Chris

OK lets teach ya something With a crankbait the longer you can cast the lure the longer the distance or running room the lure has to reach its max depth before it turns around and works its way back to the boat on a cast. In the same respect the farther you spool the lure behind your boat on a troll, the more running room it has and the deeper the same lure will run. With crankbaits the running room, floatation of the line, how wide the lure wiggles, and speed all effect the max depth the lure will run. A wide wiggle lure is slow to reach the max depth because of the resistance it possesses running through the water. Line floatation and line length is the force that is preventing the lure to dive and continue to dive deeper and deeper. troll guys use weight to counter act this effect. depth changes because you give out line when you troll which gives the lure more depth to run. Speed is another factor because with crankbaits there is a max speed that the lure will run before it becomes overpowered and don't run right.

how clear is the water?

most of your fish are going to be scattered unless you find some thick stuff that will hold a group. fish super shallow targeting the thicker wood, brush, sparse stuff will hold fish but the thicker stuff really holds them. Also hit deep where you have a defined break or edge like an edge of trees, brush, hard bottom and grass. First target the inside edge then spin around and hit the outside edge and see if they suspended on either side. Fish super tight to the cover. Fish roadbeds and points when you find them. Areas like this are a highway to deep water that the fish can follow as the water drops. Trees too but it is more of a vertical change in position when the water drops or raises.

You can also stick one of those little packages that absorb moister from food of new shoes when you buy them that does the same thing. Big letters on it says don't eat.

The idea is that black lures throw a silhouette that is easy to see but with the absents of light most colors appear dark or black. When you have the light of the moon then colors can be more seen like white or chartreuse.

great video just an idea lift your rod till you lightly feel your dropshot weight and pulsate your worm without moving the weight then let it drop back into the bed. Do this a few times then relocate the weight in a different spot. Each bed has a sweet spot that drives them crazy and will protect more so than the rest of the bed.(use this technique if they are not happy to nail it)

I use a zoom swim chunk, pork chunk, twin tail grub,or single tail grub

Google: ontogenetic changes in the response of largemouth bass to heterospecific alarm pheromones Alarm pheromones in fish functional and evolutionary aspects citrate ions enhance taste responses to amino acids in the largemouth bass These are research titles the link would have been to long to list.

To be honest it depends on how they make the scent and what is in it if it works or not or how it works. Base ingredients: Enzymatically digested hydrolyzed liquid fish- This liquid fish may be using enzymes to digest the nutrients from fish waste instead of using heat and acids. This retains more of the proteins, enzymes, vitamins and micronutrients. Fish meal-Fish meal is ground and heated dried fish waste Fish powder- fish powder is dried with heat and turned into a water soluble powder. Fish hydrolysate- oil and the protein included Fish protein concentrate- byproduct of extracting out the oil, screening out bones and drying which is high in protein 85-95% since its oil content is low the fishy taste is less protein-organic compounds made of amino acids. The sequence of amino acids in a protein is defined by the sequence of the gene which is encoded in the genetic code cod liver oil-high in omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA made by cooking whole body tissues of fatty fish during the manufacture of fish meal it has a mild sardine flavor. Pharomone- chemical cues that are given off that tell the fish that a predator is present also known as kairomones. The cues can also tell if a baitfish is hurt called alarm pharomone which is located on the outside of the fishes skin found in club cells. When the cells are broken it releases this chemical. Sex pheromones tell the fish that the other sex is near and when it is time to mate. (there are more pharomones if you want to look them up) Of all the amino acids the free floating (L) amino's are found in fish. Some of these amino's effect fish behavior in higher concentrations. They can cause fish to start looking for food given them the indication food is around ect. *amino acids tell fish that what they are about to eat is a crawfish or shad or whatever because it is the the correct amino profile of said bait. This gives the fish both taste and smell profile of a bait. *oil profile is the taste of the bait *pharomone give fish the chemical cues in the case of alarm pharomone that a fish is hurt and easy prey. * some amino acids are not the best tasting things in the world and fish might be drawn to the odor of the amino but when they eat it they reject the taste of the amino. cover oils cover the taste of a amino acid and anything else that might repel the bass based on taste. It helps them swallow a bitter pill so to speak. Some additives actually help the amino work better than by itself like citric acid. other taste items like garlic, coffee, anise are not found in the natural environment and become more of a curiosity scent and cover scent. Salt is a great courier of amino acids because as it melts if the bait is baked with amino acids the amino's release into the water. Salt is also used to weight baits and give the bait some flavor.

why not glue it? try a soft bait glue or super glue

2)blades give the lure lift flash and vibration. Single blades give the most vibration, double blades give the most lift and flash. Willow blades give the most flash and the least vibration because it travels closest to its pivot point and also spins fastest. Indiana blades gives you flash, more lift than a willow blade, and more vibration and is a happy medium to the three styles of blades. Colorado blades slow the lure the most and has the most thump, least flash because it spins slower, most lift of the three styles of blades. A) willow blades are made to fish clear water Indiana blades are made to fish stained water C) Colorado blades are made for muddy water Use the qualities of the blades that I outlined to adjust your blade selection to what you want the bait to do. A) Willow blades because it has the least resistance in the water can be fished deeper. It also goes through weeds the best and for slow rolling deep. Indiana blades are a good all around blade. C) Colorado blades helicopter on the fall the best and is best for slow rolling shallow.

1) tune the bait- hold the head of the bait in your hand R bend pointed to you so your looking down the bait and bend the wire so it sits right above the hook. If it is out of tune it isn't going to be effective. Now look at the point where the wire meets the head and bend it slightly at a 90 degree angle. This makes the wire vibrate so you can feel strikes. Now look back at the bait with the r bend facing you and compress the wire and see if it clears the hook when you do this. If the hook hits the wire when you do this trim the wire because you will miss fish if you have this problem. Balance the bait by having the correct size blade to the weight of the lure. This shouldn't be a problem but in case it is here it is. If the bait is running to a side you tune it like a crankbait if the bait is jumping up and down then your blade or blade combo is to big and resists to much water and the weight isn't acting like a keel. The head is to light for the blades.

What is old becomes reborn and new once more lol. I say this because at the moment I am holding an old wood lure made by Heddon that is shaped like a spook but skinnier that is weighted to sink with three treble hook on it. The lure is about 4 inches long. There is another saltwater lure called a dorky minnow that was made from soft plastic that did the same thing. What you have is a jerkbait same as mine and can be productive in any water but repala is marketing it for saltwater. If they market it right it will take off but it is a average lure and not a new idea.

http://www.csipaint.com/ uv paint is actually a better product that fish do see better but you can't see it unless it is in black light but the fish can. http://www.clearneon.com/

Studies have proven that the plastic worm is the only lure made that a BASS CANNOT REMEMBER! It depends on who is behind the lure honestly. Fish change moods all the time and they also change food sources, react to fishing pressure, boating pressure, you name it. Fish feed and react to their environment through instinct. Fish might remember that this vibration sounded great last week but ouch it bit me then I got boat flipped and smacked the bottom of some harsh carpet then some alien wanted to kiss me before i got back into the water. lol Bass identify mechanical action or vibration patterns and can associate that with danger. They may not be able to see the boat but they can hear it coming and either hide deep in cover or some place they feel safe and become inactive or leave the area in deeper water to wait for the threat to leave. They do the same thing with your lures. Bass learn from mistakes but its memory is short term and their instinct can be used against them. I fished a tournament one time with a big named crankbait fishermen who marked fish in 12 ft of water around a group of stumps. The fish where not holding tight to the cover and where suspended over it. This guy ran his boat in circles around and around the stumps making all kinds of racket then moved off to let the place chill out. He then went back and fished it about 10 minutes later and knocked the fire out of them. He changed the fishes mood and pushed them into the stumps where it was easier to reach them with a crankbait. (his name is Rick Clunn) I have pre fished other places and caught them flipping a jig then come tournament time the fish wouldn't hit a jig. I ran the boat up and down the shore a few times and went back and caught them on the same jig swimming it. The boat wake made the baitfish move and the bass took up ambush positions. KVD still catches fish on spinnerbaits the difference is that he shakes the bait and snaps it and changes what that bait does all the time. The bait flares out the blades smack together the speed changes he then changes directions. Point being if you fish a bait like everyone else and do what everyone thinks a lure should do then you have the same results everyone has and the fish remember the black eye the last guy that caught it gave him when he smacked that same vibration signature and mechanical action. Fishermen who recognize fishing pressure and what everyone else is doing and how it effects fish and adapts excel others blame it on other things. Fish still eat the same minnows and the same crawfish no matter how many hooks they have caught by live bait fishermen. When you force that fish to react to your bait or use their instinct against them by using lures that are fished in a manner that looks real they don't have the cues that caused them to identify it with a bad response or don't have time to think they just react. You can use the same class of lures just approach it differently it makes all the difference in the world it really does. Plastics are silent and have fluid motion or can have random motion both look alive. Make your other baits do the same. KVD is fishing his spinnerbait and making it do some wild things to trigger a strike and break up that vibration pattern most just cast it and maybe bump something they don't fish the lure. When you fish the lure you make it look and act alive and things that act alive fish remember and respond to it by hitting it. I just don't agree with the idea that a worm is the only lure that fish can not remember i understand why they said it but to me it is an untrue statement. There are to many different lures out there that have all kinds of different signatures that the bass would need a filing cabinet to remember them all.

ahh there's a picture of my baby : In most cases if I am slow rolling a spinnerbait that is the lure I use. I love it in off colored water too. Mine don't look as nice as yours though...yours got more paint than mine.

Think of it like this you are a non smoker and they stick you in the smokers lounge how long do you want to stick around and shoot the breeze? When you spray weeds the weeds die and consume oxygen while it dies. Depending on what they used to kill the weeds they might also added poison to the water, shore, and lake bottom. Some weed killers are oil base and can not be good to bass because it not only sticks to the weeds to smother them it sticks to fish too. Other products that are made to kill weeds and not fish still have the problem of killing the oxygen levels and pH when the weeds die. It is going to take awhile before that area is going to be productive again. I hope that they didn't kill any thing they shouldn't of in the process of weed control and was smart about what they used.

got a magic marker? mark the line and leave about 4 ft of clear towards the hook end mark it in feet or yards if you like in different colors to help you figure out depth or if the fish grabbed it on the fall and never hit bottom.

Also understand that if you fish in texas or the south in general most guys down there use plastics. You have a lot of water down south that has a bunch of shallow and deep grass and for most people a soft plastic texas rig(notice why they call it Texas rig or Carolina rig it was created in that state or region)worm works best. Spinnerbaits also are used in grass areas or rattletrap. When you shift to areas that have hard bottom, standing timber or rock jigs take over. It is best for that kind of fishing and some states have more than others like Florida has no rocks. Crankbaits in all shapes or forms are used in all states by anglers. Also understand guys that in the early years all of the BASS tournaments where in the south. Up until recently they never fished as many states as they do now. The stocking of Florida bass has grown tournaments in every state that stocks them. BASS is still wanting a big show and the larger bass brings BASS tournaments to other states. Also understand that as the sport has grown it has draws people from all over the world and in each area brings a new home town technique. This expands the sport and fishing knowledge as we learn these new home town methods of catching fish. Winning-est bait in BASS history is unknown because you have a new influx of fishermen from around the world. If you just gage by past events you also need to take into account where the tournaments where held, who fished them, and where they where from. Also figure in what lures where around in those years outside of the whole sponsor issue. just a thought

That is an great series and if you fish them in any hard cover they do deflect most objects away from the hooks (not to say they dont get hung sometimes because they do). I fish them mostly around rocky banks and have caught many fish with them and will hold a larger fish well. Change the front hook on this bait to a tripple grip hook if you want it to really get through stuff without hanging.

I would slow roll a 1 oz spinnerbait with a big cowbell colo blade and inch it along or fish it with a 1/2 oz or bigger jig that way i know my lure is in the zone.

if the moon is out i use white if not black I like a short arm spinnerbait because i can feel it more so than a long arm it is rigged with a #4 colo blade gold if your interested in name brands zorro otherwise any with good wire and good hook and a ball bearing swivel bait as long as it has a short arm. If my casting skills suck and i am catching more trees than water I like the strike king flipping spin.

most money jig ....most tournaments toss up between crankbait and spinnerbait. early tournaments worm now also understand most tournament guys are not very forthcoming on what they use in most cases

because it is a lighter shade than black but dark enough to show a contrast to the grass but not dark enough to stick out like it don't belong there, plus bluegills have the same hue when around grass.

I always just tied to an already sunken tree or brush and dragged it where I wanted it. If it was a good spot i would build it like a wall of brush in a circle or triangle and sat in the middle and was able to reach all of it from one spot.