Category: Baits
Science: Bait Longevity
Here’s a subject that’s worthy of some discussion. Just how long should a good bait last, or how many bass should it catch before being relegated to the junk pile? This one popped into my head after receiving an e-mail recently from In-Fisherman field editor Ned Kehde. Ned is a big proponent of the Z-Man [...]
How Often You Tie On Your Fave Bait?
In the course of doing the tres awesome daily BassBlaster e-newsletter – you have subscribed, yes?! – we ran across this quote from KVD: First of all, it’s wrong to have a favorite bait. You have to use what the conditions dictate. That being said, I have a lot of confidence in certain baits that [...]
How Well Do You Execute Your Frog?
Now that the first Elite Series back-to-back is done, we’ve been putting together the 1st- through 10th-place pattern info for BassGold.com and 6th-10th notes for Bassmaster.com. As part of that, had a long, interesting convo with Cliff Crochet, who finished 7th at the St. Johns. In that tourney he fished two frogs, all day every [...]
Ike, KVD, Cranks, Colors
Gonna hit four things here. 1. You’ve probably heard the well-known saying in the fishing biz, that baits are made to “catch fishermen, not fish.” In other words, if it doesn’t catch your eye in the store, you’re not bringing it home, regardless of whether it catches ‘em or not. 2. Bearing that in mind, [...]
Would You Fish This Starfish Bait?
Far be it from me to doubt the bait of any bait-designer, let alone the folks at Reins, but…would you fish this? Or maybe a better question is, would any of you be confident this bait would get in the mouth of any bass that wasn’t an absolute giant? Here’s the bait again: Reminds me [...]
Line Hum a Factor in Cranking?
Been going over some BassGold data for Lake Fork (a popular request), saw in an article on the PAA tourney there in 2008 iwhere Kelly Jordon – who headed the winning team – said this about using 12-pound fluorocarbon to crank Fork’s heavy timber: Any heavier and they wouldn’t bite it. You can still get [...]
Science: Tackle Stats – We Want Numbers
Scientists: We measure this, weigh that, and calculate the volume of something else. It’s what we do. And when it comes to my fishing tackle, I’m exactly the same way. Details. Numbers. That’s what I want to see. The industry is doing great in some areas, and still doing terrible in others. Here’s some examples.
Here’s Oldham’s Tilapia Color for Falcon
Didja hear about the Bass Champs derby on Falcon last month where 45.52 pounds won it (5 fish) – and 43.80 was 2nd? If not, yep, you’re reading right. A 9+ average – guys were culling 7-pounders! Must…go…to…Falcon…. The winning team of Jaime Buitron and Terry Oldham used two baits to catch that huge string: [...]
Giveaway: You Too Can ‘Death Shimmer’
[This giveaway is now over. Congrats to the winners!] Speaking of bait names, how ’bout that Death Shimmer spinnerbait you read about here a while back? The name alone got me to check into it, so a good name. Caught up with Rich Lau, the Death Shimmer namer, inventor, owner, to ask a few questions. [...]
What Would You Name Your Sig Bait?
In the spirit of whoever was inspired to name the “pinky-dink” color, I started to wonder what I’d name a color…and then what I’d name a bait. Hmmm. First thing that came to mind was Andre Moore and his…uh, “colorful,” sometimes hilarious bait names at Reaction Innovations. (Reminds me of the time Z and I [...]
Do You Ever Go Pink? Or Pinky-Dink?
Don’t mean “K-Pink,” but spinnerbait. Remember the old Color-C-Lector? (Wait – I think they still sell it!) Anyhow, believe it used to/still does recommend the color pink for dirty water. Real dirty. Never bought it. Not that pink wouldn’t work, but that it’d work better than another color the basses could see better (imo) in [...]
Do You Use Titanium Spinnerbaits?
Are you old enough to remember Jimmy Houston and Terry Bradshaw hawking Terminator titanium spinnerbaits in a TV infomercial? Believe it was in the late ’90s, unfortunately not YouTube. Dang, some money was poured into that puppy. If’n you recall, the “lure” (he he) of titanium was its flexibility: as in, no more time wasted [...]
The Island of Misfit……Umbrella Rigs?
Two years ago, I was deep cranking a local reservoir during the summer with a Lucky Craft RC 2.5 DD. On one particular cast, my bait stopped and loaded up, so I reared back and swung. Turned out I was hung up. I gave the rod a few good sharp snaps, and the bait broke [...]
Any Night-Bassin’-Only Baits Out There?
Was reading the other day an old article about short-armed spinnerbaits. In it Basil Bacon was talking about when spinnerbaits were first used in bassin’. Said they were first used only at night – I’m guessing because they don’t look remotely like anything natural. Then at some point a brave bassin’ soul decided to try [...]
Make Your Next Jig Look Like This?
I am not a bait-builder. That’s on my “if I had more time I’d…” list. Specifically, I’d love to spend some time really analyzing and understanding jigs/trailers. Seems doable, but maybe I’m being naive. I’d probably save a whole lot of time by just sneaking around the Eakinses house with a spy camera. Anyhow, back [...]
Top Secret Bait Revealed: the RotoTail
While back I shared with you my recent Top Secret bait experience. Well, today’s the day it’s revealed. It’s called the RotoTail – check the vids below. Basically, the bait is a plastic worm (or make it into a trailer) with a tail that spins 360 degrees. The tail has a soft-plastic spinnerbait-like blade at [...]
Science: Big Baits – Big Bass?
Admit it. We’ve all read the articles about big bass and why you should use large baits to target them. Yet, as an example, the Texas state record largemouth bass of 18.18, which has stood for nearly 20 years, was caught on a dang crappie minnow. Further more, Texas Share-Lunker data shows that more giant [...]
Ever Try a Misfit Crankbait?
Word is a while back on the Ar-Kansas River, there was a bait called the misfit that was all the rage. A crankbait painted black on top, yellow on the belly, and one side painted red and the other chartreuse. I’ve never in my entire bassin’ life seen a crankbait that was different colors on [...]
Do You Color Your Craw Tips?
Dion Hibdon and his dad are known for a pre-derby checking under rocks (actually, having Dion’s kids do it) to see what color the local crawfish are. From there, they adjust their bait colors accordingly. For Dion (and maybe Guido), that includes coloring the tips of the claws to match. Usually, they’ve said, orange, but [...]
Should Trolling Rigs Be Banned?
[Update: Heard this rig was already banned for some Seminole derby. Can anyone confirm? Another update: Word is fish caught with these things can have a couple to several hooks stuck in 'em. Confirm?] Almost choked on my fruit pie when I saw the rig Paul Elias used to win the Guntersville FLW. It’s a [...]
Science: Of Rigs and Regs
Just when the fishing forums were finally starting to quite down. When the last word on the Nate Wellman incident truly WAS the last word. Along comes Paul Elias, cracking the century mark down at the Guntersville FLW event in what was expected to be a lightweight deal. Of course, it’s not so much that he won [...]
Confession of a Bait Addict
[Our second guest post of the week is by Illinois' Duke Jenkel. He fishes the PAA Tour, qualified for the the 2009 Toyota Texas Bass Classic, the 2008 FLW Champeenship, several Stren/American fishing series championships and other achievements. He has a blog at his site and a pretty major tackle-buying problem....] I have to admit, [...]
Clunn Story: Anyone Know Denver Waltham?
Check out the below, an old Bagley’s ad (now laminated) given to me by a buddy some moons ago at a tackle show somewhere. I’ve always been a big Clunn fan, and loved this retro piece. Anyhow, on the ad it says: “Rick credits a bite size chunk of balsa wood, given to him by [...]
Who Needs a Smelly Package?
[Update 10/13: This contest is officially over. Someone remind me to announce the winners in a couple weeks.] Well, I ran with your collective recommendation for 10″ worms, got in touch with the good folks at Berkley and they came through. UPS man brought a few boxes of stinky 10″ and 12″ Power Worms the [...]
My Top Secret Bait Experience
Friend of mine called me earlier this year, told me he had something he wanted to show me. A new type of fishing lure. Now, even though I know this guy is a diehard basser who knows how to catch fish, knows the lure biz and has innovated before, I STILL had the eye roll [...]
