Big Indiana Bass

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.

A Jig Man's Carolina Rig Alternative

I've been playing around the last few weeks with football jigs, and I'm beginning to really like them. I've never been a huge plastics fan, so I don't do a whole lot of Carolina rigging. That said, the football jig seems to be the best alternative to that presentation from a jig fishing perspective. I love the jig and usually keep one tied on year round, especially for heavy cover and murky water shallow presentations. They will also work well in deeper water in place of a worm, but the worm usually gets more bites. I think it has to do with either a.) the fish by summertime have gotten pretty accustomed to seeing jigs and worms are just something different, or b.) their dietary preferences have changed and the long slim profile of a plastic worm is a much better representation of that diet than a short, bulky jig.

Either way, I've fished some Booyah's, Eakin's and Last Cast Baits football jigheads and they all seem to work similarly. Different hook styles, different skirt designs, etc., but same basic concept and what seems to be equal bites at the moment. I'll probably have more to say later in the year after fishing these more, as well as trying a couple other brands and trailer types, but for now I'd say if you haven't tried them yet, grab a couple the next time you're in the fishing dept. and throw them a bit on your water and see what you think.

A Bait Indiana Bass Anglers Have Forgotten

I was walking out of the marina Saturday afternoon when the local security officer waved at me to get my attention. He took a couple steps toward me and then spoke. "Hey Brian, I caught 18 yesterday".

I nodded and inquired, "white bass?"

"No, largemouth", he said. Now he had my attention. "Right over here and in this next bay over" he gestured, pointing to the cove just above the marina.

"Any size", I asked. He held his hands apart and motioned, "About like this". Looked about keeper sized to me. So I asked the big question next, my Mercury still running behind me as I was about to head out onto the lake myslef. "What did you catch them on?"

He got a grin on his face, stepped a couple paces closer, looked to either side as if to see if anyone was too close to overhear, and then stated in a softer tone than what he had been speaking in, "natural colored Touchdown worm."

"Really?"

"All in about an hour and a half on that little pre-rigged worm", he said, and with that, he strode off, duly impressed with his angling accomplishment from the previous day. And I have to admit, I was impressed to. It got me thinking back to "the old days", back when you couldn't fish a tourney up at Wawasee without seeing a red Touchdown worm tied onto at least one rod in every boat. The little worm that had accounted for who knows how much money from off the shallow weedbeds of the Ohio River. The prerigged worm that half the guys who made the State Team many moons ago up at Tippecanoe-Barbee used so effectively, swimming them over weed flats to secure their position atop the State Finals competition. Been there, done that, saw it all go down. Too much thought for one day, I had to try it again.

I admit, if you go in my garage and look at the tackle shop hanging on my walls as the wife refers to it, off on a far corner peghook of it's own, you'll find about a dozen and a half Touchdown worms still packaged and ready to roll. I stood there and looked through them, found a 6" purple-firetail worm and removed it from the pack. I pulled out a 7' spinning rod loaded with 8 pound test, tied on the swivel and worm, cut the little sinker it comes with in half and pinned it on the line just above the swivel. Then off to the bank I go, headed toward the riprap dam of the local lake for some crazy little experiment. Is it to prove the validity of the story the officer told me, or more a challenge that I too can fish this litle worm. Maybe a test just to see if the thing really does work still.

I pull into the parking lot, exit the truck, spinning rod now in hand as I stride down the grassy hillside to a corner of the dam. This is the shallow end with scattered weeds growing amongst the silty flat. I step down onto the rocks, make a nice toss across the weed flat, let the worm sink for 2-3 seconds and then commence a slow, steady retrieve. The worm gets almost all the way back to me, well within sight as I watch it "swim" it's little death spiral back to my feet. But before I can get it completely wound in a 14" bass rockets from an adjacent weed clump and sucks the worm in. Honest to God, first cast! I chuckle to myself, almost in disbelief as I try and remove the little hooks from the basses mouth. Can't believe I forgot the long-nosed pliers. You'll need them handy if you fish this worm. The hooks might be small, but because of that they penetrate gristle, and removing them with just your fingers can be a chore.

I fish down the rock bank of the dam a ways, some casts paralleling the rocks with a swimming retrieve, others cast out at a 45-degree angle away from the rocks where I let the worm settle and then fish it back like a mini Carolina rig, just a bit faster with sweeps and pauses. A couple more little fish here, another 14" bass there. I reach the spillway with some deeper water adjacent to a weed flat - this spot surrenders the best fish of the evening, a nice, fat 16"-er. Ninety minutes later I'm headed back home, happy with the results of my little experiment and again reminiscing about days gone by when the little worm was a staple in most bass anglers boxes.   

I get home to see that I've received yet another Bass Pro catalog in the mail, about the 5th one this season already. I must be a good customer or something. I peruse the pages, looking at all the newest lures. Nine dollar spinnerbaits, $3 jigs, $17 crankbaits, and $35 swimbaits. The sport has really changed over all these years, and technology has given us some wonderful equipment and lures with which to pursue our sport. We are certainly the better off for it as anglers, for the most part. But this is still bass fishing in Indiana, where 80% of the time we are always looking for "just one more keeper" to add to our well to get us a check, or worse yet, just one keeper please, regardless of size so I can get some points and not take the dreaded blank. Admit it, some days you just struggle to get any bites. We all do. You've gone 7 hours into your tourney with nothing in the well to show for it. Whatever you've done or thrown obviously isn't right. What are you going to do for that last hour to save face? For the price of that 20-oz pop sitting in your cooler, you can have a little "emergency bait" stashed in the bottom of your box, hidden from view most of the time so your 'bass pro' persona doesn't suffer at the hands of your buddies, but that might become a game-saver and make an otherwise forgettable fishing outing a bit brighter come weigh-in time...They do still work.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's not Chistmas and I'm not Andy Williams, but I was reminded nearly 3 dozen times today that buzzbait season is upon us in a big way. Quite possibly my favorite bass bite of all, I think I could cut back to just 1 rod and chunk a buzzbait everyday for the next 4.5 months and be pretty content. If you haven't tied one on yet this year, you better be thinking about doing it before long.

On a side note, my comment on BassFan concerning the new fizz tool BASS is promoting got posted to their feedback page. It's the 5th one down at the moment under their 'all topics' category. If you click on the drop down box and scroll to the biology subheader you'll also see a posted comment by Richard Ziert, a frequent site contributor here.

Catching Huge Froggin' Bass

This contributed post by Rod Yoder of RedShad Tackle also appears "permanently" in the 'Articles' list on the left sidebar of the site for future reference.

I don't know why I am compelled to promote that which I wish not to compete against, but...

Open your mind, forget that frogs are for fishing over matted grass and pads. My best frog fish have come in "open" water. I use the Bronze Eye, 50-65# Power Pro on a 7' medium action rod for this type of presentation. A few of my favorite situations:

1. Short skips into the unseen darkness way back beneath overhanging trees, docks or piers. The biggest advantage in this situation is it's weedlessness out of the water. You are forcing your bait into unseen territory. Who knows what it will encounter back there. A frog generally does well in these circumstances.

2. Super long casts across shallow flats to that wee bit of shade created by a collection of scum and debris in a little indentation of the bank. This is my favorite when fishing as a co-angler. With these long casts you can reach up on the flat areas your angler isn't. No worries about hooksets on the long casts due to no-stretch braid. Here again, the frog's ability to come clean on misplaced casts is a plus. My depth perception is often poor on these types of casts so it is nice to not worry about the fact that I landed 10 feet inland. The real key to this one, and to all of these, is to work the bait ALL the way back to the boat - at least until you can determine a pattern to the bass' location.

I like to work the frog in a fairly rapid motion. Rapid in motion, not necessarily rapid retrieve. I point the rod tip down and make use of the medium tip action to bounce the frog in a steady, two-beats per reel turn motion. Maybe mix in a pause or two along the way - if for no other reason than to give my wrist a rest. The bait stays active but may progress slowly across the open flat. I have had little problem with hook-ups in this situation. When they want it, they eat it!

3. Super HIGH casts. Casts so high you don't even try to keep eye contact with the bait. You simply look in the general area of where you think it will land, and wait. This is also a favorite of mine as a co-angler. As much as they probably try to not focus on their co-angler partners, boaters tend to keep them in their peripheral vision just to keep awareness of the situation. A series of super high casts with maybe 5 to 10 seconds passing before touchdown seems to kind of un-nerve partners for some reason. When you are used to the sound of the reel ending with the bloop of the lure, a few second delay can seem like an eternity. I used to do this just for fun but found that the highly organic PLOP! made by a intergalactic frog seems to be a great attention getter for the bass too. Especially if left to sit nearly motionless for as long as you can stand it after the initial landing.

4. Casts that fall over small branches. These should never be passed up as a bad cast. Use the branch or small twig as a vertical pulley point to dip the tails into the water multiple times - as though the creature is struggling to climb out of the water up to safety. IT WORKS! And scares the crap out of you when it does!

5. Anytime that you'd like to use a Spook but there is just enough misc. cover to make it hard to get a full retrieve without entanglements. I usually leave the legs full length because I like the straight ahead plop-plop action. But the more you trim the skirt, the more walk-the-dog action you will get.

Now the Truth Can Be Told

I might be in self-proclaimed tournament retirement, but I still struggle constantly with just how much information to provide on the site, more directly with tourney "secrets" or stuff I've learned or figured out over the years. This topic is one such occasion, and I've decided to "spill the beans" if you will. Are you ready?

All Bandit crankbaits are NOT created equal!

There, I said it, now what in the hell do I mean by that. First, fill up a sink or tub with water. You won't need a ton, about 7"-8" worth. Next, go yank the crankbait box out of your boat and bring all your bandit crankbaits inside with you. Don't let the wife or girlfriend see you doing this. Next, the easiest way to see this one for yourself is to take a little 1/16-oz. crappie jighead and one by one, hang the crappie jighead off the front trebles of your Bandits, setting them in the water and then tapping them on their back like you're trying to get the bait to sink into or under the water...then pay attention.

What you'll see is that some Bandits are faster risers with lots of buoyancy and really struggle against your prods to stay on the surface. They even have a slightly different angle at which they lay at rest on the waters surface. Yet other Bandits are slower risers with much less buoyancy and can easily be pushed under the waters surface with a good prodding. I've never figured out exactly why. Could be a difference over time with the plastic formulation they've used to mold them with. Perhaps a change in design or weighting. Doesn't matter whether you're testing 100's, 200's or 300's. Some will pop right back up and some just take their sweet little time. They tend to align to a certain degree by color pattern, but this certainly isn't an absolute either.

Regardless, if you were to look in my crankbait boxes, every Bandit in them will either have a tiny black dot on the throat or it won't. That way I know at a quick glance which ones are the high floaters and which ones aren't. Why does this matter? It matters tons at times as the buoyancy rate can be used to make these baits way more effective when paired to certain situations. For instance, in the spring and late fall when I'm fishing over newly growing or recent dieback vegetation in cooler water, a slow riser allows me to keep the bait down with a slower retrieve right in the strike zone. Same with cranking rock banks in the early spring. Tick, tick, tick as I can really slow the bait down and work it right along the rocks with added twitches and pauses and yet maintain depth. To make this even more effective be sure to add a couple Suspenstrips or similar to your slow risers. You don't really want them to suspend, just to rise slowly under their own accord. A little extra weight similar to the test using the jighead helps.

For your fast risers, these get the bulk of the work in the late spring or summer when burning baits over vegetation and ripping them through weeds. When fish have a faster metabolism and will react to a bait that pops up quick out of the vegetation. Another situation would be when cranking around wood where you want a bait that will back up and rise quick after running into the cover, often triggering a bite. Don't add any extra weight to these.

Chances are you have both styles of Bandits in your boxes right now, but never even realized it. It's also a good bet that if I've ever fished against you in a tourney, I've probably made a donator out of you a time or two because of this "trick". After all, my partner and I didn't give our Bandit cranks the nickname "Mr. Money" for no reason.

The Trailerless Jig Saga Continues

I love fishing with Asshat. I only get the chance a few times a year, but it's always entertaining and informative. If you've been a long time reader then you've seen some of the posts from previous trips.

When it comes to simplicity, nobody I've ever fished with tops Asshat...not even Josh ;) Asshat is still using the same Shimano Speedmaster rods and Bantam reels from his tourney days in the 80's. His old-style drawer tacklebox is half filled with classic baits like Big-O's and Mann's Classic spinnerbaits, but not many of them. An assorted Bomber or two, a handful or two of bass jigs he pulled out of the trash can after I threw them away (no lie). I think he has a couple buzzbaits along with a few Shad Raps. Might even still be carrying a bag of Producto worms with him along with a bag or two of tubes. That's mostly it, except for the one Lucky Craft Pointer he stole off Josh and refused to return (his only character flaw).

Life is simple in Asshat's world. The best color is pretty much whatever color of the bait he happens to have in his tacklebox at the time. In Asshat's world, if you've bought a Lucky Craft RC bait then you basically paid 5X too much for nothing more than a glorified Big-O. One of his guiding theories about bass behavior, which I admit I'm quickly taking a liking to, is "bass like to eat things that...move". As such, if your bait behaves like something that a fish should eat, then they probably will. And so leads up to the next chapter in the trailerless jig saga.

The smallies in yesterday's trip pics were from my weekend trip with Asshat. We've launched the boat and are sitting on the water tieing on baits. Asshat puts on a rubber-legged jig (see pic above) and then questions aloud whether he should add a trailer or not. I chime in with my .02 cents and say if he expects to catch any fish today then he better. That's all Asshat needs to hear to make his decision - trailerless it is.

If you've ever fished a traditional bass jig without some sort of pork or plastic trailer, just a skirt, then you know how sick and wrong it is. Yes I've fished marabou and bucktail trailerless and survived fine, but not a silicone ladened traditional bass jig. You might get one cast, maybe two before all confidence fades and hope of catching is lost, then the trailer must reappear. Hell, I can't even stand for a single pincher to be removed by a short-striking fish lest my bassin' world be terribly altered until the deformed craw is replaced by a nice happy craw with two pinchers again, and life as I know it returns to normal.

So you know what happened  without me even continuing on with the story, so I'll just show you the pic:

Asshat scores 3 bass on the trailerless jig include the brute above while I blank on my traditional jig-n-pig from the same boat in the same areas. This is the third trip from two different bodies of water where he has proven this is no fluke. There's a lesson in there somewhere if I can get myself to face reality and accept defeat.

Yoder's Soft Plastic Swimbait Lunkers

 

I fish a local public pond every spring. It's a perfect little place where I can stop by for a few casts or throw my "tupperware boat" (a little 2-man bass buggy) into the back of my truck and spend a few hours trying new lures and techniques.

Last year, I was playing with a new swimbait from Skinny Bear called the SB5. I didn't really expect to get bit on the huge bait but wanted to see how it swam. I was casting from the bank, so was limited in my casting angles along the shore. I made a cast out a ways from the bank and let it sink a few seconds before beginning a slow retrieve. A couple turns of the reel and I felt a faint tic. I was a little perplexed by what I felt - I knew there wasn't any cover out that far but it sure felt like my lure brushed against a stick-up or something. I decided to give the rod a token hookset and was suprized to feel pressure. What I did not expect, happened! My first time out for the year and a 4 pounder came to hand caught on a bait I was simply "trying out".

I was thrilled, but also disappointed realizing my digital scales and camera were still back in the truck. So I admired the fish for a moment and gently let her go. Wow! This bait works! I worked my way on down the bank. Tried casting ahead as close to parallel to the bank as the brush would allow. A few casts later I felt a similar tic. No Way... again? Well I set the hook and there was dead weight as a twig slowly lifted out of the water - sheesh. Just as I was thinking how silly I was to think the twig felt like a bass, I realized my rod tip was being pulled and my line was traveling out away from the bank!

The cold water allowed for a relatively mild fight but as I brought the fish towards the bank I couldn't believe what I saw. Thoughts of hooking a monster carp flashed through my mind as I caught a glimpse of fish's silhouette. But this was no carp. With a mouth as big as my face and eyes as big as quarters, this was the biggest bass I have ever caught. My best guess was over 8 pounds. There I was, sitting on the bank with no one to see, and no camera or scales! Grrrrr! Oh well, I knew I had an awesome fish and that would have to suffice. I let her go and called it a day.

I fish this pond every so often. Sometimes numbers, sometimes better fish, and sometimes no sign of life. But this winter I looked forward to another early March chance at the big one. I spoke with Loren with Skinny Bear Bass Jigs and he sent me a couple of the SB5 swimbaits in the rainbow trout pattern...

It's a rather bulky piece of soft plastic, hand-poured with a cylindrical weight molded in place. You thread your line through the nose and out the bottom where you tie on a #1 treble hook. I finally had an open Saturday with relatively nice weather. I loaded up the boat and made it out to the pond by mid morning. For some reason I wasted a fair amount of time throwing suspending rogues and jigs. It just seemed like the thing to throw in 44.5 degree water. I finally decided to give the big swim bait a try. I made a few casts and was just re-playing the "tic" I remembered feeling last year when lo-and-behold I felt it again! I reeled down and gave a good solid sweep of the rod and sure enough I knew I had her! Unbelievable! It worked again! This time I was prepared with camera and digital scales. Although it was not as big as the one last year, it stands as the biggest bass I have ever weighed. 7 pounds and 1 ounce. My arm was not long enough to get my face and the bass in one photo and holding the bass at arms length to shoot it kind of lost perspective so I took a quick shot of the digital read out. 5 hours of fishing for one bite... but it was a great day and a great way to start the year!

A little more about the SB5. It is about 5-1/2" long but very bulky and quite heavy - well over an ounce. It has a down-turned paddle tail that really wobbles. But besides the tail action, the entire bait slowly rocks from side to side. Fished on a slow steady retrieve it really looks like a lethargic, half stunned, shad, trout or gill. An easy target for any hungry predator bass. I throw the SB5 on a Custom-made medium heavy rod. You do not want a stiff flippin-type rod simply because you want a gentle lob cast to avoid tearing up the soft bait. I use 15# Seaguar INVIZX line and a Quantum Tour Edition 6.2/1 reel. As with most any bait I throw, I smear a dab of MegaStrike on it. I believe it helps get the bass to commit.

Someday, I hope to find conditions that suit the use of this bait in a tournament, 'cause if it gets bit, it will be a good one! But today, I was happy to be able to sit back in my little tupperware boat and place a call to a young man in California and thank him for making my day. Swimbaits aren't just for California!

Soft Plastic Lure Ingestion by Bass

You could see this one coming, at least you could if you've been paying attention to some of the boards this past year. An about to be published study entitled Voluntary Ingestion of Soft Plastic Fishing Lures Affects Brook Trout Growth in the Laboratory documents the rate of ingestion and the affects of that ingestion of soft plastic lures (SPL's - you got to love scientists and acronyms) on growth of brook trout.

I hear ya'. You say brook trout, so what? "So what" is the direct inference to bass angling as the primary contributor of these soft plastics in the report. If you can access the full article you'll find these statements:

• "The SPLs, used primarily during summertime bass angling on the lake, accumulate in lake trout stomachs as a result of voluntary ingestion and form gastric bezoars."
• "In addition to the negative health implications of SPLs from physical irritation of the gastric area, the chemical composition of these lures makes them dangerous pollutants to the environment and potential health hazards to humans, fish, and wildlife."
• "Input should be solicited from key angler organizations regarding the scope of a subsequent study to cultivate a vested interest in the study outcome, which may not reflect favorably on the continued use of some popular SPLs commonly used by anglers. Meanwhile, anglers should be discouraged from disposing of SPLs in the water."

So that should be warning enough that we'll be hearing a whole lot more on this subject in the coming years. If you want to get a quick brush up on the subject from a variety of sources, here are several you can read.

1. A Maine article from July 2007 that interviewed the lead researcher in the noted study above.
2. An article going back to 2002 from the Kelsey Bass Ranch newsletter (see page 2) that interviews who I assume is Dr. Keith Jones, though the article only references "...the biologist responsible for testing the effects of Berkley Power baits on bass."
3. This post on the Bass Fishing Homepage over a year ago from frequent site contributor Paul Roberts.
4. Another more recent BFHP post referencing an article out of Maine stating the intent of eliminating the use of soft plastic worms in that state.
5. And finally, a review of what may ultimately be the solution to this issue on TackleTour.com, FoodSource Lures "Fish sticks", a variety of biodegradable soft lures that they claim will actually "help them (bass) grow bigger if they do ingest the lure".

Biology 101 - Dissecting a Bluegill (Swimbait)

Ever wondered what makes a Mattlures bluegill swimbait tick?

Turns out about 1/2-oz of lead, a hook and a snap, along with a 1.3-oz. body. Total swimbait weight is roughly 1.82 ounces give or take. A gorgeous mold and paint job doesn't hurt either.