scaleface

KVD doesnt even know the best place .Its a riddle . Each cast helps to solve it .

No vegetation makes lure choice easier IMO . A lake I fish frequently was completely devoid of vegetation due to the introduction of grass carp. Its a 200 acre electric motor lake only so I do a lot of junk fishing , trolling down the banks and fishing everything . Squarebills were a major player along the banks until last year when the coon tail grass re-emerged . Now its futile to throw them . My home waters Mark Twain lake has zero vegetation and square bills fished along the banks perform well . The fish still have to be patterned by eliminating unproductive water .

Did he use the chicken rig ?

How to catch fish is a riddle that everyone has to try and solve each outing . Makes no difference if your a novice or KVD . Its usually a matter of elimination and when something is not working then eliminate it .

I wouldnt recognize a 4 inch baby rattlesnake swimming by .

Trick worms are skinny . a 2.0 or 3.0 off set worm hook will work .

At 12 foot , you will want a bait that dives 14 to 15 foot . Bill Norman DD14 would stay at 12 foot for awhile . The deep Little N will hit 10 foot well then shallower than that there are bunches that will work . If they dont come in perfectly straight then they will have to be tuned . A bait that runs crooked wont catch many fish .

A Leatherman Wave doesnt open split rings but they handle a lot of jobs .I dont have the Wave I have the Charge which is the same thing with a better steel used on the knife blades . I use it constantly every time I fish and the diamond file is a great hook sharpener . I would get another if it became lost .

He caught it at the marina . The bass probably is accustomed to eating stuff thrown in the water . Big bass like to hang out at the bait stations too where dead minnows get thrown in .

What do you recommend ? I need to keep one on hand . I dont like those junky 33's .

There are so many to choose from and they all work. Are you from a boat or shore and how deep do you think you will be fishing ?

Cast close to prime cover or structure . If you bump and deflect your lure even better . A lot of forum anglers swear by the Rapala Shad Rap in cold water .

It happens to me a lot . My largest bass last year came out of a spot where I had already caught about thirty small fish . If the spot has potential I keep hammering away .

You can still look at Maps and Google earth and follow points out to deep water . Inexpensive marker buoys are a must and toss one every time you catch a fish . This has worked well for me in the past.

My thinking is if you catch enough of them the big ones will come . I love those 70 fish days with a 6 lb kicker . But to answer your question I would seek out deeper fish .

I've already picked . I'm sticking with three of my team from last tourney that bombed so bad .

The only thing that has worked for me is DEET .

I've done that more than once .

The H&H spinner was my favorite spinner for rivers .

Another thing I learned is the pros loose a high percentage of big fish too .

I have ab inexpensive Lowrance down scan on my boat . My portable unit that I use in small waters is an old single color Eagle Fish Mark . The fish show up in text book arches.

I use a depth finder to locate how deep the bass are . I find in the summer that a lot of fish are holding at the same depth all over the lake . They will likely be at that depth on structure .

For mono I use the trilene knot mostly . Its a 100 percent knot . If you use an improved cinch then you are almost tying the trilene anyways so why not make the switch to a stronger knot .

One thing I learned from watching these tourneys is I'm not using jerk baits enough .

I've been doing a quite a bit of it the past few years . The 6XD has been my deepest diving lure . I purchased some Berkely Dredgers this winter but have not got a chance to fish this year . I hope so soon .Its worth it . I fish structure such as long extended points and sometimes I'll just find bass accidentally with the depth finder . I use the Red Eye Shad a lot too in deep water , working it on the bottom like a worm . I like the crankbait to hit the bottom quickly but not dig in to deep . So I use different cranks on 12 lb mono to cover depths from 10 to about 18 foot . Some of The Dredgers are suppose to dig deeper than 20 foot .