Fishing For Our Warriors

On the 11th day of November, every year in the United States, our men and women of the military past and present are honored. Even though this day comes and passes, we must remember to honor our service people everyday. Their service is not easy, both physically and mentally. Our Veterans have made great sacrifices for us, wouldn't it be nice to be able to give something back?

Enter my friend and fellow bass angler Joe Kowalski, and his program The Major Steven Roy Andrews Fishing Outreach Program Inc. (www.fishingoutreachprogram.com) Major Steven Roy Andrews, the programs namesake, had been a lifelong friend and fishing partner of Joe. As youths growing up in Connecticut they would fish our small local bodies of water. After being separated while serving (Joe in the Marines and Andrews in the Air Force) they managed to stay in contact. In the late 90's they got together for a week of trophy bass fishing in Mexico. Joe and Steve had a great time, caught some large fish, and had planned to do it again soon. Unfortunately Major Andrews passed away in January of 2000, before the friends were able to go on their second trip.
The program, established in 2008, focuses on giving back to Veterans and at risk youth. One of the many aspects of the program is take people out on the water for a day of fishing, relaxation and education. Secondly, and equally important, is the part where fishing gear is generously donated by program sponsors so that each individual can continue their fishing. Finally, they are also linked up with others in the area so they may enjoy getting back out on the water or possibly joining a bass club.
Here is one testimonial taken from Joe's site. “One young man I took out was Cpl. Carlos Lopes a young Marine from Rhode Island. He was in Iraq when his Humvee was hit by an IED. Carlos was hit in 2004 and spent the next 3 years and had 22 operations in Bethesda Naval Hospital. He had just recently got home when he found out about the Program. We spent the day together fishing and talking about things only veterans understand. After most of the day going by we managed to hook into a 4.5 largemouth. The expression on Carlos face was priceless. After we finally had to call it a day he told me he couldn’t believe that some one would do this for him, I said that’s just the way it is in the Marine Corps we take care of our own. We gave each other a big sloppy hug and I told him welcome home little brother and we both shed a tear. I wanted to share that story with you because for every vet I take out it’s more that just a fishing trip it’s a way of saying thanks and welcome home.”
The Fishing Outreach Program owes a great deal of thanks to their sponsors who continually support it and provide gear to people participating in the fishing trips. These companies include: Blackwater Rods, US Reels, Plano, Gary Yamamoto, Strike King, Mega Strike, Bay State Lures, Navionics, Humminbird and Naked Bait Co. Joe Kowalski can be reached at his website (www.fishingoutreachprogram.com) or his email usmctinker@aol.com

About the Author: Jon “Tumbleweed” Stanco is proudly sponsored by and represents: Power Tackle, Poor Boys Baits & Lurecraft, Bassaholics, Naked Bait Co & Honey Hole Hooks, Colours Wheelchairs.

2nd Place in College Fishing Central Regional Championship

Just got back from competing in the National Guard FLW College Fishing Central Regional Championship on Lake Monroe, Indiana. My partner Mike McCarthy Jr. and I took 2nd place winning 25,000 dollars and a trip to the College Fishing National Championship where we will compete on Kentucky Lake for a chance to qualify for the Forrest Wood Cup and win 100,000 dollars.

Practice:

We had made a couple of trips to Lake Monroe prior to the off limits period. We had a pretty good idea of the areas and patterns that we were going to fish. On our practice day we spent a great deal of time trying to get a buzzbait pattern going which did result in me catching my largest spotted bass to date a 4lber on the OMEGA Alpha Shad but we didn't have much else to show for it. The buzzbait is one of my favorite baits to fish this time of the year and a lot of times the gizzard shad will start to relate to rocky points and throwing a buzzbait around these areas can be a great tournament pattern for big fish. It just wasn't working though on Lake Monroe. We covered a lot of water on the mainlake with spinnerbaits and crankbaits. We fished a bunch of creeks and pockets that we didn't get to see on our trip to the lake over the summer but we never fished the areas that we knew had fish in them. When you only have one practice day before a tournament it can be beneficial to fish everything you don't think holds fish and with lures that you wouldn't normally think would work. That way you won't second guess your game plan for tournament day and it's not like you have enough time to fish it all.

Day 1.

On day one we had an early boat number so we decided to make a long run down to the dam. We had found fish in this creek in the summertime and the shad were already in there so we knew it was going to hold some fish. It wasn't too far along in the morning that I put the first keeper in the boat on a shallow running square bill crankbait that I had banged off a laydown. We had thrown a buzzbait around a little without much luck and when I caught the fish on the crank we both noted that it was about half way back in the creek. We decided to fish the creek on out to the main lake without any more fish and then we made a run to the next creek and started about half way back. Mike quickly caught keeper number two on a crankbait also off a laydown that he had bumped with the crankbait. We felt that we were on a pattern and this point so we started fishing any wood that we could find on the way back to the ramp running shallow running crankbaits into the wood to get reaction strikes. We made a trip back into creek filled with stumps and started on a stump filled secondary point that had a nice drop out in front and I was able to box up my second keeper on the crank. We had three nice keepers in the boat but time was starting to run out. We just kept on hitting any wood that we knew about and Mike was able to flip up a nice 4lb kicker to end the day. Our four keepers on day 1 put us in a tie for 4th place with 7lbs 13oz.

Day 2.

Boat numbers reversed on the second day and we decided to make a short run over to the stump filled creek where I had caught my second keeper on day 1. It was about an hour into the day that I caught a 4lber on a square bill crank that was up in about a foot of water. We fished the creek out without any more fish to show for it and then decided to make the trip to the spot where Mike had caught the best fish the day before. I was able to put keeper number two in the boat on the square bill crank. We both caught a couple of shorts and liked the amount of bites we were getting in the area so we continued to fish the rocks with isolated laydowns. Mike cranked up another keeper that was about 2lbs and then he caught his second keeper. Things were just coming together and we knew it was going to be a good day. We came to another laydown on the wind blown bank and I threw the square bill up into it and caught my third keeper that went about 3 pounds on the crank. I had my limit and now all we needed to do was get Mike his last keeper. It didn't take him long though and he caught another solid tournament fish to give us the only full limit of the tournament and the heaviest bag of the tournament that weighed 14lbs 2oz which propelled us from 4th place into 1st place on day two.

Day 3

It was great to have more than a lb lead on Indiana University going into the final day. After all it is there home lake. They had been catching their fish late in the day but nobody really knew how the 1 o'clock weigh in was going to change up the game. We started on the spot where we had limited out the day before and it was just a lot slower. I made an adjustment and switched cranks and put a nice keeper in the boat. Time was running out though and we didn't know if running around the lake would even be worth it so we decided to grind it out. We ended up weighing just the one fish to give us a three day total of 23lbs 14oz. Indiana University was able to catch 3 nice ones on the short day that gave them the win. They had been cranking deep trees all week and it finally paid off on the last day and they were able to win their second consecutive Regional Championship. Sometimes it just isn't meant to be I guess but one thing is for sure I can't wait to fish the National Championship on Kentucky Lake and we will be ready to rock! The whole week I used a 6'9'' AiRRUS Ultra XL rod to throw my crankbaits. I threw the Lucky Craft 1.5 on 15lb mono for added abrasion resistance and so that it would come through the wood cover a lot easier. A light rod like the Ultra XL makes throwing cranks all day long a breeze. This year I have won 32,000 dollars in College Fishing alone using AiRRUS Rods. They will improve your fishing!

It's Transition Time....

I have been getting out on Thousand Hills Lake for the past couple of weeks and the bite has been inconsistent to say the least. It has been hard to pattern the fish as the bite is changing from one day to the next. Right now there are fish from shallow to 18 feet of water and everywhere in between. The fish are transitioning around a lot and keep moving. Some days the deep bite is working others shallow seems to be the way to go.

Two weeks ago I started out fishing some banks and was catching short fish after short fish and when I started fishing out off the bank and was able to drum up around 12 to 13lbs throwing black and blue 1/2 oz OMEGA Pro Mega Jigs with a green pumpkin paca chunk trailer. I was targeting drop offs in about 6 to 10 feet of water. The fish were really bunched up and active and it didn’t take long at all to boat about 6 keepers with one about 4lbs. I was even able catch a couple of fish swimming jigs along the bottom like a crankbait.

Last Sunday night fishing wasn’t as fruitfull and we were only able to catch a couple of small bass throwing jigs and tubes to the same break lines. The difference being that a high pressure system had moved in and the wind switched directions.

This past Tuesday I got out and the fishing out off the bank was unbelievable. The first spot I pulled up on I caught big one that was at least 6lbs on a 5/16oz OMEGA Black and Blue jig just off a drop off in about 8 feet of water. I was prefishing for a tournament that was yesterday and I decided to leave the spot as I had seen enough and hit up a channel swing point and after a couple of casts with the jig that didn’t produce I picked up a chart purple back dd22 and on the second cast caught another one about 4lbs that came in about 10 feet of water. I decided to make a run up to the dam area and I pulled up on an underwater tree off a point in about 18 feet of water and my first cast to it caught one about 3lbs on a watermellon purple flake brushog rigged on an 3/8oz OMEGA Shakey Foot. I then decided to leave the tree and hit up a point across from the dam and my first cast with the shakeyfoot I caught another 3lber in about 16 feet of water. My finder was lit up on this spot with fish and bait more than any other and I was curious to see just how many fish were down there so I tied on a Strike King 6xd sexy shad crankbait and caught another 2lb keeper and then went through about 13 shorts till I got another fish that was over 5lbs. Every time I came off the lip of the point in about 15 to 17 feet of water the crankbait just got crushed. It was one of the best trips I had ever had on Thousand Hills.

Yesterday I fished an open tournament on Thousand Hills and I had a lot of confidence going into the tournament in fishing out off the bank. I thought things might slow down a little bit with the front having come through but with the quality of the fish that I was getting into during practice I figured if I could get just 3 or 4 quality bites I would have enough weight to do good. I hit up the same drops that I had done so good on in practice and the first one I got to I managed to pull about 4 shorts off it but none of them were keepers. I decided to make a run up towards the dam and try and see if I could get in on a morning bite in the clearer water. The point that was loaded with fish just a couple of nights ago just wasn’t producing the same. I caught 4 or 5 shorts off it pretty quickly on the brush hog and then it was dead. There were a ton of fish suspended out off the point in about 16 feet over 24 feet of water and throwing to these inactive fish just wasn’t working. After spending way too much time messing with these fish that just didn’t want to bite I made a move to the tree out in 18 feet of water and the first cast to it produced one that was just shy of the 15 inch mark. I caught like 6 shorts off it on 8 casts on the brush hog before I finally set the hook on the first keeper that went about 3lbs. Mixed in with the shorts I don’t know how many fish around 14.75 inches I had that were just shy of keeping. The spot went dead and it was time to make a move back down lake to hit some shallower drop offs. I pulled up on the island and went to the right side and couldn’t get bit. I made the cut across it to an underwater point and for about 20 minutes I was boating short after short on the brush hog. I was getting so frusterated at this point just getting into all these short fish when during practice the fish were of such quality. I decided to pick up the jig and I had a fish drill it and I reeled down and set the hook to find nothing there. The day was wearing on and I was trying to decided if the spots would ever turn on and the fish would move up later in the afternoon or if the off shore bite had just fizzeled. Timing can be everything when you are fishing structure and I hadn’t been able to get out in the morning for pre fishing because of classes. I was getting on the water about 3 pm most of the time. I was wishing that these spots would turn on more towards the end of the day. It was back to the tree to see if it had replenished and on the first cast with a jig I caught another short just shy of the 15 inch mark. I was about ready to throw my rod in the lake. The next cast produced another fish just shy of keeping. These fish were just as fat as could be too and 5 of them could have gone a long ways as the tournament would play out. It was getting later in the day and things just weren’t looking like they were going to work out. While I was targeting off shore stuff the whole day everyone else was pounding the banks. I was trying to decided how I was going to spend my last hour and a half in the day. I decided to go do some flipping even though in the back of my mind I was telling myself that trying to flip up a bite was going to be even harder after who knows how many boats had fished the same banks during the course of the tournament. That is one of the problems you can run into on a smaller lake if you try and go shallow later in the day. You almost have to do it from the start because as the day goes on there are not too many spots that haven’t been beaten to death by everyone else. I went shallow with a jig and was able to get into some shorts but that was it. It was a pretty unproductive day to say the least and guess that is just the way it goes sometimes. Just gonna have to suck this one up and count my losses.

At the weigh in it was pretty clear that the shallow bite was more productive during the tournament day but even then it seemed like the bite was spotty. My buddy from Mizzou Scott Dooley and his dad ended up winning the tournament with a 4 fish sack for around 13lbs or so that was anchored by a 6 and a half pound hog. I’m happy for how well the day went for Scott and his dad. It was Scotts biggest tournament fish to date ever. Thousand Hills has some nice fish in it but if I were to pick a lake where someone would boat their biggest tournament fish ever Thousand Hills wouldn’t be at the top of my list. They caught all there fish in just inches of water throwing spinnerbaits, go figure. Scott had roomed with us the night before and he said he was able to get a couple of shorts on friday and just 1 keeper fishing shallow. I guess it just goes to show you that it’s not about what you do in practice that counts but during the tournament. In second place was Paul Emmerich who I think had 3 keepers or so but one that was over 5lbs that he got ripping smaller jigs on shallow laydowns. I couldn’t remember what the 3rd place team was doing but I imagine they were also fishing shallow. The bite was tough but almost everyone had a fish to weigh. There were a lot of fish caught but keepers were hard to come by and that can happen a lot out at Thousand Hills.

Fishing Heavy .......Naked with Jon Stanco

Year and year out there are different trends in the fishing industry, specifically bass fishing. There was the tungsten craze, the dropshot frenzy, and the west coast infiltration of swimbaits. Each one of these new techniques generated a boom and anglers everywhere flocked to purchase the right gear and set out to master the hot new technique in hopes of catching a bunch of fish or, even win a tournament.

I always have my ears open to new ideas, and when a good one comes along I usually to try learn about it just like everyone else. Sometimes, however, there is just a refinement on an old method that can be just as successful.

I like to fish jigs. They catch alot of fish, and big fish at that. They are also an amazingly versatile lure that can be flipped, pitched, punched, swam, dragged, and hopped. There is one problem with jigs however, in the very thick vegetation, fishing them can be a nightmare. While the invention of weed guards and wedge shaped heads has helped, they still tend to get mired down in heavy vegetation.

Fast forward to the fall of 2009. I was fishing coontail and vegetation so thick that a jig was not getting to the fish, just staying mired in the middle of the vegetation. As the old cliché goes, then a light bulb went off. I decided to make a weedless jig that could be used to punch through vegetation. Using a Naked Bait Co. Skirt weight I made up skirts in colors that I knew would produce. I went on to catch several nice bass between 3 and 4 pounds testing my idea and a new type of specialty "jig" was born.

Now onto the good part, what was I actually doing? The idea is remarkably quite simple in design. Here is the design:

Step 1) Make a skirt using the Skirt Expander and material from the Naked Bait Co.
Step 2) Fasten the Skirt on the Naked Bait skirt weight by sliding the o ring into the groves of the weight. Cut the tag ends. (You will now have a skirted weight.)
Step 3) Run the line through the fishing weight and tie on a fishing hook appropriately sized for your soft plastic trailer. I like to use a Poor Boy's Baits Bertha Bug.
Step 4) Rig your plastic weedless with the hook buried in the plastic.
Step 5) Catch fish!

Why does this work? Simple, I can put a jig "profile" in a place where a jig would be a ineffective to fish. It is the most weedless way to catch a bass in this situation. It will take you about a minute to make this set-up. But, if you fish a lot of heavy cover as I do, it will save you hours of pulling vegetation from your lure and trying to muscle a stuck jig back to the boat.

OMEGA ALPHA SHAD

When it comes to catching better than average fish I would say my two favorite baits to throw are jigs and buzzbaits. Jigs do such a great job of getting deep into the cover where the big girls live, while buzzbaits can produce the most explosive strikes.

I have been throwing OMEGA Custom Tackle's jigs for a while now with great success and just recently I started throwing the New OMEGA ALPHA Shad buzzbait. The ALPHA Shad has just been tearing them up. While there are a lot of other buzzbaits out on the market you can really see and appreciate all the time and effort that went into creating the ALPHA Shad.

When you retrieve the bait it comes to the surface really fast and the gold blades shimmer in the sun as they hit each other on every turn of the reel which produces a ton of spit and noise unlike any buzzbait I've ever thrown. The buzzbait produces a great bubble trail and the skirt pulsates in the water giving off a tremendous amount of action. The blades allow you to crawl it along the bank really slow and keep it in the strike zone.This buzzbait produces the sound and action of a double buzzer but is real easy to cast due to a 7/16oz head.

The ALPHA Shad has a Z wire which works with a long shank Gamakatsu to hook bass fast and keep them hooked all the way to the net. I haven't found the need to add a trailer hook yet. The skirts are really lively and it's available in the Chartruese Shad "Big Money" color and Black.

The OMEGA Custom Tackle ALPHA Shad is now available at www.omegacustomtackle.com

Tackle Warehouse and AiRRUS Rods

One of my favorite places to purchase fishing tackle online is Tackle Warehouse. Tackle Warehouse carries just about everything that you can imagine and they have three different models of AiRRUS Rods in stock.

The AiRRUS Feather Touch T6 is available and has features that could only be found on a custom made rod. The rod features a one of a kind Feather Touch Reel Seat which is built with air craft grade aluminum that reduces weight and increases strength and sensitivity. The handle puts an angler in direct contact with the rod blank which reduces weight and allows for the ultimate feel. This rod also has an aluminum screw lock cap that reduces weight from a foregrip and allows faster transmission of vibration to the reel seat increasing sensitivity. The rod has Fugi Alconite Guides which are extremely durable and allow line to flow through without drag which increases casting distance and accuracy. These rods also feature the popular split grip handle design which adds style as well as performance. The rod is also assembled in Texas by American craftsmen.

AiRRUS Feather Touch T6



Tackle Warehouse also has the AiRRUS Ultra XL in stock. This rod has thermalon grips which trap heat and keep your hands warmer on cold days while wicking away moisture and adding comfort which all add up to less hand fatigue after a days worth of fishing. The rod comes with two interchangeable butt sections which can be easily swapped out allowing the angler to customize the rod for different presentations. The sections are 4 1/2" and 7 1/2". I have found this feature to come in handy when throwing jerkbaits in the winter and then cranking in the summer. I like to stick the 4 1/2" in for jerkbaits in the winter time because a shorter handle doesn't get caught up my clothing as much as a longer handle would making it easier to work a jerkbait. The 7 1/2 inch comes in handy for increasing your leverage when you need to make two handed casts with a deep diving crankbait. The interchangeable grip is a great feature that you just can't find on any other rod on the market. Ultra XL rods are extremely light and easy to handle and make putting in those long hours on the water a whole lot easier. If your looking for a rod with great performance and style this is one rod you need to try.

Top to Bottom: AiRRUS Ultra XL, Co-Matrix 457, Copperhead Series, Ultra XL, Co-Matrix 457.

The AiRRUS Co-Matrix 457 is also available at Tackle Warehouse. The Co-Matrix has a great feel and is priced right for the angler who is looking for a lot of performance without breaking the bank. The rod has a thermalon grip which makes it really comfortable in your hand which is a big plus. The grip also wicks away mositure and keeps your hands warm on those chilly days. These rods are really durable and can take a ton of abuse. I have used the Co-Matrix 457 in the 7 foot medium heavy action for pitching jigs and plastics for the past couple of years without having any break. The durability has saved me a lot of money that I have been able to put towards other expenses like gas and entry fees. Even though everyone tells you not to swing fish over 5lbs in the boat, I do that all the time with these rods and it doesn't seem to hurt them at all.

Success with the Naked Bait Co. Skirted Weight System

Although a lot of anglers might be more familiar with the Pay Check Baits Punch Skirt, which was just recently created out on the West Coast for fishing the California Delta and other grass filled lakes, The Naked Bait Co. Skirted Weight System has been a secret set-up with anglers on the East Coast and throughout the Midwest for some time.

Naked Bait Co. Pro Jon Stanco who hails from Plainville, CT has been reaping the benefits of the Skirted Weight System for the past couple of years since he joined forces with Naked Bait Company. Stanco has been using the Skirted Weight System to probe the immense grassbeds on his home waters, the Great Lakes.

Stanco said the Skirted Weight System really shines when fishing grass that doesn't top out and canopy on the waters surface to where it is open underneath. Often Stanco finds himself fishing coontail grass on some of his favorite lakes and it can be a real challenge to get a jig to come through the grass easily. Stanco said that whenever he would try to bring a jig through the coontail, he would have to often fight to get his jig to come through a lot of times and it would a lot of times come back with grass all over the weedguard which made for an unatural presentation. When he started using the Skirted Weight System, fishing the grass became a whole lot easier. He was also able to keep the same profile and action of a jig but have a bait that wouldn't get caught up in the grass.

Recently Stanco used the Skirted Weight System to flip up big smallmouths on braided line on grass beds that were in six and half to twelve feet of water. His setup consisted of 3/4 oz to 1oz Skirted Weights that he pitched on a flipping stick with 65lb test braid which enabled him to yank the hard fighting smallmouth out of the grass and into the boat. Stanco has shared his Skirted Weight technique with a couple of close friends who have become big believers in the Skirted Weight System. He admits that a lot of his friends thought the rig was a bit goofy until they gave it a try and then they witnessed its performance first hand.

Stanco does make a small modification to his Skirted Weights by taking a sharpie and coloring the Naked Bait Co. Skirted Weights whatever color he desires. After he is done coloring the weights he will add a clear coat to give the weights a slick finish. He says it's more of a confidence thing and that the unpainted weights will work just as good.

One thing is for sure the Skirted Weight System from Naked Bait Company is catching on with anglers all across the country and the whole system is a lot more economical than other variations on the market. Naked Bait Companies Skirted Weight System can be purchased by visiting www.nakedbaitco.com.

The Ultimate Twist on Hooks.....The Honey Hole

Over the past couple of years there have been so many improvements to boats,motors, rods, and reels and all have made fishing much more enjoyable. Honey Hole Hooks has now shaken up the hive with their innovation and technology in producing one of the biggest break throughs in hook design with the Spring Hook.

There are a couple of reasons why I like the Spring Hook. The hook does a superb job of keeping my plastics perfectly positioned with the screw-like keeper that is one with the shank. There are no swinging screws to break or become worn after catching a couple of big ones. I don't have to go through the hastle of adding super glue or stop fishing during the course of the day to adjust my plastic to keep it positioned correctly on the hook. These factors add up to make me much more efficient on the water which is one of the keys to success. I'm also saving a lot of money because I don't got through as many plastics. The keeper holds the plastic on really good and it doesn't tear or rip like on other hooks.


Spring Hooks are sharp as a needle out of the package and I have always been able to get great hook penetration. A hook isn't much good though if it's just sharp. A great hook also has to hold up to the abuse of rocks, stickups, and hard pulling bass in thick cover. The Spring Hook has been the strongest hook that I have ever thrown and I have yet to break one in half. The points hold up great and I know this because I have set the hook on a fair share of logs and rocks to have the hook come back just as good as new.


In order to get your hands on the Spring Hook please visit Honey Hole Hooks website at http://www.honeyholehooks.com/

Feeling the Jig Bite

When it comes to jig fishing a lot of anglers have problems with detecting the bite. Sometimes you will get that good thump when a fish picks up your jig and it's really easy to know when to set the hook. A lot of times though you will just get a heavy feeling on the end of your line like you are stuck in a clump of weeds. There are a two things that you can do to help yourself be able to better feel the bite.

When it comes to rod selection for your jig fishing try and stick with the same rod and reel throughout the course of the day. Having the same rod and reel in your hands at all times makes it a lot easier to be able to weigh your jig on the retrieve. Keeping everything the same makes telling subtle differences a lot easier whenever you get bit. Whenever something feels different it's time to set the hook. The rod I use for most of my jig fishing is a 7 foot medium heavy action AiRRUS Co-Matrix 457. The rod has a lot of things that any jig fisherman would be happy to find in a rod. It is sensitive, has a lot of power, economical, and very durable. I have swung countless 4 to 6lb fish in the boat with this rod and I have never broken one yet. I have been very impressed by the value and durability the rod has to offer.

Another thing you can do to improve your jig fishing is to use fluorocarbon line. This becomes really important when you are casting your jig any distance away from the boat. You can feel so much more on fluorocarbon line than you would with mono because fluoro has greater density. The added sensitivity of fluorocarbon line will help you detect more bites and you will also catch more fish in clearer water because it is invisible to the fish.

Punching Grass with Naked Bait Co. Skirted Weights

When it comes to bass fishing you can not beat a good flipping bite in the grass. Big bass love to burry up in the grass because it offers shade, protection, increased oxygen, and great cover to ambush prey. Whenever you have a lake that has vegetation in it the bass will almost always use it at some point during the course of a year.
We all know that big bass like jigs, especially big bass hanging out in the grass. One of the problems though you can face with throwing jigs in grass is that sometimes grass can get caught around the weedguard which can make for an unatural presentation to the bass.

Naked Bait Company has the solution to this problem in the Skirted Weight System. Naked Bait Companies Skirted Weights allow the angler to present a bait with the same exact profile as a jig while allowing the angler to add whatever bait they wish as a trailer.

Skirted Weights do such a great job of coming through the veggies and they are offered in both freshwater and saltwater sizes to make punching the thickest vegetation possible. A freshwater pack contains two of the following 1/16 oz, 1/8 oz, and 3/16 oz. A saltwater pack contains two of the following 1/2 oz, 3/4oz, and 1 oz.

When rigging the Skirted Weights what I like to do is take the 1/2 oz or the 3/4 oz and add one or two skirts to the collar. Then I'll put the skirted weight on my line and then tie on a Honey Hole 3/0 hook. I'll put either a Sweet Beaver or some type of craw on the hook texas style. Then I will peg the skirted weight with a rubber stop that is also available from Naked Bait Company. When everthing is set to go one more thing that I will do is slide the weight on down to the hook but make sure you leave a little room between the hook and the weight so you can get good hook movement so you can a good hookset. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to slide the weight all the way down on the plastic bait which makes hookups harder. Leave about a 1/4 " space.

When you have your Skirted Weight rigged up just take the bait and throw it in the grass and work it like you would a jig. The action is so good and you will be surprised with how many more fish you catch in the process. All the components of the Naked Bait Company Skirted Weight System can be purchased by visiting www.nakedbaitco.com.

Kentucky Lake Tournament Recap.

Riverwoods Church/FLW Open Tournament on Kentucky Lake

Just got back from fishing Kentucky Lake for the last couple of days. I went down to Kentucky Lake to compete in the Riverwoods Church Open Bass Tournament that took out of the KY Dam on Saturday. The tournament had no entry fee and guaranteed a 5,000 dollar first place prize as well as paying out the top 10. The tournament had around 200 boats. Entered in the tournament were a couple of local FLW tour pro's as well as local guides on the lake so I knew there was going to be some competition.

I got down to the lake around 1 pm on Friday and put the boat in the water to check out some of the spots that have produced a lot of keepers for me in the past up by the dam. All I could gather from practice was what areas I would not be fishing in the tournament. One of the biggest problems was that there was no current being generated which was changing the way the fish were positioned on the ledges that had been so fruitful in the past. Instead of the fish being positioned on tops of the ledges on a 15 to 20 foot break and just on the drops the fish seemed to be suspended out in 25 to 30 feet of water on the base of the drop offs on the channel bottom or out in open water. Not much was showing up on the depth finder on top of the ledges. Whenever there is current the fishing is a lot easier because the bass will pop up on top of the ledges and get tight to the bottom. Since there was no current the fish were backed out off the ledges and I knew it was going to be a grinder for me because I'm still learning how to catch these fish.

Going into the tournament I knew where a couple of rock piles where out in 25 to 30 feet of water that I had found in previous visits to the lake. I hadn't checked these spots yet so I thought it would probably be a good place to start. When my boat number 83 was finally called I tore out of the marina and headed full speed to the first deep rock pile. I had on the deck a 3/4 oz OMEGA football jig that I had added a custom made skirt that was watermellon candy with a couple of strips of firetiger on the belly that I had created with the Naked Bait Co skirt expander and a 10 inch green pumpkin Power Worm. When I got to the spot I found another boat already sitting on it working it over. He wasn't fishing the rock pile though but fishing about 30 yards to the right of where it was so I idled on over to the spot and noticed that he wasn't in the tournament. After a couple of words were exchanged he said it was fine for me to fish the spot too. I pulled out the rod with the power worm and made repeated casts to the rockpile and on the 8th or 9th cast I got a solid thump and set the hook on a 3lb bass and quickly swung it in the boat.

I picked up the rod and put a new worm on it and threw it right back to the rock pile hoping that I had just gotten a school of bass stirred up. Well after about 8 or 9 more casts with no luck I picked up the football jig and started stroking it on the rock pile and bagged up another 3lber. The fish just about too the rod out of my hands. Having two keepers in the boat for about 6lbs before 7 am I was feeling pretty good but I knew to have any chance I would have to catch some 5 and 6 pounders. Kentucky Lake has so many big fish that if you are not catching 5 and 6 pounders you don't have a prayer.

After not getting any more bites I decided it was time to make a move to another deep rockpile. On the first cast I caught a short on the worm and went a little while without another bite. I picked up the football jig and hit the rockpile a couple of times and finally got a solid thump and set the hook on another 3lber and swung it in the boat. The fish had the jig all the way down it's throat but I didn't need a 3lber I needed one about 4 or 5 lbs. I fished the area without another bite and made a move to another rock pile that sat in 30 feet of water. After a couple of casts to the pile I boated a short and then as I was snapping the jig up off the bottom my rod about doubled over and I set the hook on a 4lber and walked it around the boat a couple of times and swung it into the boat. The jig was all the way down it's throat.

It was about noon and I didn't have to be back for weigh in till 3:30 I had plenty of time to check some other locations. I pulled up on this hump up by the dam and caught a short off it on the football jig and then didn't get any more bites. The day after the tournament I caught a 5lber off the hump so guess I just didn't time it right. Since nothing was biting I made a move to a rocky main lake point that I have fished in the past with some luck. On about the 3rd cast I got a bite at the end of the cast. I reared back to set the hook and my rod was doubled over. I quickly put the rod down to try and keep the fish from jumping but the 4lber shot up and threw my 1 oz jig. It hurt so much to loose that fish.

It had been a while since I had fished that rockpile that I started on so it was time to make the trip back down lake to hit it again to see if it had reloaded. I managed to pull a couple of shorts off it and then lose another 2lber at the boat because I had tried to swing it and it hit the side of the boat. A 2lb fish on Kentucky Lake isn't going to help you out at all anyways so it was pretty easy to shake loosing that one off. I rotated through the rockpiles that had produced earlier and just couldn't get anything off them.

Time was starting to run out and the day wasn't getting any better. My lack of practice was going to hurt me. All the obvious spots were covered up with boats and I tried joining the party on a couple of the holes but nobody was getting bit. Since the Marina wasn't off limits to fishing I decided to make a run back to the Marina to fish the last 15 minutes of my day away to try and pick up one more keeper. I was mentally exhausted from battling the heat and boat traffic and I knew that it would take culling all my fish or catching a 10lber to even have a shot at getting in the money because my day had been so slow.

When I weighed in my 4 keepers went 13lbs and it wasn't good enough to get in the money. I ended up somewhere in the 30's and was pretty disappointed with how I fished but I guess it could have been a lot worse. The tournament took 19lbs to get into the top 10 and 28lbs to win. That 4lber that I wasn't able to get in the boat would have made it close. I would have had around 17lbs but I guess that is why they call it fishing instead of catching. The last couple of tournaments I just haven't been able to control the variables. In order to do good you have to be able to execute when it counts. I'm sorry for no fish photos from the tournament. Since it was so hot the fish after weigh in were released as quickly as possible to try and ensure their survival.

Gear:

7 Foot AiRRUS Co Matrix Rod, 15lb Flurocarbon Line on the Jig, 12lb Fluorocarbon Line on the Worm, 3/4 oz OMEGA Football Jig, 10 Inch Berkley Power Worm Green Pumpkin t rigged on a 5/16th oz bullet weight with Honey Hole Hook.

Heading to Kentucky

I'm heading to Kentucky in a day to fish an open tournament this Saturday on Kentucky Lake. The last couple of days I've been looking at my maps, watching the water levels, organizing the boat, and getting my tackle together. I expect the tournament to take some weight to win so I'm looking forward to throwing a crankbait, a big worm, and a big football jig most of the time. I've got a bit of experience on fishing the dam area on Kentucky Lake but I am going to try and make sure that past memories don't affect the way I attack the lake. Hopefully the fishing is good and I can also get some film work done as well down there that will be entertaining.

Grizzly's Tackle Company

Since it's been hotter than a fire cracker on the 4th of July, I thought it would be the perfect time to talk about one of the largest suppliers of ice fishing tackle in the Nation, Grizzly's Tackle Company.

Grizzly's Tackle Company has everything one needs to gear up for their ice fishing adventure. They offer nineteen different series of ice fishing rods, four different ice fishing reels, line, and over a million ice fishing jigs, which is enough to satisfy the needs of even the most advanced fisherman.

Grizzly's Tackle Company was started in 1978 by entrepreneur Grizzly Gleffe. Grizzly had a resort on Fox Lake,Wisconsin. When the resort did not work out as planned, Grizzly decided to embark on a new career path by getting into the tackle industry. Grizzly started out from humble beginnings selling rods and jigs and the business continued to grow into what it is today.

Grizzly's Tackle Company caters to the needs of ice fisherman world-wide. It was a surprise to find out that selling ice fishing tackle is not just a seasonal thing. Grizzly's Tackle Company sells tackle year round to meet the needs of tackle stores, hardware stores, and major retailers. The whole product line can be viewed at www.grizzlystacklecompany.com

Grizzly, along with a few of his close friends field test all of the equipment to ensure that Grizzly's Tackle Company continues to provide great products to their customers. On average Grizzly gets out to fish three to four times a week.

The inventory of ice jigs is just mind blowing. The following ice jigs are available:

Two-Tone Glow Bug, Sunfish, Ants Hackle, Ants Rubber, Barracuda, Beetle Rock, Black Glitter, Caddis Cane, Demon, Devils Standup, Devils Walleye, Diamond Jig, Flat Fish, Wide Gap, Freshwater Shrimp, Willow Eye, Gill Pill, Glow'n Paint, Glow Bug, Micro Mouse, Rat Finkee, Ratso, Shrimpo, Tetr-Totr, Two-Spot, Glow Ice Tick, Glow Indy Eye, Glow Rocker, Glow Willow Eye, Grizz's Glow Glitter, Tear Drops, Grizz's Purist, Grizzly's Darter Jig, Indy Eye, Large Glow Rocker, Marmooska, Micro Dot, Oval Eye, and Rocker.

Grizzly's jigs can be purchased by retailers by the display. These wholesale display cases have a variety of different jigs and come in these sizes.

12 Unit Display 3,600 Jigs

9 Unit Display 2,700 Jigs

6 Unit Display 1,800 Jigs

4 Unit Display 1,200 Jigs

3 Unit Display 900 Jigs

2 Unit Display 600 Jigs

Grizzly's Tackle Company joined the American Sportfishing Association and will be attending the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades - better known as ICAST which is scheduled for July 14-16, 2010, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Grizzly has attended the show in the past but this will be the first time as an exhibiter and he is very excited. Look for Grizzly's Tackle Company to be in booth # 1753.

For more information on Grizzly's Tackle Company please contact them

Grizzly's Tackle Company

402 N. 2nd St

Alma, WI 54610

608-685-4070

Grizzly Gleffe-Owner

grizzlystackle@yahoo.com

www.grizzlystacklecompany.com

Kentucky Lake Boat U.S. Open

Just got back from spending a week in Paris. No, I didn't make a trip to Europe but I was in Paris, Tennessee competing in the Boat. U.S. Collegiate Open presented by Pepsi on Kentucky Lake. The Boat U.S. tournaments are very popular among collegiate anglers and feature some of the stiffest competition you will come across at the collegiate level. The tournament had 65 boats, 36 teams, from all different parts of the country. There were teams from as far away as Arizona, Florida, and North Carolina participating in the tournament. Most of the Boat U.S. college tournaments have been held in the south the past couple of years so when I heard there was one coming to Kentucky Lake I thought this might be my only shot at getting to fish one and see what it was all about.

The first day of practice I didn't get to determine a whole lot as I had some motor troubles that ended my day a little short. I had a stuck solenoid that I was able to fix myself when I got off the water. During the day I was only able to locate a couple of schools of smaller bass that wouldn't have amounted to much for the tournament.

The second day of practice I hit the lake a lot harder and I spent the whole day fishing off shore points, ledges, and steeper banks. I was able to catch a couple of 3lb fish on a few stretches but fishing out deep seemed to be like finding a needle in a haystack. One of the problems that you run into on the southern part of Kentucky Lake is that there is just so much bottom structure. You can fish for miles ledges that look just perfect that have bait and fish on them and not get a bite. My depth finder on my consul also wasn't working properly and I don't own GPS yet so eliminating stretches of the ledges was a lot more work than it probably had to be.

After a tough day of fishing deep I decided to go out on my third day of practice to see if I could get on a shallow topwater bite. It's been my experience that there can be an early bite on Kentucky Lake in the shallows and that you can catch some nice fish on a topwater. During this day of practice I had hooked into about 3 keepers in the 3lb range and caught about 40 fish in the first two hours or running some flat banks in the backs of the creeks. I spent some time flipping some shallow cover and docks that I now wish I had spent that time and effort fishing out on the ledges.

The last day of practice I put in and did some more searching for an early topwater bite and didn't end up finding any more areas. I also spent some time cranking some ledges and caught one skinny 15inch bass that came off a shell bed. The ledge was a ways off the main river channel and I didn't see it being something that would replenish from day to day with new fish so I wrote it off.

So after spending four days of searching I had found one early morning spot that I hope would produce a couple of fish and one ledge that I thought might hold some fish for the tournament. It was a pretty rough practice for me but there was no way of knowing what kind of potential my spots would have as I didn't fish them hard at all during practice. Whenever I stuck a fish I would just leave the area or keep on moving.

My partner Mike McCarthy got down the night before the tournament and I told him that we would start shallow and then go hit a ledge that I though would have some fish on it. Mike wasn't able to get down to practice with me cause he couldn't get away from work.

Tournament:

We blasted off and headed to my early morning spot and Mike was able to hook up with a nice fish in the 2 and a half pound range on a rattle trap. The fish came off the hook at the boat and I got the net on it just in time. We pounded out the area some more but we only had that one keeper fish to show for it. I was hoping we would get a couple more fish in the morning but the wind had changed directions on tournament day and the fish were not schooling up like they were just days before on top.

I decided it was time to make a move out to the ledge were I had caught some keepers in practice. We got to the spot and the wind was blowing right across the ledge which made holding on it a bit difficult. I had to keep my 70lb thrust trolling motor going on high the whole time. Mike was able to put another keeper in the boat that went about 3 and a half pounds and one more keeper off the spot. I was catching a couple of shorts but Mike with a fresh outlook on things had turned us onto throwing brush hogs on the back of our jigs. For some reason they seemed to be liking the way that brush hog was falling. We stopped getting bites and decided to let the spot rest.

We fished on down the ledge for about a half an hour and then came back to the sweet spot and I finally caught a keeper that went about 5lbs on my Omega Jig tipped with a brush hog. What was interesting about the fish was that it had one of my Omega football jigs in it's gullet from a couple of days before. I had broken off a fish on the spot in practice and well I guess I caught the same fish again. We fished the spot for about another half an hour without a bite and I decided it was time to make a move.

We ran to my next spot and Mike was able to boat our 5th keeper and I was able to catch another keeper that didn't count for our limit. We thought we had about 15 to 16lbs. Everyone that I had talked to said that the bite was pretty though so I though that we might be able to crack the top 10 after the first day with what we had. We weighed in our fish for 16.36 lbs and ended up in 11th place after day one. If we could have another day like our first day I felt that we would be able to stay in the top 10.

The second day of the tournament things just went bad from the start. The underwater tree that we caught almost all our fish off on day one had gotten moved from the current about 25 yards or so from where it was originally. They hadn't been generating water all week and the evening of the 1st day they were drawing a lot more water that moved the tree. The tree was now on a 9 foot flat instead of having it's branches extending into 14 feet on the left and 18 feet on the right with the base of the tree in 9 feet. All those depth changes on the tree before probably had helped to make it a bass magnet.

The tree was still holding some fish but we continued to have bad luck as Mike hooked up with a fish that would have been over 4lbs that somehow managed to wrap itself around the underwater tree we had been fishing all week and break him off. The fish had been wrapped around the tree on his line for a good 10 minutes and just wouldn't swim out or unwrap itself. We took the boat into the spot and probably spooked the fish in the area in the process. We left the spot and then came back about an hour later and our bad luck would continue as I lost one about 3 and a half pounds off the tree. The fish bit me as I was pausing to take a drink of water and I reeled down and hammered him but he managed to shoot up about 3 feet out of water and throw the 1oz football head.

We went a while without a bite and I was starting to get bit again by dragging the jig on the bottom really slow. I caught a couple of shorts and finally got keeper number one in the boat. It was a 16 inch fish that fell victim to a 1oz brown and orange Omega football head that I pulled off a ledge. We returned to our primary area and didn't get any more fish and the day was wearing on. We went back to the take off and fished the release area a bit as it wasn't off limits. Mike managed to bag up 3 more keepers back there on the brush hog to give us 4 fish for about 10lbs.

Our lost fish on the second day bumped us down to 15th place on the tournament. We could have had about 15 to 16lbs on the second day if we had managed to get those key fish we missed in the boat. While I never got onto that 22 to 24lb sack of fish that was needed to win I didn't feel too bad about having a shot at 16lbs a day on a part of the lake that I have never fished before.

After talking to the winners and everyone else that did good in the tournament it seemed like most of the anglers were on just one spot the whole week that produced their fish. It wasn't like anyone was running a pattern all over the lake and just catching fish off a bunch of spots. The fish seemed to be pretty grouped up down there right now and if you can find the spot on a spot you will do well. I know that the team that got 1st place and 4th place fished boat to boat on the same spot all the way up by the dam. Other teams in the top 10 fished went even further south to catch their fish.

Even though things didn't work out from the tournament I am walking away with more experience with deep water ledge fishing on Kentucky Lake as well as knowing what it's like to camp out in 90 degree plus heat all week while sleeping in your truck. The skeeters were just thirsty for blood and I didn't get much sleep. I went into the tournament with a 200 dollar budget. That was for gas in the truck to get to the lake and back, gas in the boat, food, fishing licenses, and tackle. For all you younger anglers out there that want to compete just remember that you will get want you want if are willing to sacrifice. Where there is a will there is a way.

One tip I have for you if you are planning on hitting up Kentucky Lake soon is to add some orange to your baits. It seemed like the bass at Kentucky Lake were liking some orange in your jig. I was able to modify my jig skirts during the week with the Naked Bait Company Skirt expander and it seemed to help put more fish in the boat as my practice went on. Try a PBNJ skirt with about four strips of orange in it or a green pumpkin brush hog with orange in the tips.

Gear:
Omega Jig: 7 foot Medium Heavy AiRRUS Co Matrix Rod 15lb fluorocarbon line.
Brush Hog: 7 foot Medium Heavy AiRRRUS Co Matrix Rod 15lb fluorocarbon line.
Rattle Trap: 7 Foot Medium Copperhead Cranking Stick 12lb fluorocarbon line.

Kentucky Lake Tournament Videos

Taking Care of Business

The past week has been crazy. I celebrated my girlfriends 21st birthday and I also bought a boat. At the start of the tournament season one of my major goals was to win enough money to be able to get into a boat that would allow me to start fishing the pro-ams. If you don't come from money you got to pay for fishing with fishing. I'm glad that I was finally able to accomplish that this week.

This week I've been busy getting tackle and everything legal and ready to go on my boat so that I will be able to make it down to Kentucky Lake to compete in the Boat U.S. College Bass Open. It's a two day televised event. We will be going out of Paris and I haven't had the opportunity to fish that far south on Kentucky Lake. I really want to get down there for the experience and hopefully take back the title. The lake fishes the way I like to fish this time of the year. That is for sure. I like fishing out off the bank and using my electronics.

Aside from getting the boat ready I have been getting a lot of maintenance done on my truck. I get to put all new tires on it. It's hard to believe but I've already put close to 40,000 miles on my truck in about a year and a half when I hardly ever move my truck while up at school. At least they are all highway miles from running from one fishing tournament to another.

National Guard College Fishing Season Complete

Well the regular season of National Guard College Fishing is now in the books. The tournament trail took us to Bull Shoals Lake, Lake of the Ozarks, Lake Ouachita, and to Kentucky Lake. I feel that I learned a lot over the course of the season that will make me a much better fisherman in the long run. Right now we have a long time off until the Central Regional Championship which will be at the end of October on Lake Monroe in Indiana. We will compete for a first place prize of 50,000 dollars against 19 other teams. The tournament is a three day tournament that will be televised. After two days of fishing the top 5 five fish the final day to see who will be crowned Central Regional Champions. The top five will advance to the National Guard College Fishing National Championship to compete for 100,000 dollars.

Last year we just came up short of making it to the championship as we took 6th place in the regional. This year we managed to double qualify for the Regional Championship with a 2nd place finish at Lake Ouachita and a 5th place finish on Bull Shoals. I plan on taking some time to head over to Lake Monroe this summer to see what the lake has to offer and to hopefully gain some info that will help us out come tournament time. Having come so close to winning last years Regional Championship just makes me even more determined to win the championship this year. The fish that we were on in the tournament last year had left us and ended up moving to the spot where Indiana University won the tournament on the 2nd and 3rd days of the tournament. We fished the spot where the Regional Championship was won last year and things just didn't work out as the water level changed during the course of the event. We zigged left when we should have zigged right. We were just a day early from being on the right spot at the right time. That's part of the game but everything happens for a reason and hopefully this will be our year.


After looking back over our tournaments this year I think most of the success we had can be contributed to just being a lot more prepared. This year I know I put in a lot more hours looking at the map and studying each of the lakes contours as well as getting information about the lakes conditions. We also did a much better job of fishing the moment and trying to fish where the fish should be instead of fishing behind the fish. It's easy to make the mistake of fishing what was working just days prior to the tournament than what the fish should do given the current conditions. A big part of our success was also making sure that we had the right line, baits, and rods in the boat to get the job done on each lake.

Bull Shoals was an interesting tournament. We did a lot of research on the lake prior to the event because neither one of us had been there before. We started off the day catching a couple of keepers quick as well as a some shorts. We were on a pattern but unfortunately our motor blew up and we were 20 miles or so away from take off and had to be towed back which ended our day short about 3 hours. It was crazy to end up in the top 5 by just 1 oz winning 2,000 dollars. I guess the lesson learned here is to never give up and to always fish hard even if stuff isn't going your way.

Lake of the Ozarks was one of the most miserable tournaments I had ever fished. The temps didn't get above freezing and it poured on us most of the day. Our tournament was cut short a half an hour due to conditions. We ended up getting 19th place with one fish during this tournament. We caught a lot of shorts but failed to get into the right school of fish. We probably took too big of a gamble in running as far as we did to try and catch our fish with such a short tournament.

Lake Ouachita was one of the best stops of the season. A lot of fish were caught and we were very fortunate to have gotten on a rock solid pattern early in the tournament. Neither one of us had ever fished the lake before but we made a lot of good decisions that payed off. We ended up having 5 fish to put us in 2nd place in the tournament winning 5,000 dollars. One of the biggest lessons I learned is that sometimes you just have to do something out of the ordinary to catch your fish. Also just because a lot of fish are spawning it doesn't mean that you have to fish for spawning fish. There will always be post spawn as well as pre-spawn fish to be caught.

The fishing at Kentucky Lake was just insane. It took 24lbs to win the tournament and 19lbs to get into the top 5. I had a good day during the tournament and ended up catching around 20 plus pounds myself but I couldn't get my partner his fish. I think in trying to not fish as hard we didn't come across enough fish in order for my partner to get his keepers. It's just a hard situation to be in when you have your limit and you can't tell if you are around fish and your partner isn't catching them or if the fish are not there and trying to figure out when to move.

Overall I am happy with how we did this year. Two top 5 finishes in 4 tournaments isn't too shabby. I'm still longing for the win though that has somehow always managed to elude us. We've been really close a couple of times. I wanted to win a regular season tournament this year and make it into the top 5 every time but things just didn't work out in some of the tournaments. You only get so many chances to win due to all the stuff that can happen, especially with all the out of the ordinary rules in college fishing.

Head for the Ledge

Don't get me wrong I like to flip shallow bushes and docks as much as anyone but I have way more fun probing off shore structure and locating large schools of bass. Right now we are heading into prime time for fishing away from the bank. Most of the bass are finishing up spawning and are starting to head out to their summertimes haunts as they follow the baitfish. During the post spawn on into early summer you will often find bass at their deepest because the thermocline hasn't set up yet on most lakes and there is oxygen all the way down. As the water heats up and the thermocline starts to set up the fish will tend to move to shallower structure where oxygen is present in relation to deep water.

A lot of anglers struggle with having the confidence to fish sometimes three or four cast lengths out off the bank but with some practice they can become just as comfortable fishing a deep water hump as they are a shallow laydown. A lot of anglers that I've fished with say that they would like to learn how to be a better deep water fisherman yet they fail to spend time practicing it and they just keep throwing at the bank when it's not producing. You can't learn to fish deep structure unless you give it a try. Learning to fish deep water structure can take a different amount of time for everyone but with modern electronics it's a lot easier than most people think.

Before you get to the lake you can get a good idea of areas to search just by taking a look at a contours map or your gps. Your gps will be able to show you humps, long points, and where the creek channels bend as well as dropoffs. After you find some spots on your map that look promissing get out and spend some time graphing those areas. What you are looking for are rocks, brush, where the bottom changes from big rock to small, as well as slight depressions or rises. These irregularities on structure are often where you will find the hot spot. The only way you can locate the hot spot is to take the time to search with your depth finder and by fan casting the point with a variety of lures.

Once you hook into a fish out on structure you will want to kick a bouy over the side of the boat to mark your boats position. This can be very critical when you are fishing crankbaits because you need your bait to hit the zone pefectly a lot of times in order to get bit. Once you determine where the fish are located try and triangulate your position with something on the bank. This will help you locate the spot when you return during your tournament or future outing. Gps units are great and can get you within a couple of feet of your position but triangulating will put you right on target. If you use this method you can hit one rockpile 9 times out of 10 and spend a lot more time having your bait in the strike zone. When you catch your fish at a certain depth change take note. A lot of times you will be able to run around the lake and catch fish off similar structure. A depth change doesn't have to be great in order to hold fish. I found fish at Kentucky Lake two weeks ago relating to a 9 to 12 dropoff almost everywhere I went. Whenever I could find a similar dropoff I would get bit. Gps allows you to follow the break lines as easily as if you were going down the bank. I like to be able to use the split screen gps with the fish finder because it keeps me at the right depth and headed in the right direction all the time.

The type of baits I use on deep structure are a lot different than the ones I will throw to the bank. Having the right baits to fish off shore structure makes a big difference. One of the best baits to have in your box for locating and catching fish offshore is a deep diving crankbait. The great thing about a crankbait is that you can get fish that are not feeding to react to it. A lot of times the hardest fish to catch off structure will be the first one and once you catch one you can ignite a whole school into a feeding frenzy. A deep diving crankbait will allow you to cover a ton of water too so you will be able to locate that sweet spot on your cover. When it comes to line throw your deep divers on ten to twelve pound test line for the best results. Heavier lines just drag too much for the right presentation. Also use as long a rod as you feel comfortable with because it will allow you to make very long casts and cover more water.

Other productive baits for probing deep structure are heavy football jigs. OMEGA Custom Tackle makes a couple of jigs that excell on deep structure. The Pro-Mega was designed by Roger Fitzpatrick who is a well known Lake of the Ozarks structure fisherman for probing deep water brushpiles. The jig comes through brush really well and it has a great hook in it which keeps fish pinned all the way to the boat. Elite Series angler Derek Remitz designed OMEGA's football jig and it's great for when you are fishing rocky points and shell beds. I will typically use a 1/2 oz to 1oz jigs for probing deep structure. They make staying in contact with the bottom really easy and they get down fast. In the summer when there is a lot of boat traffic throwing a heavier jig will help you with feeling the bite. Start out crawling your jigs along the bottom or sweeping them and if that doesn't work you might have to hop them up off the bottom to trigger reaction strikes. For these big jigs make sure you have a 7 foot or longer heavy action AiRRUS rod for the best presentation. I will throw 20lb test fluoro on my structure jigs because of rocks and brush that will knick the line.

If the fish are still there but they are not biting you can't beat an old school worm on either a shakeyhead or a texas rig. OMEGA has a newer shakeyhead out called The Shakey Foot. It's a football style head with a flat side that makes your worm stand up. Rigging a 10 inch worm on the Shakey Foot can sometimes out produce your texas rig. A lot of the FLW Tour guys do this on the TVA lakes when they visit them. The trick is to not get in a hurry when you fish this bait. A lot of times you just want to have it sit and give it a couple of small shakes. It's a great set up for inactive bass or for fishing behind other boats. I like twelve pound line for this rig but you can throw a lot heavier line on it because it has a great hook.

The old school texas rig is just as good for catching inactive bass sometimes. The trick is to not get in to big of a hurry and move your worm a whole lot. You want to try and create as many falls on the retrieve as possible. If you are moving your rod more than 8 or 9 inches you can pull the bait from the strike zone too quick. When I work a texas rig worm on structure a lot of times I just give it a short hop and then let it fall back towards the bottom. A trick for the texas rig is to use a hook with a keeper like the new Honey Hole Hook. You won't have your worm sliding down and you will be able to spend your time fishing instead of rigging your worm. For throwing my worms ten to twelve pound test gets me the most bites. I just upsize my line with the cover.

13th Place finish at Kentucky Lake

This past weekend I fished the National Guard FLW College Fishing tournament at Kentucky Lake. The weekend prior to the tournament Kentucky Lake was closed due to very high water levels. A lot of us were sitting around wondering and hoping that we were going to even have a tournament. A couple of days before our tournament they started dropping the water and the lake was finally opened up and our tournament was a go.

Going into the tournament I was a bit unsure of how we were going to catch our fish because there were a lot of different varibles to consider. The water was really muddy for Kentucky Lake and they were pulling a lot of current. Prior to the flooding I wanted to fish the ledges and get out on the main lake but I didn't know how the muddy water would effect that bite. Also I was debating on making a run over into Barkley Lake as I know the layout of the water a little better. After I analysed how the Stren pro's were catching their fish though it seemed like the ledges and structure were producing. The guys that went to Barkley said they wish they hadn't which helped me decided on what lake to fish. I noticed that the guys who were flipping in the stren had an okay first day but their bite died off and their bags were getting smaller during the tournament and this was because the water was being sucked out of the bushes. Whenever the water is falling big fish will pull out off the bank and suspend or out out on the points because mother nature tells them that if they don't they will get stuck. The guys in the stren that were structure fishing were throwing up good weight every day and their bags were getting a little bigger. So with all the current in the lake I decided to focus on ledges and points.

All I had on the rod deck to start the day was a variety of deep running crankbaits and a couple of 3/4 oz OMEGA football jigs in black and blue tied up on my AiRRUS Rods. We had a late boat number and headed on down to the first point that I wanted to fish. I was marking a lot of bait on the point and some arches and it just looked like the perfect post spawn point for the fish to move up on to put on the feed bag. I fished around the point for about an hour catching a couple of short fish and studying the dropoffs until I finally hung a 4lber on my crankbait. The fish surged and put up a good fight but was scooped up by my partner Ed Kennedy with the net. It was a good way to start the day. After I stuck the fish in the live well I got back up on the front deck and made another cast to the exact spot and quickly caught another fish around 4lbs. I was feeling good and we all shared some high fives. A couple of casts later I caught another 3lber in the same little spot on this point to get my three fish limit.

The hotspot where I snatched up my fish was where the point had a nice drop that went from 9 to 12 feet. Whenever I would put my boat into about 15 feet and throw it up on the bank and bring it through that little box they would smash it. All the fish were hooked really good and had the crankbait sucked down by their gullet.

Now that I had my limit by 9:30 am I needed to get my partner his fish because you can only weigh 3 fish per an angler in college fishing. I took my partner around the point and he was able to boat a bunch of short fish. We ended up catching about 50 fish on the day. I had picked up a black and blue skirted OMEGA football jig with a black and blue flake paca craw at this point and just threw it out into the deep water off the point and I caught a 4th keeper that went about 3lbs. The fish hit the jig good and swam off with it like it didn't want to ever let it go. I caught a couple more shorts crawling the football out in 25 to 30 feet of water trying not to throw to the first drop off.

We kept on fishing hitting a couple of more spots and it was about noon we decided to run to Duncan bay and look for some more fish. We were both cranking structure at this point cause we were trying to cover water and find them. We pulled up on a hump and caught a couple of shorts and then we made our way back to fish a transition point where on my first cast I caught a 7 pounder that was my fifth keeper. The fish made a couple of good surges but I finally tired her out. While it was good to cull out a 3 plus pounder with a 7 pounder my partner still didn't have any fish. We ran out of time and had to make it back for our weigh in at 1:30.

The bite was on for a lot of people that were covering water with a crankbait and a jig. The tournament took 24lbs with 6 fish to win and 19lbs to get into the top five to make a check. I had over 20lbs with my 5 keepers and would have easily been in the top 5 but my biggest 3 went 13lbs and 9ozs to give us 13th place out of 40 colleges. I wish they would change that rule so that you could just weigh in your five biggest bass for your team. It's a funny rule because it's not very often in partner tournaments that you both catch the same amount of keepers during the course of the day. One guy might carry a team one day and then the other guy the next day in regular team formats but College Fishing does truly make it a tournament about whose TEAM peforms the best on that given day or has a little more luck with getting their partner hooked up with some fish.

Right now the fishing is on fire down at Kentucky Lake and I suggest that there's no better time to make a trip to that lake. It's just nuts how good the fishing is down their right now as the water continues to drop making the fish very active. If you are heading down to Kentucky Lake make sure you pack your crankbaits and bring some OMEGA football jigs with you! It will be a blast!

Tackle:

7 Foot Medium Heavy AiRRUS Copperhead Rod, 12lb mono, deep crankbaits

7 Foot Medium Heavy AiRRUS Co-Matrix Rod, 20lb Fluorocarbon, OMEGA Football Jig.

I think one of the keys to my performance was using the right tackle for the job. The Co-Matrix is just an awesome jig rod that gives you a lot of power as well as sensitivity for throwing jigs. I didn't have to hold anything back when I was powering these big bass to the boat and the AiRRUS Copperhead rod was great for throwing those big crankbaits a long ways. I added a couple of rattles to my jigs with the Naked Bait Co skirt expander and the skirts I was using on my jig was a hand made black and blue that had a little bit of purple in it to help it stand out in the muddy water.

Guide to Vandalia Lake

Vandalia Lake located in Vandalia, IL is a 660 acre lake with about 12 miles of shoreline. It's about an hour and a half drive from St. Louis and is easy to find as all you have to do is get on hwy 270 and head east. The little lake offers some of the best bass fishing around for both numbers and size. Fish in the four to six pound class are pretty common and some fish around eight to nine pounds show up during the course of the year. I've spent some time on this lake and typically it will take eighteen to twenty four pounds to win a tournament. Two years ago a five fish limit of twenty nine pounds was weighed in late fall! You won't find weights like this on practically any other Illinois lakes that doesn't have a power plant. In order to fish the lake boaters are required to pay a launch fee but it goes to keeping up the lake and to the stocking program. The lake has a marina which offers licenses, gasoline, snacks, and bait.

The lake fishes fairly big for it's size because there are a lot of coves and points. The lake has a good amount of docks while it also features a lot of wood and rock to fish. The lake is a power fishermans paradise and big bass can be caught shallow as well as deep.

Right now with all the unseasonal cool weather we have been having I would imagine the fish haven't moved really deep yet on Vandalia. I would start with a black or white buzzbait or a frog and fish the lakes shallow grass lines. One of the best follow up baits to have on the deck if you miss a fish is a texas rigged sweet beaver with a 3/0 honey hole flipping hook. The lake always has a real good buzzbait bite this time of the year if you get cloud cover. If you don't get bit on the buzzbait pick up a square bill crankbait and head to the wood or rock. The key to getting bit is to bang your bait off the cover. The fish on the lake will either be in the grass or on the wood or rock you just have to experiment for the shallow bite. While the lake has docks the bigger fish don't seem to use them as much. If you are pounding the shallows on the lake and you are catching two to three pounders it's time to get out off the bank.

Vandalia Lake gets fished shallow to death by the local crowd. The shallow bite can still be productive but once the shallow bite dies and only two to three pounders are showing up I love getting out on the lakes main lake structure to start whacking on some big pigs. When you get to the lake you will see all the shallow cover but if you spend some time looking at your depth finder you will be amazed with the amount of off-shore structure the lake has to offer. You will stumble upon old tree lines, sunken brushpiles, humps, and rocks. The best ways to go about fishing all these bass hide outs is to tie on a big crankbait and a big football jig. I've caught a lot of five plus pounders hurling 3/4oz to 1oz black and blue OMEGA Derek Remitz Signature Series Jigs to off shore irregularities out on Vandalia. For the jig trailer one of the best for getting the big fish interested is a Zoom Super Chunk in black blue flake. For some reason I've caught way more bigger fish on that trailer than a paca chunk. I don't get a lot of bites but I will usually average four to five pounders on that jig and get 5 to 6 good bites a day to put me in contention to win a tournament on that lake. One last thing to try is to carolina rig a big lizard or centipede. I haven't ever done good on the lake with a 10 inch worm.

When it comes to tackle on this lake bigger is better. On this lake I rarely fish anything less than 20lb line. If I'm fishing shallow brush, rock, or grass I will spool up with 65 pound braid for most of the baits I throw. When I throw my jigs it is always on 20lb test. If you try to get away with 14 or 17 you will have your heart broken on that lake. This I can promise you!

Going Post Spawn

One of my favorite times to be on the water is during the post spawn. On any given day you can catch them on anything from a topwater up shallow to a big football jig out deep. If you are a versatile fisherman that likes to fish a lot of different baits and catch a lot of fish then it's a good time to be on the water.

One of the first things I look for if I want to get in on the shallow bite is to look for the fry. I don't know how many times I've caught fish throwing topwaters like buzzbaits into pods of fry up on the bank to just get it smashed. During the last BFL on Truman Lake the bass were up guarding fry and I was able to snatch a 3lber up doing this that ultimately helped propel me onto a 12th place finish in the tournament. A lot of times a topwater will be better than something else like a spinnerbait or a crankbait in this situation because the spit you get out of a topwater creates a lot of havoc on the surface and gets the fry to dart triggering strikes. When you a fishing a buzzbait do not forget to have some sort of follow up bait ready on another rod at your side. If a bass blows up and misses your buzzbait you can almost always pick up another rod and throw back into the boil and get the fish to bite again. The key is to be prepared. One of the best follow up baits for me has been a texas rigged Sweet Beaver.

If you don't want to hit the shallows take a look at the points at the mouths of the spawning pockets and structure next to spawning areas. A lot of anglers will continue to pound the banks because there will be fish up there but if you can get out off the bank and use your electronics you can get into big schools of fish that will eat almost anything. A good fish finder is a must for exploring long points, humps, and creek channel bends in search of bait. When the fish finder lights up that is when you need to drop the trolling motor. A lot of times these fish are very hungry and it doesn't take long to load the boat when you find them. As far as baits go start out throwing a deep diving crankbait making sure to bump the structure. After you catch the active fish off the spot you can slow down with a big football jig or a shakeyhead and milk the area for fish that didn't want to chase down the crankbait. A carolina rig is something that I hate to throw but make sure you have one on to finish up because there will be times when they want something hovering a little off the bottom. For crankbaits I really like the Strike King Series of crankbaits, the Norman DD22's, and Smack Tackle's Gizz 4. When it comes to football jigs the OMEGA Pro Mega Structure Jig as heavy as 7/8th oz and the OMEGA Derek Remitz Signature Series football jig in 3/4oz work great! An OMEGA Shakeyfoot with a Senko is another great set up. On my carolina rigs I usually have good luck with lizards and brush hogs.