Category: Tackle Tips & Reviews

February 28, 2010

Jeremy Anderson: Back from Bassmaster Classic 2010

The Zen Master and I.

Jeremy Anderson reports from the Bassmaster Classic for us. Jeremy is co-owner of Black Dog Baits.

Well, what can I say? The Bassmaster Classic is the most amazing show/tournament I have ever seen.

It is literally awe-striking to see all the professional anglers in one place. Opportunities to meet Hank Parker, Bill Dance, Ray Scott, Rick Clunn and so on abound. These guys are absolutely pleasant to speak with. I felt like a little kid. I got in line for a hot dog and stood next to Paul Elias. I pinched myself several times to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

Meeting other lure manufacturers is always a huge pleasure as well. Grant Koppers from Live Target lures has a beautiful line up of baits and his attention to every aspect of the business is incredible. I picked up some of the crawdad rattle baits, a big 5 inch perch crankbait that runs 12 feet, and a little shad crankbait. The baits scream of quality with a strong Japanese-like inspiration. The finishes are very detailed and executed perfectly. No detail is overlooked from the gill detail all the way to little hairs on the craw rattler. I cant wait to toss these around the river!

Andre Moore of Reaction Innovations has some interesting new designs in the works along with a few colorful stories that put me in tears. He currently is fishing saltwater tournaments for reds and kingfish. Sounds like a fun way to fish that presents a whole new challenge. As usual, his plastic sales were excellent at the show. His following back East is as big or bigger than the West.

Lonnie Stanley and his crew are some of my boyhood heroes. My first jigs were all Stanley jigs I bought from K-Mart. Anybody ever heard of "Hales Craworm"? John Hale is a plastics pioneer from way back. He showed me some new ringed plastic baits with special air pockets to create extra balance and action. The capabilities of these baits are endless. Ken Cheaumont showed me some new jigs and spinnerbaits with some wicked colors. They also had an awesome double frog hook for the ribbits.

I'm not quite sure in 3 days I saw everything there. The new boats were awesome along with the new outboards. The Sho from Yamaha was massive but the 3.2L 300xs stroker from Mercury was love at first sight! WOW!!!!

Baddest motor ever!!!!!!!!!! 3.2 LITER!!!!!!! Yamawhat??????????? Evincrude???????? FAIL

This motor is missing a crown for its regal status.

The Gambler Sterling….. Words cant describe this boat.

Cockpit not console.

New Jaguar. Giant badass cat! Beautiful boat and great people!

Bandit coon. This just made me laugh.

The city was beautiful and oozed old southern charm. I could easily move to Alabama.

The real wow was Kevin VanDam. We are lucky to be able to witness such an unbelievable dominant angler in our lifetime. I'm not sure there will ever be an equal of his. His third classic win along with the angler of the year title. What a stick!

February 18, 2010

How to make a Swimbait Surgery Box

We've all been there: shredded our favorite baits while on the water and had no back up plan.

Well, how many of you actually went home and said "this will never happen to me again"? Probably not too many of you. I have devised a plan for my baits in peril – it's called the Swimbait Surgery Box.

Having a bait first aid box like this can save a ruined day and turn it into one of the best days of fishing you have ever had. The beauty of it is that you don't need another full size box to build one. I just used some cheapo small box I got in a tackle giveaway at a tournament or something. I started by thinking of all the little things I might need to modify or fix a bait on the water. Here's whats in my Surgery Box:

Save your baits: contents of a good Bait Surgery Box:

First and foremost a bottle of Mend-It. If you have not used this on your soft plastic baits yet you missing out for sure. I have brought baits back from the trash pile with this stuff.
A small bottle of thick gap filling hobby shop Super Glue. This will fix anything – it's the next best thing since Duct Tape, but that's in a different box on my boat.
A sharpening stone. Kinda old school, I know, with all of these chemically sharpened super hooks we have now. Just trust me on this one.
Various needles and thread pullers; time to man up and go to the craft store. You would be surprised at how many different tools there are that can be used for bait surgery next to the knitting needles.
Some bobber stops. These can be used for many many things.
Some suspend dots for crank baits.
Various split rings and split ring pliers.
Some extra stinger hooks.
Small pieces of wire, you never know.
Some pieces of plastic tube for running treble hooks to secret locations.
Some nail weights.
Extra lead weights for stuffing into the bellies of your baits.
Some extra line-through lead sinkers for pro-rigging swimbaits.

These little basics can really save your day on the water.

February 13, 2010

How To Straighten Bent Swimbait Tails

Over on Twitter, I recently had a few requests to do a post on how to straighten swimbait tails. I find this happens mostly in the summer time when rod lockers heat up. The next thing you know half of your swimbait box looks like a drunken Twister game.

The process of straightening is very easy: all you need is a pot with water and a stove. Soft plastic swimbaits are made of materials that turns into liquid when heated. Boiling water is just under the temp that will remelt the plastic into its liquid state. Once you have heated some water to the boiling point on your stove, simply dip you swimbait tails for about 10 seconds at a time. Most of the time they will straighten simply by their own weight. Sometimes they will need to be bent in the opposite way slightly – just be careful in doing this to avoid breaking the tails.

To avoid bent tails from happening, what you have to do is try and keep your swimbaits in an orderly fashion in the first place. I am not a fan of hanging swimbait boxes. I think they are a waste of time, money and space in your boat. I realize swimbaits are expensive but come on! I think if people spent half the time fishing these baits as they do looking at them. . . ok I'll stop right there! My favorite swimbait box is actually from OSH Hardware it is a from a company called Akromils (part number 74-090). I use this to store almost all of my bigger baits, hard and soft.

January 27, 2010

First Look at Little Creeper “Trash Fish” Prototypes

I just got my hands on a few prototype soft fishing lures from Little Creeper Baits. Benno, the designer of the baits, is working on a whole line to be released this year. Some of the new designs are true masterpieces to say the least. Some of his prototypes have been seen trailing behind jigs in posts on this site.

The swimbait is going to be called the "All American Trash Fish". The idea behind Benno's design was just to create a good representation of an all-around bait fish attractive to bass. The fins are unbelievable in the water as they flutter back and forth. It is the best 6" soft plastic swimbait in this size category I have ever seen.

Shown here in chartreuse shad above, also some in a prototype light ayu and baby hitch

All of Benno's new baits will be hand poured and injected, and the color results are amazing so far. Prototype colors can be seen in person at Outdoor Pro Shop in Cotati, Ca. Once they are released they will be available at Monster fishing tackle online. You can also e-mail Benno about availability at littlecreeperbaits@gmail.com.

More Little Creeper baits on The Wired Angler

BassJam 2009: Four New Soft Plastic Creatures from Little Creeper

January 17, 2010

My Top Ten Bass Fishing Baits From The Last Decade

I got the idea for this post from Rich Lindgren's Bassin Blog, where he did a wrap up of his favorite bass baits from the last ten years. It got me thinking about the fishing lures that really have been my go-to proven baits over the last decade. Here's what I came up with (in no particular order):

6" Robo Worm Drop Shot

Staring off with my bubba drop shot rig consisting of a 6" Robo Worm in Aarons' Magic. Always on the same set up for me, I use a 7" custom spinning rod wrapped on a casting rod blank, 15 pound CXX -Line, a Gammi G Lock hook and a minimum of 3/8 oz weight. This is a great bait around docks, tullies and just about anywhere you can throw it. I caught my first bag of 5 bass over 20 pounds on this set up from the back of the boat. This pissed off my pro angler in a tournament on Clear Lake – whatever, it was a shared weight event – sorry you sucked that day buddy!

6" Robo Worm with Darter Head

I know you're thinking 'what the fuck, I thought you were a power fisherman!' Well I like to consider my self a smart fisherman (at times), hence the 6" Robo Worm on a darter head. Like the drop shot, there are times when nothing else fucking works no matter how long you try. This bait has saved my ass on many occasion. Don't always think of this 6" worm as a cop-out, but yet just a way to get the job done and beat the fish. I fish this on a Powell 702 extra fast darter head rod with a Quantum titanium spinning reel and 8 pound P-line flouroclear.

3/4 oz. Football Head Jig

Working our way through, I have a 3/4 once football head jig. Shown here is a Jig Monster Chaos Jig with Little Creeper prototype craw trailer. Where do you start with the jig? Well, I would have to say if I had to pick only one bait I could ever fish period, the jig would have to be it. I have caught more fish in the 5 to 8 pound range on a football head in over 20 feet of water than I can even count. I fish this bait on a Dobyns' 734 fast action rod with 12 to 15 pound Sunline Flourocarbon.

Crank Baits

Picking up the pace a little: when I have to cover water and get the job done these two baits are it! The Norman DD22 and the Lucky Craft LV 500 have become my two favorite crank baits ever (always switching the hooks out with Gammi Trebles). Rocks, docks, banks, grass – they do it all and they flat out catch fish all year long. I fish both on a Powell 754 with either 12 pound CXX on the DD22 and 30 pound Power Pro braid on the LV.

6" Castaic Trout

Remember in the beginning I said the baits were in no particular order? Well I kind of lied, the first five were my work horses. Now I'm moving into the baits that once I pick up I have a hard time setting down. These are not only baits I have confidence in but have just flat out become my favorites to fish.

The 6" Castaic Trout, yes the old $10 Walmart Special folks. The one that you can never find two that match because they are painted like crap and half of them don't have the fin cavity filled when they are made. That's the one. This bait has caught more fish, especially spotted bass, for me than any other swimbait. It accounts for my personal best spot: a 6.64 pounder caught in the last 20 minutes of a Won Bass tourney on Shasta. Now tell me that would not get your heart going – then follow it up with a $800 dollar big fish check and we're talkin'. I fish this bait on either a 795 Dobyns' or a 7105 Powell with 20 pound P-Line Flouroclear.

8" Huddleston

While I'm on the swimbait subject I might as well talk about the old Hudd 8". This bait flat out changed the way soft swimbaits are made. It certainly fucked my head up and got me into throwing true big baits. If you were lucky enough to have fished them before fish in your local waters ever saw one, let's just say that's why its in my top ten of the last decade. Although there are some other great swimbaits out now, nothing will ever change the memories I have on this bait. I fish it on a 8" Powell extra heavy swimbait rod and 25 pound P-line CXX.

River2Sea Frog

Delta, Clear Lake, wherever – there is not anything much better than throwing a frog through the slop in the middle of a 90 degree summer day. Anyone who has ever experienced a good amount of fishing frogs will tell you this bait is down right addictive to fish. My favorite is the 65 series River2Sea in white or yellow headed black. Once I start throwing this bait in shallow water usually the rest of the day is shot. I throw this bait on a Powell 735 Med Heavy fast frog rod with 85 pound Power Pro braid.

Black Dog Lunker Punker

The 6" and 8" wood Lunker punker has pretty much displaced my normal top water box completely out of my boat. This is one of the most mezmerizing baits in my boat to fish. I have more Punkers than ten people need, but when a bait works like this one does you just can't go wrong. There are days when I will literally put every other rod away and just get my net ready because this bait is that good, 'nuff said. I fish this bait on either a gen 2 short handle 795 Dobyns' or a 710 5 Powell with 85 pound braid and a low profile reel. I like the Diawa TDA or the new Tierra.

JSJ Snack Size

The Snack Size Trout in Chartreuse Shad was quite literally made for me you might say. I started making these baits a couple of years ago because no other hard bait on the market did what I wanted it to do. I have more hours behind this bait than any other swimbait I own. I fish it fast or slow and not much in between. The floater is my favorite, because I am addicted to top water. This bait has become my go-to bait in all kinds of situations since I designed it. I fish it mainly on a Powell 710 5 with either 85 pound braid or 25 pound P-Line Flouroclear and a low profile reel.

So there you have it: the ten baits that pretty are always tied on in my boat year round. All have been proven over and over again to be reliable fish catching machines. If there are any of the baits above that you don't own already or have not fished in a while it may be time to pull them back out and give them a toss in your favorite fishing hole.

More Top Ten Tackle Lists on The Wired Angler

Top 10 Swimbaits for 2009

Top 10 Topwater Bass Lures

Top 10 Swimbaits in my Tackle Box

December 13, 2009

First Look At The New 5″ Lunker Punker

5" Punker shown next to 6" Punker inject

When the 6" inject Lunker Punker from Black Dog came out I took my Zara Spook and other topwater box out of my boat, and now this!

This bait is seriously going to hurt the sales of companies that sell traditionally-sized topwater walking baits. I was lucky enough to get ahold of one of the first eight in existance. I threw it for the first time today and could not believe it. It has about the same side to side distance capability as the 6" version, and due to its size can literally be jumped and hopped out of the water. It will sell for about $17.00 to $18.00.

It will be available sometime early in 2010.

Shown here next to a custom painted Reaction Innovations Vixen

This bait is sure to make a splash among the bass fishing world, I would even venture to say its gonna be one of the best new bass baits of 2010. Link to Black Dog Baits

December 4, 2009

Big Swim Jiggin’ Techniques

Recently I started fishing swim jigs which have been gaining in popularity over the last few years. I personally have been so distracted by fishing swimbaits that I hardly gave it the time of day. I think this was mostly due to me being sort of close-minded and thinking of them as a conventional technique. Well my eyes have been opened and I figured I would share the light.

I was introduced to big swim jigs with pretty big swimbait trailers. Not only was this different but the way they can be fished is slightly different than what may traditionally come to mind. When you search the aisles at your local fishing store most of the swim jigs you will find are not only relatively small but usually not very heavy either. Most of the time they max out at 3/4 oz which is fine for shallow water and keeping from getting hung up, but what if you want to fish deeper and still fish fast. The answer, coming from the saltwater market is a jig that is no different from a conventional bass jig except they start at 3/4 of an ounce and go up from there – in fact they go all the way up to 2 oz.

These are the Slayer Swim Jigs by War

Here's what and how I have been doing it and why this jig and trailer fits the bill. First off these jigs start with a 5/0 Mustad Ultra Point and go all the way up to a 7/O. This accepts a 5" top pour swimbait trailer which is the key to this rig and how its fished. The trailer I use is a commercially available swimbait mold from Lure Craft. I pour my own so this may not be the best choice, a roboworm swimbait or Optimum diamond shad may be a good choice as well.

I target ledges on breaks, docks and rock outcroppings with this bait. Not what you may typically think of as swim jig water, but so far the results have been great. The great thing about the heavier weights on these swim jigs is the ability to fish them fast and keep them at deeper depths without them rising up away from your target area. I also fish these baits on a small swimbait rod or a heavy jig rod to be exact. I use a Powell 7'10", 5 power one piece flippin pitching rod. The retrieve on this bait is somewhere between hopping a jig a slow rolling a swimbait. Just like either of these baits you have to play around with the retrieve to see what the fish want on any given day.

This bait has some huge potential and I hope you guys take this chance to pick some of these jigs up and give this technique a shot.