Fishing Tips and Techniques

The Rat-L-Trap is a deadly springtime bass lure, especially on reservoirs with an abundance of submerged hydrilla. Anglers should stick with four basic color patterns and adjust lure sizes in accordance with the depth of water between the surface and top of the submerged grass. I’d like to have dollar for every bass that’s been [...]

There are a number of things bass fishermen can do to increase their odds of putting fish in the livewell. Unfortunately, the average angler doesn’t consider tackle care, organization and general maintenance important enough to include on their precious check lists. That’s hardly the case among the pro ranks. Most of the top professionals – [...]

One of the most effective and versatile of all bass lures is the spinnerbait. Time and again, it has been proven that this one lure is possibly the best all-season, all-structure bait an angler can tie to the end of her Stren. It is almost like a family of lures unto itself, in that it [...]

The one question I don’t get asked very often is “What is your favorite lure?” I don’t get asked that because most people, if they follow fishing very much at all, know that my favorite lure is a spinnerbait. I can fish a spinnerbait all day long. I really enjoy casting a spinnerbait out to [...]

Since the late 1940′s the plastic worm has been the number one producing bass fishing lure in America, maybe in the world for that matter. They had a humble beginning with only a few colors being available – purple, blue, red and black. Later on colored tails were added. Then a hot new revolutionary color, [...]

In the heat of summer when bass fishing seems to slow to a crawl, there’s one lure you can depend on to draw explosive, heart-stopping reaction strikes. The buzz word? “Buzzbait” of course! No one’s sure exactly what this surface-clacking cousin of the spinnerbait represents to bass… probably a school of baitfish being chased on [...]

One of the most user-friendly baits around is the wacky worm. Fished around shallow vegetation and bushes, this bait can be deadly on pre-spawn and spawning lunkers alike. Bass anglers are constantly on the hunt for the silver bullet – a magical lure that’ll crack to the code to locked jaws or stir the curiosity [...]

Recently there have been more and more questions about matching rods and reels. Folks have also been asking which rod and reel combination to use for this or that application. In an effort to answer all these questions and to assist anglers in determining the correct setup, I decided to write an article addressing this [...]

Modern day tournament anglers have learned to rely on a wide variety of lures and prescribed techniques when pursuing largemouth, smallmouth and Kentucky bass on lakes all across the United States. In the process, we’ve also learned that certain fishing rods enable us to utilize these baits and perform these tactics better than others. It’s [...]