it rides flat, but it works just as well up and down. Again, this is an option no one else is using. you can be the first to trigger bass with it in your area.

In the end, catching fish is a matter of getting down to details in the presentation process, with the final delineator being getting the lure part of the package just right for the situation at hand. Good fishing to you!

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