Options to help maintain bottom or deep cover in a body of water that has become aged involve conservation efforts on both the part of governing conservation departments, bass clubs, and individual anglers. These efforts involve sinking structures (pallets, Christmas trees, etc.) or planting and transplanting water grasses (hydrilla, mil-foil, hyacinth, etc.). For those of you who have small ponds, private lakes, or community areas, here is a video link along with a picture of a structure I have made in the past to help you get an idea of what I am talking about.

     Something to remember is that not all structures are effective. There is a lot to placing structures in a body of water. With that being said, don’t just take any of your old junk and dump it in the water in hope of creating a fish habitat. Make sure you put some time, effort, planning, and research into your structure and place it in high percentage areas where bass will use it. Also be sure to check with your state, county, or other local governing conservation body to ensure that you are permitted to in fact sink structure habitats into public bodies of water.

Video -

Post from: EveryJoe

Self-Made Structures Can Improve An Aged Fishery

Post from: EveryJoe

Summer Strategies, Part 2

Post from: EveryJoe

Summer Strategies, Part 1

     At some point, we have all fallen victim to a costly mistake. While a mistake made is not always intentional, sometimes it is a result of just plain old bad decision making and can plague us at the worst possible times. Here is a quick list of the 3 worst on the water mistakes you should try and avoid.

1. Force Feeding: Many times before we hit the water, we sit and run through a game plan in our head. Many times the game plan consists of what we think the bass are or should be feeding on and what kind of mood they are in. From that assumption, we then begin to tie different, yet specific baits onto our rods before hitting the water. The problem many of us run into and should try to avoid is force feeding the bass what we think they should be biting or want them to bite. If you are throwing a crankbait all day in high percentage areas and not getting bit, stop, put your pride aside, and change it up until you figure out what it is that they want. Even if it means replacing the baits on all 10 of the rods you have scattered across the deck of your boat.

2. Fishing Your History: Even though you went out on Lake X last year and caught the biggest bass of your life along with enough fish to stock a small pond, that doesn’t mean you are going to repeat your success running the same pattern on the same spots that you did last time. There are too many factors that can dictate the pattern and mood of a bass. These factors can range from cloud cover, water temperature, season, to water clarity, and that’s just a few. Sometimes it can get down right technical and factors like wind direction, barometric pressure, and even moon phases can come into play. With all of that being said, you need to remember to keep an open mind when you are out on the water. There is definitely nothing wrong with checking a few of your successful areas from last year. After all, they might be there, but be prepared to relax and bring some basic factors  into the equation to help you figure out the mood and location of the bass.

3. Dock Talk: This is one that you have to be weary of but do not disregard all together. The most important thing is to ensure that the mouth the information is coming from is reliable. I have seen many times when I will be asked what to throw or where to go and the person next to me will say something completely different in response to the same question. While this type of information can sometimes be extremely valuable, sometimes it can cloud your judgement and focus you on how another individual fishes rather than on what your specifics strengths are. Better questions to ask are what type of cover and forage is available. Many times that will help you put together a plan of attack and allow you to factor in some basic principles.

     Hopefully with this information, the next time you hit the water you will be better prepared to avoid these 3 worst mistakes. Thank You and continue to ‘Get Reel’! 

Post from: EveryJoe

3 Worst On The Water Mistakes

Post from: EveryJoe

Learn Shakey Head W/ The Lindner’s

     When I am not fishing, I am spending a whole lot of time on the computer in an attempt to learn more about the sport, news, and updates on the industry. With a wealth of knowledge available to us, there are many places for us to go and get a fresh insight and learn about the anglers and what it is that they do to help them become better than their competition. One of my favorite places to go is to the Angler’s websites. Here I am able to try and learn exactly what they know and see things from their perspective. With that being said, I went ahead and listed (in my opinion) the Top 5 BASS Anglers websites. My selections where based on numerous things from design to available information and how well it is maintained (updated).

1.  Kevin VanDam- With everything from videos, tour tracker, forums, industry news, links, tips, and even an online store, this website has some great and most up to date information available. The fact that it comes from arguably the best fisherman of all-time doesn’t hurt neither. The web design is sleek, mainstream, and extremely easy to navigate. It’s worth a spot in your favorites folder.

2.  John Crews- John’s website has the biggest Video gallery of an other Angler’s website. The abundance of tips and tactics offered in the video gallery offer enough information to fill a days worth of time. The site also offers news from the tour and just about anything else you would want to know about John Crews. Another site with an online merchandise store, there are links to external sources offered through out the whole site. When you include the cool graphics and easy to follow design layout, this is a website you will find yourself visiting over and over again.

3. Ken Cook- Ken’s website is not just a website for fishing tips, it’s also a website that advertises Ken’s Tarbone Ranch. Never mind the Ranch though. Ken’s website offers an array of monthly tips offered up by Ken himself along with a ongoing journal that documents every stop that Ken Cook and the BASS Elite Series makes. Ken site also has some information that any stat loving angler needs to get ahold of. Throughout the many years that Ken has been a touring professional, he has logged into a journal all of the who, what, when, where, whys, and how’s that were used by the winning anglers of every event. Ken has compiled this data and offered it up to the public to help them break down successful patterns on any given type or body of water. 

4. Gerald Swindle – With weekly tips, links and sponsor information for days, Gerald’s website is a high speed interactive website with G-Man’s garage being the highlight. Gerald’s site has a personable divide showing his love for his family, fishing, and hunting. Fun is what this site is all about. When you visit this site you will briefly forget about fishing for a minute and get lured into just how cool the G-Man and his lifestyle really is. As far as design, this is the best website out there.

5. Alton Jones- The reigning Bassmaster Classic Champion’s website offers a little bit of what you would find on any fishing website. Some more that others. In addition to the abundance of fishing video tips, bio’s, news, and sponsor information, Alton’s creative site also gives links and information on relevant issue in fishing that aren’t taking place directly on the water. Anytime Alton has something to say it’s worth a listen a time or two. If you have never been to Alton’s site than there is much you don’t know waiting for you to find out about.

     There are surely other great websites out there that I didn’t mention. In fact, they are all fantastic websites. The problem is that I had to narrow it down to the top 5. Anytime a professional angler is willing to offer up other anglers and fans some insight on their lifestyle and the knowledge they have to help make us all better at what we do, it is privileged information for us to have access to. So with that being said, Thank You to all of the anglers who share their information for us readers.

     If there is an Angler’s website that some of you think is exceptional and should have made the Top 5 than post a comment and let the rest of us know about it. 

* If I absolutley had to list another one I would give it to Ike. Sorry. Couldn’t leave it out.

Post from: EveryJoe

Kevin Van Dam Tops BASS Angler’s Websites

     What causes a bass or any fish for that matter to turn on a spinnerbait? Reaction. The bass is sitting in a piece of cover waiting for something to swim by and then all of the sudden your spinnerbait swims by or unexpectedly helicopters in front of their face and they react on it by inhaling it. Sometimes more than others. Just like with any other lures, bass will sometimes short strike a lure, maybe just grab it by the tails and then swim with it, or just not get a good bite at it. This can be for a variety of reason such as: frontal conditions have slowed them down, it wasn’t what they really wanted, color selection, they didn’t get a good look at it, whatever. There will be times when you will miss fish on a spinnerbait and here are two tips to help you improve your hook-up ratio.

Trim the Skirt : I usually do this when I want to present a smaller bait or am fishing in tight areas. Sometimes you even have to downsize to get the big boys to bite. I will simply trim the skirt back just enough so that the bend of the hook is at an even length with the skirt. This will help do a few things. When the bass do short strike the bait by grabbing the tails of the bait, they are more likely to get a mouthful of hook as well because the shank of the hook is closer to the end of the skirt. It will also give the skirt more flare when you snap or jerk it. All of this in addition to down sizing and you will have a compact little spinnerbait ready to handle some big fish.

Add a Trailer Hook: I will sometimes do this in addition to trimming the skirt back as well because it will not really add bulk to your bait but definitely improves your chances. Eitherway, whenever I am presenting a regular size to large sized spinner bait, I am adding a trailer hook. This is especially true if I am fishing in or around heavy cover such as grass or laydowns. It is simply an extension of the main hook that will reach out to the end of the skirt and sometimes beyond. I can’t recall how many times I have been fishing when the bass are only smacking or swiping at the bait and I caught them because they grabbed the trailer hook when they swiped. Although, if you aren’t getting any that are really eating the bait, you may want to consider making some changes to your blades or baits all together, but while searching them out, you are more than likely going to catch that one or two that would have otherwise missed it.

     Hopefully these two tips will help you land more and better fish. Thanks and continue to ‘Get Reel’!  

Post from: EveryJoe

Improve Your Spinnerbait Catch Ratio

     Tournament fishing has evolved over the past few years into a high dollar sport. Many of today’s young anglers come armed and ready with everything from knowledge and experience to marketing and business degrees. With the high costs of competition and road expenses such as gas, hotel, and food, most of what it takes to survive in today’s game is the ability to sell yourself to sponsors. This is a crucial part of the game because without them, few will make it strictly on their talent alone and even fewer will ever be able to afford the shot. On the BASS/ESPN Elite Series for example, tournament participation is $5000 a tournament with 11 events making up the schedule. That’s $55,000 just in tournament fees. Now add on the fuel costs it takes to drive coast to coast to compete and then add the cost of fuel to fill up your boat up once there. I’m not done. Unless you plan of sleeping in your truck all year long, lodging for 11 plus weeks out of the year will need to be factored in along with your food. All the while you’ll still need equipment and baits to fish with. That’s allot of money folks and I haven’t even gotten into vehicle and boat maintenance expenses, hygiene products, haircuts etc. Oh, and by the way is your truck and boat paid for or do you have payments to make on them as well? I tell you this not to scare you, but to make you completely aware of what’s at stake should you indulge yourself with the dream. With that being said here is a path to your dream.

     There are many tournament circuits that offer similar styles of advancement. Well actually just BASS and FLW, but for this article I am going to focus you on the BASS road.

Bassmaster Weekend Series:Whether you are someone who is looking for a way to introduce yourself to tournament fishing or someone who enjoys tournament fishing around your busy work schedule, the BWS is for you. The series is operated by ABA under BASS sanctions. It provides a high level of competition and a chance for 1 angler (Series National Champion) to compete in the Bassmaster Classic. It is a cost effective way to attempt your fate at tournament fishing for a few years with entry fees around $200 per entry. Visit: www.americanbassanglers.com for more details

BASS Federation Nation:Also another great way to introduce yourself into tournament fishing, the Federation Nation may be more geared for the enthusiast who wants to learn from other anglers in a club style setting while focusing on not only tournament fishing but conservation as well. Many anglers consider the Federation Nation as the “grass roots” of professional bass fishing. The federation is the hardest path to reaching the Bassmaster Classic but from every region, 1 will advance. If you are interested in this than you will want to contact you state or local BASS chapter.

BASS Opens:Once you feel you have shown improvement and are ready to get a little more serious about you fishing career, you will want to get your hand in on the BASS Open Series. With 2 separate divisions nationwide, each division hosts a 3 tournament schedule and allows the top 8 in point from each schedule a berth to the BASS Elite Series. In addition you may also qualify for the Bassmaster Classic. Entry into these events are usually hit or miss due to the fact that many of the Elite Series Pros and top Open finishers from last year have priority entry into these events. Also include the many local anglers that jump into the events that take place on their local or home waters, and entry into a full season may become difficult. But if you are able to get yourself into the field, you are looking at $1000 a tournament over a 3 tournament division for a total of $3000 in fees to compete.

Elite Series: As stated in the 1st paragraph, you are already aware of what the costs are to compete, but if you make it the rewards can be like no other. This is where you want to be if you want to compete against the best in the world. If you have something to prove than this is the place to do it. The one place where your glory cannot be contested. The Pros you see every Saturday morning on ESPN while you are spooning Lucky Charms and drooling milk play right here. The best of the best. If you want to dream of competing at this level than you have to be consistent. Bad days on the water don’t exist and if they do, you probably aren’t ready. Read about your favorite pros here: www.bassmaster.com

     Hopefully I have shed some light on places to begin in search of a career as a Professional Bass Fisherman. If you make the attempt, Good Luck and if you are one of the few who make it than Congratulations!

Post from: EveryJoe

Want To Go Pro?

I have steadily been on the water throughout the winter so my equipment hasn’t really enjoyed any time off. With that being said, neither have I. That is sort of an “oxy moron” though. For me to enjoy my time off, I need to be on the water. But just because I have been on the water doesn’t mean that I am always successful on the water. This past weekend I fished a National Bass Circuit tournament out on Lake Anna, which is one of my favorite local lakes because I always seem to have them dialed in pretty well, or at least I thought I did. I boated a few fish and my partner lost a nice one right at the boat. A couple of mine were short (under 14 inches) and we wound up weighing in one fish that I caught just under 4 lbs. Needless to say, a bad day of tournament fishing by my standards. The tournament was won with a little over 15lbs. Awesome catch considering the over night front we got

            Nagged enough by a disappointing day, I went out to afterward to try and figure out what I was doing wrong throughout the course of the day and was finally able to begin to put a pattern together, but details on that are for another time. What I did want to hit on was this. The tournament was Sunday and the Saturday night before the tournament, we got a ton of rain with high winds. My water got really stained and changed my pattern. I didn’t make the right adjustments to deal with change in the conditions and the bass. For some their pattern didn’t change, but my pattern in the area of the lake that I was fishing did. Sometimes an adjustment can simply be a color change on your bait. Other times it can be a change in presentation or location. With that being said, do not allow yourself to sit there and attempt to force feed the fish doing what worked yesterday. Always be thinking about the current situation and use basic pattern principles such as time of day, time of year, wind speed, wind direction, water clarity, and cloud clover (to name a few) to help you adjust. Hopefully it never becomes that complicated, but if you don’t have them figured out, get to figuring.

Post from: EveryJoe

Change With The Conditions

     Pre-Spawn is generally marked for the largemouth bass with water temps ranging from the mid 50’s to the low 60’s. For smallmouth bass, this will usually be marked by the low to high 50’s. For this I want to focus on the largemouth though.

     Once the water temperatures hit their mark, you can begin your search in areas that offer shallow water with a quick deep water access. The transition of the bass with be an exit from their deep water haunts and hangouts, to the shallows. The spawn is what will drive them to the very shallows. On the way however, they will feed up on whatever is available in order to fatten up before the exhausting spawn takes place. For this reason I like to focus in on shallow secondary points, ditches, pockets, and any other type of structure and cover leading from the front to mid creek areas and tributaries.

     For those of you who fished right through winter, these travel routes may be much easier for you to locate by merely focusing in on the closest creek channels and points to where you were catching them over the course of the winter. For those of you who did not, here are 3 lures that I recommend using to help you locate their migratory routes. If you find one, you can be assured that there are more nearby and more on the way.

Jerkbait

I prefer suspending models. This bait mimics the bass’s number one forage and can be fished in a number of ways. You are able to cover allot of water with a fast retrieve or slow down to a painfully sit and wait presentation. Eitherway, the erratic action of the lure gives off the appeal of an injured bait fish which translates to an easy meal for the bass to take advantage of. My favorite places to fish this bait is over the top of and along ledge lines as well as fast dropping shorelines.

Rattl’ Trap

A staple on the deck of most anglers boats in the early spring time. You are able cove heavy amounts of water with a very fast retrieve. The cadence of the retrieve is usually one of a steadily fast nature but can be varied. Whenever I am unfamiliar with a lake or want to cover an area quickly, this is my bait of choice throughout the pre-spawn. The tight wiggle and noisy rattles create a vibration that call bass in from a long way and makes it easy to hone in on. My favorite areas to fish this bait are on top of flats or shallow pockets. *If I want to run my lure at a definite specific depth than I may substitute for a  lipped crankbait.

Jig n’ Pig

In the late winter and early spring, most crustaceans will begin to emerge from their deep burrows and the bass are well aware of this and ready to take advantage. Anytime I come across rocky areas or heavy brush I like to scourer the area with a jig and pig. Bass will certainly use these areas as ambush points. My favorite time to use the jig is when the spring time weather presents fronts or heavily winded days and I feel like the bass are pushed back down to the bottom. I am able to keep control of my bait on the bottom and slow down if I feel like the bass have become somewhat lock jaw due to the change in weather. 

     While spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and many other lures are effective throughout this time of year if presented correctly, the three baits I have mentioned are constants. Year after year they are productive staples for any anglers arsenal while fishing pre-spawn conditions.   

Post from: EveryJoe

3 Lures To Have Ready For Pre-Spawn