Totally Wacked Out!

Weedless Wacky hooks from Lazer Trokar, an essential part of your terminal tackle!

Wednesday night I got home and found that my new hooks from Trokar had just arrived!  Wanting to spare not a minute more, I quickly called my buddy Danny and made plans to hit the lake the very next day at 6 am, to give them a whirl.

For whatever reason, this small lake really delivers HUGE largemouth when you target them with a wacky-rigged plastic worm presentation.  The minute you throw anything else, your bites drop off dramatically.  But as the summer months passed and the weeds grew up, the ability to land those big fish became more and more difficult.  We weren't getting good penetration with our hooks, fish were coming off in the weeds, and we were having to watch as the big fish shook our baits just out of our reach.  I found that Trokar had a weedless wacky hook in size 1 and 1/0, and couldn't wait to order them.  Knowing that my experience with Trokar had always been good with drop shot and Texas rigging plastics, I knew that I would be able to count on them to deliver.

And did they ever deliver.

That morning at the lake was epic.  In under two hours we had boated over 15 fish, and our best 5 went just under 22 lbs, including this 6.5 pound monster.  While that might seem like a modest weight for Guntersville, in NY, that's a really big deal for that tiny window of fishing.  The weed guards are small, just one wire one each side.  They're also flexible and not overly rigid to the point of tipping off big fish.  They do a great job of helping you navigate your rig through all types of weeds and grasses cleanly, and even the small weeds that are picked up fall off quickly while submerging.  They're sharpened the same way all Trokar hooks are, meaning best in the business out of the box AND at maintaining that edge.  These hooks are great because they are presented in a finesse profile that actively camouflages that raw power they deliver; power that people who have lived the "Trokar Experience" have come to trust more than no other.  Tie them on a Dobyns Champion 703SF Spinning rod with 10lb Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon line and you'll have every bit of confidence you need to land fish like you see up above when give the opportunity.

Don't fall victim to inferior gear.  "The one that got away" is an awful feeling that's hard to shake.  No terminal tackle kit is complete without these hooks.

Click to WIN!

CLICK AND WIN!
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My Segment On The Weather Channel

Check out the Weather Underground production featuring me and my friends from B.A.S.S. that was filmed by The Weather Channel!

Reel Weather: Hot fishing, sizzling products, and Wild Bill Wichrowski!

If you live above the Mason-Dixon line you're either enjoying some of the best fishing you've seen in years, or you're missing out on it! The current temperatures and moon phase is producing a feeding frenzy of both Large and Smallmouth bass. Temperatures have been moderate and slightly cooler at night. While the moon phase has fish targeting crawfish and feeding so heavily on them, you can actually see fish regurgitate them when they're being reeled in or after they've been in your livewell. This is a great time to throw tubes, jigs, and soft plastic craws. You should use mixed colors like black and blue or Alabama Craw, to imitate the kind of transition that they've been going through since the full moon on the 13th. 

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What Douglas Lake and my quest for the Elite Series in 2015 have in common.

What do The First B.A.S.S. Northern Open at Douglas Lake and my quest for the Elite Series in 2015 have in common?  They're over.  That's right.  What began with me catching a six pounder on my first day of practice, ended when I checked in on day one Thursday with my first zero I've ever had.  When I first arrived in Dandridge I was told "You're either gonna love this lake, or you're gonna hate it" and I can honestly say I felt both.

At the end of the day Tuesday I was nervously feeling over confident.  I had a huge school of big fish, I knew where they were hanging out, what time they ate, and how to catch them.  I only briefly checked on them Wednesday morning to make sure they were still there before taking my boat out at 11 am.  I say nervously because I had tournaments in the past where my great practices turned into horrible events and I had a lot riding on this one.  It was my first Open as a boater, and The Weather Channel was coming to film me at the weigh-in on Thursday, interview me after, and follow me all day Friday.

No pressure at all.

Day 1.

I have a really late boat draw, near 160 out of nearly 190.  From the very beginning I'm conflicted.  My big school is at the far back end of Muddy Creek.  I know other anglers saw me catch a 5 pounder there on Sunday, and while I know those fish won't eat until 9 or 9:30 am, I'm afraid that if I don't go there first thing, I will find someone else on it.  I might find someone on it anyhow.  I have other areas, but they're smaller fish, nothing I found in practice is like this area: caught two big ones, and saw one near 10 pounds not 40 yards away.  So I go there first, and I'm the only one there.

By noon we have nothing.  I can't find a fish on my graph.  It's a ghost town, both in terms of my fish and my confidence.  The one thing that has always been my strength, my perseverance, is but a memory, and I'm left with nothing but a growing fear that my worst nightmare will come true.  I run the lake, hitting almost every waypoint I have, and between the two of us we only catch two keeper largemouth.  And mine is on the edge.  I measure it 8 times, and 6 times it's short.  With an awful pain in my stomach I throw it back.  I go on a tear, and catch 8 fish on 9 casts, all of them four pounders, all of them smallmouth.

None of them big enough to keep.

True heartbreak has now taken over.

At the end of the day, I limp back to the dock with my first zero.  The Elite Series dream left another year away, yet again.  I know I'm better than that, and that I can compete at that level.  I was staying with Chris and Woo Daves while I was down there.  Chris said "You're gonna be real nervous when they film you.  My first ever Classic I rolled up to my first spot, camera on me, I dropped the trolling motor, turned around, and stepped right off the boat!"

So did I, in a sense.

When I looked back at the data from my personal weather station later that night I saw spike in temperature of about 7 degrees.  What I didn't expect was for that small increase to drive my fish out towards the main lake.  I learned a hard lesson, and knew that moving forward I would have to commit to fish that were already out of the creeks.  Those fish were already in their summer homes and would be less impacted by small increases like that.

Day 2.

I'm more relaxed than I've ever been.  I have nothing to lose.  I can only improve from Day 1.  I skip the big fish, and go run my points and secondary points.  My co-angler for the day is in good shape and I want him to do well.  Those memories of being in his shoes are still too fresh for me.  I spend more time talking to the camera than I do fishing, putting him in good position to hit points, docks, pontoons.  He has a decent limit and is culling fish by 9, an added bonus to being boat 59.  I decide to go check on my big fish, just because it's close to their lunch time if they in fact return, and if they do, they have the kind of weight that can change your tournament in a hurry.

And sure enough, they're there.

But so are thousands of gizzard shad.  Big gizzard shad, some of them look like they would almost keep.  The water is boiling all around us, and I have never seen anything like it.  I've seen smallmouth on Oneida crush shad at the surface, but those are small, tiny in comparison.  These shad are huge, and the fish busting them are giants.  I manage a straggler off a point that's 2 pounds.  Nothing else touches anything we throw at them.  That's the pain of shad that big and in that size school:  bass have more than enough food and will rarely eat your lures.  The cameraman, producer, and boat operator are in awe, it's an amazing sight to behold, and it brings me a strange peace to know that I was right all along, and had found winning fish.

We run to a few more spots, all produce mediocre fish, and decide to finish the day near Shady Grove, where I lose one of my biggest fish of the week on my last cast, two feet from the boat.

I remember watching that fish slowly fade into the darkness, as if even she couldn't believe that she'd gotten away, and thinking to myself This whole week will end just like that:  where I was on the verge of accomplishing my life's dream, but had to watch it slowly slip away.

Just one more year.  I can handle that.  Until then, I'll be swinging for the fences at the next two opens.  With water that's much more my style, where brownfish that weigh 4 pounds cash checks, and where I'll better understand the data from my weather station.

Reel Weather: Douglas Lake, Dandridge TN

My last day of practice at Douglas Lake in Dandridge, TN.  I detail where I was fishing and why.

Five in the Box: Post-Spawn Bass

I asked my friends from all over North America to tell me their favorite way to target Bass post-spawn. Here they are!

Kate Dattilo, Connecticut 

Once the bass are off beds I'll concentrate on that area because I know the fish will be nearby. I'll look for cover. I like swimming a jig near docks or using a plastic Jerkbait. 

Gary Dobyns, California
Yamamoto senko....rigged a few different ways. You can't go wrong with that bait!

Rhett Woody, Tennessee 

I'm a jig fisherman at heart, and I love to pull out the jig whenever I get the chance. As soon as the bass come off the beds and a lot of the large females are still hanging out under docks, matted grass, bushes, timber, or whatever else is available, I love to get back in there and fish the jig. To me, there's nothing quite like the feeling of a big bass slamming a slow fished plastic.

Zak Elrite, California

The Freedom Tackle Stealth swim jig for lock-jawed post spawners, it has a removable hook system which allows the trailer to move and wave giving it more action while still keeping a subtle, stealthy approach for catching spooky post-spawners.

John McGoey, Ontario, Canada

I throw a Jackal jerkbait on the ledges in 10-15 feet of water where the big females go to recuperate and I work it really slow. 

Shane Lineberger, North Carolina

My favorite technique for post spawn bass is throwing a Brians Bees prop bait around dock floats for bass guarding fry. That bait has awesome action for drawing strikes from big bass.

Tim Hawley, North Carolina
Without a doubt the number one bait I throw to catch numbers is a wacky rigged Senko...but my favorite big bass bait is a top water frog for post spawn giants!

Trout season in full swing across the US

Guide Josh Sheldon with a great stream Brown Trout from Wharton Creek, in New Berlin NY

There is little purer than Trout fishing in America. It's timeless, romantic, and above all else it represents the end of winter. Much of what I learned came from my grandfather, Les. It's not easy, and unlike other bodies of water, small streams require very specific conditions to be productive fisheries. In streams like this one, if the water is too high, too low, too warm, or too cold, and you're not properly prepared it'll leave you empty handed.

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Introduction to Reel Weather YouTube Channel!

I just uploaded a video that I put together after returning from my two-day trip to Bass Pro Shops in Harrisburg, PA.  Special thanks to the Weather Underground, the Sim Redmond Band, Dobyns Rods, Zach Meadows, Bass Attacker Lures, the whole team at Bass Pro Shops who were incredible to work with, and to the staff where I stayed at the Candlewood Suites who treated me like family for 3 days.  Hope you like it!

Come see me at Bass Pro Shops, Harrisburg!

Post by Bass Pro Shops - Harrisburg, PA.