In this issue
1. Your Bass Fishing Tool Box: Jeff Hughes
2. Funny of the Day
3.
Tips and Tricks part1: Richie White
4. Did You Know?
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Get
your bass fishing on the right track. Learn to read conditions and establish patterns based on your own knowledge of the bass,
just like the pros' do.
www.thinklikeabass.com ******************************************************************
Your Bass Fishing Tool Box
One
of the most frequently asked questions I get is "what is your best lure for catching bass?" My answer to this question is
always the same."My favorite lure is the one that works best!" Bass fishing is a game of circumstances which are constantly
changing, and bass must change and adapt as conditions change, so there is no magic lure that catches fish best every day.
In order to consistently catch bass you must let each fishing situation dictate your lure selection.
Consider your
tackle box as a tool box
Consider bass fishing a task just as you would repairing your car. You need the right tools
for the job! You wouldn't use a hammer to take off a bolt on the engine, any more than you would use a crankbait to catch
bass from deep in the middle of matted weeds. While a crankbait may work just fine to take bass which are positioned on the
edge of the weeds, when a front or sunny weather conditions send bass deep into the cover you need a jig or other weedless
bait to catch them. Not only do you need the right tool but you also need the right variation of the tool you use, this is
where the job of catching bass can get tricky, and will usually take some experimentation on your part.
Choosing the
right tool/lure
Choosing the right tool for catching bass is not complicated. The first thing you will need to consider
is the location of the fish. Are they holding deep in the middle of cover? If the answer is yes, then you know you will need
a tool that is weedless and can be effectively fished inside cover. If you are unsure where the bass are, you may want to
start with a more versatile tool, such as a jig or plastic worm which can be used for taking bass from heavy cover, deep structure,
or most any other situation. Then once you have located the bass, fine tune to the right variation of your tool. Choosing
the right variation of the tool (color and size) can be tricky. I always start by first determining what the main forage base
is in the area, and try to match that forage with a tool that can be fished effectively in or around the cover or structure
that the bass are holding on. Keep in mind that there may be a population of a different creature in the area which may be
the favorite on the menu on any given day. For instance, shad may be the main forage base on your water, but that does not
always mean that shad are what the bass are feeding on in that particular area. There may be a population of bluegill, crawfish,
or something else which contains more nutrition than shad and that may very well be what the bass will feed on. A good habit
to practice is to always look inside the throat of every bass you catch many times this will reveal a parochially swallowed
prey such as the claws of a crawfish or the tail of a shad. This will tell you exactly what the fish are feeding on, as well
as the size and color of the prey.
Depth
The second factor to consider when choosing a tool to catch bass is
the depth the fish are holding in. You will need a tool that you can get to the depth where bass are holding. As I mentioned
above, some of the tools in your tackle box such as jigs or plastic worms are very versatile and can be fished either shallow
or deep and in most any situation that you encounter. However they may or may not be the best choice of lure on a given day
or area, which brings us to the next factor to consider.
The mood of the bass
The final and most important
factor to consider in choosing a tool for catching bass, is the mood of the bass. Once you have located bass, its time to
see what kind of mood they are in. For an experienced angler who knows bass, many times weather conditions and the location
of the fish alone will tell him their mood. For instance, if it's the day after a severe front with sunny skies, and the fish
are very tight in the cover, odds are very good that the fish will be very lethargic, and the right tool for the job of catching
them will be a lure which he can fish very slowly and keep it in the strike zone for a long period of time. On the other hand
if the weather is stable and the fish are located on the edges of cover or structure, they may be aggressive and more than
willing to strike a fast-moving bait such as a spinnerbait, along the edges of the cover or structure. Whatever the case,
weather conditions will almost always be the determining factor in the mood of bass, and if you take the time and effort to
learn how different weather conditions effect the fish it will make choosing the right tool much easier. Also keep in mind
that the mood of the fish can change at any time, and you may need to switch to a different tool several times throughout
a day of fishing.
Learn to Develop Confidence in Your Tools
Whatever the fishing situation is that you are
faced with, it's extremely important that you have confidence in the tools you use. If you don't believe that the lure you
are using will catch fish, it most likely WON'T!. simply because you will not fish it effectively. One way of developing confidence
in a lure is to picture the fish striking it in your mind. If you keep a mental picture of yourself catching fish on the lure,
you will eventually actually catch fish on it, and that will give you the mental confidence you need to use a lure and use
it effectively. While it is important to have confidence in a lure, be careful not to be over confident in any one particular
lure. Remember there is no magic lure that will catch fish in every single situation you may encounter. So learn to know when
to put down that favorite tool and make a change.
Good Luck and Better Fishing
Jeff Hughes
http://www.thinklikeabass.com _________________________________________________________________
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Funny of the day
One day
while driving home from his fishing trip in the pouring rain, a man got a flat tire outside of a monastery. A monk came out
and invited the man inside to have dinner and to spend the night. The stranded motorist gladly accepted the monk's offer.
That
evening the man had a wonderful dinner of fish and chips. He decided to compliment the chef.
Entering the kitchen,
the man asked the cook, "Are you the fish friar?" "No," the chef replied, "I'm the chip monk."
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If
you are a pro Bass fisherman, or just an experianced one and have a tip or an article that you would like to share, LET US
HEAR FROM YOU ! If your article or tip is accepted and published, you will get a free ad for your business in Think Like A
Bass. email to
jguide@tds.net ____________________________________________________________________
Tips and Tricks Part1
As
a guide I have learned many tips and tricks over the years. I will share some of them here.
How to get baits unhung
The
most important factor in getting unhung is to get over the top of whatever you are hung on. You want to make sure you keep
your line high enough that it won't get wrapped around a different tree on the way to the tree that you are hung on. Once
you get over the bait, there are several ways you can get unhung.
If you can reach the lure with the rod, simple reel
the rod down to the bait until the rod tip touches the bait. Then give it a quick jab downward and it will usually pop off
on the first try.
If you can't reach the lure with the rod and you have a weight near the hook, such as on a jigging spoon
or pegged Texas rigged worm, you can use the weight of the bait to get it off. Simply get over the bait (try to go over it
on the same side that it hooked on) and lift the bait slowly and let the bait fall fast. You may have to do this several times,
but if you have a heavy enough weight it will normally get free. I often amaze my clients when I lift my rod up and down 50
to 100 times and it eventually does get off. If it is hung in wood, it will usually get off. If it catches a trot line or
some strong fishing line, you may not be so lucky. I can usually tell the difference, so I don't waste much time.
If you
can't reach the lure with the rod and you don't have enough weight to pop it off, you will need something heavy to do it.
You can use a lure retriever, a heavy sinker, or even a spark plug. If you have a lure retriever or a spark plug, wrap it
around your line and let it slide down and do the same as you would with the jigging spoon. If you don't have a lure retriever
or a spark plug, cut your line and slide a heavy barrel weight down it. It will usually work, but you will loose some line.
If I am using 15# test or less, it doesn't bother me to loose some line. However, if it is heavy line, loosing that much line
could make a difference in how well the reel casts.
How to fill a baitcasting reel
One thing that makes filling
reels easier is to use the biggest spools of line you can find. I carry one pound spools of Berkeley Big Game in 15# and 20#,
since that is what I use the most. I carry smaller spools of other line strengths just to save space.
The first thing I
do is take the reel off the rod. The 10 seconds you spend taking off the reel will save you several minutes. Next, I strip
off the line. If I am using 25# or heavier, I strip the reel completely. If I am using 20#, I leave a very small amount on
the reel. If I am using lighter line, I will leave even more line on the reel. The lighter the line, the more I leave on the
reel. If I am using 12 pound test, I may leave half my line on my reel. I fill my reels so full that I should never see the
knot.
Next, I run the line through the eye of the reel and tie to the old line or directly to the reel. Then I put my
one pound spool of line in the bottom of the boat. I put my metal fish measuring stick under the spool, so it can turn on
it. I sit over the top of the spool with the spool of line coming over the top from the backside. When I start reeling the
spool spins toward the carpeted sides of my boat underneath me and spins on the measuring stick and the side of my boat. I
can then fill the reel in a few seconds without the help of anyone. Be sure to fill it full!
It takes me less than 5 minutes
to do the whole process. I've seen people spend 30 minutes trying to get out a backlash and if they are lucky enough to get
it out, they should now replace their line. I just start cutting if I (or a client) get a bad backlash in one of my reels.
How
to tie a good knot
If you think you got broke off by a fish, but the end of your line is curled up, you probably just had
a bad knot. You can avoid many of those "break offs" with a good knot. I use a polomer knot in almost all cases. It is extremely
strong. It has the line wrapped around the eye twice. About the only time I don't use a polomer is when I have a bait (such
as a Pop-R) that either is hard to put a double line through or I think it may have better action if it isn't doubled. In
that case, I use the clinch knot.
To tie a polomer knot, double (fold) your line and put it through the eye of your lure.
Then take the folded end and go over and back under the other lines and grab the folded end. Now, put your lure completely
through the loop you just made. Then pull the tag end of the line to take out the excess. Now hold the lure and pull the line
to tighten it. Cut off the excess and you should have a good polomer knot.
To tie a clinch knot, put your line through
the eye of your lure and leave about 6 inches. Hold both lines together and twist your lure 5 or 6 full turns. Put the excess
line through the loop close to your bait, then put it back through the loop you just made. Pull on the excess while pushing
the knot toward the bait. Now hold the lure and pull the line to tighten it. Cut off the excess and you should have a good
clinch knot.
Richie White is a professional bass fishing guide on Lake Fork Texas for 13 years fir questions or comments
contact Richie at
Richie@bassfishing.org or visit
http://www.bassfishing.org/___________________________________________________________________
Did you know?
Bass have a better
sense of smell than a bird dog?
