In Pursuit of Kicker Tournament Fish

"If only we could have caught a kicker fish or two today." How many times have you stood around after a tournament weigh-in and heard guys make that comment? It happens all the time. Most of us can lay claim to several instances where we've been there, done that, and have the T-shirts to prove it, and that includes yours truly.

My personal goal in any tournament always has been to go out and first catch a respectable limit, then start looking for kicker fish, and I've talked to several other anglers who share that same philosophy. Unfortunately, I too often find myself spending the entire day just trying to catch a limit, much less a "respectable" limit. And I probably can count the number of times on one hand--with fingers left over--that I ever got lucky enough to bag a nice 5-fish limit and have three or so hours left in which to look for some kicker fish.

I'm not a Lone Ranger here--I know that--so believe me when I say I'm not crying "woe is me." Instead, I decided to go online looking for some advice from anglers who share my tournament goal and have succeeded in making it happen consistently. The first article I came across in my Internet search is the one at this link: http://www.bassmaster.com/tips/unlocking-bass-3-keys-kicker, authored by Bassmaster Elite Series angler Todd Faircloth.

In his article, Todd talks about finding your "comfort zone" for tournaments, e.g., how much weight it probably will take to walk away with a paycheck. In the case of those who fish our Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney Series, you would be well-served to set your comfort zone at about 13 lbs. Why? Because that's the average weight, as revealed by my records, that was required to claim the 1st-place prize at any one of our 17 tournaments last year leading up to the season-ending two-day Classic.

Here are links to a couple other articles I came across:

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/2011/04/07/fishing_bass-fishing_top_kicker_bass_baits_for_tournament_success0411/

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/frog_baits.html

Following is the link to a video I found that demonstrates how effective jigs are in catching quality kicker fish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMdJ3giDZjk. Other baits that I think most will agree have earned high marks for producing good kicker fish are soft plastics and topwater lures, not the least of which are hollow-bodied frogs. If this froggin' video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OwagktQetM, doesn't get your adrenaline pumping, perhaps this one will:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9kgPVz68_o.

In conclusion, here's hoping there are some kicker fish in everyone's future this 2014 season. Tight lines to one and all!