1st Cast Fishing Lures

When going fishing, depending on the location and what kinds of fish you want to catch you will want to use different lures.  For moving river and stream fishing, a spinning lure tends to be the best as it will attract fish like trout and salmon, fly fishing is also an option.  When lake fishing, using a bobber and a piece of live bait like a worm or shrimp will attract fish like perch, trout, bass, and sunfish.  For sea or ocean fishing, trolling tends to be a good choice if you can reach the depth. 

When visiting new locations, it is also wise to stop by the local bait shop and ask for tips about what fishing bait to use at local fishing spots.

It seems like everywhere you turn these days there is an opportunity to try another soft plastic lure that is on the market.  I would like to tell you about a company that has been manufacturing soft plastic lures for quite some time and they do very well.

Case Plastics - they have some of the best plastics I have seen and used.  Their attention to detail is great.  These are not the kind of plastics that you will only get one fish out of before you have to change it out.  They manufacture a brand called Mad Tom’s which is pretty much where it all started.  These are great for Small Mouth Bass fishing and there is even some reports that Walleye fisherman are stocking up on them.  If you like to fish Wacky Style, do yourself a favor and check out the Wacky Jacks.  Very unique but offers some great action when used with the O-Wacky Ring that will drive the fish NUTS.

Do yourself and your wallet a favor and check these products out.

I am a big believer in the saying that you can never have too much information.  Especially when it comes to fishing.  That may sound a little silly but think about it.  How many times have you tried and tried to get on a pattern that would produce a limit and just can’t quite get there?  Well believe me, we are not alone.  There are plenty of others out there in the same boat so to speak.

I have recently come across a couple of Bass forums and Fishing Forums that I would like to pass along to you.  These are not only great places to ask other anglers their opinions on certain situations, but most are willing to give you free advise on just about anything to do with fishing.  It does’t even have to be bass fishing.

Do yourself a favor and check these out.

BassFishin.com - this site has a great forum plus they also have some very well done video’s that might help.

TheAnglingCenter.com - The Tactical Approach to Fishing is another great site that I have started viewing lately.  Great people and very helpful.  Fantastic layout with new features that are soon to be added for species specific information.

Both of these sites are very user friendly and could possibly hold the answer to your questions.

Tell em you heard it hear!

One of my favorite type of fishing lures is a soft plastic bait known as Creature baits.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  A 5 inch Brush Bug is one of the Creature baits that I like to use.  You can rig it Texas Rig for flipping and pitching into the spots that are surrounded by structure and slowly work your way out.  These baits can produce a lot of action when worked the right way.  Another way to rig these particular baits is to use them on a Carolina Rig.  The conventional bait on a Carolina Rig is a Lizard.  But you can accomplish the same thing with a Brush Bug plus give the bass a bulkier profile to see.

One of the things that I find helpful, especially in stained or even muddy water is to dip the tail in a Chartreuse dip.  If yours comes with garlic then all the better.  Some Brush Bugscome with chartreuse coloring on the tail already.  They are also available in a 6 inch Big Boy Brush Bug when you are going after the Hawgs!

The next time your on the water looking for a bite, give these a try.  They are very economical and work great.  Check them out at www.1stcastfishinglures.com.

I’ll start with a question.  Is there a perfect bait?  If you are a fishing addict like myself and so many others, you may say yes to that question.  I have another opinion that I would like to share.  Many of the baits that I have used over the years are perfect for certain situations.  As I mentioned last time, I think a bait that is to be considered perfect should be able to be used in different situations and at different times of the year.  I have many baits that I have considered my favorite bait at any given time.  Usually this relates to confidence more than anything.

One thing for sure, to find the perfect bait you will have to use quite a few to see how they measure up.  Ask yourself this question:  If I could only use one bait, what would it be?

I read an article a couple of years ago covering this very question as it was ask to a panel of pro’s in one of the bass fishing publications.  Of course there were several answers, but what came up more than anything was the Jig.

Motion, noise and water relocation are the primary causes of fish striking a lure, but smell and taste become important when a fish is close enough to bite.  Some fish have a strong sense of smell, while others do not.  Sharks and catfish have a finely tuned sense of smell, while carp, salmon and trout are still sharp smellers but without the degree of intensity as the top two.  Bass and walleye are in the middle, about a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.  Pike and muskie only register the smell of fish attractant when they have visually seen the lure and are poised to strike it.

Though many believe scented fish attractant is used to draw fish, it is actually very useful for disguising negative smells and tastes that humans leave on our lures and baits—sunscreen, bug spray, fuel, nicotine, and our general human smell.  A tasteless, odorless chemical is prevalent in human skin oils that will be present on every piece of fish bait you ever touch. If a fish smells or tastes something negative and rejects the lure, the fish is gone.  Fish attractant can make your bait taste like something that is still alive, fooling the fish into hanging on for a few more seconds.   This gives the angler a better chance of reeling the fish in, particularly the fish attractant scent is carefully chosen.  Experiment with baits and even unusual smells like garlic to see what gets the best results.

In the world of fishing, there are so many baits/lures to choose from.  The question is, which one to choose and when do you use it?  If you have put any time at all on the water chasing your favorite prey, you know what I am talking about.  I have said before that I have at least 3 favorite techniques that I use, Cranking, Jigs, Texas rigged soft plastics.

I have my opinion about what the perfect bait is, but I would be really interested in hearing what you think.  I like a bait that can be used in more than one technique or situation.  I am not necessarily talking about color here.  I am talking about taking a soft plastic like a Beaver Craw and using it as a Jig trailer or Texas rigging it.  Of using a Trick Stick weightless Texas rigged and then Wacky rigging it with a jig head, either fishing shallow or deep.  Take a Brush Bug and Texas rig it with a 3/8 oz weight then turn around and through it on a Carolina rig.

Just click on the pictures above for a better view.

Until next time, Keep Fishing!

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!