Canal Flatties
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Alabama Rig Giants!
I've been back for a week on my Thanksgiving break from WVU. Only one day has passed that I haven't fished, it's been great! I spent a great deal of time on a local lake fishing an Alabama rig, I stumbled upon a pretty incredible bite and have been milking it for all it's worth! My biggest three bass have been 6.68, 6.5, and 6.37lbs, all from a kayak on the Alabama rig. I have landed piles of fish on it, and several doubles. It has been a blast!
Walleyes will eat it too
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Fishing At WVU
During my time at WVU so far as a freshman, I have spent a great deal of time on the Monongahela river that runs through campus. Tough would be an understatement to describe the fishing on the river, but when you don't have a car, you make due with what you've got! The redeeming quality of the Mon river is that it's like a zoo, I have caught largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass, white bass, hybrid stripers, musky, walleye, sauger, freshwater drum, channel catfish, rock bass, crappie, and several types of sunfish. The downside is that while all of those fish exist in the river, you have to put in about an hour or two of fishing for each fish you catch, and one fish days are common. I can't explain it, but no matter what species you target, you will probably end up catching others while doing so, and it's rare to catch 2 or 3 fish of one species in a day. For example, if I go out and bass fish, and I catch 5 fish, there's a good chance that only one or two of them would be bass, and there is never a pattern to it. On my best day bass fishing at the Mon, I landed 7 bass, it was a mix of all three species, and three fish were over 12". That should say something, considering I typically fish the river at least three times a week.
The best bait by far has been a 4" Keitech Swing Impact on a 1/16 or 1/8oz jighead, white when the water is stained, and some sort of minnow color if the water is clear. The baitfish in the river seem to be almost exclusively silver shiners (look and act a lot like saltwater glass minnows) so the swimbait is a great match.
Another good technique is simply trolling rapala shad raps, #5, #6, and #7. They will catch just about anything in the river.
Here are some fish from the river!
The best bait by far has been a 4" Keitech Swing Impact on a 1/16 or 1/8oz jighead, white when the water is stained, and some sort of minnow color if the water is clear. The baitfish in the river seem to be almost exclusively silver shiners (look and act a lot like saltwater glass minnows) so the swimbait is a great match.
Another good technique is simply trolling rapala shad raps, #5, #6, and #7. They will catch just about anything in the river.
Here are some fish from the river!
A nice smallmouth on a chatterbait
Double on night time walleyes
The biggest walleye I have caught here, roughly 17"
One of three drum I have caught on the river. 28", 9.2lbs, and plenty of slime
I caught this musky while walleye fishing with a 1/16oz crappie jig. Fish measured 42".
Spotted bass! We don't have these in Central VA
Biggest largemouth I have caught here, 17" and roughly 2.5-2.75lbs
The biggest smallmouth I've caught here, also the only fish I have ever caught at the lock & dam.
We got into some fish on frogs in August, but very few
Sauger
The rare Mon River Double
My PB Musky @43"
I like spots. Even if they are small.
Pumpkinseed
An incidental musky while bass fishing
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
"The Fish Of 10,000 Casts"
Whoever coined that phrase was not fishing where I am fishing. Today my friend and I landed 4 muskies from the bank in less than an hour. I must have found a pretty special spot! I landed 3 on a 6" Mike Bucca Bull Shad, and my friend landed one on a River2Sea S-Waver 168.
Monday, August 22, 2016
First Muskie(s)
I am now enrolled at WVU, so my fishing opportunities will be fairly limited while I am here. Nonetheless, I have found some aquatic friends to play with as always. There is a large river nearby, and with the help of public transportation, and embracing the weird stares I get from the moment I leave my dorm with fishing rods to the moment I return, I am having a pretty good time figuring it out!
A couple days ago, I was fishing for bass with a super spook Junior. I almost jumped out of my shoes when something erupted from underneath it! I assumed it was a large striper, and proceeded to have 4 blowups on consecutive casts from what I thought was the same fish. I finally hooked it, but only for a second, long enough for me to see that it was a very large musky, a fish I had never dealt with before.
I went back to my dorm, rigged up my swimbait rod with a 90# fluoro leader and a bull shad, and the next opportunity I had after I finished with classes and work, I headed off to the river! I went to the exact same spot where I lost the fish, and within 3 casts I watched the fish crush my bait, but he instantly rolled off of it. I threw back to the same spot and was stunned when the fish followed the bait all the way to my feet in a foot of water. I gave the fish a moment to rest before I continued fishing. A couple casts in, I see the submarine like wake begin to push up behind the bait, I started a sequence of burning the bait across the surface and stopping it, and several times the water erupts behind the bait. Finally the fish eats it and I swing for the fences (the last two sentences took place in less than 5 seconds)! After a short battle, to insure that the fish did not exhaust itself in the warm water, I grabbed the leader, got a photo, unhooked the fish, and released it.
I couldn't believe it! The fish of 10,000 casts! I decided I may as well keep casting, although I knew the odds were incredibly slim now that I had caught the fish I assumed had ruled this piece of the river... Two casts later another fish boils on the bait, and as soon as I made a follow up cast to where the boil was, a musky crushes the bait once again, I set the hook, beside myself at this point, and repeat what I just did. This fish was slightly larger, maybe 35-36".
Now I don't even know what to think, so I pick up the rod and keep casting. A third musky destroys the bull shad no more than 5 casts later! I could tell this fish was much larger than the first two, I couldn't move it even close to as easily as the other two. I got the fish close to the bank, and the hook pulled! I was too happy to be bummed out though, and while this was the last bite I got for the evening, I am sure there are more to come.
A couple days ago, I was fishing for bass with a super spook Junior. I almost jumped out of my shoes when something erupted from underneath it! I assumed it was a large striper, and proceeded to have 4 blowups on consecutive casts from what I thought was the same fish. I finally hooked it, but only for a second, long enough for me to see that it was a very large musky, a fish I had never dealt with before.
I went back to my dorm, rigged up my swimbait rod with a 90# fluoro leader and a bull shad, and the next opportunity I had after I finished with classes and work, I headed off to the river! I went to the exact same spot where I lost the fish, and within 3 casts I watched the fish crush my bait, but he instantly rolled off of it. I threw back to the same spot and was stunned when the fish followed the bait all the way to my feet in a foot of water. I gave the fish a moment to rest before I continued fishing. A couple casts in, I see the submarine like wake begin to push up behind the bait, I started a sequence of burning the bait across the surface and stopping it, and several times the water erupts behind the bait. Finally the fish eats it and I swing for the fences (the last two sentences took place in less than 5 seconds)! After a short battle, to insure that the fish did not exhaust itself in the warm water, I grabbed the leader, got a photo, unhooked the fish, and released it.
I couldn't believe it! The fish of 10,000 casts! I decided I may as well keep casting, although I knew the odds were incredibly slim now that I had caught the fish I assumed had ruled this piece of the river... Two casts later another fish boils on the bait, and as soon as I made a follow up cast to where the boil was, a musky crushes the bait once again, I set the hook, beside myself at this point, and repeat what I just did. This fish was slightly larger, maybe 35-36".
Now I don't even know what to think, so I pick up the rod and keep casting. A third musky destroys the bull shad no more than 5 casts later! I could tell this fish was much larger than the first two, I couldn't move it even close to as easily as the other two. I got the fish close to the bank, and the hook pulled! I was too happy to be bummed out though, and while this was the last bite I got for the evening, I am sure there are more to come.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Kayak Bowfishing
Made my first attempt at bowfishing today from my kayak. I taped an old shimano 4000 spooled with 80lb braid to the stabilizer on the hand-me-down bow that my brothers and I have all outgrown, and rigged up a bowfishing arrow on it. After some trial and error I ended up shooting a pretty big one, I never measured it because the 36" tape measure in my kayak was too short, but the fish weighed over 11lbs.
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Big Kayak Largemouth
Yesterday I spent the evening on a local body of water in my kayak, I landed 14 bass, with all but one being under 2lbs. This fish is that "one". 22" 5.75lbs, my second citation largemouth this year.
Spring Striper Fishing Lake Anna
This past week has been an absolute blast at Lake Anna for me. I have been 4 times and landed over 60 stripers and hybrid stripers. I have been fishing the dike 3 area from the bank and in a kayak. There are thousands of herring there right now and the stripers are there to feed on them and are also doing a false spawn if you ask me. The bait that has landed the most fish for me has been a live herring, which has accounted for around half of the fish I have caught. The artificials I have been using are an Alabama Rig, a swimbait on a 1/4oz head, and a Spook. The largest fish have been on the spook by far, I have landed a pile on the Alabama rig but most are small.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Virginia High School State Champions
This weekend, my partner and I fished the B.A.S.S. Nation VA High School Championship. It was a two day event held at Kerr Lake on the Virginia/North Carolina border. The top 22 Virginia high school teams determined by total weight from the three qualifying events for both the Northern and Southern Divisions fished this event. It was one heck of a nail biter but I will definitely say it was one of the best experiences of my life.
I went to the lake on Friday to pre-fish as I had never been to Kerr before, and I had a really good practice. I threw a weightless keitech swing impact 4.8", and landed 8 bass. Most of the time I would pull it away from them if I saw them following it, or get them to spit it out when they bit. I landed several 2-3.5lb fish, and one 4.3lb fish. I didn't get many bites on anything else so the plan for day 1 was to fish the swimbait in the key areas I found, and have my partner follow me up with a senko as he usually does.
Within the first 30 minutes I had jumped one off at the net on a swimbait, and missed a 3lber on a senko that I saw cruising and sight-cast to, It was not a good feeling. We continue down the bank, and I actually caught the exact same fish that I did in practice for our first keeper, a 13"er, on a senko. A little further down the bank my partner puts one in the boat on the senko. I was having lots of fish follow the swimbait and swat at it but they just weren't eating it like the day before. We spotted 2 nice fish on a bed and fooled with them for a little, but they weren't interested so we continued on. We picked up 2 more fish on the senko, and I finally put one in the boat on a swimbait. We only had one fish in the well under 14" but everything else was between 15" and 17". We decided to make another pass over the spot we had fished earlier since I knew it was holding fish. We backed waaaaay off and threw really long casts with a senko. I set the hook and see a big fish roll, after a nerve-wracking spinning rod battle we netted our big fish for the day, a lean post spawner that went 3.26lbs. We continued hitting spots from practice with the swimbait and senko follow up method, and landed quite a few bass, but we couldn't cull out 3 fish that were in the 15-16" range, we were just catching clones. We decided to try a rock bluff, and that turned out to be the right decision. I didn't do anything fishing a jig or swimbait on the 300 yard stretch we hit, but my partner somehow got on a senko bite by casting way in front of the boat and letting it sink until the bait was way behind us before tightening up again. He landed a fat fish around 3lbs that bit when the senko was still falling 30 yards behind the boat. We decided to leave the bank so we had fish to work with on day twp. My partner made our last cull 100 yards from the ramp 5 minutes before check-in!
We ended up with 5 for 12.24lbs putting us in second place. The leaders had 12.99lbs, and 3rd was only a little over 10 so we had a nice cushion. Most teams had 8 or 9lbs so truly it could be anyone's game on day two.
Well we looked back on our day, and my partner had put 14 fish in the boat from the back on a senko compared to my 8 fish from the front, only 3 being on the swimbait, the rest on the senko. We did not get a single bite even on drop shots and shakey heads during the day. That night I rigged up 4 spinning rods for us to throw wacky senkos, because clearly that's what they were eating, even the big ones.
Day two was nasty, wind and rain were both constant. We went to a pocket that we had seen fish in the day before, and my partner quickly put 2 in the boat on a senko while it was still getting light. I did throw the swimbait around but it became apparent very quickly what I needed to be throwing. We started down our bluff bank and I put one in the boat within minutes, and shortly after that we had two more. Roughly a 6:15am launch and we had 5 before 7am! In less than an hour after that, we put close to a dozen in the boat on that bluff bank, including a fish that was pushing 3, and culling until everything we had was 16" plus. The wind got so bad that even with the trolling motor on its highest setting I was not making any progress so we made a short run to some coves we could see that had lots of rock and wood in them. We were absolutely smoking them everywhere we went. Rock and wood were both holding fish, and pretty soon we didn't have any fish in the livewell under 17". We hit our bluff bank one more time and caught a handfull of fish, but none that helped. We headed back to our starting spot for day one, and I made a cull for a few ounces, then a huge band of rain hit. The rain was so heavy you couldn't see far so we idled under a bridge to wait it out. The rain let up and we were out of spots. Storms were in the area so we chose to stay close to the ramp and just fish to see what happens.
We were in a creek that was too shallow during practice but the lake had come up at least a foot since then so I was feeling a little better about it. I tossed to a small log sticking up in the middle of a pocket, and after my bait had been sinking for a few seconds when my line started to move sideways. I leaned back on it and it didn't move. My partner later told me "I heard you gasp so I grabbed the net". I caught a glimpse of the fish and I knew this was the one we needed. She turned around and made a beeline to the log she came from, and wrapped around it one time. I eased my drag off and stomped on the trolling motor to head over and try to get her out. She swam back around and I pulled her over towards the boat. She came up and my partner scooped her in the net. I jumped up and probably just about knocked the wind out of my partner because I patted him on the back so hard. We caught a few more fish but that ended up being our last cull for the day.
We ended up with the biggest bag of the day at 15.53 pounds and had big fish for a while with 4.65lbs but someone brought in a 5.4. The leaders from day one brought in 11.8lbs putting us in first place! Watching them pull fish out of their bag to put on the scales was just about as bad as the nerves I got from coaxing the big fish out from behind a log with a spinning rod! We landed 52 keeper bass in our two days fishing the tournament, that lake was an absolute blast! The top two places from this event qualify for the HIgh School National Championship so my partner and I will be heading to Kentucky Lake in August!!!!! If you read this far, congrats!
I went to the lake on Friday to pre-fish as I had never been to Kerr before, and I had a really good practice. I threw a weightless keitech swing impact 4.8", and landed 8 bass. Most of the time I would pull it away from them if I saw them following it, or get them to spit it out when they bit. I landed several 2-3.5lb fish, and one 4.3lb fish. I didn't get many bites on anything else so the plan for day 1 was to fish the swimbait in the key areas I found, and have my partner follow me up with a senko as he usually does.
Within the first 30 minutes I had jumped one off at the net on a swimbait, and missed a 3lber on a senko that I saw cruising and sight-cast to, It was not a good feeling. We continue down the bank, and I actually caught the exact same fish that I did in practice for our first keeper, a 13"er, on a senko. A little further down the bank my partner puts one in the boat on the senko. I was having lots of fish follow the swimbait and swat at it but they just weren't eating it like the day before. We spotted 2 nice fish on a bed and fooled with them for a little, but they weren't interested so we continued on. We picked up 2 more fish on the senko, and I finally put one in the boat on a swimbait. We only had one fish in the well under 14" but everything else was between 15" and 17". We decided to make another pass over the spot we had fished earlier since I knew it was holding fish. We backed waaaaay off and threw really long casts with a senko. I set the hook and see a big fish roll, after a nerve-wracking spinning rod battle we netted our big fish for the day, a lean post spawner that went 3.26lbs. We continued hitting spots from practice with the swimbait and senko follow up method, and landed quite a few bass, but we couldn't cull out 3 fish that were in the 15-16" range, we were just catching clones. We decided to try a rock bluff, and that turned out to be the right decision. I didn't do anything fishing a jig or swimbait on the 300 yard stretch we hit, but my partner somehow got on a senko bite by casting way in front of the boat and letting it sink until the bait was way behind us before tightening up again. He landed a fat fish around 3lbs that bit when the senko was still falling 30 yards behind the boat. We decided to leave the bank so we had fish to work with on day twp. My partner made our last cull 100 yards from the ramp 5 minutes before check-in!
We ended up with 5 for 12.24lbs putting us in second place. The leaders had 12.99lbs, and 3rd was only a little over 10 so we had a nice cushion. Most teams had 8 or 9lbs so truly it could be anyone's game on day two.
Well we looked back on our day, and my partner had put 14 fish in the boat from the back on a senko compared to my 8 fish from the front, only 3 being on the swimbait, the rest on the senko. We did not get a single bite even on drop shots and shakey heads during the day. That night I rigged up 4 spinning rods for us to throw wacky senkos, because clearly that's what they were eating, even the big ones.
Day two was nasty, wind and rain were both constant. We went to a pocket that we had seen fish in the day before, and my partner quickly put 2 in the boat on a senko while it was still getting light. I did throw the swimbait around but it became apparent very quickly what I needed to be throwing. We started down our bluff bank and I put one in the boat within minutes, and shortly after that we had two more. Roughly a 6:15am launch and we had 5 before 7am! In less than an hour after that, we put close to a dozen in the boat on that bluff bank, including a fish that was pushing 3, and culling until everything we had was 16" plus. The wind got so bad that even with the trolling motor on its highest setting I was not making any progress so we made a short run to some coves we could see that had lots of rock and wood in them. We were absolutely smoking them everywhere we went. Rock and wood were both holding fish, and pretty soon we didn't have any fish in the livewell under 17". We hit our bluff bank one more time and caught a handfull of fish, but none that helped. We headed back to our starting spot for day one, and I made a cull for a few ounces, then a huge band of rain hit. The rain was so heavy you couldn't see far so we idled under a bridge to wait it out. The rain let up and we were out of spots. Storms were in the area so we chose to stay close to the ramp and just fish to see what happens.
We were in a creek that was too shallow during practice but the lake had come up at least a foot since then so I was feeling a little better about it. I tossed to a small log sticking up in the middle of a pocket, and after my bait had been sinking for a few seconds when my line started to move sideways. I leaned back on it and it didn't move. My partner later told me "I heard you gasp so I grabbed the net". I caught a glimpse of the fish and I knew this was the one we needed. She turned around and made a beeline to the log she came from, and wrapped around it one time. I eased my drag off and stomped on the trolling motor to head over and try to get her out. She swam back around and I pulled her over towards the boat. She came up and my partner scooped her in the net. I jumped up and probably just about knocked the wind out of my partner because I patted him on the back so hard. We caught a few more fish but that ended up being our last cull for the day.
We ended up with the biggest bag of the day at 15.53 pounds and had big fish for a while with 4.65lbs but someone brought in a 5.4. The leaders from day one brought in 11.8lbs putting us in first place! Watching them pull fish out of their bag to put on the scales was just about as bad as the nerves I got from coaxing the big fish out from behind a log with a spinning rod! We landed 52 keeper bass in our two days fishing the tournament, that lake was an absolute blast! The top two places from this event qualify for the HIgh School National Championship so my partner and I will be heading to Kentucky Lake in August!!!!! If you read this far, congrats!
Day One
Day Two
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Virginia Junior State Qualifier #3
My partner and I fished the 3rd and final JSQ on April 16th at Lake Gaston. We ended up finishing 4th out of over 25 teams, moving us from 4th to 2nd in the overall state rankings. The top 15 teams go to the Junior State Championship which is at Buggs Island Lake this weekend! I have never fished there before, but I hope I can figure something out while pre fishing on Friday. It's a lot to ask for but we are really gunning for first or second place, as the top 2 places in the JSC go to Nationals, and that would be an experience like no other.
In our tournament at Gaston, there were 35 high school teams fishing (not all of them fishing against us) and 160 boats in an FLW BFL tournament fishing as well, so the pressure on the fish was excruciating and the boat traffic was even more so. I was happy that we managed to scratch out 5 for just over 7lbs, I think there were only 3 limits brought in by the high school teams. We caught two fish from beds that I found during pre fishing, and the other three on wacky rigs in the back of a cove where I found them cruising during pre fishing.
In our tournament at Gaston, there were 35 high school teams fishing (not all of them fishing against us) and 160 boats in an FLW BFL tournament fishing as well, so the pressure on the fish was excruciating and the boat traffic was even more so. I was happy that we managed to scratch out 5 for just over 7lbs, I think there were only 3 limits brought in by the high school teams. We caught two fish from beds that I found during pre fishing, and the other three on wacky rigs in the back of a cove where I found them cruising during pre fishing.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Rapala DT4 Review
The Rapala DT4 is a shallow running balsa crankbait that I fish pretty much like a squarebill even though it has a round lip. I find that it does well in cooler water temperatures and/or when fish are less active than normal (cold fronts, high pressure systems, etc). It quickly became my favorite fall bait last year when I caught over 100 bass on one DT4 that I didn't even own for a whole month (the bait has headed to the big tacklebox in the sky unfortunately). Most reviews I read about this bait say that the lips break off of them, I haven't experienced this with any of the baits and I am guilty of slapping the bait on the water to get grass off of it. The paint holds up really well, and the stock hooks are great.
As stated earlier, this bait shines for me when I'm in a situation where I would want to throw a squarebill but I need something a little more subtle. I tried two other shallow running crankbaits I like, the Bandit 100 series and a Strike King 1.5, and they didn't produce the same (strike king is better in warm water).
I was catching fish in water that ranged from 1-5 feet of visibility, and the temperatures ranged anywhere from the low 60s to the mid 50s in October and November. Once the water dropped below 55 they quit eating it. I fished the bait on 10lb fluorocarbon on a medium action crankbait rod. The reason I fished the lighter line is because it does run pretty shallow and any extra depth typically helped me. Fluorocarbon was definitely a must because the fish sometimes hit the bait softly and it didn't feel a whole lot differently than bumping into a twig or rock. I used 10lb p-line fluoroclear a couple times and it just wasn't sensitive enough. I fished around a lot of rock which meant I had to re-tie often, but I'll take the time to do that if it's helping me catch more fish. My favorite colors are Bluegill and Pearl Grey Shiner. I used the Shiner in water that was more stained and bluegill in the clearer water.
That's it. Here's some DT4 fish....
As stated earlier, this bait shines for me when I'm in a situation where I would want to throw a squarebill but I need something a little more subtle. I tried two other shallow running crankbaits I like, the Bandit 100 series and a Strike King 1.5, and they didn't produce the same (strike king is better in warm water).
I was catching fish in water that ranged from 1-5 feet of visibility, and the temperatures ranged anywhere from the low 60s to the mid 50s in October and November. Once the water dropped below 55 they quit eating it. I fished the bait on 10lb fluorocarbon on a medium action crankbait rod. The reason I fished the lighter line is because it does run pretty shallow and any extra depth typically helped me. Fluorocarbon was definitely a must because the fish sometimes hit the bait softly and it didn't feel a whole lot differently than bumping into a twig or rock. I used 10lb p-line fluoroclear a couple times and it just wasn't sensitive enough. I fished around a lot of rock which meant I had to re-tie often, but I'll take the time to do that if it's helping me catch more fish. My favorite colors are Bluegill and Pearl Grey Shiner. I used the Shiner in water that was more stained and bluegill in the clearer water.
That's it. Here's some DT4 fish....
Air temps were in the 30s when I caught this fish
21"
When they are eating it how you want them to be eating it, this is where you'll find your crankbait.
after 100+ bass
Monday, April 4, 2016
Big Virginia Rainbow Trout
Today I managed to catch this 21" battle hardened rainbow that somehow survived Trout Heritage weekend.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Personal Best Crappie
Monday, March 28, 2016
Hot Side Spring Bass Fishing
I had never tried the hot side in the spring until today, looks like I've been missing out! I Landed 52 bass, best 5 went 12.47lbs which is pretty good for the hot side. The main baits I used were a Keitech Swing Impact Fat 4.8" on a weightless swimbait hook, the always magical Nikko Worm on a 1/8oz Strike King football shakey head, a 4" GYCB Senko wacky riggged, and a Purple Smoke Zoom Z-Drop on a drop shot.
I spent my whole day in pool 3, I never really paddled spot to spot, there were fish everywhere so I just fished everything, and caught them the whole time. If I was on a flat, I would throw the swimbait and cover water, if I came to a dock, laydown, or brush I would throw the shakey head, if I saw cruising fish, I would throw the senko. I used a drop shot to sight fish, and pull a couple fish off of beds. There were hundreds of bass in the shallows but they were mainly 12" and under, so I let a lot of fish swim by without paying them any mind. Out of 52 bass, only 4 of them weighed over 2lbs but I got to sight fish and it's warm out so I can't complain.
I can't wait to go back!
I spent my whole day in pool 3, I never really paddled spot to spot, there were fish everywhere so I just fished everything, and caught them the whole time. If I was on a flat, I would throw the swimbait and cover water, if I came to a dock, laydown, or brush I would throw the shakey head, if I saw cruising fish, I would throw the senko. I used a drop shot to sight fish, and pull a couple fish off of beds. There were hundreds of bass in the shallows but they were mainly 12" and under, so I let a lot of fish swim by without paying them any mind. Out of 52 bass, only 4 of them weighed over 2lbs but I got to sight fish and it's warm out so I can't complain.
I can't wait to go back!
The fish above and below were both exactly 2.49lbs and came off of wood cover on a Nikko Worm. You can even see the laydown in the photo below because the water is so clear!
This was the big fish of the day, 21" and 3.48lbs, caught her sight fishing with the drop shot.
Even caught this crazy looking bass
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
NED Rig Review
The ned rig is a bait that many people have heard of but few have actually tried. Most people think "oh it's half a senko on a jighead, I can do that" and they proceed to stick half of a Yamamoto or Dinger or whatever on a jighead, fish it a couple times, and never think anything of it. That's where they are making a mistake.
The ned rig is a bait/technique that was developed in the midwest (by Ned Kehde) where much of their bass fishing consists of finesse fishing. The "true" ned rig consists of either half of a Z-Man ZinkerZ (the Z-man senko) or a Z-Man T.R.D. (a bait specifically designed for Ned rigs so you don't have to cut baits in half). You rig this on a small jighead, typically from 1/16-1/8oz. The reason you have to use a Z-Man bait is because of the material they are made out of. The baits have very high salt concentrations, which causes them to sink at first. After either being stretched out and soaked in water for a while, or fished with, the salt dissolves and the plastics float. This is the most important part of the ned rig. When the bait falls it stays on a very straight path, doesn't twist or flutter or anything, and if you match your jighead weight to the water depth, you should have a nice paced fall in front of the fish you are targeting. The bait will then stand straight up when it is on the bottom and will move around quite a bit without much action being imparted from the rod tip. The baits are incredibly soft after they have soaked for a while, and will quiver when they are moved at all.
I have fished the ned rig in lots of different places, under all sorts of conditions, and it is really surprising how effective it can be under the right circumstances. It's a really good bait for getting bites when it's hard to get bit on just about any bait. For me this is a) cold water, b) clear water, and c) pressured water. I have caught fish in all of those conditions on the ned rig. Recently I fished a tournament on Lake Anna with water temperatures in the 40s, I caught fish on the ned rig that I don't think would have been catchable on any other bait (definitely not anything the boat in front of me was using!).
Typically I will use a 1/16oz head for the ned rig, this covers anything up to 7-8FOW, which is usually about the deepest I will go using the ned rig since it's hard to cover water. If I have structure I am fishing, I will sometimes go to the 1/10 or 1/8oz heads to target the 10-15' depth range. I have not fished deeper than that. It's not a hard bait to fish, I cast it, let it fall, and either fish it slow like a shakey head or pull it a few feet and let it fall to the bottom again, then repeat. You have to let the fish tell you what they want.
I'm not sure if any of that made sense but hopefully it will help someone out. When I first heard about the ned rig I didn't really understand why it was different from any other bait (specifically any senko or worm), maybe this will clear it up for someone. Tight lines!
The ned rig is a bait/technique that was developed in the midwest (by Ned Kehde) where much of their bass fishing consists of finesse fishing. The "true" ned rig consists of either half of a Z-Man ZinkerZ (the Z-man senko) or a Z-Man T.R.D. (a bait specifically designed for Ned rigs so you don't have to cut baits in half). You rig this on a small jighead, typically from 1/16-1/8oz. The reason you have to use a Z-Man bait is because of the material they are made out of. The baits have very high salt concentrations, which causes them to sink at first. After either being stretched out and soaked in water for a while, or fished with, the salt dissolves and the plastics float. This is the most important part of the ned rig. When the bait falls it stays on a very straight path, doesn't twist or flutter or anything, and if you match your jighead weight to the water depth, you should have a nice paced fall in front of the fish you are targeting. The bait will then stand straight up when it is on the bottom and will move around quite a bit without much action being imparted from the rod tip. The baits are incredibly soft after they have soaked for a while, and will quiver when they are moved at all.
I have fished the ned rig in lots of different places, under all sorts of conditions, and it is really surprising how effective it can be under the right circumstances. It's a really good bait for getting bites when it's hard to get bit on just about any bait. For me this is a) cold water, b) clear water, and c) pressured water. I have caught fish in all of those conditions on the ned rig. Recently I fished a tournament on Lake Anna with water temperatures in the 40s, I caught fish on the ned rig that I don't think would have been catchable on any other bait (definitely not anything the boat in front of me was using!).
Typically I will use a 1/16oz head for the ned rig, this covers anything up to 7-8FOW, which is usually about the deepest I will go using the ned rig since it's hard to cover water. If I have structure I am fishing, I will sometimes go to the 1/10 or 1/8oz heads to target the 10-15' depth range. I have not fished deeper than that. It's not a hard bait to fish, I cast it, let it fall, and either fish it slow like a shakey head or pull it a few feet and let it fall to the bottom again, then repeat. You have to let the fish tell you what they want.
I'm not sure if any of that made sense but hopefully it will help someone out. When I first heard about the ned rig I didn't really understand why it was different from any other bait (specifically any senko or worm), maybe this will clear it up for someone. Tight lines!
Monday, March 7, 2016
Shad Raps In Cold Water
This winter I have been doing really well on Shad Raps. My favorite by far is a #5 original balsa shad rap in a craw pattern for stained water, or a shad pattern for clear water. Do I think the bass think it is a crawfish swimming through the water? Heck no! But can they see it a little better in dirty water? You bet.
I do best with shad raps when the water is between 40 and 55 degrees. Fishing in the 40s vs. fishing in the 50s are pretty much two different techniques.... 43 and below is very tough, but sometimes they will hit a shad rap in this, particularly if the water is stained. 43-48 is good fishing typically, and 48-55 can be really good if they want a shad rap, but when it gets that warm you have a lot of other baits that come into play.
When the water is in the lower 40s, you pretty much have to be ticking the tops of rocks or wood to get bit, for some reason the fish react to that and in the cold I haven't been able to get hit doing anything else. I typically retrieve the bait very slowly, as long as it dives to the right depth and is hitting rocks or whatever I need it to hit, I'm in good shape. Sometimes I will pause for a brief moment when the bait hits a rock, fish definitely like that pause on some days, other times they prefer a straight retrieve. With water in the 40s I throw them on a spinning rod with 8-10lb braid and at least an 8-10 foot leader of mono or copolymer (NOT 100% fluorocarbon because it doesn't provide any stretch and the little trebles need some give). The fish move slowly enough in that cold of water that braid tearing out hooks isn't much of an issue, the braid also helps you tell the difference between a rock, a stick, and a bass, because the bites are extremely light and easy to miss if you aren't paying attention.
When the water is 48 and above, the fish are a lot more aggressive. I use a faster retrieve and fish the bait on a medium action crankbait rod with 10lb fluorocarbon or copolymer. The fish fight much harder in these temperatures so I like the crankbait rod for keeping the hooks buried. Strike detection isn't as big of an issue since they hit harder in the warmer water. Deflecting off of rocks or wood is not as crucial during this time, they'll hit it on a steady retrieve without deflection, but bouncing it off of something is always good. I also catch more fish on the #7 shad rap in these temperatures, it dives a little deeper and is a much bigger bait that is easier to throw on casting gear.
If you haven't tried a shad rap when the water is cold or "cool", you may be missing out, it's definitely worth a try! Here are some cold water shad rap fish...
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