A short video guaranteed to get your attention. Just click on this link:
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
A Look at How Much Difference Lure Color Makes...
In the opinion of weekend warriors...
I think color makes more of a difference in deep water than shallow water. I proved this to myself more than 30 years ago while fishing a new reservoir. A half-mile offshore was a drop from 12 to 18 feet. A tremendous amount of water was being pumped into the new reservoir, and there was a slight current. The bass were stacked up at that drop, and my buddies and I routinely caught 30 or so apiece in a morning's fishing.
My preferred lure was a six-inch light blue Creme worm, with a pretty heavy sinker.
One day, a small piece of debris had washed up to the lip of that drop-off. If you could drag your worm through that little bit of debris, probably the size of a garbage-can lid, you almost were guaranteed a fish. After catching four bass on four casts in that debris on the blue worm, I switched to a purple color in the exact same worm, made four casts, and felt the debris every time but didn't get a single bite. Changed back to the blue worm, made four more casts, and caught a fish each time. To this day, I always fish deeper water with a blue-colored lure.
I know that a lot of guys don't consider 12 to 18 feet of water deep, but in my home waters, that's pretty deep.
As far as normal fishing with plastics goes, I usually start early morning with black. When that slows, I switch to purple. And when that slows, I go to junebug with a little bit of glitter or green pumpkin. For hard baits, I normally use gold with a black back, due to our dark tannic-stained water. If I'm in clear water, which doesn't happen often, I go with silver with a black back.
For what it's worth, that's my approach after about 50 years of this crazy nonsense we call fishing.
I'm from the school that puts a lure's color somewhere near the bottom of our priority list when it comes to what's important to catching fish. I do, however, admit there are times when those items near the bottom can make the difference between catching and being skunked. My reluctance to recognize those times, in my opinion, has kept me from becoming a better angler.
Today was a perfect example. My partner and I were both throwing RedEye Shads. His was gold/black back, and mine was chrome/blue back, both in 1/2-ounce. He boated four keepers and missed or lost four others to the one dink I boated over the first two hours. I switched to the same color as his and started getting bit on par with his numbers.
My difficulty in recognizing the importance of color is the fact I fish alone more often than not. I change baits or techniques before ever considering changing the color of a bait that isn't producing.
He caught a total of nine fish, while I boated 104. Yeah, I know it sounds like a story, but it's true. He refused to believe that the smallies in clear water were really keyed in on color, opting instead to just throw downsized baits. The color was smoke purple, and it didn't matter if it was a tube or a swimbait, those were the only two baits I used. My friend from Florida didn't have anything in that color and wouldn't take my baits. Instead, he insisted they eventually would eat a different color. The short story was they didn't.
Now that doesn't happen all the time, but it happens enough to place color a few rungs higher than the bottom, and that is another thing I've found. When it comes to smallmouth, color factors way more than with largemouth, at least in every body of water I've ever fished for them in. You may be able to catch them on several different colors, but you'll quickly notice that certain colors will get bit more often or by larger fish on average, and I've had a lot of days in which the bait had to have glitter.
Black wouldn't buy me a strike during a small club tournament, but black neon was getting hit so hard I had to change baits every two fish. For the most part, I'm with the general consensus on color, in that it's the least important element, with location and presentation being on top. In clear-water smallmouth fishing, however, color is much more important than some would like to believe.
I believe that color is a huge part of the reason fishermen catch bass. If you are using a lure that imitates what the bass are feeding on at the time of year and on the body of water you're fishing, of course you'll get more bites than if you disregard the color of lure you're fishing. Another factor that makes lure color so important is if you're fishing a color in which you have a lot of confidence. Then you'll be more expectant of a strike and catch more bass than if you're fishing a lure color in which you have little or no confidence. If that color looks like something you believe will make a bass fight, then fish it thoroughly, slowly and aggressively enough to get bites on that color (in other words, wear it out!).
When I go to a lake I've never fished before, I'll look at the water color and say to myself, "According to this lake's water color, this color of lure should work," and I'll start fishing it. Once I catch a bass, if that fish spits up a shad, bluegill, crawfish, or some other bait when I put it in the livewell that's a different color than I'm using, I'll change colors to try and match that bait. If I can match the color exactly, then I believe I'll get even more bites. I'll say to myself, "I've got it figured out now. I know what the bass are eating, I know the color of the bait, and I have that exact match for the color of lure." So, for me, having the right color and the right type of lure that I know the bass are feeding on is a huge confidence builder.
Now having said that, I know you can cast any color of lure, get a bite, and catch a bass. But what I've learned is I'm not trying to get just one bite in a day of fishing. I want to get 50 bites. I believe if I can fish a lure the size and the color that the bass are feeding on, I'll have a much greater chance of getting those 50 bites than I will if I don't pay close attention to what the bass are eating.
If I only can have two colors of lures to fish all over the nation, under all weather and water conditions, I'll fish either a solid black, a black-and-blue, or a black-and-red lure. I want one of those lures to definitely have a black overtone. And the second lure needs to be a brown lure like green pumpkin, because those two basic colors are what most colors are based on, especially in soft-plastic lures. Then I'll add some other types of colors off those two basic colors, such as watermelon-red, green-pumpkin-sapphire, black-blue, or black-neon.
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
From Holy Grail to Just Another Tale
Thanks to research over the past 25 years, however, we now know that's not the case. Bass spawn in waters ranging all the way from 55 to 80 degrees. Michigan's bass pro Kevin VanDam (see photo) thinks water temperature is still a bit overrated in terms of the emphasis anglers put on it for catching fish. He cited a week's worth of fishing small lakes around his home as the basis for that take on things.
"I came up with several other variables that I believe trumps water temperature," he said, starting with length of day. "Keep in mind, the water temperature in Michigan had just barely reached 40 degrees...that's cold water! Yet, the bass already had made a move to the bank in the 3-to-5-foot zone.
"To me, the lengthening of daylight hours during the spring has far more to do with moving fish to the bank than water temperature does. Yes, water temperature naturally increases with daylight hours, too, but when a front slams the water back down to 37 degrees and the fish still are up there in 2 or 3 feet of water, that's the photoperiod telling them it's time to get ready to spawn, not the water temperature."
Another variable VanDam cited was moon phase.
"I fished through the full moon in April," he said, "when the water temperature was 40 degrees, and I saw fish already up cruising around like they were spawning. They obviously weren't on beds, but their behavior was identical to spawning behavior. I've seen this before, and I'm convinced it's a sort of false spawn that is triggered by the full moon. It's almost like a practice courtship, even though the water is still 40 degrees.
"In my opinion," he continued, "lunar influences play a larger role in positioning fish than water temperature throughout the year. Lunar cycles not only affect bass themselves; they also govern the activities of so much aquatic life: sunfish, shad, crawfish, mayflies, frogs, etc. You can bet wherever this prey is being summoned by a full moon, the bass will be there to take advantage of it, despite the water temperature. The latter plays a major role in finding fish when you change locations."
Yet another variable VanDam tossed out was current conditions.
"Bring in a warm wind on 40-degree water temperatures, and bass will get active," he said. "The actual water temperature reading on my graph may not budge on a south wind, but the bass sure do!
"Also, if the sun beams down into 40-degree water on a cold spring day, any dark object on the bottom becomes a fish magnet. Again, the water temperature itself may not move much, but dark rocks, clumps of dormant vegetation, even rotting leaf debris all create solar-heat sinks on the bottom, and bass love to get on them."
For a long time, the fables of bass fishing dictated that bass in cold water wouldn't eat fast-moving lures. The reasoning was that bass metabolism is so low in super cold water they would only eat slow lures that had very little action.
"I'm calling 'fake news' on this one, too," noted the Michigan pro. "I catch plenty of fish on a Red Eye Shad and a jerkbait in 40-degree water. In fact, I experienced a new benchmark when I caught bass on a KVD 1.5 squarebill in 38-degree water. That really opened my eyes in terms of just how far you can push a squarebill in cold water."
In conclusion, VanDam pointed out that water temperature is just a number.
"Don't get me wrong," he said. "Water temperature does play a role in the fish-finding process, but the main thing to be aware of is a change in water temperature with a change in locations.
"Ask yourself these questions: Is the water in the very back of the creek cooler than the water at the mouths of creeks? Is the stained water warmer than the clear water? Is the water behind a bridge or inside a harbor or marina warmer than the outside? These differences in water temperature can be a big help in defining a pattern.
"Other than that, water temperature is just a number, and there is no magic number that is a silver bullet to catching fish."
Sunday, September 19, 2021
Only One More Event Remaining This 2021 Season
Those anglers who walked away with a little extra spending money in their pockets today included the following:
Here is how everyone else finished the final qualifier:
* Chris Napier, 10.58 pounds total weight, no big fish.
* The team of Rob Peppers and Don Carter, 7.84 pounds total weight, no big fish.
* The team of Mark Ingram and Bob Clarkson, 7.60 pounds total weight, no big fish.
* The team of Gary Coderre and Dave Anderson, 6.61 pounds total weight, no big fish.
* Chris Fretard and the team of Wayne Hayes and Ken Testorff did not weigh any fish.
Two more contestants became eligible to participate in our season-ending two-day Classic tournament on Oct. 16 and 17. Bob Clarkson and Chris Fretard join Mark Ingram, Rob Peppers, Don Carter, Craig Jones, Rob Chatham, Dave Anderson, Bobby Moore, Fred Crawford, Gabe Himmelwright, Steve Bailey, Dennis Dean, Andy Morath, Diana Morath, Jim Calhoun, Rusty Girard, Gary Coderre, Chris Napier, Wayne Hayes, and Ken Testorff as the 21 anglers who will be vying for the best payouts of the entire season. Following Day 2 weigh-in, they are invited to attend a cookout for the group.
To those winners today, as well as all those who have shared the winners' circle over this past season, I offer my hearty congratulations on a job well done.
For those 21 eligible to fish the Classic, plan on starting both days at safe light (about 7 a.m.), with Day 1 weigh-in at 3 p.m. and Day 2 weigh-in at 2 p.m., in order to accommodate the cookout. I will be contacting you in coming days by email to find out how many of you plan to fish, as well as how many plan to hang around Day 2 for the cookout. Accordingly, please stay tuned to your email so you can respond as soon as possible, and I can pass the numbers to our tournament director, Wayne Hayes, who will be attending to all the necessary arrangements.
I've known for a very long time now that my tournament partner is one of the luckiest guys I've ever known. For openers, I have been at various fishing events over the years in which raffle prizes were awarded during a drawing, and I've frequently watched as one or more (frequently the latter) of Wayne's ticket numbers were called as winners.
That being said, I watched today as he not once, but twice again demonstrated just how lucky...and good...he really is.
In the first instance, he had broken off a crankbait after it became lodged in a submerged stump. But don't you know that only seconds later, his crankbait floated to the surface, and after not more than a couple of casts, he had hooked it with another crankbait and salvaged both for use another day.
Then, this afternoon, as he was releasing three dink bass we had caught but decided not to weigh, one of the dinks accidentally slipped from his grasp while a culling clip still was attached to its jaw. He subsequently backed his boat away from the dock, and there, a short distance away, the culling clip was bobbing on the surface. It disappeared for just a couple of moments before Wayne had another opportunity to grab the clip. Once again, though, the fish pulled the clip under before he could get to it. On the third pass, however, he was successful.
I've had a couple of personal encounters with accidental release of culling clips over the side of my boat, and I've yet to ever recover one of them. I can only hope that if I spend enough time around Wayne, perhaps some of his luck will rub off on me. At the same time, I pray my clumsiness and lack of fishing skills don't rub off on him. I wouldn't wish those on my worst enemy.
Friday, September 17, 2021
What a Day! Eh?
The water level at the time was the lowest he ever had seen it. The lake didn't have a boat launch, so he hauled his gear to the water's edge and got his boat setup done in record time. Air temp was in the 70s, water temp in the 50s.
And Bob was thinking, "Sure, it's shallow...but, hey, low-water levels just mean the bass are all concentrated into a small area, right? I only have to avoid the rocks and play it nice and slow. With these calm and cloudy conditions, I'm excited about my chances to pull out some nice early pre-spawn monsters today."
It bears mentioning here, though, that there was one major difference between this trip and all the others Bob had made. He didn't have a partner this time.
That being said, Bob launched "Sink-O-Pottomus," the name he lovingly had attached to his Sevylor FishMaster, complete with a wooden floor ("carpeted and very swanky," according to him) and a tall bass seat in the front, with a bench in the rear. The short boat, combined with an extra-long trolling-motor handle, let him control the boat by standing behind the front seat. He leaned against the seat to cast.
The launch went without issue, other than for Bob being eyed by an angry looking duck. He climbed out of the water to the sound of applause from the casting docks, took an obligatory bow, removed the sleeve from his spinnerbait rod, and started considering where he should look for bass. Almost simultaneously...as any bass angler knows from experience...the wind began to blow.
Bob subsequently deployed his 15-pound mushroom anchor, which, not more than 10 minutes later, was bouncing along the bottom of the lake, as Sink-O-Pottomus careened toward the far shore.
"I had the trolling motor (with 50-pound thrust) going all out," he said, "and I was paddling with all I had, but the wind still was pushing me backward.
"If memory serves me correct," Bob thought, "this lake covers about 65 acres. I've never seen waves out here, except for now, and they're crashing over the front of my boat."
Soon enough, the Sevylor boat was stuck on a little rock island in the center of the lake, surrounded by water about 15 feet deep...with no control of the boat. The wind and waves were slamming him against the rocks. Bear in mind that the water was calm as glass when he had launched. And now his anchor rope had snapped (new rope, too), and his trolling motor had fallen out of the boat.
"I don't know how that happened," Bob said. "The mount and everything lifted off the Sevylor transom and dropped to the bottom. To make matters worse, a crew of folks at the far end of the lake, who had been fishing from shore, put their poles down to laugh and heckle me."
At a loss for anything constructive and embarrassed by the growing crowd of onlookers, Bob looped some stout rope around the tow ring on the front of his Sevylor and waded over to rescue his trolling motor. It was in only about 2 feet of water against the rocks, so there was no real risk.
"Once I had it on the deck," he explained, "I took hold of the rope and manually dragged my poor boat out into deeper water. By the grace of God, I managed to get myself back to the launch area...dripping wet and beet red, as the locals were letting me know how hilarious it all was from their shoreline perspective. By then, the wind had died down enough for me to deflate my boat and drag it up to the car."
As Bob was packing up, a park ranger showed up. Someone apparently had called and told him that a young guy was stranded on the rocks in the lake.
"We both had a good laugh...and I helped some young kids on the shore catch a 'monster' bass...but in the end, I didn't even wet my line.
"I will say this, too: The Sevylor proved itself today. The guys on the shore were telling me it was the boat's fault, but I couldn't have asked it to do any better, given the bad situation. Wind is a weakness with inflatables, and had I known it was going to be windy, I never would have left the shore. The boat got hammered against rocks and literally dragged over gravel, but I couldn't see that it had suffered any ill effects.
"My only real worry was how I would pull my 270 pounds into the inflatable. I don't think I could have pulled myself into a 10-foot aluminum jonboat without flipping it over. The Sink-O-Pottomus, however, didn't even bat an eye."
Bob's only regret was that he didn't get a chance to properly thank a young Middle-Eastern man who, while everyone else was heckling him, rolled up his Sunday-best pant legs, took off his shoes, and waded out knee-deep in the water to offer encouragement.
"If it weren't for him and his wife offering to call the ranger, and even offering to swim out and help, I might have lost my cool," noted Bob. "But hey, what a day!"
Thursday, September 16, 2021
Another Testimonial About Keeping Your Head in the Game...No Matter What
"I guess one of the worst bad days that a bass fisherman, especially a bass-tournament fisherman, can have is to experience equipment failure," he noted.
"Several years ago, I was running 15 miles down the lake and lost the lower unit on my boat. The officials sent out a rescue boat to pull me and my boat back to the launch site. I had to wait to have a new lower unit put back on my motor. So, instead of starting to fish that tournament at 7 a.m., I didn't begin until 9:30 a.m.
"When I was 40-miles down the river, about 10 miles from where I wanted to fish, I lost power to my boat's powerhead," he continued. "I looked at my watch. It was 11 a.m., and I hadn't been able to fish at all yet. I hadn't even made my first cast.
"I had enough power to idle, so I idled for about 40 minutes to get to one of the places where I thought I could catch bass. I actually was able to fish for only 45 minutes, but I caught 13 pounds of bass. Then I turned the boat around and idled all the way back to the launch site. When I reached it, I weighed in my bass. Those 13 pounds allowed me to move high enough up the leader board to be able to fish the Forrest L. Wood Cup. I finished second there and earned $100,000...all because I didn't give up after two major engine failures.
"If I just had given up and not tried to fish, I wouldn't have made that end-of-the-season tournament. When it looks like everything is going wrong for you, I think one of the biggest ways to salvage a day is to still find a way to fish. If you have to paddle your boat when the trolling motor breaks down, or your big engine gives out and you're on the water, regardless of what happens, you need to find a way to fish."
Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Losing Big Bass Is a Problem, But You Can Solve It
Yelas harkened back to a tournament on Kentucky Lake when the water was up in the bushes, and he was flipping a jig to get a bass bite. The first day of the tournament he had a 19-pound limit. The bass seemed to be in every bush. Often he could see the bass in the bush before he made a flip to it.
"I didn't lose any of the bass that took my bait that first day," he said. "On the second day of the tournament, I'd see the bass in the bush, pitch the jig to it, pull the bass to the top of the bush where I could see it, and the fish would come off the hook. Other times I'd set the hook solid on the bass and pull it out of the bush, and it would jump and throw the lure. Sometimes I'd be leading the bass to my dip net, and for some unknown reason, the fish would come off the hook before I could get the net under it."
On that second day, he felt like the main character in a horror show...one who had something terrible happening to him, every way he turned.
"There's no rhyme or reason as to why you lose bass one right after another," he continued, "but those days will happen to everyone who bass fishes. On those days, I've seen bass fishermen lose their tempers, break rods over their knees, and mentally go berserk or have temper tantrums. However, I've learned that you'll always have bad days and lose bass, and...generally most of the time...they are big bass. That's all a part of bass fishing, so on those kinds of days, I just reason that at least I'm getting bites. As long as I keep trying to catch bass, the chances are extremely good that I'll have other bass bite that won't get off my hooks."
As it turned out, Yelas weighed 15 pounds that second day, instead of the 25 pounds he would have weighed if he hadn't lost any fish. To keep his efforts in perspective, he kept telling himself that weighing 15 pounds was better than weighing no pounds.
On the third day, Yelas fished the same pattern, flipping a jig into the bushes, and only lost one bass. He finished the tournament in the top 10 and got a good paycheck, even though he'd had that disastrous second day.
"When you have a bad day of losing bass," he cautioned, "don't give up mentally on your ability to catch them. Often you can find bass, learn a new technique or a new way to fish and turn a bad day into a good one," he concluded.
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
For Week Ending Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021
Monday, September 13, 2021
Some Fishermen Help(?) a Young Lad Understand Women
"Today sucked for me.
"I woke up excited 'cuz my mom had said she would take me to the local park for some fishin'. I could hardly wait.
"I packed up all my gear, loaded it into the car, and after a quick lunch, we headed down the road to the park.
"When we got there, though, don't you know it was closed, so we turned right around and went all the way back home. I was very disappointed.
"Later, I learned that my mom and sister were going to the mall. I decided I wanted to go, too, so I could pick up a few DT-10s at Dick's Sporting Goods.
"My sister needed to get a formal dress for her senior flute recital, and I figured that couldn't possibly be too bad. But don't you know it took her four hours to finally settle on a dress. She was getting so stressed about each little thing and was being a real b**** to my mom, who also was getting stressed. Everything was just wrong.
"Four hours later, when I finally got to Dick's, I rushed to the Rapala aisle...to the DT section...only to find they didn't even have the colors I was looking for. As of that moment, my whole day had been ruined. Having suffered through that scene at the dress shop hadn't even paid off. Sure hope you guys had a better day than me."
One of the first respondents answered like this:
"If you think waiting on a woman is bad now, you are in for a real surprise later on. I deserve the French Medal of Honor or something as there are six...count 'em, six women at my house (not counting visitors)...to just one male--me. Aargh!!! One day you will understand... . Just trying to point out that it can always be worse. Don't sweat the small stuff. Instead, just sit back and girl watch for four hours."
Another fella wrote:
"That does suck, man. Better luck next time. By the way, never ever ever go shopping with women when you have plans in the same day. Even if they say, 'I just have to grab one thing, and that's it.' Don't fall for it! Now you know."
Yet another dude, whose nickname is Popeye, answered this way:
"Cheer up, young man! As Bruce Dern said in a movie called 'Posse,' every day above ground is a good day. Sorry to hear that you had to suffer all that frustration and stress, but things like that don't kill us. They make us stronger. Hope you get those DT-10s real soon. Relax and eat a can of spinach. You'll feel better and stronger."
Piggy-backing on that previous remark, a fella added this comment:
"Listen to Popeye. Spinach will put some hair on your chest and make your forearms friggin' huge. Did you ever stop to think about why all women's dressing rooms have chairs outside of them? I like to call those the 'boyfriend chairs' because you'll almost always see some dude sitting in one looking like he'd rather be getting a root canal without any novocaine. Anytime you go shopping with a female, look for one of those chairs and immediately pull it up 'cause, chances are, you're gonna be there for a while."
Tuesday, September 7, 2021
"Electric Boats Making Waves"
"Bolstered by new technology, the electric boats are now faster, have smaller batteries with longer ranges and are still zero emission," he said.
Shortly after reading that article, I did some research on the Internet and found that electric boats indeed are starting to mount a coming-out campaign of sorts, starting with the Tracker Pro Team 175 TXW bass boat (see above). Pure Watercraft of Seattle, WA, is advertising America's best-selling fishing boat, packaged with a 25kW electric outboard motor with power tilt/trim (112 lbs.), one (or more) battery packs (118 lbs. each), and a trailer for $27,500. A $500 pre-order deposit is required. This rig has an advertised top speed of 24 mph and a range up to 41 miles on a full charge.
Other features include a Minn Kota Edge 12-volt, 45-lb. thrust trolling motor, a Lowrance HOOK2 5 combo swivel color fishfinder with SplitShot transducer, a mobile charger that connects to 120-volt and 240-volt outlets (30 lbs.), connecting power cables, and a Bluetooth-enabled throttle.
Top speed for this rig is 24 mph. Range at top speed is 20 miles (two-battery pack) and 10 miles (one-battery pack). Range at 5 mph is 41 miles (two-battery pack) and 20 miles (one-battery pack). Recharging from half-to-full capacity can be accomplished in as little as 90 minutes.
Marine manufacturers are excited about the potential for these electric-outboard rigs. They are quick to point out that the increased sales of powerboats in 2020 were up 12 percent, with more than 310,000 new sales, the highest recorded numbers since before the recession of 2008.
For those interested, here's a list of some video links I found online for your viewing pleasure:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru0IhU2C8tQ
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhL55rFNHsg
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMer4S6phFY
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJLgra0553k
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsPHNaj369o
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sps90QsfiVg
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v35nWrjLtLc
Monday, September 6, 2021
Who Says You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?
Back in the day, for example, I fished soft plastics with worm hooks and pegged the lead sinkers with toothpicks, until I came to realize the damage I was doing to my line. I subsequently graduated to using little pieces of rubber bands to peg the sinkers. With the passing of time, though, I fell out of fascination with all soft-plastic fishing. When I started back again, I adopted a lazy man's style: using weighted hooks, so I didn't have to bother with any sinkers or any pegging.
That, however, was all before I started spending concentrated amounts of time in Wayne's boat. As he has pointed out to me on a number of occasions, he's a guy who's "anal" (his choice of words, not mine) about everything he does. I've witnessed that for a lot of years now, as he performed maintenance on my boat. It's only been recently, though, that he has been getting a first-hand look at my bad habits on the water and realized some changes were needed.
With his help, I'm getting back to using unweighted worm hooks and tungsten sinkers pegged with bobber stops. Had no idea the latter is what a lot of folks are using nowadays. As a result, did some research online and found out that bobber stops can serve multiple purposes.
Bass pro and Phoenix Boats founder Gary Clouse, for instance, says they also work for adding versatility to a lightweight Carolina rig in shallow water. He puts on a bobber stopper, then a 1/4- or 1/8-ounce sinker, then another bobber stopper before tying on the hook. This gives him flexibility as needed to shorten or lengthen the distance between the lure and the weight. Or, if you decide you don't want to Carolina rig, simply slide the sinker and stoppers downs to the top of the worm, and you have a Texas rig without having to re-rig.
Clouse went on to explain that, with a little ingenuity, you can create other uses for bobber stoppers if you put some thought to it.
For example, he was fishing a Smithwick Devil's Horse one day and kept having problems with the bait's nose prop and/or front treble hook getting caught in his braided line during a retrieve. Some guys reduce this problem by tying a 6-inch, heavy monofilament leader between the braid and the lure. Just by trial and error, Clouse discovered he could do the same thing with a series of bobber stops.
He picked up a rod that had a pegged sinker and 40-pound braid, cut off the lure and removed the sinker, then shoved the bobber stop forward, in case he wanted to put the worm back on that rod. He subsequently got to thinking and added three more bobber stops, tied on the Devil's Horse, and slid the stoppers down against the nose of the bait. "It worked beautifully," said Clouse.
However, I digress. Getting back to me and my faults, I've also learned the value of using Real Magic line dressing on my braid. I use it on all my rods to start the day and add, as necessary, to keep all of them casting smoothly throughout the day.
Coupled with a little luck, perhaps this back-to-basics course I'm undergoing will register a boost in my numbers...oops! make that our numbers, 'cause as Wayne keeps reminding me, we're a team. In any event, the retraining certainly can't hurt.
Sunday, September 5, 2021
Saturday, September 4, 2021
Wasn't a Great Bite Today, But...
Most of the 18 anglers in 10 boats managed to catch some fish. All together, 40 bass came to the scales at weigh-in for a combined total weight of 79.57 pounds, which produced an average weight per fish of 1.98 pounds and an average weight per boat (of those eight that weighed fish) of 9.94 pounds.
Heard a number of anglers during weigh-in talking about catching quite a few non-keepers today, as well as a number of others talking about the timidity of today's bite. In some cases, the fish slammed the baits, but more often than not, you either would see your line moving off, or you would just feel pressure.
Here are those anglers who took home a cash reward for their efforts today:
Here is how everyone else finished:
* The team of Fred Crawford and Gabe Himmelwright, five fish, total weight 9.84 pounds, no big bass.
* The team of Wayne Hayes and Ken Testorff, five fish, total weight 9.74 pounds, big bass 4.03 pounds.
* Chris Fretard, five fish, total weight 9.73 pounds, big bass 3.59 pounds.
* The team of Rob Peppers and Don Carter, five fish, total weight 9.41 pounds, big bass 3.90 pounds.
* The team of Rob Chatham and Craig Jones, five fish, total weight 5.34 pounds, no big bass.
* Andy Morath and the team of Steve Bailey and Dennis Dean did not weigh any fish.
Three more anglers, including Rob Chatham, Craig Jones and Chris Napier, became eligible to fish our two-day, season-ending Classic tournament in October. That brings the number of qualified anglers to 19, with one more qualifying tournament remaining on the calendar.
Congratulations to all of today's winners and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, our final qualifier is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 19th. That event will kickoff at safe light, with weigh-in at 2:30 p.m.
Not sure what the reason was, but barge traffic on the North Landing River today was exceptionally heavy. In addition, pleasure boaters and jet skiers were out in force by late morning and dominated the scene this afternoon. As if those weren't sufficient reasons to maintain a close watch while running the river today, there also were a couple of floaters in the water that could have been catastrophic for anyone not paying attention to their Ps and Qs.
As is always the case, you can pretty well tell when most of the fishermen on a body of water are having less than a stellar day. If you hear lots of boats running, that's a sign that folks are having problems finding the mother lode, if one even exists on any given day. That was happening throughout today.
Doesn't seem possible that another season is quickly drawing to a close. With only two more of these tournament reports, the 2021 year will be in the record book. I, for one, am happy that COVID allowed us to get this season in without any cancellations of scheduled events. Here's hoping that success continues next year, too.
Tight Lines! to one and all.
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