basspro48

Well, another year is coming to an end and we've all done different things to catch fish throughout the year, but I want to know what was your most effective technique/bait for the year. For me it had to be pitching a t-rigged sweet beaver to shallow wood cover and matted vegetation, also burning a small homemade spinnerbait with 2 small willow blades through the deeper ends of laydown trees.

Try ripping a rogue jerkbait near outside grass lines and burning lipless crank through cover....Basically just fish really fast with reaction baits

I look for riprap that has deepwater nearby and maybe a point with a laydown or brushpile. Also wind and sunshine are a must, the wind must either be blowing directly towards the riprap or blow parallel to it so to create some current. The sun is also very important, it must be shining on the riprap so to create more heat and warm the water. Hope this helps.

I am almost religious about studying maps and areial photos before tournaments.

Speaking of embarrassing incidents one time I was out in the jon boat and I came up on this small cove with lilly pads and some laydowns, I had fished it a million times before. I pitched to the base of this huge pine that was growing in the water and I didn't notice the 4 full grown bald eagles sitting right there in front of me. Well I skipped my jig way up in there and I spooked the eagles, they flew literally within 5 feet of my face and these things are BIG with big claws and a wing span of like 6 feet. But man that scared the crap out of me and I ended up jumping right out of the boat. Anyway getting back on topic I would try ripping a gold lipless crank through the moss or pitching jigs and tubes into it.

I always texas-rig my tubes with a 1/4 oz. bullet pegged with a rubberband tied in a simple overhand knot. I use either a Medium heavy or Heavy casting rod depending on the type of cover I am fishing. My reel is a Shimano Curado CU-200 spooled with either 17lb. Berkley Vanish Flourocarbon or 50lb. Stren Super Braid. When I'm not using my homemade tubes I usually use YUM Vibra-king tubes. Hope this helps.

Another good strategy is to find deep slackwater areas that look like they provide sufficient cover. Once you find a good area try slow dragging small jigs, slowly swimming a 3-inch grub on a jighead, and twitching a suspending jerkbait. Hope this helps.

Most people feed the bluegill so they will live around the dock and in-turn attract more bass.

sweet paintjob man, looks a million times better than the first one I made...

I actually make my molds out of plaster, just pour some in a container and make impressions in it with the baits you want make. Then let it harden and give it a coat of glaze. Hope this helps.

It looks like something good to eat...mmmmmhmmm wouldn't you look at that tasty lookin' helicopter lure... ;D ;D

The first bait I ever made was a popper, I cut it out of a broom handle. So as far as simplicity a popper is one of the best baits for beginners. Hope this helps.

I would throw a carolina rigged brush hog or GYCB Kreature in the deepest holes and pitch a texas rigged Sweet beaver into laydowns and matted vegetation. You might also want to try a buzzbait or popper in the morning and evening. Also if you're looking for some real excitement try twitching a weedless frog over lilly pads and through laydowns. Hope this helps.

Actually, bass that hold on vegetation will feed on 'gills year round. Bluegills like protected weedy areas because they like to eat all the little critters that live in 'em. So bluegill will relate to the same areas most of the time. The exception is when the water gets to cold or if there is an extreme front coming through and it pushes them deeper. Here's some really good baits for imitating bream. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=56948&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=29910&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults http://www.***.com/descpageMATTLSB-MLBG.html# Hope this helps.

sounds like a great day avid...now where's that 10 lber. that would make it a perfect day... ;D Hope the hurricane didn't effect you to bad.

The two biggest factors in fishing new water has to be location, and time of year. Location as in what part of the country and time of year is pretty basic. After I look at these factors I look at water temperature, type of cover in the lake, size of the lake and history of the lake. Then I map out the places I will be fishing on a GPS or topo map. Remeber it is very important to know where everything is when making long runs on an unfamiliar lake at 70 mph. You don't want to be cruising around the channel and then rocket up onto a 6 inch deep mud flat. Hope this helps.

battle in beantown...lol

I mainly tie flies for bass and crappie, but I have had some experience in tying jigs. Combinations of materials in a jig are a really good way to achieve realism, for example I tie my jigs with a combination of Marabou, rabbit fur, and CDC feathers. I tie it so that the marabou hair is on the outside, the CDC feathers are in the middle, and I tie a long strip of rabbit fur dirctly onto the hook. The marabou "breathes" and pulsates in the water to make the illusion that it is a real baitfish, the CDC feathers are very buyont so they slow the fall of the jig, and the strip of rabbit fur gives it a very realistic swimming action. Hope this helps.

Most people think of a drop-shot rig as a finesse rig for light line and a spinning rod. But I have that it is actually a great pitchin' rig. This gives the bass something else to see other than the old standby brushhogs, jigs, etc. Hope this helps.

One specific bait I reccomend is the "new" Smithwick Rogue, the one KVD used to win the Classic. This bait is a fish catching machine. Other than that I suggest any ZOOM, YUM, or Yamamoto plastics. Anything Lucky Craft. Lee Sisson crankbaits, and any other wood cb's. Also some Rapala DT-4's and DT-6's, great baits. And I suggest picking up some of those Mustad lock weight hooks, the ones with the weight that you can move up and down the hook shank. Good luck spending...

Most people use the float'n fly on big samllmouth resovoirs like Dale Hollow and Pickwick. The technique is mostly used in the winter and spring, although it can be effective in late summer. Here's a link to some float'n flies. http://www.bulletlures.com/float_fly_prod.htm Hope this helps.

Spots are pretty aggressive under the right conditions. You have to throw baits that will make them bite, like jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, topwaters, and jighead worms. You can pick up a lot of info. on Kentucky Spot fishing from the Smith Lake Basmaster E-50 tournament.

Try suspending jerkbaits, like a rogue, around the mouths of creeks and coves. If it's a natural lake I would look for bluff banks and steep rock walls and fish parallel to them with the jerkbait. Also you might be able to find schooling bass in coves. Hope this helps.

I love flipping, I think it's one of the most effective ways to catch fish that are under matted vegetation and buried deep in other cover. The most common situation for flipping would be, as I said above, is when the fish are suspended under thick mats of vegetation. But flipping to brushy cover, laydowns, and any other shallow cover is also very effective. My top flipping baits would be 1. A black/blue YUM Garret Mega Tube T-rigged 2. A 1/2 oz. Terminator jig in green pumpkin with a YUM chunk trailer 3. and a Watermelon/red ZOOM super-hog T-rigged Hope this helps.

I catch fish on their flat-maxxx series and several other models. Good baits but not the best.