Big Indiana Bass

Pup's Jigworks

Cold weather means cold water, and cold water means down-sized jigs (think float-n-fly). Don Dusanic, my favorite custom jig tyer, has started a blog covering the fun (and the art) of this little craft. You can access the site via the link on the lower right sidebar of this site, or just follow the following link: Pup's Jigworks. Making your own stuff is a great way to spend the winter down time we go through in Indiana.
 

How Do You Like Them Worms?

Looking for something a little different to add to your soft plastics box? Check out the UV enhanced coloration of these worms from Tightlines Lure Company. Click the link to see the video and read the details, then decide for yourself.

Articles I Like

After you've read 30 years worth of magazine articles, everything from Field & Stream to Bassmasters, In-Fisherman, Fishing Facts and countless others, you start to develop some preferences in fishing articles. Lots of stuff is the same old rehashed material. Some is just flat boring. Lots of others that are just 'OK' or perhaps even 'interesting'. Everybody has a style of writing or a specific bit of info that makes an article particularly salient to them. In my case, I really like profile articles that give lots of specifics, like exact rod and reel model numbers, specific line makes and sizes, baits and weights, what percentage of time an angler spends doing specific things, etc. - Detail and numbers!

I just came across such an article this weekend on Shinichi Fukae and thought I'd share the link. Perhaps you'll enjoy the article as much as I did.

Meet Shinichi Fukae Wizard of Finesse

Bully Wa 65

Frog fishing is one of those really fun topwater tactics when the bite is on. I recently received an order of new frogs to try out and thought I'd give an update. I picked up a set of 4 River2Sea Bully Wa's in the 65 size. That is the same length and weight as the popular Spro Bronzeye 65 (2.5", 5/8-oz.). This new frog casts just as well, and has the same type belly weight as the Spro. On this particular model, even the same 4/0 BN Gamakatsu hook is used.

After playing with it all weekend, I'd give the nod to the Bully Wa in the skipping category. It also has a softer body than the Spro and my hookup ratio was as good or better. This frog does appear to be a little wider in the body, but that didn't seem to affect anything negatively. It actually helps protect the hooks pretty well from what I could tell. The only negative tendency I had was for the right hook to end up stuck slightly in the right side of the frog's body at times. Oddly enough the left side hasn't done that yet.

One of the advertised benefits of this frog is the little keel that runs down the belly from just under the throat. It is supposed to help this frog walk-the-dog easier/better when in open water. I was able to get it to do so with the right retrieve cadence, but I can also do the same with the Spro, so I'd say they are both very similar in that regard. One thing I did notice with retrieves though is that the keel makes for more of a splash on a quick, straight retrieve, almost like a popper. I thought that was kind of cool. It also has a more pronounced vertical rocking to it when retrieved as mentioned. Here it seems like simply a matter of which action will work best for the given water conditions.

One other neat little modification on this frog is a small rubber O-ring, similar to the piece of rubber most jig skirts are built around, that is placed over the hook shank and situated right where the hooks exit the frogs underbelly. This helps fill up that hole and limits the amount of water that can get into this frog. On regular casts it works quite well, but I found that skipping will frequently push this rubber seal around on the hook and you'll frequently have to adjust it on the fly. The same goes for after hooking and landing a bass.

Price is the same or slightly cheaper than a Spro depending on whose catalog you're looking at. Color options are fairly limited at the moment as I noticed Spro is now up to nearly 2 dozen color versions. The color in the pictures are "copper green". I also got some "lemon lime" frogs at the same time. Fortunately being a topwater bait, color is probably less of a factor than on most other baits, especially when fished over heavily matted vegetation. Much like buzzbaits, if you can get a white, a black and a chartreuse/yellow color you'll probably have 90% of all the water conditions you'll ever encounter covered.

Fun With Finesse - Drop Shot Basics

I've been catching a lot of bass on short trips through the week this past month while playing around with some finesse setups. In particular, I've been doing a lot of dropshotting. One of the common questions you'll find on forums is whether you can dropshot shallow or from the bank, and I'm here to tell you the answer is definitely yes to both.

The dropshot rig is another of those rigs that many people haven't tried, or at least probably haven't given a fair shake (no pun intended). Part of that may stem from its perception as a deep water technique, and the other from all the talk of specialized or high dollar setups. Let's dispell both of those perceptions immediately.

On the setup end of things, if you've never tried dropshotting, here are the basics. A 6'6" spinning rod, give or take half a foot in a L, ML or M action. Fast and extra-fast tapers are frequently recommended and work well, but so do more moderate actions, so don't fret over the details to start. Combine this with a spinning reel housed with 6#-8# line, fluoro or mono, and you've got the rod/reel combo down.

On the bait side of things, the one specialized component I'd argue for is a package of good dropshot hooks. Gammi splitshot/dropshot, Owner SSW's or mosquitos in a size #2 or #1 will work great. Cost is around $5 for a package, and that is the extent of initial specialization you'll need to test out this style of fishing in the beginning. Tie the hook on using a Palomar knot with the line threaded through the eye going toward the hook point, not from the back side. Leave a generous tag end so you have 12"-14" left over to attach your weight to. before adding the weight, take the end of the tag line and thread it back through the front hook eye again and then tighten. 

Any 4-5" straight tail worm will work fine. If all you've got is 6" or larger worms just bite off the head until you have the right size - the fish could care less. And don't worry about the fancy snap-on sinkers yet, either. Clamp a #2 split shot on the end of the line, or tie on an 1/8-oz. or slightly heavier worm weight and you'll be fine. Again, if you fall in love with the technique you can specialize all you want, but you'll catch plenty of fish taking short cuts in the beginning without sacrificing much, especially on most Indiana waters.

Now, where to fish this bait? Around any shallow cover that has a vertical component to it. Look for ski lifts, boat dock posts, weed walls, next to pontoon boats, the end of docks, stumps, even off points. It is not a cover water technique, so you want to be pitching to something fairly specific. Let the bait go to the bottom, tighten the line slightly and then shake on a semi-taut line. Play with the amount of shaking and slack, and don't feel relegated to keeping the bait in a single spot. With lighter weights you can easily swim the bait a few feet at a time with intermittant pauses and shakes. It all works and the fish will give you the specifics for the day.

When you feel a bite of more often just see the line moving off, take you time and slowly tighten the line to make sure the fish actually has the bait. Don't worry about a fish dropping the bait, it rarely happens. As the line draws tight just pull into the fish slightly and keep tension on the line. No real hookset is involved. I personally prefer a "light-weight" reel set myself, but the key is to remember to just not "pop" the fish like you would with a standard jig or worm setup. You don't want to break the light line, and the small hooks don't require much force to penetrate. Again, bring a pair of longnose pliers with you as you'll need them to remove the hooks many times.

One thing I have found especially interesting is seeing just how many bass I can catch in a single small area using this technique. As bass anglers, particularly those of us with boats and who fish tourneys, we often get in this cover water, run-and-gun mind set. Dropshotting will really open your eyes to how many fish are really holding in a tiny area that we so frequently blow through after catching a single bass. A few good days with this technique and you'll be thinking twice about how many fish you are actually passing by as you cruise down the shoreline. 

Edwin Evers on Summertime Bassin'

I was back out to Cataract and a couple other lakes over the past week and continue to catch good fish on traditional summertime patterns. I've mentioned the basics of deep cranking in a post a short while back, but I also came across this new article featuring Edwin Evers and how he approaches summertime bass angling. Click on the link below from Tulsa World to read the story, and be sure to play the 2.5 minute video contained within the article for further tips and information. Depending on your browser, you might have to scroll down the page to find the start of the article.

Video: Evers' tips on finding bass

Evening Buzzbait Bite

I've been catching a bunch of solid bass the past 3-4 weeks every evening chunking a buzzbait around shallow cover. There are lots of fancy and expensive models on the market these days, but you can catch plenty of bass on a couple locally built buzzers without spending a fortune. One of those is the Chatterbuzz by R&S lures, the other is the Hawg-Sticker buzzbait by Carver's Spinners (Larry Carver). You can get both these baits for under $4.00 last time I checked, and they'll catch just as many bass as the fancy big name brands now on the market. If you're looking for something a little more "custom", check out the locally made buzzer by Mike Quinlin...it's a winner, also.

ICAST 2009 Report

It is amazing how one can spend all day standing in a bass boat and not complain. But spending a few hours walking around a large trade show will do terrible things to your feet, knees and back. Luckily it was worth it.

Knowing there are many resources, both online and in print, that report on the new products introduced at ICAST each year, I tried to focus on smaller manufacturers that are often over shadowed by the Berkleys, Strike Kings, etc. I looked for the smaller booths that often harbor the real innovators. The following are a few of the things that caught my interest:

Culprit - Tailgate Special

It's fun to see how soft plastics develop and change from year to year. A new jig trailer from Culprit call the Tailgate Special is almost a time-line of jig trailer history all in one lure. Pork frogs to the plastic chunk to the grub-bodied flappy-claw trailers - all can be seen in this one design. I for one was never fond of the plastic chunk - never sure whether to impail them on the jig hook like a pork frog or to thread them on like a grub. The Tailgate Special answers this question by adding a bit of grub body to the chunk. This can easily be trimmed to adjust to differing jig sizes. The Tailgate Special's varied thickness in the flappers along with raised dots appear to be perfect for adding good vibrations to most any jig.

Culprit - UTS

With a number of manufacturers trying to capitalize on the Bronze Eye frog success, the Culprit UTS (Ultimate Top-water Shad) takes froggin' in a different direction. The UTS is a hollow-bodied weedless topwater bait similar in concept to the Bronze Eye or Snag-Proof frogs but in the look and shape of a shad, bait fish or bluegill. It boasts a high quality double hook, durable nose and a walk-the-dog action that should work equally well in open water and the heaviest of cover.

Gene Larew - Biffle-O Jr.

The Biffle-O and Biffle-O Lizard have been out for a while, but this year Gene Larew introduced the smaller 5.5" Biffle-O Jr. In essence it is an extended length tube with the lower half of the tail cut off and the remainder of the tail tapered to a point. Seeing is believing, as they say: I was amazed at the stand-up action of this bait. Forget shakey head worms! Fish this instead... The difference is that with each lift of the head, the concave tail forces a swim/glide off to one side or the other. Shaking a worm causes it to wiggle in place but the Biffle-O Jr. will go side to side! I was impressed and can't wait to give it a try.

MegaStrike

This appears to be a huge year for MegaStrike. Bobby Uhig has gone all out. In a year that many manufacturers are slimming down and tightening their belts, MegaStrike introduced an innovatitive spinnerbait design along with an entire line of soft plastics. Besides being unique in design, all of the soft plastics will have the added advantage of having MegaStrike fish attractant cooked in to each bait!

The StrikeBack Spinnerbait
 
The most obvious feature of this spinnerbait is the articulated head design. The head is actually two pieces with a hinge point similar to many swimbait designs. Bobby claims this 180 degree of movement reduces the ability for bass to throw the bait during head shakes and jumps. Bass naturally jump and thrash to expell spinny-backed forage such as bluegill that have been inhaled tail first preventing the bass from swallowing. The same reaction often occurs when the bass is hooked by an artificial lure. The hinged head on the StrikeBack spinnerbait removes much of the leverage and absorbs these forces meaning the angler has an advantage when using the StrikeBack. The free swinging hook also means that no matter what angle a bass attempts to inhale the bait, the hook will be the first to swing towards the fish insuring more hook-ups.

Other features of the StrikeBack include bright red 3-D eyes and a uniquely faceted, two-tone willow-leaf blade behind a standard Colorado Blade. The StrikeBack will be available in 5 color combinations and in 3/8, 1/2 and 3/4 oz. sizes.

The MegaStrike WingDing

Soft stickbaits have proven their effectiveness ever since the original Senko was introduced by Gary Yamamoto. Most anglers either Texas-rig or wacky-rig a soft stickbait. The new WingDing combines these two techniques! Basically it is two stickbaits molded as one. Texas-rig the WingDing and you now have a wacky rig that can be fished in the thickest cover! The possibilities are endless... Rig it weightless or with a slip-sinker. Swim it on a Carolina Rig or even on a jig. The WingDing caught my interest and I'm guessing it will catch the interest of many bass!

The MEGA-Bug

This little 4" bait looks to be a cross between a twin-tail grub, a beaver-style bait, and a lizard. It is a compact bait but with six tweedlie appendages that put out a ton of fish attracting vibes. This bait looks to be good for a variety of techniques including flipping, punching and swimming. I am looking forward to giving it a try.

The MEGA-Tube Craw

Tubes have long been a part of bass fishing. What sets the 4 inch Mega-Tube Craw apart is the fine crawfish detail molded into the body of the tube. Extremely life-like in appearance this detail may just be the difference between getting bit and getting ignored, especially in clear water.

The MEGA-Dog

The MEGA-dog is another version of the popular beaver-style baits. But the MEGA-Dog's variable thickness flat tail is oriented 90 degrees from it's body. Rather than a flat horizontal tail it is vertical. Although it doesn't have the look of the standard swimbait, I am guessing it may replace many of the soft swimbaits in angler's arsenals. Versatility is this bait's forte. It can be rigged weightless and cause quite a commotion on the surface similar to a toad-style bait. Or rigged with a belly-weighted hook it becomes a swimbait. Fished as a jig trailer or Texas-rigged it is an excellent bait for flipping heavy cover or punching through matted grass. No matter the situation, I believe this MEGA-Dog will hunt!

One other note about these new designs: Each one was designed to be a great addition the MegaStrike e2 Shakey Head Jig. Take the technically designed e2 and add any of these new soft plastics from MegaStrike and I'm guessing Bobby Uhig has developed a winning set of MegaStrike products!

A couple additional notes...

Although I have not been a big fan of Berkley Gulp Alive, mainly due to its need to be stored in liquid, a new set of containers by Plano developed specifically for Gulp products may go a long way in helping anglers deal with the popular Gulp products. But for now I am still happy with Berkley Power Baits.

The second day, I had the pleasure of speaking with Aaron Martin about drop-shotting, Michael Murphy about the Ima Flit and a Jackel rep. (I've misplaced his card - I think it was David). He was willing to spend time with me and I got a 45 minute personal lesson on the Jackel Flick-shake. As many of you know, I have been a big fan of wacky jigging - now, even more! But I must keep some info in reserve for my own use. :)

Along with running into old friends and acquaintances, I also was able to meet a number of people/clients I have worked with over the years but have never before met face-to-face. And one 3.5 hour dinner on Thursday evening proved to be worth the price of the trip alone! Italian food and good fellowship that just kept coming, course after course!

Oh yes, one other observation. The Gary Yamamoto booth... In contrast to the huge Pure Fishing (Berkley), Strike King, Zebco, Shimano. etc. booths with all their lights and glamour, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits had a simple 10 foot booth with a backdrop and a table with three people seated behind the table. The interesting thing about the GYB booth was the line of media and buyers waiting to ask questions and make orders for the 2010 season! Amazing how a great group of products just keeps on being great! Late on the second day, I had opportunity to sit down with “Chief” George Braswell with GYB and talk fishing. I was amazed to see that what he was excited to talk about was what I had always thought to be a little Indiana secret: Rigging a Senko on a Charlie Brewer Slider Head. I guess the secret is out!

ICAST 2009 is now history and I look forward to next year.

Rod Yoder
RedShad.com

Deep Cranking Made Simple

Made a run again out to Cataract Lake on Sunday. The plan was to continue whacking on some crappie, but the crappie had other thoughts. Still graphing tons of fish, but again it was a deal of catch several right off the bat on a new spot and then struggle to get more. Schools are smaller and seem to be on the move. Can tell you though they are chowing down on little shad right now.

Anyway, after about an hour of that I got a little bored with the whole thing and pulled out a bass rod, one of two I had brought with. Decided to throw some deep cranks to see what would happen. Cataract has always been a good deep cranking lake going way back due to its lack of shoreline cover or submerged weeds. It's all clay and rock out there. Ended up catching 8 bass over the next 2 hours, 5 of which were keepers and only lost one bait in the process.

Deep cranking is one of those bites that seems to have been somewhat forgotten recently, probably because of all the focus on new baits geared toward shallow water fishing as well as a host of new "structure" baits such as shakey heads and football jigs. Doesn't hurt my feelings any. I think part of it is also because guys just don't really understand how to go about it, so lets make it simple and hit the basics.

Step one is to learn how to read a graph. You're simply idling around looking for structural elements such as points, breaks, ledges and creek channels. You don't have to get all fancy when starting out and worry about things like bottom content transitions and such. Keep it simple. Once you find a structural element, keep moving around and graphing it looking for either cover or fish, preferably both. The picture above was from Sunday showing a long flat that breaks off quickly from 10'-15' and then tapers out into even deeper water. It has a nice piece of cover sitting right on the side of the break, and a bunch of fish relating closely to the cover or the drop. When you see that, toss a marker buoy out to keep a reference point.

Next, have a good cranking outfit ready to go. A "good outfit" is a 7' plus MH rod with a parabolic action, a baitcast reel spooled with 10#-12# monofilament or fluorocarbon line, and a gear ratio of between 4.4 to 5.1. You don't want anything faster when truly deep cranking. Forget name brands and fancy advertising to start, just buy an outfit that fits the description above. I paid a whopping $100 for my complete setup (rod, reel and line) and would gladly put my numbers of deep cranking fish I've caught over the years using this outfit up against anybody else's who tells you you need "this" special $250 rod or that brand new $200 reel.

Finally, use a crankbait that will run to the proper depth of the breaks and cover you're trying to reach. Again, forget about the special colors or the high dollar baits some guy on the national tourney scene just used to win some major bucks. Pick a Strike King Series 6, a Norman's DD14 or DD22, a Rapala DT-16, Fat Free Shads, some of the old Poes 400's or Bagley DB-3's...doesn't matter. They all work and you're going to lose some anyway! Stay cheap to begin with. In the picture above, the cover and fish are sitting in 10'-15' of water, so I tied on a DD-22.

Now just throw as far as you can and retrieve the bait. Try some different angles and make sure to bump the bottom. Give a spot a good 15 minutes or so and make a couple dozen casts. If you don't catch anything, pick up your buoy and go find another spot. Lots of places where you just won't catch anything. Don't let that hurt your feelings, that's part of the game. This is where the hard work comes in. But by continuing to search and fish using this simple approach, you'll eventually start putting some fish in the boat like the Cataract chunk above and getting more comfortable with the technique. Then you can fine tune and specialize all you want.

Behold the Maximus

NOTE: Due to popular demand and inquiry, I'm bumping this post up and publishing it today instead of tomorrow.

Tired of getting your clock cleaned at the week night tourneys? Want to throw something just a "little" different than what everybody else is throwing at your next state level tourney, with a slightly different presentation than what your bass are used to seeing? This is the bait I've been playing with the past two weeks.

At the bottom is a standard 3/16-oz shakey head with a 6.0" straight tail worm. Above is the 10.5" Maximus straight-tailed floating worm rigged on a 5/8-oz X-Lock custom shakey head. The bait has a 6/0 needle point hook similar to what is used on a toad bait. A tiny screw spring is used to attach the head of the bait securely. Both the worm and the jig head are marketed by a company called Xcite Baits out of Texas, but don't be fooled. The bait definitely works here in Indiana.

I've played around with a few different setups but right now have pretty much dialed in to a 6'9"-7'0" MH rod and somewhere around 15#-17# pound line as the best all around outfit for me. I went with lighter line at first but have broken a couple good fish off because of it. It's one of those cases where you really need a little "mass in the ass" to counteract the size fish that bites this bait combined with the weight of the bait itself. Don't be surprised if you start hearing whispers on the tourney trails of lots more wins coming on this rig this summer. "Big Indiana Bass" is giving you the heads-up first.