Captain Phil

Try this. Bagley BangOLure

Go as a co-angler. Be courteous and friendly. Keep a low profile. Don't talk about yourself. There is something to be learned from everyone, even if it's what not to do. After the tournament, offer to give the boater some gas money. Everything I learned about bass fishing I learned from someone else.

I am extremely wary of brand new products. Until they work out all the bugs, you are asking for trouble. It took years for me to switch from Motor Guide to Minn Kota and I probably won't live long enough to switch again. Do you know what happens to pioneers? They die with flaming arrow holes in their backs! ?

I love knots. If you go for your Captain's license, you will learn to tie nautical knots. I never gave much thought to fishing knots until braid came out. The clinch knot seemed good enough. The first thing that happened to me when I used braid was I lost a 25 pound snook when the knot came undone. I went back to mono and wouldn't use braid for a long time after that. Eventually I discovered the double clinch knot from a Jimmy Houston video. This knots holds and never slips, but it doesn't tie well with heavy mono. When I was flipping with 25 pound Big Game mono, I used a Palomar knot and I never lost another big fish due to knot slippage. Braid is different. Braid needs multiple turns to hold and not slip. If the fish you are hoping to catch aren't that strong, your knot is not going to make much difference. If you fish for larger fish, your knot needs to be up to the task. I do not wish to start a forum knot war. I'm here to pass down my experience. If it helps you, great. If not, that's OK too. ?

Fish weren't biting that day. ?

I once came across an angler while fishing. I asked him how they were biting? He told me the only thing they will bite are red shad worms. "All I ever use are red shad worms", he added. I asked him why? He said "That's the only thing they will bite". Made perfect sense. ☺️

The Palomar knot is a good knot. Flipping is one case where snelling your hooks is better. I could make a video, but there are enough videos on YouTube for this subject. Two of the best videos are from Roland Martin and Mike Iaconelli. Search on "Flipping Snell Knot". When flipping and pitching, I use concave bullet weights. If you snell your hook,the concave end of the weight pitches the point of the hook into the fish. This is better than the straight pull you get with a non snelled hook and increases hookup ratio substantially. I don't snell anything but straight flipping hooks. Here you go:

I have never seen a 78 pound snook. However, I have see a few in the 40 pound class. My personal best snook was 30 pounds. Snook fishing is very similar to bass fishing. They will eat most any bass lure. Outside of Florida, I don't believe they are available to anglers in the US. Snook do not tolerate cold water. Sixty years ago, Florida snook were not classified as a game fish. As a kid, I remember watching people snag baskets full of snook from an inlet seawall. Today, there are strict limits and seasons on snook. They are excellent eating, but everyone I know releases them. In Central America they are served in restaurants. Latins call them Robalo.

Snelling your hook is a huge advantage when flipping and pitching. Done right, the point turns into the fish on the hook set. When I started snelling my flipping hooks, my "fish in the boat" percentage increased substantially. Snell these hooks when flipping and you will catch more bass.

You are most likely not bringing the boat all the way forward before you cinch the hold downs. As you trailer the boat, it slides forward and the tie downs loosen. This can also happen if the boat is not on the trailer straight.

I believe I have probably fished out of or ridden in most every bass boat brand made. In the early years, Trackers and Nitros had issues due mostly to poor materials and construction. This gave them a bad reputation. Truth be known, many other bass boat brands were just as poorly made. Today, no modern fiberglass bass boat I know of contains wood and the quality is much better. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a Nitro myself. The only negative is you will be defending the boat with people who don't know what they are talking about. You can catch bass out of anything that floats. Pride of ownership is high on the list with bass boats. The higher the price, the better fisherman you "look" to be. Hence the reason you see so many expensive bass boats. Your boat does not make you a better fisherman.

The Harris Chain is the poster child for mucky bottoms. Use as light a weight as possible in those areas. I often throw plastic worms with 1/16 & 1/32 oz. weights.

Here in Central Florida, Sandhill cranes are all over the place. They are arrogant birds that will walk right across the road in front of you. A century ago, these birds were nearly wiped out by early settlers. I heard they were good eating. Now I know. ?

I don't carry a gun. Many people I know do. I do have one in my home. I would rather let "godforsaken gun-toting bubbas" carry guns than be at the mercy of criminals. My guess is most of our critics carry guns themselves or have private security that does. It's easy to deny the right's of others when you keep yours.

Part of being a licensed captain is submitting to a drug test. Sounds like this guy is overdue.

This photo of Bill Dance was taken in the late sixties. You can read all about those early tournaments in Ray Scott's book "Bass Boss". In those days, Bill Dance was a force to be reckoned with. Roland Martin was so taken by Bill's bass catching ability, he didn't believe he could measure up. Ray Scott had to talk him into entering his first tournaments. Not much has changed except for the financial aspects of tournaments. TV tournaments are all about selling products to anglers. Same thing happened to auto racing.

I have had a few where the paint is completely worn away showing only white plastic. Still catches fish better than some new out of the box. It's a mystery. ?

I have boxes of them. There was a time when if you weren't fishing a Rattle Trap you weren't bass fishing. When I was younger, I could throw one all day. In those days, I was a lipless cranking machine. I won a bunch of tournaments throwing those baits. I was also lucky enough to partner with one of the best Rattle Trap fisherman I have ever known. Throwing a lipless crankbait all day is a young man's thing. When your bones and muscles age, it gets tough. Today, I much prefer flipping. My bass are bigger and I can fish without pain. One thing I have noticed. There is a difference in these baits. Out of a dozen baits, a few will work better. You will have to ask the bass to know why. If you find one that works, keep it. When I was tournament fishing I had a special stash of Traps like that. I kept them even when the paint was worn off.

Bill Dance. This photo brought back memories. Back in the day, bass anglers were judged by the amount of their tackle. The more tackle, the better fisherman you were. My bass hero when I was a kid had swing out tackle drawers built into his boat, which was pretty wild back then. I remember showing up with a giant tackle box as a co-angler in a B.A.S.S. Federation Tournament back in the seventies. The boater took one look at me and told me all I needed was a pack of black worms in my top pocket. Funny thing was, he was right. This kind of stuff exists today. My home waters are filled with bass boats that cost 5-6 times as much as my first house. Every single one was two power poles, a motor that would pull a semi and enough electronics to launch a trip to Mars. Bass anglers always want to look like their heroes. It's a "mine is bigger than yours" thing. ?

In all the years I have been fishing I have collected a lot of stuff. The lures in the photo were lures I had in a box in my garage for years. Some were from fishing in other states. Some were lures I only used once or twice. Others are old standbys. I threw away three garbage cans full of old soft plastics a few years ago. Some of the deep diving plugs I use for trolling. There is a 30 foot ditch in Big Lake Harris with a hard clay bottom. In the summer, you catch some big bass by pulling those big cranks along the bottom. I don't fish tournaments any more, so trolling is allowed in my boat. I believe it is best to leave soft plastics in their original package. There was a time when we bought soft plastics in bulk. Something seemed to be lost when we did that. Probably the oil, salt or whatever they use to pack them in?

I have tried every type of tackle box from Giant Possum Belly boxes to loose leaf bag holders to soft suitcases. (see below) First, there is no reason to carry all that with you. Cut down your soft plastics into no more than 6-8 bags. Zoom makes everything you need. The best way to store soft plastics is in the bags they come in. Everything I will ever fish with will fit in a shoe box and most of that will never see the light of day. The best tackle boxes are the ones with small plastic storage boxes inside and one large open section. You need the plastic storage boxes for hooks weights, swivels and small stuff. Plugs, frogs and cranks can go in another small box. Throw the plastic bags in the open section. Less is better. I have more than one tackle box. When I was fishing tournaments, I had a special box just for those lures. I had another for small lakes. Salt water lures were a third and so on. Stop carrying all that stuff around or you are going to get a hernia. ?

Years ago when side sonar hit the market it was all the rage. A local Okeechobee guide and fellow tournament competitor took me out to show me his new electronic wonder. We saw fish in every weed bed we came to. We saw fish where we never expected. I wondered if I was ever going to win another tournament in my life? How could I possibly compete with an advantage like that? As it turned out, seeing fish is not catching fish.

The Shimano Zodias ZDC610MHA is the rod you want.

I have met Johnny Morris a number of times. Once at an IGFA banquet at The Breakers in West Palm. Many people don't know how he started. If you Google him you will learn he came from humble beginnings to own one of the largest privately owned businesses in the Country. He spent million of dollars to clean up a Federal Superfund Site to build the FT. Lauderdale Bass Pro Shop and funds conservation efforts all over the world. He is a true America hero.

I never run my electronics when flipping. I also use my trolling motor sparingly. Stealth is what you want.