Don't let cold fronts chill your bite!

We normally think of summer as hot, humid, and the cold fronts can be a thing of relief that we welcome. For bass anglers, these drops in temperature can be really demoralizing. When temps that have been hovering in the 90s suddenly drop over night to the 80s and below, this can have a dramatic impact on the bass in your home lake. This can be a really frustrating time, because it normally has meant a really intense feeding period leading up to this change. 

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Dog Days of Summer

Since I began writing this blog I've started to get emails from people asking me what I would do in certain climates or weather conditions, and asking if there are presentations other than the ones I've suggested that are also an option to someone who might not feel that what I've suggested is something that they're really comfortable doing. So with that in mind, this week I'm going to address a question that I received last week, and I'm going to have several of my friends offer their opinions as well.

To begin with, the hottest days of the year can be brutal for fishing. Sometimes it feels like there are two suns in the sky when you're faced with glaring reflections off the water. For many people, largemouth and smallmouth both can seem to just disappear this time of year, leaving you feeling burned by the sun and the fish. As I've said before, I don't like fishing docks. So I'm going to focus on other transitional areas and what I use to target them.

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The Elite Weight has finally arrived!

Elite Pro Tungsten weights bust down the door of innovation.

The first time I held an Elite Pro Tungsten (EPT) flipping weight I'll admit that it looked like any other I'd held. But after having done a little research and put it through some hard core tests, the differences become many and significant.

What most people notice right away is that there's no insert. I myself prefer my weights to be insert free, so that was an immediate positive. But the kicker to that is the diamond bored hole, the only weight on the market drilled in such a way, eliminating any need for inserts. Anglers can confidently use any size line, whether it be monofilament, fluorocarbon, or braid, without fear of chafing. This level of dependability is crucial to any tournament angler who understands the significance of having the deciding fish on the other end of the line.

The paint is sealed and durable, and won't disappear when you drag it over rocks and laydowns. I've used multiple stops/pegs and they all work well with these weights, with my preference being the PegX stoppers by 6th Sense Lure Company.

EPT also makes my favorite dropshot weight. It's round, performs solidly, and has the most reliable line attaching system I've come across yet. This is extremely important because you don't want your line to slip through, or to have the system fail and break off completely, rendering the weight useless.

I know there are a lot of tungsten weights out there now. But there's only one worthy of being called "Elite".

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.

Review: Fusion rain suit by Stormr

New line of raingear reigns supreme!

I just got back from the fishing in the first Bass Pro Shops Northern Open of 2014 at Douglas Lake in Dandridge TN, where I got to see a lot of friends from the Tour and make some new ones too!  While we talked about a lot of different things, the two things that they all asked me about were my personal weather station from Weather Underground and my new Fusion rain suit by Stormr.  Needless to say I was eager to talk about them both.

This was my first opportunity to wear this new suit.  My immediate impression was that it's lightweight, and very comfortable to wear.  I like the breathable areas that are located on the sides for increased ventilation when it's not raining, and the overall fit of the jacket and bibs feels like a better design for movement than the competitors.  The cuffs on the end of the sleeves are incredibly soft on your wrists, and don't leave your arms feeling pinched by the coat.  The hood is easy access and not in your way, and best of all the drawstrings won't slap you in the face when you're driving.

When you first look at the bibs you'll notice right away a great feature in the knee areas in what appears to be almost like an asphalt material.  This prevents your knees from wearing through the material when you're bending down.  Lightweight like the jacket, and incredibly easy to maneuver in, these bibs also breathe very well and won't leave you overheating in between bouts of rain.  The pockets are big and easy to access.  And unlike other bibs, the legs don't ride up high and leave your legs exposed when you sit down in them.

I tried to find something about this suit that I didn't like and couldn't.  I asked my friends to do the same and they couldn't either.  Many of them asked me if I had any extras in their size.  You can see the quality in each stitch.  No corners were cut in this design.  I can honestly say that any time I have ever been in hard rain in the past, my suits always failed me and left me wet.  I wore this suit in rain so hard that several boats took shelter under bridges while waiting for it to pass, and when I took it off I was as dry as I was before I put it on that morning.  Staying dry and comfortable is key to success on the water, and this new suit will deliver both of those things in the highest level possible.

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!