1st Cast Fishing Lures
Great information on great lures.To make any fishing experience more productive you need to make adjustments throughout the day. For example, you may start the day with a top water lure such as a buzz bait or you might use a crank bait. Both are great lures for searching for fish. If neither one of these lures are not producing then you need to make the adjustment to something slower. This will typically happen throughout the day as the sun gets higher and brighter. Of course on days where there is plenty of cloud cover, this may not be the case. When I mention making the adjustment to a slower lure it could be a soft plastic such as the 5 inch Trick Stick or a Beaver Craw on the back of a Halo Jig.
There are many reasons to make adjustments during your fishing trips. It could be due to a weather front moving through. As I mentioned during the heat of the day you need to make adjustments and find out where the fish are hiding in the shade. You may also have to make adjustments going into the evening with your lure selection. Fishing pressure is also another reason to make adjustments in your presentation.
Cranking is one of my favorite techniques. I wrote earlier that I have two or three favorites. But Cranking can be so much fun and very productive. Using a crankbait such as the Storm Big Bass Suspending Crankbait can be a great tool when the bass are in their summer pattern or even during those early months when the water is cool and the bass are pre staging / suspending and not real active.
Using a Crankbait will allow you to cover a great deal of water to find where the bass are hanging out. During the summer months we all know that they tend to move off into deep water. Deep is a term that can have a different definition on different lakes. In your favorite lake deep may mean 20 or 30 ft. At Table Rock Lake in southwest Missouri it can mean 45 or 50 ft. In that case you had better be prepared to drop shot a finesse worm in 40 feet of water in the tree tops. But that is a topic for another day. In other lakes around the country deep could be the next drop off from 10 to 12 feet.
Suspending crankbaits that dive to 10 feet or more give you the opportunity to crank the bait down to the desired level and have it stay there to entice those fish up from 12 or more feet. Believe me, when they are hanging close to the bottom they always have a watchful eye looking up for an easy meal. Do yourself a favor and give one of these deep diving suspending crankbaits a try. Remember you will always do better if you are outfitted with the right kind of Bass Fishing Tackle.
This is a Shad colored Storm Big Bass Suspending Crankbait. It dives to 10ft. You know your lake better than anyone else. What color works better for you? They come in a wide range to fit your bass fishing needs.
I have mentioned this lure in the past but it deserves another mention. The Trick Stick is known by a few names but they all lead back to the same type product. Probably one of the most recognizable names is the Senko. You can find trick sticks in a few different sizes. You can also use several different techniques with this soft plastic fishing lure which makes it one of the most versatile lures on the market today. They are a great value for your money too.
As I mentioned, you can use these baits several different ways. You can Texas Rig them with out a weight which helps give them a great deal of action. Make sure that you have the Trick Stick as straight as possible on the hook. One of the other more popular ways to fish the Trick Stick is to Wacky Rig it. Again you will get a lot of action out of the Trick Stick when Wacky rigged. The size of the hook to use seems to be as personal of a choice as the line you use. I will say that a 2/0 hook seems to be the norm. You don’t want an over-sized, exposed hook that will lead to snag after snag if you are near brush. The third way that I have used these lures is the Shaky Head method. Basically getting a stand up jig head and Texas Rigging the Trick Stick. When the bite gets tough, this is one of the hottest things going. It is a slow technique but if you can locate the fish, it will produce.
As I said, you can find the Trick Sticks in a few sizes, the other size that I use is in the 3 inch size. These are great for skipping under docks with a Shaky Head jig or a Hooker Head Jig. The Hooker Head jig is a fantastic jig that has a bait keeper hook on it. The reason I mention this is that it can save you a lot of plastic lures. The bait keeper hook locks into your Trick Stick and will help keep it from coming off during the battle.
In the end the Trick Stick is a great lure that just about anyone can use from the novice to the seasoned fisherman. You can cast, flip, pitch or skip them just about anywhere if you Texas Rig them because they are weedless at that point.
Give the Trick Stick a try the next time you go out. I think you will be glad you did!
When you are preparing to fish a tournament or even just head out for the weekend there are several things you should do before you ever hook up the boat and head out. Many are obvious such as making sure that everything in and on the boat is in good working order. Re-tie your lines and prepare all of your tackle, know what the local regulations are… you pretty much get the picture.
When tournament fishing there is one piece of preparation that I never slack on and I would suggest that if you want to be a better fisherman and make productive use of your time that you do the same. It doesn’t matter if it is a lake that I have been to many times or a body of water that I have never seen I still practice this.
FIND THE BEST MAPS AVAILABLE AND STUDY THEM. You can save yourself a lot of time and money by studying your maps before you ever leave the house. You can eliminate a lot of water depending on the time of year and current conditions with the use of a map. Why fish the flats with a spinner bait if the bass have already headed toward the summer depths. If you need to find the next drop off from 5 to 10 feet on a point, then your map is the way to go. These are also excellent record keepers. Make notes on them when you do find the fish or that secret brush pile. These days GPS has taken a major role in that area, but we all know that we don’t always fish out of our own boats and unless you want everyone to have your spots marked on their GPS, then take your map.
There are many good maps available these days. Look for the one that you like the best and make the investment.
This is just one thing you can do to make your time on the water more enjoyable and productive.
Types of Casts
- Overhand
- Sidearm
- Underhand
Notable tips will help with accurate and successful casting such as casting past the target when possible and keep line tension and keep a low trajectory in order to obtain as little noise as possible when the lure enters the water. Casting is a smooth wrist action that should be performed with your fishing lure let out a few inches below the rod tip enabling more momentum from your cast.
It is also important to match the rod and reel quality to the weight of bass fishing lure you are using. Faster, limber tipped rods are easier to cast and after loading the rod a smooth sidearm follow through will result in an accurate cast, with practice.
The 2009 Bassmaster Tournament Trail Schedule has been released, and for those following we wanted to make sure that you had your calenders clear for the following dates. We are hoping to keep you up to date with specific information about the tournaments as thy near so stay tuned for what will be a what looks like a great tournament schedule.
Bassmaster Classic
Bassmaster Classic 2009
02/20/2009 - 02/22/2009
Red River, Shreveport-Bossier City, LA
Elite Series
Battle on the Border
03/12/2009 - 03/15/2009
Lake Amistad, Del Rio, Tx
Elite Series
Diamond Drive
03/26/2009 - 03/29/2009
Lake Dardanelle, Russellville, AR
Lake of the Ozarks is one of the prime lakes in Missouri that you can test yourself on when it comes to bass fishing. The rewards can be outstanding. This lake is one of the best producing fisheries in the country which is why so many of the National and local tournament trails have their events here each year. There is an excellent chance that your 1st cast could be a 5 pounder. You can find all kinds of tournaments available to you on this great body of water. From the Crappie tournaments to National level B.A.S.S events.
If you are in the area and want to give it a shot, here is a tournament you should consider:
Lewis Boats
Marine Sales & Service
Bass Tournament
Lake of the Ozarks
Saturday October 18th 2008
Coffman Beach Ramp
Take-off 7:00a.m. - Weigh-in 3:00 p.m.
(Buddy/Team Format)
Entry forms available at: www.lewisboatsales.com
Or click on this link for more information: Lewis Boats Bass Tournament
I am sure that you will enjoy Lake of the Ozarks no matter if you decide to test yourself at one of the open tournaments like the Lewis Tournament or just take the weekend and catch a few.
We will have more information covering Missouri Lakes and Tournaments in future articles.
Opens TournamentCentral Open 2
- Central Division
- 09/25/2008 - 09/27/2008
- Kentucky Lake, Paris, TN
Southern Open 3
- Southern Division
- 10/16/2008 - 10/18/2008
- Lake Guntersville, Guntersville, AL
Central Open 3
- Central Division
- 10/30/2008 - 11/01/2008
- Lake Texoma, Denison, TX
Women’s Bassmaster Tour Tournament
WBT Stop 4
- 09/18/2008 - 09/20/2008
- Clarks Hill Lake, Evans, GA
2008 WBT Championship
- 10/23/2008 - 10/25/2008
- Lake Hamilton, Hot Springs, AR
Oneida Lake - Syracuse, N.Y.
August 7-10, 2008
Onieda Lake, a smallmouth bass paradise and the location of another Champion’s Choice bass tournament known for large bronzebacks. Previous tournament members brought home big largemouth bass with swimming frogs and other bass fishing tubes. This years Empire Chase may force anglers to make the same decision and go straight for the larger catch of the bigger largemouth bass as apposed to the plentiful small mouth in Onieda Lake. Predictions point towards a tough, competitive tournament this years as fishing had been slow in few days proceeding the tournament start.
When the water rises, what should you look for to find the bass, or better yet where should you look?
In my part of the country we have experienced some extremely high water this past spring and now during the mid summer months. The weather has not been cooporating with the fishing. High water is a hard time to fish for most of us. There are a couple of things you can do to make it easier on your self. If the water has been at the same level for a few days, then typically the fish will move up and possibly be as shallow as 6 inches. I know it is hard to believe but it does happen. This is especially true if the water is muddy at all. Look in the flooded brush, around picnic tables, or walls with either Spinner Baits or a creature bait such as the Brush Bug (two of my favorites). You want lures that will cover a lot of water fast until you locate the fish. Then slow down and work your pattern out.
When the water starts to fall, then the bass will typically pull back and be a little tough to catch for a day or so. No matter the conditions, make sure you are safe and that you have the right Bass Fishing tackle.
