ozarkoutdoorjournalarticles

Flyfishing For Ozark River Smallmouths

2011-08-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

There are many fine books that address how to go about flyfishing for Smallmouth bass in rivers. Will Brantley's Smallmouth Strategies For The Flyrod, Bob Clouser's Flyfishing For Smallmouth, and Harry Murray's' Flyfishing For Smallmouth Bass are all required reading for the flyfishing Smallie fanatic. All of these have good general information to cover a lot of conditions, but I haven't read too many words addressing how to catch our Ozark "Brown Bass" on the fly gear specifically. Sure, Smallmouths are Smallmouths no matter where they live, but every region has it's variations in forage type and/or color, not to mention the differences in weed, wood, and rock cover that vary from one drainage to the next even within a small area. Here in the Ozarks, this can be pretty dramatic when you pay attention. For example, if I go fish the Finley near my house it's a typical slow moving, gentle Ozark stream with moderately clear water, with mixed rock and cobble but lots of wood cover. By contrast, Bull Creek is only a few minutes drive to the south of the Finley, but it runs much faster and is crystal clear, there's a little wood cover but most good fish will be found near rocky cover of some kind, and it's a much smaller stream. This is a major reason when some one asks what rod/reel combo to use for Smallmouths they receive so many different answers.

( By the way, for the rest of the article, I'm going to assume you already know how to cast a fly rod a little, understand how to tie basic knots and such. Not a total newbie, in other words. If you are a total "noob", you need to go back to casting little poppers to sunfish until you can get that down. No tantrums allowed because if you skip this you'll be frustrated for years, or quit. I mean the whole deal, too: Casting without getting "wind knots" too often, hooking, fighting, letting the little buggers swim away unharmed, repeated about a couple of hundred times. That's a minimum, more will do you well. Think of it as training wheels until you can ride like a big boy. As the late Sheridan Anderson would say, it's not only good practice, it also builds character.)

TACKLE:
What line weight rod you'll want to use depends on what flies you want to cast. A good 8 1/2- to 9-foot rod in 6- to 8-weight is a the place to start. I know there's someone out there that goes by the screen name "4weightfisher" on a message board somewhere shaking their head right now, but I'm talking about seriously pursuing decent sized Smallies, and to catch good sized bass you usually need to use good sized flies. Remember, the bigger, more wind resistant, or heavier the fly, the heavier line weight needed to cast it. The two I use most frequently are 6- and 8-weight. I split the difference with an old 7-weight on occasion, and honestly, if I only had one rod for Ozark Smallmouths, it would be a 7 weight, so if you start shopping for a dedicated Smallie rod start there. The 6-weight is for clear water, small creeks, or just fun fishing. I've caught some nice fish on it, but if I have my game face on, I'm breaking out the 8-weight. Most fly anglers in the Ozarks have a 8 1/2- or 9-foot rod in 5- or 6-weight already, and that'll do for starters, you just won't be able to cast larger flies, especially poppers, but it'll get you stared just fine. Match the rod with a decent reel, but don't go overboard. I'd scrimp on the reel to get a better rod and fly line.I've had good luck with plain old weight forward line from about everyone who makes one, and haven't seen much improvement by switching to a "Bass Bug" tapered fly line, at least when it comes to Smallmouth-sized flies. You might, so test cast a different line weight (or type) if you don't like the feel of a certain rod, sometimes manufacturers over- or under-rate their rods. I have an older 6-weight Fenwick that's really a 5-weight, and a rod I built on well known makers blank that's rated as an 8-weight, but doesn't come to life until you put a 9-weight on it. It's often recommended that you "overline" any rod you intend to cast bass bugs on, but I don't necessarily agree with that. I have a nice little 6-weight that casts smaller bugs and streamers beautifully, but when you put a 7-weight line on it just slows down and becomes a real dog to cast. Anyway, don't try something then get frustrated at the first kink. Experiment a little. Pester a buddy or try your local fly shop and see if they'll let you try out some of their test cast lines, or better yet, try several out before you buy that shiny and expensive new Smallmouth rod.

FLIES:
I have caught a few nice Smallmouths on smaller flies and poppers intended for panfish, but only a few. It may not even be the size of the fly that matters so much as the mindset of going out to catch a good fish, but I think the two are interrelated. I don't mind catching "bonus" sunfish, but to target nice sized Smallmouth you need a basic size to start from. This doesn't mean you have to use bass bugs the size of a starling, there are limits on both ends of the scale. I see many more folks using small flies versus large, so that's something to think about. For light (5- or 6-weight) rods, the hardest problem will be casting decent sized poppers, or heavily weighted subsurface flies. I'm not going to suggest a certain size fly for anyone, because everyone has different casting styles, and hook sizes aren't standardized anyway. The easiest but most time consuming method to find out if a certain fly is "castable" is to buy one, just one, and try it out. If it works (and hopefully catches fish) you can go back and order in bulk.

I've whittled down the numbers and types of flies I use though the years, and settled on 3 basic types to cover the water column, from top to bottom. They are topwaters, divers and streamers, and bottom bouncers.

Topwaters are probably the classic Smallmouth fly, and why not? There's nothing quite like a nice Bass exploding on a surface "bug" where you can see everything happen. There's something a little goofy about bass bugs, but I like making them almost as much as using them. Maybe it's growing up and seeing all the covers of sporting magazines where a bass bug is about to be engulfed by a large, evil looking bass. Like many clichés', it has some truth to it: Sometimes a surface fly will get attention when other lures couldn't buy a hit. I've seen this over and over again, and besides, they're fun to fish. So which surface flies to start with? There are so many, it's hard to sort though all of them. For sheer nostalgia, it's hard to beat a good deer hair bug. They can be expensive, and the best versions are pieces of true folk art. (Even if they may have been tied in Indonesia.) For practicality, foam bugs are very nice and sturdy. I can't say which is better. The classic "bug", whether hair or foam is still great in any slower water, any ambush spot. Eddy behind root ball of downed tree? Sure. Slick, still water in midstream behind a boulder? Oh yeah. Slower water flowing over submerged timber? Perfect.
As much as I love the classic popper, it shouldn't be the only topwater in your arsenal. The slider and pencil popper have their place, too. One of the favorites in this area is the "Sneaky Pete". This fly has a tapered, pointy head that is the exact opposite of a popper, or actually the same head as a popper, just reversed. When the water is low and clear this fly really shines, and it's easier to cast, too. The pencil popper is another easy casting fly, and like the Sneaky Pete can be worked a little faster than a regular popper, which makes them easier to fish in current. I do better with baitfish or bright colors for these two types of topwaters, but you can always experiment to see what works for you. Sometimes an all black pencil popper works better than anything, I still haven't figured that one out. A really simple leader for topwaters is get some bulk monofilament like Berkley Big Game or even Wal-Mart Shakespeare, and for 6-weight rods try this: 3-foot each of 20-, 15-, then 10-pound test, tied together with blood knots. Tie a Perfection loop on the big end to go to the loop on the end of your fly line. For an 8-weight try 25, 20, and then 15. I use these all the time, and have good luck. You can experiment with the lengths to get what you want. One of the most useful websites for learning knots is HERE:http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfishing.php
For the heavier tippet, I like to use a Rapala knot for a little better action of the fly.

For times when fish aren't hitting topwaters, there are several flies that you can use. I tend to fish divers more under the water than on top, so I don't really classify them as topwaters. An erratic, fast retrieve with a diver can make fish hit it, much like a jerkbait or crankbait. The only problem with divers is they are hard to pick up during the retrieve to cast again. You basically have to retrieve it all the way in to cast it again. The Clouser Deep Minnow, usually just called a "Clouser Minnow" or even just a "Clouser", is one of the few flies that was made just for Smallmouth Bass. Now there are saltwater Clousers, tiny little "Crappie Clousers", and giant Pike or Striper Clousers. What we are talking about is the original. There's a column in Fly Tier magazine titled "Getting It Right". Going to the original fly and seeing the design of the fly, and what it was meant to be. The original Clouser was a topic of that column, and it was a revelation. Most Clousers you see for sale look nothing like the original. Lead eyes too far forward, tails too short, and wrapped wrong around the eyes. The original "glides", the copies "jig." The original isn't a small fly either, it's about as long as a dollar bill, but still casts well. You must have some in your box if want to catch Smallmouth.

Here’s a real Clouser, as tied by Mr. Clouser:http://www.freewebs.com/reelwomen/photo%20of%20clouser%20with%20IOTF.jpg
Here’s a horrible copy:
http://www.flyline.com/fly_patterns/streamers/clouser_minnow/cl_mnnw.jpg
Here’s a nice one, tied by Art Scheck, complete with great tying instructions:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/112403fotw.php

The "dumbbell" eyes are the real key to the Clouser, making the hook ride point up during the retrieve, keeping off most snags, and hooking fish right in the top off the mouth most of the time. Even the bad copies catch fish, it's just such a great fly. Heavier ones are great for deeper or faster water, and lightly weighted ones are good for colder weather and slow retrieves, much like a suspending jerkbait. You simply can't go wrong with a Clouser, a friend of mine was once asked where to cast a Clouser for bigger fish, and his sarcastic answer was "in the water". There are other subsurface flies like Wooley Buggers and various streamers that people swear by, but to make things easier, just think about it like this: If it looks like a baitfish, a Smallmouth will probably hit it at one time or another, you'll just have to find your own favorites. I like using a longer leader when fishing streamers, somewhere around 12-foot or so. Your tippet should be no smaller than 3X, and fluorocarbon 2X is better most of the time. Don't be afraid to step up to stronger. I was buying some 1X fluorocarbon tippet one day when another shopper commented "Geez, fishing for Sharks?" "No, bigger Smallmouth than you'll ever see. And mind your own business." He walked off in a huff, but seriously, 1X fluorocarbon tippet from Orvis or Rio is the same diameter as most 10-pound test monofilament people use on spinning reels. Who thinks of that as "heavy" tackle?

Fly choices for bottom hugging fish brings us to one of the most interesting sagas of all flyfishing, and that's the attempt to imitate a crawfish. There are more crawfish flies than you can imagine, and most don't work all that well. If you look at conventional tackle, there are very realistic soft plastic crawfish on the market, but do most anglers use them? No, most serious Bass fishermen use a jig and trailer that doesn't exactly look like a crawfish. The key is that they have the suggestion of a crawfish, and that seems to be good enough. As you might guess by now I don't use super-realistic crawfish flies, instead relying on the general suggestion theory, and do pretty well when I actually use them. To tell the truth, most of my flyfishing for Smallmouths is casting a topwater or my back up for when they don't want a topwater, the Clouser. I would rather not dredge the bottom unless nothing else is working. I've done it often enough to know it can work, it's just not my preferred method. I've experimented with nymphing for Smallies and that can work too, but I just prefer to use the faster "power fishing" stuff when I'm slinging the fly line around. This doesn't mean you shouldn't do your own thing out there, I know one Smallmouth fanatic who would rather fish a heavily weighted leech fly slowly in deep pools like a plastic worm more than anything else. Some people recommend a sink tip line and short leader when using deep flies, but I hate to cast them. I'd rather use a longer 12- to 15-foot leader to get down there.

WADE, FLOAT OR BOAT?
One of the hardest lessons for me to learn was that although it's not impossible to control a solo canoe or kayak in current and cast a fly, it's close. You have the paddle, (best operated by both hands) and the fly rod (ditto) and even the most basic math shows you've just ran out of hands. If you have a good fishing buddy and a tandem canoe, the world is truly your oyster. There are few luxuries I enjoy more than having a good paddler chauffeur me around as I cast a fly. Maybe an ice cold adult beverage and a hot shower, but I digress. That's the way to go though, change every other fish, every 30 minutes, whatever. If the company's good, I enjoy the paddling as much as the fishing. Most of my flyrodding for Smallies is done these days by wading. I may have paddled to get to the spot, but standing and covering water carefully usually gets more fish. After a few floats on a stretch of river, you'll learn where the good "get out and wade" spots are. I sometimes use these spots as a break from sitting and fishing in the solo canoe, and if I'm going to stretch my back and legs, I might as well try to put a bend in the fly rod as well. There are other places where wading is the best way to get around, or you just want to keep it simple. Little creeks and headwaters of bigger rivers are really the same thing, and you'd be amazed at how many nice Smallmouth can live in a section of small creek nobody messes with. I recommend Ozark Hideaways, by Louis White, to get you jazzed up about little creek fishing in the Ozarks. His book is part fishing guide, part travelogue, and just plain good. Some of it's getting dated, but it's still an excellent read. If someone out there wants to run me around on the bigger rivers with a jet powered john so I can cast big streamers on my 8-weight, just email me, because that's the one way I haven't fished for smallies yet. I've used regular tackle in that situation, but not fly gear. It should be a blast, but like I said, I just haven't done it yet.

STRATEGIES:
Most fisherman who already fish for Smallmouths with conventional tackle already have some idea where to cast and how to position themselves, but in flyfishing they key is backcast space. I have a buddy who calls it "being cleared for take-off." If you can't make the backcast, you can't make the forward cast. Everything else is about the same as conventional tackle. Smallmouth like current, but not too much current. Eddies and slower water just out of the current, especially if there is some type of cover, are what you are looking for when the water is warm, and deep slow pools when it's cold. Some days the fish seem to prefer wood cover, the next it's rock, or no cover, just faster water or current seams. There are some methods you can use that should be familiar to all flyfisherman. The wet fly or streamer "swing" is a great way to cover moderate to fast current areas. It's as simple as casting across the current and letting it swing your fly in a quartering downstream arc, sometimes feeding line, sometimes adding twitches or otherwise adding action with your line hand. When the swing is done, you step downstream a few feet and repeat. A Clouser minnow drifted this way has accounted for untold numbers of big Smallmouth for me. When late summer/early fall arrives, if you aren't casting a topwater on your fly rod you just don't know what you've been missing. Some days the ticket is a popper cast tight to cover and twitched almost in place. Other days a pencil popper or slider popped, skipped, and darted as fast as you can retrieve it draws smashing strikes. You just have to experiment.
If you're floating with a buddy you can easily carry two rods. I like to keep them in a 2-piece rod-on-reel case (Why aren't they called a "reel-on-rod" case?), only having one out at a time. I usually rig the heavier rod with a topwater, and the lighter one with a Clouser. When the other person paddles and controls the boat, it's just easier to put one rod back in the case and get the other out rather than cut your line and switch all the time. The rod-on-reel cases are a great investment, it's much better than letting the rods bang around in the bottom of the canoe to be stepped on. When I'm floating by myself in my solo canoe, I carry only one fly rod, usually rigged with a topwater of some kind, resorting to spinning tackle for deeper presentations.

When I first moved to the Ozarks, I was really into exploring every little nook and cranny of what could be waded, hiked and fished within about a two hour drive of the little duplex I rented in Springfield. I was really busy wading, canoeing, just exploring. I had a copy of the Conservation Atlas in one hand and Louis Whites' Ozark Hideaways in the other, and was trying to find the edge of the map. At the time I was looking for quiet, peaceful fishing, but was also trying to catch the biggest Smallmouth I could on fly tackle, and was probably a boorish snob about the last part. These days, I realize there are times and places where flyfishing works as good or better as conventional tackle, and times when it's the opposite. I have come to terms with that, and I have more of a fondness for flyfishing than ever before, but have dropped any pretense I may have had about it. It's just another way to catch fish, and if you like it, cool. If you don't get a kick out of it, well, maybe it's just not for you. Just don't be a quitter because of other people. I know a couple of "bass fishermen" who think I'm a "flyfisherman" and "flyfishermen" who think I'm a "bass fisherman". Whatever. Itty bitty minds gotta put things in itty bitty boxes so they can understand them. Do what you want and have fun, respect the fish and their habitat, help protect them, then help someone else learn, too.

I know trout get the most attention from flyfisherman around here, and I'm totally fine with that. I mean, I love fishing for them too, but most of these bright late summer days I'll be wading a little stretch of river and casting a popper I tied the night before, catching Smallmouths with no one else in sight.

Three New(er) Lures From Rapala. (XRap Shad, XRap Shad Shallow, Flat Rap)

2010-10-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

XRap Shad Shallow (Top) A pair of XRap Shads (Right) A pair of Flat Raps (Left) All of them beat up and used.

Today I’m looking at three new lures from Rapala, the XRap Shad, The XRap Shad Shallow, and the newest of the three, the Flat Rap. One thing I’ve been accused of in the past (recent past actually, like last week) is being a total slut for Rapala’s products. Well, it’s true. There have been so many different lures from Rapala’s stable that I rely on that if Rapala went under, I’d have to try and replace a whole swath of lures I use and trust. It would be like the lure apocalypse. That’s one reason why when Rapala brings a new lure to market I try to get at least one solid season of fishing with it before I give my full review. I know it’ll work, but like any new lure there are probably some quirks to it, one season of experience will iron out the kinks and let me know how to use it better. And it also doesn’t (hopefully) seem like I’m just pimping their new lure.

The XRap Shad was introduced back in 2008, and it’s the one of this trio I have the most experience with. The original Shad Rap was introduced in 1982 and made a huge impact on many different types of freshwater fishing. It doesn’t matter if you fish for Bass, Walleye, or even big tailwater Trout, Shad Rap’s have proven to be a winner. The success isn’t surprising, what doesn’t eat Shad? I remember the “Beg One, Borrow One, Steal One” ad campaign in my brother’s outdoor magazines I’d read in school when I was supposed to be studying. When I did get my sweaty little hands on one it lived up to the hype - it really, really caught fish. Bass guys didn't like the fact that the balsa Rapala was hard to cast on casting tackle, but it didn’t bother me as I cast the two smaller sizes on spinning tackle, which worked great, and still does. Rapala introduced the Shad Rap RS (Rattling, Suspending) in 2000, and since it was made of plastic it was slightly heavier and a little easier to cast than the original balsa Shad Rap. It wasn’t until Rapala introduced the XRap line of lures that the old Shad Rap had a chance at a major makeover. The weight transfer system Rapala designed into the whole XRap series makes the new XRap Shad an easy casting lure, even against strong winds. Rapala also included a dressed rear treble hook, a prominent feature in the entire XRap line.

The first XRap Shad I bought was in the smaller 06 size in “Silver”, a great universal color for clear water. I used it with some success through the first Winter I tried it, but it really shined when the water warmed a touch in late Winter/early Spring. Rocky points leading to spawning coves at Beaver Lake were a great target for the Rapala, and it worked as good as I expected it to. I’ve found it’s a great lure to not only use like a regular crankbait, but also to pinpoint specific pieces of cover on a sharp drop, and then use it more like a suspending jerkbait. I’ve done this around isolated trees, bridge supports, docks on bluffs, etc. For that type of use the XRap Shad excels. I do have one thing about this lure I don’t like, and that’s the line tie. It’s exactly like the one on the Shad Rap RS - slightly recessed into the diving bill. The lure comes with a split ring, but since I like to take split rings off my cranks and use a snap instead, it makes it hard to get a snap into the line tie. I got a tip from a reader that a Norman Speed Clip works just fine on this lure, but I don’t use those, I just use regular cross-lock snaps. I can get the snap in there with a little finesse, so it’s not a deal breaker. I could just snap to the split ring, but to my mind that looks clunky.

The recessed line tie of the XRap Shad is a pain if you use a snap.

The smaller 06 XRap Shad dives to about 6 feet with regular (8-10-pound test diameter) mono on a shorter cast, but I’ve ticked rocks in the 8- to 9-foot range on a longer cast with 4/10 Fireline and a 2X Orvis Mirage leader about rod length (7’) long. I use this smaller size crank on spinning tackle, but if you have a nice casting rig set up to cast lighter lures it would work fine. On properly set up spinning tackle, this little lure is a bullet! I still haven’t used the 08 size, but I’d imagine it’s just as good, just a larger presentation. I still like the original Shad Rap, but for most of my fishing, I’ll buy the XRap Shad. It fits my needs better. It’s a fantastic lure for around $7.00.

One of the most overlooked lures in the Rapala line-up is the Shallow Shad Rap in the smallest size. The 05 Shallow Shad Rap has been one of my favorite ”catch anything “ lures for a long time. It doesn’t matter if it’s Smallmouth Bass in riffles, White Bass during the Spring run, Crappie, or even Trout. Matter of fact, I don’t know how many people I’ve shown how to catch Trout in moving water by just using that little lure. It will often out-fish little spoons and spinners. Something about it’s wobble just makes Trout want to kill it. It’s made of balsa so it was very hard to cast any distance. Once again, the XRap makeover takes this little lure to a new level.

Both XRap Shads have the same body

I had to fish the 06 XRap SS for stream Smallmouth as soon as I could get my hands on one, and on the first trip I was not disappointed - it’s a killer both as small jerkbait and as a shallow crank over rocks, grass, and timber. Maybe too good, as I keep throwing them and getting snagged. The smaller lip is not as snag resistant as it’s deeper brother, so keep that in mind when fishing it. Like the original Shad Rap Shallow, this lure is a catch anything machine. I’ve caught Crappies, Rock Bass, both Brown and Rainbow Trout, all three Black Bass species, and some “schoolie” Stripers on it, too. Like the original, the new lure has a “universal” shape that every fish wants to eat. I plan on doing an article this Winter about fishing hardbaits at Taneycomo, and you can bet this lure will pop up there as an option. The two negatives of this lure so far is the snag issue - it just doesn’t deflect off cover very well, the other is big fish INHALE this small bait!

Twice this past year I had to do a “hookindectimy” on the rear treble when bigger fished almost totally snacked the lure, and was hook deeply. I carry small-nosed long handled side cutter pliers just for this type of thing, so both times the fish swam away with the hook point still embedded past the barb clipped off as a present. They’ll usually be O.K. if you do this quick, and it’s better than just tearing a hook out - dressed treble or not. The new XRap Shad Shallow is going to be another lure with many possibilities. Casting for..anything, trolling - everything that swims will eat this lure. Look at my future reports and I bet there will be plenty of references to this lure.

LC Minnow (center) had a bill like the new Flat Rap. Note how wide the LC minnow is compared to the Flat Raps.

Our last member of the crew is the newest Rapala of the three - the Flat Rap. This is a balsa wood lure that is kind of reminds you of the original Floating Minnow, but only a little. First, the paint jobs are much more detailed than the original, second is the new shape - more shad like, that is the shape is taller than wide through the front half of the bait. While it’s not a stubby crankbait shape like the previous two lures profiled here, it’s shape is a little different from most of the standard lures of this category. It’s a little more like the the old A.C. Shiner or the lure inspired by the modified A.C. Shiner’s and made modern by Lucky Craft, the Stacey King Jerkbait. However, the new Rapala isn’t a suspending bait, it’s a true floater with a slow rise on the pause. I was very excited about this lure, too. One of my favorite Rapala’s was the discontinued LC (Long Cast) Minnow with the new weight transfer system for long casts, but was still made of balsa like the classic Rapala’s. It had a small diving bill that made it a shallow runner, which made it a great lure for both tailwater Trout and Smallmouth Bass in our rivers. When Rapala stopped making the LC Minnow I bought as many as I could find, fearing I wouldn’t find anything quite the same.
I don’t think the new Flat Rap is quite the same lure by any stretch, but it has many of the same attributes. It doesn’t have the weight transfer system inside it - I think it’s simply too thin for it to fit. The LC Minnow was a little thick through the middle because of that, and the XRap’s are too. Despite not having that weight transfer system the smaller 08 size casts much further than it’s 1/4-ounce weight should. Maybe it’s the flat sides or smaller bill, but it’s easier to cast this lure further than a similar sized Original Minnow. The action is great when used as a jerkbait - very erratic and the flash - the flat sides do have a great flash to them in clear water.

I mainly used this lure as a shallow jerkbait for Bass in our Ozark rivers, and it's an amazing lure for that. It stays in the top 2-feet of water on normal retrieves, and really calls the fish in. I also used it for Bass (both Black Bass and Stripers) at Beaver Lake when they were busting shad near the surface, and it worked pretty good for that, too. I think the larger 10-size will be a hit with guys who troll for Walleyes, and guys who know how and where to use a floating jerkbait for Bass. The smaller 08-size is my pick for a warm weather jerkbait in rivers - I’ve waited for something like this to come along for a couple of years. I would have liked more realistic molded eyes like on the XRap series instead of the painted ones used on the Flat Rap, but maybe that would have raised the price higher than it is. There are some fishermen who think the 7-dollars or so most Rapala’s are priced at is steep enough, so maybe they did it in a cost cutting move, or maybe there’s a problem doing it on balsa lures. I don’t know. That and the fact it doesn't have a dressed rear treble are only things I can pick on as far as the Flat Rap goes - otherwise I couldn’t be happier with it.

Fishing Injuries

2010-09-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

First off, I'm not talking about the injuries that come from "Night Fishing". That's a euphemism among some guys for catting around on the sly. That's the type of trip you don't want to bring anything home from. Divorce attorney's are probably expensive, and then you won't have any money to actually go fishing. Your liver could be bruised for weeks, too. No, what I'm talking about is the type of thing that usually happens to me right about the middle or end of August, months of paddling the solo canoe and fishing combine to give me a nice case of tendinitis in my left elbow/forearm. I call it "fishing elbow" in polite company, but it's a real pain in the... arm. And wrist, too. I'm not alone, anyone who does a repetitive movement with some force to it can get injured, just look at sports, or even a production worker doing the same task thousands of times a day, every day. I saw a story over at Bassfan.com that has a list of all the touring Bass Pro's injuries, and let me tell you, it's a big list.

Is There An Injury Crisis In Pro Fishing?

The list from the story goes like this:

George Jeane, Jr. - Rotator cuff, surgery
Brent Broderick – Hand ligaments
Rusty Salewske – Painful shoulder (baseball)
Bill Lowen – Back
Mark Tucker – Rotator cuff and bicep, surgery, also recently tore all hand ligaments on hookset, shoulder problems
Dustin Wilks - Elbow, Tommy John surgery
Michael Murphy – Ankle/knee (football)
Luke Clausen – Elbow, surgery
Bill Chapman – Back, missed entire tour season
Matt Herren – Broken tailbone
Mark Menendez – Skin cancer
Shaw Grigsby – Elbow
Mike Surman – Elbow
Bill Dance – Skin cancer
David Fritts – Struck by lightning in boat, likely cause of serious eye injury
Scott Suggs – Rotator cuff, elbow
Gerald Swindle – Back and shoulder (football, trade work),
Bernie Schultz – Neck
Jack Gadlage – Shoulder
Greg Pugh – Hernia
Mike Ward – Elbow and shoulder, surgery
Charlie Youngers – Back (surgery, bacterial infection complication)
Fred Roumbanis – Elbow
Zell Rowland – Back (surgery)
Ken Cook – Shoulder (from Lyme disease)
Robert Hamilton, Jr. – Shoulder/collarbone/rotator cuff (surgery)
Clark Wendlandt – Frozen shoulder (surgery), elbow
Mike Wurm – shoulder (surgery)

Most people think of fishing as a sedentary pastime, but fishing at the B.A.S.S. or FLW tournament level is an exercise in punishment. Pounding 80-mile per hour boat rides, the hours spent driving, and the constant casting of large lures can damage everything from your lower back to your elbow. Another issue is the amount of skin cancer on that list. All day, every day in the sun can do that. Ever get hit by lightning while playing tennis? Golf maybe, but you usually don't break your tailbone golfing, either. That one hurts just to read it.

My issues with my left arm were serious enough to warrant a trip to my doctor, and that got me referred to a physical therapist. What I learned from the physical therapist is that simple warming up exercises probably wouldn't eliminate the pain, but it would make it manageable. In that article at Bassfan.com there's the link to Troy Lindner's website, Fit4Fishing.com. where he covers the basics on how to stay mobile and pain-free enough to carry on through the years. I knew Al Lindner's son was a competitive angler, but I didn't know he was a physical therapist/trainer. Bassfan.com is doing a whole series of his exercises at their website, the first one addressing my problem, "Fishing Elbow". Fit 4 Fishing Part 1 – Fishing Elbow
Here's one for us that use Jerkbaits all the time. He calls them "Rip Baits". Same thing.

Check out his other videos on his website or there on YouTube.com

This is kind of short compared to some of my other articles on this site, by I'm sticking this one in the Fishing Articles section. I'm going to go ahead and put Troy Lindner's website in my link list for future reference, too.

A "Semi-Custom" Compact Spinnerbait.

2010-07-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

The first person that said "You can't have too many choices" must work for a lure manufacturer these days. It seems that every time a new design comes onto the fishing scene and becomes the new "hot" bait, every major lure company comes out with a similar lure. It doesn't matter if it's the Floating Minnow (Rapala) Soft JerkBait (Slug-O, and later Fluke) Suspending Jerkbaits (Rogue and Husky Jerk), or the newer "hot lures" like Swimbaits (soft and hard) , the Senko, or even Wakebaits or Glidebaits, as soon as new lure proves itself imitations are soon to follow. Spinnerbaits have been around long enough that the "new" has long since worn off, but they continue to be such versatile and productive category that every major lure maker has some style of spinnerbait in their offerings, if not several.

Many younger anglers probably don't know spinnerbaits were one of those "hot" lures, but if it's any consolation, it was before my time too. There were other "spinner lures" like the Shannon Twin Spin, but they were more of a cult or regional choice than a phenomenon. Spinnerbaits became such a productive and popular lure that not only does every large lure maker offer several, but there a many custom spinnerbait makers that do a steady business on the premise of everyone has their own idea of what the "perfect" spinnerbait is. So you're thinking "Why tinker with a lure when you can just order whatever odd combination you think is your "Killer" Spinnerbait?" Maybe you like to tinker, or maybe it's just more convenient to alter a lure you can buy locally for cheap, or maybe you're so picky you can't find the exact one you have your heart set on. All of those reasons are why I like to make a compact spinnerbait from components readily available to me. I still order some special models ready to go, but for a lot of my compact spinnerbait needs I make this one.

WHY COMPACT?

For most of my Bass fishing in either Smallmouth rivers, our smaller lakes, or the White River chain of reservoirs I prefer a compact spinnerbait. I've found the smaller size works as good if not better in almost every situation, the only exception being when heavy rain has both raised the water level and made it murky to downright muddy. Under those conditions the larger presentation of a standard spinnerbait is often a better choice, especially in reservoirs. This isn't set in stone, I use a compact spinnerbait with willow-leaf blades in rivers even if it's muddy, the smaller size and more streamlined blades make controlling the lure around cover in heavy current easier, and sometimes it out-fishes the bigger model in reservoirs, too. There are many different compact spinnerbaits available, but due to years of fishing these lures I've settled on three things a spinnerbait must have:

IS IT "COMPACT"?

First and foremost is the size. If I want a compact spinnerbait, it better be the right size, that is, "compact". Not teeny-tiny like the Strike King Mini King or the 1/8-ounce Booyah "Pond Magic" or the littlest Stanley Wedge, but no bigger than most company's 1/4-ounce model.

THE HOOK.

The spinnerbait must have a premium hook. Mustad, Gamakatsu, Owner, Matzuo, it really doesn't matter to me as long as it's a good one. I used the Terminator Custom Tungsten spinnerbait for years but was never really happy with the hook Terminator uses on that bait. It's O.K. - but not perfect, especially considering how nice the rest of that particular lure is. Here's the deal on a spinnerbait hook: There's no way to change out the hook on a standard spinnerbait. You simply have to start with a new lure if it's bent or broke beyond straightening or sharpening. So the hook is the heart of a good spinnerbait.

THE DETAILS.

I like a good paint job on the head of the lure. Nice holographic eyes help, too. It probably doesn't make a difference to the fish (and gets chipped and faded after a little use anyway) but I like it. That's one reason why I don't like the War Eagle spinnerbaits as much as most other folks. The plain silver heads look "unfinished" to me. It probably doesn't matter to the fish one bit, but like all fishing, it's a confidence thing. And yes, I know one of my favorite jigs, the Booyah Baby Boo, doesn't have eyes or other details like some other jigs.

Sue me for not being consistently rational.

One spinnerbait I've been using is the Strike King Li'l Mr. Money you can buy at your local mega-store. You know the one. Don't want to buy it there? You can buy basically the same spinnerbait from Bass Pro, but over there it's the Kevin VanDam Spinnerbait, the 3/16-ounce model. It'll set you back a buck more for that one, but they do throw in trailer hook, which doesn't come with the "Mr. Money" version. Either way, the compact size is great, the hook is a good one, and the paint job on the head is pretty good. I buy the one from the mega-store because I like a couple of different aftermarket blades better than the stock one that comes on the VanDam model, and the one dollar savings more than pays for the aftermarket spinner blade I've been using.

Even that has a wrinkle though - the willow leaf spinner blades I've been using come from Bass Pro, so it's ironic that I don't buy their version of the same spinnerbait at that store, but I do go there to get the spinner blades to put on that same lure bought somewhere else. All good fly tiers and tackle tinkerers know this drill. It may not make sense to the outside observer, but by God, you are going to get what you want, even if you seem to be way too picky in the pursuit of fish you will let go after catching them on a lure you obsessed about making.

First, a look at the stock "straight-out-of-the-package" view of this lure

The stock 'Li'l Mr. Money"

You'll need lead wire, or thin (non-rosen core!) solder. A little super glue is a must, also. A pair of split ring pliers are nice, but anything from needle-nose pliers to your trusty Swiss Army knife will work in a pinch. Last, but not least, you need a replacement blade, I like the XPS Custom Willow Leaf blades, in the #3.5 and #4 sizes.

XPS Willow Blades

First, I change the blade out, this one is getting the bigger #4 size.

The replacement blade adds more flash.

Then you wrap the lead wire around the hook shank. A fly/jig tying vice is nice, but not necessary.

Wrapping the lead around the hook shank.

You can add underwraps of fly tying or rod building thread to the hook for a better foundation, but I mostly don't.

Coat the wraps with the super glue, and let it dry for at least several hours, and overnight is better. You're done! Now about trailers. This lure comes with the "super skirt" or "tux-and-tails" type skirt that the tackle companies often say eliminates the need for a trailer. Now, I like a trailer, specifically a curly tailed grub in an appropriate size and color. Whatever trailer you like to use, the lead wire wrapped around the hook shank makes sliding it in place a little tough. You have to use a little water as a lubricant to slide it over the lead without ripping it. Then when it fits well enough, a tiny dab of super glue will help hold it in place. I know someone who uses a small hollow punch to "core" their plastics in cases like this, but I'm not that particular. I do like a good trailer, I mostly use Kalin 5" grubs, but have used others, like the discontinued XPS realistic grubs Bass Pro used to sell. I stocked up, so I have a few if I want to use them for some contrast.

The completed spinnerbait.

I used to get Terminator Willow blades from Cabelas, and although I like their unique shape and "thump", they had a tendency to fall down around the hook, skirt, and trailer right at the beginning of the retrieve. This would sometimes ruin a perfectly executed cast by not spinning correctly due to getting caught in the skirt and need a sharp pull to get it spinning. The larger #4 XPS blade has done that to me occasionally, but not to the extent that the Terminator blades did. It's worth using the bigger blade, even with the hassles - it just flat out catches fish! The combination of compact size with the added weight and willow blade allows a very fast retrieve, which most of the time gets more reaction strikes in our clearer water.

As for colors, I like white anytime, murky water or clear, but let the fish tell you what they want. I use firetiger mostly in off color water, and lean toward white/silver baitfish colors in clear water, but for Smallmouths in current, I think the hotter colors work best, with all white coming in second.

What kind of tackle do I use to throw this little beauty? It's basic casting gear, a medium action rod (usually 7') and a high speed retrieve reel spooled with 10/40 Stren Superbraid. I got a good deal on a big spool of it, and it works, what can I say. I use the Uni knot to tie it direct to the end of my braid, but I go around the wire of the spinnerbait twice before making the Uni Knot, like is shown HERE at the PowerPro.com home page.

There's some guy trying to claim he invented this knot and is calling it the "Fish'n Fool" knot. I've used it on braided line about forever, so "Fool" is an apt title for this guy. Anyway, that's about it. There's my super-secret fish catchin' compact spinnerbait. Until I find another one I like better.

Comfortable Wet Wading.

2010-06-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

During the Summer months most fishermen want to ditch their hot, bulky waders and "get wet". It doesn't matter if it's a walk-and-wade trip or when you get out of the canoe, kayak, "White River Slim" or drift boat to cover some fishy looking water more effectively; Everyone wants to go as simple as possible (and stay cool) during those hottest days of the year. If you haven't done it you may not know many times wet wading can be just as uncomfortable as hot and sweaty waders if you aren't prepared with the right gear. So, starting at the top, here are some ideas about the selection of clothing and gear that will help keep you cool, comfortable, and more focused to catch more fish in the heat of Summer.

Hats

Many fishermen wear simple baseball style caps that perform pretty well, but they sure don't keep the sun off of the back of the neck. The flats style cap, with the sun flap in the rear is a much better choice, as is any style of full brim hat from the “boonie” jungle type to the Stetson. A hat that blocks the sun and is lightweight can keep you much cooler. A darker color under the brim keeps sunlight reflected off the water from, in turn, reflecting off the underside of the brim into your eyes. For the past few seasons I've been wearing a Stetson style hat with a ventilated crown. It's cooler than the cotton baseball caps I used to wear and it also looks better, if that's something you care about. If you fish in windy conditions, try to find a hat with a chinstrap. This may sound and look a little funny until the wind blows your favorite hat off your head and into the main current of the river never to be seen again! One trick I learned to deal with nasty biting insects is to spray a little insect repellent on your hat. This keeps insects away from your head ( and ears where they're most likely to drive you nuts) and repellent off your fly line when you wipe sweat off your brow and then touch your line again. Sure, it sounds funny until you see how well it works, but be careful with your nice Tilley or any kind of hat made of nylon, as the chemical that repels insects (DEET) can damage the material.

Shirts

There's a large majority of people who wear T-shirts in warm weather, period. But if you wear a fishing vest on over a shirt with no collar it can rub the back of your neck or pull your shirt back, leaving you with a nice sunburned area at the end of the day. A good hot-weather collared shirt that is lightweight is not hard to come by, either polo style or button down. One of my favorite materials for hot weather is good old Madras cotton, but many new “technical” breathable fabrics, such as Supplex, are available. Short sleeves are very comfortable, but sunscreen is messy and I prefer to roll sleeves up or down as the day goes on. Believe it or not, if there's a breeze long sleeves with a breathable fabric can be cooler than letting the sun bake your skin, not to mention avoiding the risks of long term sun exposure. Whatever you choose, it should be light colored, like khaki or a very light green. There are some newer colors that might be "fashionable" and look better in your "hero shots" but are more of a fish-scaring tone than plane sage green or khaki tends to be. Chose yours wisely.

Vests and PFD's

Face it, we just don't wear our PFD's as often as we should, and another item of clothing insulating you when the heat index is above 100-degrees is uncomfortable, but there are alternatives. There are mesh PFD's, but the coolest you're likely to find are the strap-type self inflatables. I have to invest in one of these, I don't wear my PFD as often as I should when fishing out of my solo Canoe in warm weather because conventional PFD's are so hot. This would solve that problem. Do you ditch the PFD when you drop over the side of the boat and start wading? I don't know, there are probably good reasons to keep it on when wading faster water, but I don't like to wear it if I'm in a few inches of water, but make your own mind up about that.

Most of the time a vest is a necessity to carry all the gear us wading fishermen will use (or think we will), but anything extra you wear when it is 95 degrees out is going to make you suffer. A small fanny pack or similar tackle bag will keep you much cooler. Remember that something in a tackle bag around your waist will get wet when in an upper pocket of a vest it would not. (Unless you take a dunk.) In other words, don't carry gear you don't want wet where it will get wet. A small waterproof zip-lock bag (or dry-bag) will keep your wallet and phone dry. I suffer a little, but I usually wear a vest on strictly walk-and-wade trips, but it is a lightweight, mesh vest. No matter what method you choose to carry your gear, pack a good amount of water in it to last the day. Dying of thirst tends to be distracting!

Pants or Shorts

O.K., I'll admit I'm not really a shorts person, but when it's really baking outside, even the lightest pants feel hot. So, on rivers I know well I'll show some leg. The disadvantage of shorts is that if you have any amount of bank side scrambling to do, you can get insect covered and scratched from vegetation easily, and ticks have an unrestricted highway right to your 'nethers.

Can you say "Poison ivy" or "Honey, can you help me get this tick out of my @#&"?

Even light, Supplex pants will protect you from that. So, on rivers that are not really familiar, I stick to pants. If I do walk the banks for a short time and get right back in the water, it seems that the ticks and other insects don't have a chance to take hold. Old blue jeans sound good, but when wet are heavy enough to sink the Titanic, and uncomfortable to boot. Light weight khaki's are pretty good, and poplin or other light common fabrics hold up well, but none are as light weight and comfortable as Supplex. Some pants have zip off legs that convert them to shorts. My thoughts are that some people will lose one leg, or if you are like me a zipper will stick on you at the worst time. Pick one or the other. Pants that have regular waistbands tend to stretch when wet. A little elastic help keep them up, and keep your shirt tucked in, too.

Underwear

Yes, I am really going to talk about this. Regular cotton underwear stretches when wet and holds moisture near your skin. It can be aggravating. Some shorts and pants that are meant for wet wading have a built in brief. Bass Pro's World Wide Sportsman, Columbia, and Cabela's Guidewear line are my favorites. I like these a lot, it would depend on if they were comfortable to you. If you like “boxers”, probably not. Underwear that is made for high performance athletes such as triathlon competitors that get really wet and sweaty may be an answer. Whatever you do, don't deal with irritating and uncomfortable underwear. Find something else.

Wading shoes

The wading shoes you have now may be all you need, but if you have wading shoes sized to go over heavy stockingfoot waders they are probably too big. A separate pair may be the only answer. I have worn many pairs of old hikers as wading shoes and this worked because the rivers I fish mostly have mixed gravel bottoms, not solid rock. If you need a felt sole you will have to go the regular wading shoe route. I have tried the wading sandals but found them really painful when small rocks get trapped between your foot and the sandals foot bed. This seems to happen every other step! If your rivers have no small rocks you may find them perfect. If your wet wading also involves lots of hiking, you will want more support than the typical wading shoe, and more dry land traction. L.L. Bean was the first to offer a line of shoes with a new type of rubber sole that grip well on slick rocks, but also allows a better grip on slick grass and leaves on the trail. There are many more brands out there today due to many areas banning felt soles due to the percieved greater chance of spreading "Whirling Disease" (Myxobolus cerebralis). For slick, solid rock, I don't think anything will ever beat the grip of felt, but felt soles have led to various "falling down the bank" incidents once on wet grass or mud for me. So any of the newer rubber soles might be the best compromise, and give me an excuse to leave my old hikers on dry land. I think socks are expendable. This is where the ones you are going to toss in the rag pile come in handy. If you use new ones, by the end of the day, they will be shot anyway.

As with all fishing, there are other things to consider and all are common sense. Keep drinking water at regular intervals. Usually you don't get thirsty until you are a little dehydrated. Take some dry clothing to change into for the ride home. Even in the heat clean, dry clothes really make you feel refreshed. Some people simply cannot take the heat. If you are one, you may find that only going out early or late in the evening is bearable. Most of the best fishing is early or late in summer anyway. You don't have to flog the water at noon on a day that's 100 degrees. If you want to, well, I guess that's fine. Usually during that time of day, even I take a break.

A Simple System For Smallmouths

2009-12-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

I was re-reading In-Fisherman magazine Editor Doug Stange's system for pre-spawn Smallmouths because recently I was watching the re-run of the In-Fisherman Critical Concepts episode that had a segment based off that article. Here’s his system: 4 spinning rods, two with Rapala X-Rap jerkbaits in sizes 8 and 10, and two rods rigged with a plain jig head for curly tailed grubs, again in two different sizes. The whole key was to throw the larger jerkbait or grub, and using the smaller baits to clean up after catching a few, or throw back at a fish that followed but wouldn’t commit. Maybe drop the smaller grub by a large boulder or tree to entice an inactive fish you suspect is lurking there. His method is probably mostly applied to Canadian Shield Glacial lakes near the In-Fisherman main office there in Minnesota.

This got me thinking about how my river Smallmouth tackle has evolved over the years. I didn’t set out to get a “system” or be super sophisticated about things, this is just what works for me when fishing out of my solo canoe. Some of the basic idea here is blatantly ripped off from Al Agnew, who is known for carrying half a dozen rods when fishing out of his solo canoe. I don't know when I first read about his set-up, but it sure gave me a starting point when I got my first solo canoe. I think where my fishing style diverges from his is not only do I use several rods rigged and ready to go, but most of the rods are set up to change lure styles on them easily, too.
I use several rods rigged in ways that make it easy to change lures quickly.
The first is a medium to medium/light power, fast action 7’ spinning rod for treble hooked lures. It’s paired with a larger capacity spinning reel spooled with 4/10 Fireline, and I use Fluorocarbon leaders of 8- 10- or 12-pound test, except for top water lures, then the leaders are almost always 10-pound monofilament. I’m mostly using a Blood Knot to tie my leaders to the main line these days. Sometimes I double the end of the Fireline with a Spider-Hitch before maing the Blood Knot with the heavier pound-test lines.
This rod is for jerkbaits, topwaters, and a whole array of crankbaits. Treble hooked lures, like I said. Read about why I like this set-up for crankbaits in particular here: River Crankin' Smallmouth.
I sometimes also use this rod to present a spoon or in-line spinner. I use a plain snap (Not a swivel-snap) in one of the middle sizes on the end of the line, and remove the split rings from the lures. I can change lures in seconds using the snap, and I think I get more action using the snap. I save the split rings for other uses. I don't have to buy many split rings.
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_7816_100010005_100000000_100010000_100-10-5
I was going to post a picture of dozens of different cranks and jerkbaits here, but you get the idea.
There are a couple of cranks that are hard to connect with the snap like the new XRap Shad and the Fat Free Shad series due to their lip design, on these lures use pliers or a hemostat to make working the snap through the eye easier.
The second rod is usually about the same length and power, rigged with a simple jighead. I like one with a single strand weedguard, and depending on current either 1/16- or 1/8-ounce. I’m really liking the E. C. Jigs available at BassPro.com, which uses the awesome Matzuo Sickle hook. I’ve never had a fish come off after getting this hook in them. You can use a 4- or 5-inch grub, an action-tail worm (try Zooms “Shaky Tail“) in place of a grub, or just a plain straight tail finesse worm for use as a Shaky Head. Another great trick is to use this jig head to wacky rig a soft stick like the Yum Dinger or Yamamoto Senko, or just wacky rig a plain straight tail worm. A smaller tube works well on this jighead, too. You can see it’s simple to change this one to fit different conditions pretty quick, too. If the fish are really on the Shaky Head , I will change the jighead out for a weedless one, but this one is a better starting point.

E.C. Jigs jigheads rigged with a 4” Yum Dinger (wacky-rigged), Zoom Shaky Tail, and Kalin 5” Grub,
Plain 1/8-ounce head in foreground.

The third quick change option is a rod with a little more backbone, the same length as the other two, but maybe a medium/heavy power, or at least an extra-fast medium powered rod paired with the reel spooled with 6/14 Fireline. I’ll use heavier leaders for this set-up, sometimes 14-pound test Fluorocarbon, but usually 12-pound. At any rate, on the business end of the leader, it has a extra wide gape 3/0 or 4/0 hook. That’s it.

From top down: Matzuo Sickle. Gamakatsu Wide Gap. weighted Mustad. Gamakatsu weighted w/fly tying lead wire.

You can rig a soft jerkbait like the Super Fluke or the Powerbait JerkShad, any of the soft stick baits, or even larger tubes or other soft plastics, like the Yamamoto Ika, which sinks well without any added weight.

Left top: Stik O, Tiki-Stik, Dinger. Top right: Culprit Jerk Worm, Z Too, Fluke.
Bottom: Home poured Ika imitation, Strike King tube, XPS tube.
Tubes can be rigged weightless, or you can quickly slide a small bullet weight inside, point first, to get a longer cast and quicker fall. Try a 1/16-ounce weight in water up to about 6-foot deep, and 1/8-ounce for deeper water or more current.

You can insert a bullet weight to quickly change fall rate.

Floating worms are another overlooked option that is still a killer. Does anyone use them anymore? I do, especially as a substitute for soft jerkbaits, especially in the post-spawn time of the year. If I’m using any of these lures faster (which I usually do at first) and not getting any response, I let the lure fall beside a piece of cover, and if that works I’ll often change the wide gap worm hook out to a weedless wire guard model, and switch to wacky-rigging a soft stickbait like the Yum Dinger or Wave Worm Tiki-Stick, but I’ll try several different colors and types of lures on the wide-gap hook first, because it’s so easy to switch them out. Don’t forget to try a standard straight-tailed worm wacky rigged, either. I like the Zoom Trick Worm for Smallmouths. It seems a little big at first, but it’s a slim worm over all, so don’t think it’s too big. The best place to hook this worm for wacky rigging is right behind its “egg sack”. It’ll look a little off balance hooked like that, but try it anyway.

Left: For comparison, soft stick baits, from top. Stik O, Senko, Tiki-Stik, Dinger.
Right: Zoom Trick Worm in three colors, XPS finesse, PowerBait Shaky Tail, and Senko Slim

These aren’t the only rods I carry Smallmouth fishing, I usually have a dedicated spinnerbait rod, and often one just for finesse jigs. This changes depending on season, in the low clear water of late summer, I might ditch the spinnerbait rod and throw in a fly rod, or a favorite spinning rig just for topwaters.
In winter there will be a rod rigged for a slip float for float and fly and one for nothing but suspending jerkbaits. Often the jerkbait rod is the same one I use for cranks and jerkbaits in summer. I have been carrying one rod dedicated to a swimming jig that is still kind of secret, and in the prototype phase, instead of the jig rod some trips. It could also be fished on my spinnerbait rod, so maybe there’s another twist on that in the future. It’s an evolving thing, and maybe in a year or two there will be other new ways I’m doing things.

Royal Coachman...

2009-09-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

Royal Coachman
The Lore and Legends Of Fly-Fishing , by Paul Schullery,
220 pages, Fireside (Simon & Schuster), 1999.

Paul Schullery has writen about nature and outdoor pursuits for some time, but it finally took a recommendation from a friend for me to get my hands on this book. This collection of essays tries very hard to not follow the usual mode of typical "Flyfishing" writing and for the most part it succeeds. He starts off with "All The Young Men With Flyrods" and immediately takes task with Gary LaFountaine's introduction of John Gierachs' seminal Trout Bum, as far as what defines that term. Hey, if you are going to challenge some notions about flyfishing, why not start big, right? He ventures forth to find out what the term meant to him when he was a young fishing pirate, what it used to mean, and whether it needs to mean anything at all. In this type of writing Mr. Schullery shines. Being an angling historian, he can hit on notes and reference things the rest of us (who think of the "old days" means pre-graphite rods) can only dream of. He continues on through early American flyfishing and writing about flyfishing, while weaving his own history into the story, giving the reader no doubt where his opinions come from. In "Arts And Crafts" he takes on the notion of flyfishing or flytying being considered an "art" by a large number of us , and makes some serious philosophical points, and humbles us all a little with such good serious thought and the historical viewpoint for such thought. It may be my favorite essay in the entire book. In "Occasions for Hope in the Hook and Bullet Press" he strikes close to home for this writer, it's a fantastic essay on the history of outdoor writing on this continent, from the change from the old archetype "me and Joe went fishing" type story to attempts of outdoor writing to be about something else entirely, or even "literature" - whether successful or not. A super job, and one I have re-read often.
If you're looking for a "how to" manual, obviously this isn't your book, but if you enjoy thoughtful, historicaly-referenced essays on the why we do what we do as flyfishermen, and how some of this came to be, you'll really like this one.
I should have picked this one up years ago, but at least I have it now. I highly recommend it.

Jerkbaits, Part 1: Reservoir Bass.

2009-08-29T05:35:00.000-07:00

Modern minnow shaped lures are called stickbaits, slashbaits, jerkbaits, or often by the name of a popular brand or model such as Rapala or Rogue. I'll call them all jerkbaits whether they're floating, suspending, or sinking just to make it simple. The first popular lure of this kind was the original Rapala Minnow. It was such a success it made Rapala a world wide brand. Now available in many different sizes and colors and even jointed models, it remains a popular and effective lure. Success like that is bound to be copied, so today there are many different brands that make a similar lure, but it took the ingenuity of an Ozarks fisherman to take it to the next level. Somewhere in the late 60's or early 70's, someone doctored up a Rapala with added lead weight where it would suspend in the water, neutrally buoyant, where it wouldn't sink or float back up. Looking like a stunned, dying, or just not paying attention baitfish, these lures are dynamite on cold weather Bass in our clear Ozark reservoirs. There are now dozens of these suspending lures by different manufacturers, no tinkering required. Well, a tiny bit of tinkering, but we'll get to that in a minute, let's move on to some tips and tactics for using these lures for all three Bass species in our Ozark Reservoirs.
My favorite time to fish for Bass at Table Rock is from right after the Holidays (early January) through prespawn (mid April), and the main reason is the suspending jerkbait bite. I love the fishing style, and the solitude- the fact that you may catch the biggest bass of the year while everyone else hasn't even thought of getting their boat out of winter storage. One more thing, bass may or may not "school up" in winter, but groups of them are often attracted to the same type of structure or cover in winter, giving you the chance of scoring multiple fish when you locate them. There are experienced fishermen who don't believe how good it can be, or they‘re just put off by the cold. Either way, you often have the lake to yourself.
The very beginning of this period typically has the coldest water temperatures of the year. There may even be ice in some of the coves protected from the wind. Bass may only feed sporadically during this time, if at all. What you are waiting for is a warming trend. It doesn't have to be more than several days of warm and sunny weather to warm the water by a few degrees. It may not seem like much, but a rise in the water temperature of only a couple of degrees is enough to spur some feeding activity. It doesn't have to be sunny, I've had great success when a low pressure system has stalled out and made it cloudy for several days in a row, keeping the night time temperatures mild, rather than the crisp clear nights with temperatures below freezing. A warm rain can get the fish going if it doesn't muddy the water up too much, but that's usually more of a factor close to the spawn, any precipitation we receive in January or February tends to be the frozen kind! When the water is in the low 40's feeding activity can be hard to predict, but as it increases toward 50-degrees you can bet after 2 or 3 days of a warming trend fish will suspend near cover, and hit a properly presented jerkbait. By properly presented, I mean it has to suspend perfectly. It can't float up or sink even slightly, it has to suspend like it has it's own perfectly tuned swim bladder. Thankfully lure manufacturers have many different models that suspend pretty well right out of the box. Rapala XRaps tend to float up in the very coldest water, which is fine, because you can add weight to most lures to get them to work perfectly. The more "Boutique" lures like Lucky Craft Pointers suspend almost perfectly, but even older mainstays like the Rapala Husky Jerk and Smithwick Suspending Rogue can easily be "tuned" by adding weight.. The two easiest methods of adding weight are Storm stick-on Suspen-Dots and Suspen-Strips, and lead flytying wire or rolled 50/50 solder. Some fisherman swap hooks out with bigger, heavier sizes. Screwing around with split ring pliers and spare hooks in the cold isn't much fun, you can adjust weight with lead much easier and get it exactly right in far less time.

You'll have to try the lure at boat side to see how it suspends. Cast it out 15 feet or so and reel it in just close enough where you can clearly see it, then watch as long as you can stand it. Needless to say, polarized sunglasses are a must. A lure that floats up very slightly isn't too hard to see, but ones that barely sink are subtle and hard to spot without staring at them for what seems like an eternity out there in the gray winter cold. Luckily, this time of year there aren't to many folks around to see you blankly casting a lure a few feet from the boat and peering at it for a long time. If a lure sinks pretty quickly in 40-degree water, I take it back. You can always add weight to lures that float up, but I haven't had much success with ones that sink quickly in cold water. In very warm water most suspenders sink slightly which is fine because you tend to work them faster in warm water, but that's a subject we'll get to later.

Now, how to add the right amount of weight? Using either stick on weights or lead wire winds up being a trail and error affair. Lead wire is the easiest, I usually try a piece about 2-inches long stuck through the front hook hanger and twisted once, cast it out, and remove lead as needed until it suspends perfectly. After you're satisfied it's right, wrap the lead around the hook shank. You can use a dab of superglue to help hold it in place. Stick on lead is a little more tricky, dry the part of the lure right behind the bill before you stick the weight on, and either stick more on, or use a knife to cut small pieces off as needed to get it right. Again, after you get it right, a dab of superglue along the edges will hold it in place a little better.

With all three Black Bass species in most of our lakes, there are many different places to try these lures in late Winter. Rockslides on bluffs, bluff ends, deeper rip-rap banks, floating docks over deep water, basically more vertical structure with some kind of cover. Deep banks that "stair step" with ledges in smaller creeks just off the main lake can be good, especially if they face South and are protected from North winds, have floating docks, or both. Large isolated cedar trees, especially on steeper banks are another good place. These lures don't run very deep, but properly presented have the ability to draw Bass up from the depths. One day last March three Spotted Bass came straight up from deeper water and attack my lure vertically, drawn out of their cedar tree in 40-foot of water. Just don't get locked into thinking all Bass are deep during Winter. I've caught fish in less than 15-feet of water in January and February on chunk rock and pea gravel flats near main lake points. To fish a specific piece of cover (tree, boat dock, large boulder) cast beyond it and work the lure with downward jerks of the rod tip until it gets close, then stop it. Let it sit. Keep your line almost tight, but try not to move it. Maybe add a small twitch after 30 seconds. Experiment with how long you wait between twitches, the rule of thumb being colder water equals longer time between twitches. Sometimes fish will move long distances to hit a lure, and others you have to almost snag in in a tree. I experiment with how far away from cover I let it sit, trying to get a pattern nailed down. After I've let it sit in a spot and twitched it a few times, I work it along for another 20- or 30- feet and before stopping it again. You'll read of people casting a lure out, then lighting up a cigarette and smoking it before moving the lure again. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea. For covering water, experiment with how far between pauses you stop. You can cover an area faster than you'd think with a jerkbait, even with long pauses.

Sometimes strikes are the " rip the rod out your hand" types, but most are little more subtle. Sometimes a fish will mouth a bait and swim at you, your only clue the line going totally slack. If the wind is calm, the water is usually so clear that you can watch your bait as it gets closer to the boat. There's been days where I never feel them hit, but I do see the lure disappear, or a small flash of a fish turning as it takes a swipe at it. I've tried attractant sprays from time to time thinking maybe the fish will hang on longer, but I'm not sure if it makes a difference. You do need sensitivity to feel what’s going on down there when you can't see your lure, so you need low stretch line. I've used fluorocarbon, but nothing beats superlines like FireLine or PowerPro for sensitivity. For most of my jerkbaits I use a 7-foot medium power/fast action spinning rod paired with a spinning reel spooled with 4/10 FireLine. I use a 10-pound test fluorocarbon leader about 8- to 10 foot long tied to the superline with a blood knot. I remove the split rings on my lures and use a snap tied to the end of the fluorocarbon leader to attach the lures, both for easy lure changes and better action. Some guys use shorter rods, or baitcasting gear. To be honest, whatever you are comfortable with will probably work. I like the ease of fishing spinning gear when I have gloves on, and a with my long arms a 7' rod works great for me from the deck of even a low profile boat. A spinning combo puts the weight of the reel under the rod, just hanging there, the tendinitis in my rod arm more manageable with that instead of palming a baitcaster all day, and is easier to use with gloves on, too. A longer rod also helps rocket casts far from the boat, which can help get more strikes in the crystal clear waters of the White River chain of lakes.

It's said the original suspending bait was either A Rebel Spoonbill, a Rapala, or a Smithwick Rogue, depending on who you talk to. I've tried to pin that down for a couple of years and got really nothing to show for it. Does it really matter? There are so many great suspending lures these days, it's almost hard to choose. Starting with the more expensive models, Lucky Craft Pointers are considered top of the heap by many, I just can't justify the price to buy very many of them. One I have used the past couple of years is the XCaliber XS4. It looks kind of like a Smithwick Rogue, but has a weight transfer system that helps casting in the wind, fantastic hooks, and great colors. The Diawa TD Minnow is a little pricey, but perfect when you want a shallow running suspender. Rapala has two great suspending lures. One of the first factory made suspenders, the Husky Jerk, is a classic. It comes in tiny Trout/Panfish sizes, and all the way up to models for Pike/Musky. The #10 size is still a favorite jerkbait for Smallmouths and Spotted Bass when they're little finicky. The other Rapala model, the XRap, has become a huge success for the company. Meant to compete against the higher dollar Japanese baits, it's really well made, but affordable. Last time I bought one it was less than 7.00$. Now available in several sizes, shallow and deep diving, and lots of good colors, you can't go wrong. The Smithwick Suspending Rattlin’ Rogue is one of my most used jerkbaits. It's inexpensive, it comes in some good colors, and it just works. Any time I want to stick a lure right in submerged tree, it gets the call. That might also be why I catch so many good fish on it, I'm not afraid to lose one. Maybe because of the price point these lures sometimes require more tinkering to get them right, but for less than 5 bucks a pop, who do you want?

For colors on these lures I've experimented with lots of different things, but I like a general rule of bright day (sunny) I use bright lures. One pattern that works for me is blue back/silver sides/orange belly. The XS4, Rogue, and Husky Jerk are all available in this color. The XRap isn't, but you can color the belly of the blue pattern model with an orange Sharpie like I do. One color that Rapala just started offering for the XRap is "Purpledescent", and it's a fantastic color for the clearest water. One color that's popular is purple back/chartreuse sides. I've colored some Rogues like this, and some days they really worked, others not so much.
"Clown" is another bright pattern lot's of folks like, and I like it too.
On cloudy days, I like a more natural, translucent color. Of course, this isn't written in stone. I know someone who uses bright chartreuse almost exclusively and really nails them, but I can't seem to get them to hit that color except when the water is cloudy, so go figure. Don't be afraid to use some Sharpies or highlighter pens, you never know if you'll find the right custom color that really works.

As the water gets into the 50-degree range and rising, fish start responding to a little more "jerk" in the jerkbait. I like to start out working the lure just a little faster than I think will work, just to see if the fish are "turned on". You can always slow it down of deadstick it beside cover if you aren't getting any reaction from a faster retrieve. A lure that sinks slightly here is not a bad thing if you are working the lure faster, it can even help you get a little deeper retrieve, sinking on the pause between jerks. All through the pre-spawn different retrieves and pauses should be experimented with, you just never know how the fish will react on any given day, and don't think that the fish will always hit a jerkbait during early prespawn, I've had several slow days that I turned around by using a shaky head or grub near or on the bottom. If you're fishing with a buddy, I can't think of a better way to locate active fish early in the year than have one person throw a jerkbait and the other follow up with a grub swam near bottom, covering most of the water column.

As it gets closer to the spawn, just because the water is above a certain temperature or it's after a certain date, don't think it about putting the jerkbait down until you try it. I fished a tournament on April 1st a couple of years ago, and I got a funny look from my partner when I started throwing a Rogue. After I started catching fish on it, he commented that "I didn't think those worked unless it was winter." It was the only thing I could get them to hit in practice, and it was the only thing that worked that day. Even though the water temp was near 60-degrees, the fish wanted that bait to sit there motionless for 30-seconds or more, move it faster and they wouldn't touch it.

I don't pester spawning fish, so I can't tell you if jerkbaits will catch bedding fish, but I do know that when they are done and move out from their spawning areas and scatter, one of the best lures to fish is still a jerkbait. Through summer and into fall anytime you can't get a topwater bit going try the jerkbait. There are good floating models that have a little more action, but suspenders work great for our deeper lakes. I have several spots on Beaver Lake I hit early in the morning for a topwater bite, and some days that bite can be stretched out a little further into the morning by trying a jerkbait in the same places. Some days the fish just won't come up to hit topwaters, and the jerkbait is the answer there, too. Just experiment with the cadence of the jerk-jerk-pause.

I find myself turning to a suspending bait in the middle of summer to fish a key spot I just know has a fish on it. I use the same method as the one for cold water fishing, deadsticking it beside the cover for as long as I can stand it. There are prominent spots that get hit hard that I still manage to pluck a fish from doing this. (think Kimberling City Bridge) Sometimes wave action from all the summer boat traffic makes keeping contact with your lure impossible, and a slip-float rig with a realistic PowerBait or Gulp lure is the answer for suspended fish, but that's different topic.

You can see jerkbaits don't get left at home, they're always on my boat. Maybe during Summer and Fall I use them less at Table Rock or Beaver, but that will bring us to part 2 of this series: Jerkbaits for river Bass. My favorite time for river Smallmouth is Summer/Fall, and the fish like an aggressive, power fishing technique like ripping a jerkbait.

The Authentic American Johnboat.

2009-05-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

THE AUTHENTIC AMERICAN JOHBOAT : How to Build It, How to Use It.
By Larry Dablemont, Published by David McCay Company, 1978.

Larry Dablemont writes a weekly Outdoors column for the Ozark Headliner News, so I’m pretty familiar with his families past, and his philosophy toward river craft of all kinds, but I didn’t have a chance to read this book until I spotted it over at the Christian County Library. In the past Larry has voiced his opinions about canoes not being half as good a watercraft for the outdoorsman as an authentic johnboat like the style his Grandfather and father before him built. In this slim (88 pages, with index) book he does a pretty good job of backing this opinion up by starting with the origins of the Dablemont clan right around the time of World War 1, then the beginnings of the Dablemonts’ guiding float fisherman and hunters.

In chapter two he gets into the technical (if you can call it that) aspects of building one of these boats, covering different types of wood, sealing methods, how many seasons a boat would last, whether to store the boat in the water or out, and much more. He even gets a little into the other well known Ozarks’ float fishing/johnboat building on the James and White with the legendary Jim Owens, and then laments the fact that the lower James and all of the White are now under large reservoirs. This topic has been well covered by yours truly and nearly everyone else even a tiny bit interested in the history of the Ozarks, but you have to remember this book was published in 1978, when the dissatisfaction was a little fresher.

Chapter 3 is an entire step-by-step instruction booklet for building your own 14-foot johnboat. The photographs and diagrams are well thought out and straight forward, anyone who has any carpentry skill could build one of these boats without any problem using the book as a blueprint.

Chapter 4 is where I have the bone to pick with Larry, but it’s a common point of disagreement between someone like him and myself. He compares his families johnboat design against other river craft, and basically says that there is no way to avoid “crashing” (flipping) over a canoe. Of course there are canoes, and then there are canoes. I seem to remember paddling a 17’ tandem ( double ended in his terms) canoe at summer camp right about the same time this book came out, and it was a typical canoe of the era, with style being more the point of it’s design than ability to be efficiently paddled, or it’s stability. This would be similar to the canoes he is referring to, and to his credit, most of the canoes of that era weren’t the best. We have much better designs of canoes (and kayaks) than ever before, it’s rare to see a new canoe that isn’t at least a usable watercraft, and several companies make so many different designs that it’s easy to find one to suit your needs, as long as you know what they are, that is. The wooden (or aluminum ) johnboat is by comparison a heavy boat best served by a small outboard, or for only put-it and take-out by several people, or for fishing slower sections of river that are more lake-like, in my opinion.

All in all it’s a good book, the part I like best is the historical look at the Ozarks after the turn of the last century, and the men who helped shape it. I’ll buy this one when I can find it at Amazon.com or wherever, but again, largely as a historical reference. I won’t be building a 14’ wooden paddle john any time soon.

Jigheads- A Simple Primer

2009-04-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

A jighead seems like a simple thing, and it is. But what shape, style, and weight of jighead you pick can make all the difference when presenting lures or bait. Here’s a simple primer on the most common types of jigheads, and how I like use them for Bass and panfish.

The most basic jighead is the ballhead. This is the most popular and most used jighead for every type of fishing. From tiny 1/100-ounce trout mini-jigs to monsters in the half-pound range for catching deep saltwater fish, virtually every fisherman uses this type of jighead. There are many uses for a ballhead, models with a “keeper” barb molded into the head are intended as a delivery system for soft plastic baits like grubs or tubes. Models without a barb are more often intended for live bait fishing. A live night crawler on a simple 1/8- or ¼-ounce plain ball head is a Walleye fishing staple. Another use for the ballhead is the very popular “Shaky Head” technique for Bass. A finesse worm on a long shank ballhead jig rigged weedless is a simple but very effective Bass catcher any time, and also inexpensive, and that’s why the Shaky Head has caught on coast to coast.

The main thing to look for when using a ballhead jig is the angle of the eye of the hook that the jig is molded on. For example, a jighead with the 90-degree eye is preferred to use under a float, like the style that’s common with Crappie jigs. A jighead with a 60-degree eye is more for casting and pitching or swimming a lure back on a straight retrieve, and some Shaky Head jigs are made this way, too. If you try to use a jig that doesn’t have a 90-degree hook eye under a float it will hang down almost vertically. Usually a horizontal presentation, like you get with a 90-degree eye, is much better. Often the jigheads that have a more “pointy” nose feature a “cross eye” line tie, this feature helps keep the knot and line in a straight line instead of slipping around on the eye like a regular model can. Ball heads don’t come through heavy cover as easy as other models do, but are snag proof enough if equipped with a weed guard. I like a couple of different model for different type of fishing, but I always have a couple of ballhead styles in my stash no matter what kind of fishing I’m doing. In a post last year I outlined a simple way to add some versatility to your Smallmouth fishing, and one way was a simple ballhead jig, you can change what type of soft plastic you want to present in seconds. You can rig several lures different ways, I‘ve written about this before here: A Simple System A picture of soft plastic rigging here: E. C. Jigs

Always try to use the lightest jighead you can and still “feel” the lure. In current or wind you will have to go to a bigger size.

There are several interesting shaped jigheads that have came along due to the Shaky Head craze, most notably the “Spot Remover”, a jighead that has accounted for most of the Co-Angler wins for the FLW Tour fishermen on Beaver Lake over the past few years.

Spot Remover By Buckeye Lures

I’ve tried them, but most models are expensive, and I haven’t seen that I catch more fish on them. When you fish a jighead on the bottom in our Ozark Reservoirs you will lose lots of them, and the more economical models fit the budget better. I use an inexpensive Luck ‘E’ Strike ballhead that uses a Gamakatsu fine wire hook.

Getting away from the “do-it-all” ball head jig, you will find a vast array of tube insert jigheads. There are so many that I won’t even try to list them all. I usually use solid head tubes that don’t require a special jighead, so I’m back to the general purpose ball head again, or I use an offset wide-gape hook with an insert weight, not a specialized jighead. As you could guess, I don’t use tubes as much as some others, and when I do they usually aren’t used to drag bottom like most people use them. I mainly use them for a jerk bait, or for dock skipping.

Darter or more pointed nose shapes aren’t as versatile as the ball head, and are used more for swimming. There are plenty of jigheads that fit this category. If the line tie comes straight out of the nose, like a Brewer “Slider” jig, you can swim these jigs through the toughest cover without hanging up if the trailer is rigged right. These are my favorite for Crappie and other panfish around brush and timber. The offset hook makes them more fussy than a model with a weed guard, but when rigged right will both come through cover easily and hook fish well.

Slider Crappie Jigheads

This style in bigger sizes like the Slider “Pro” series is great for Bass when you are swimming a 4- or 5-inch grub through timber. It also makes for a handy head to present finesse worms in both river and lake. A 1/8-ounce Brewer jighead with a 4-inch finesse worm has accounted for so many fish for me that it’s scary. Smallmouth, Spots, Largemouth, and Rock Bass cannot resist this setup.

The more specialized jig shapes are for more specialized uses. The “horse head” type jighead with a small spinner attached is typified by the “Road Runner” panfish jig series. There larger models of these for Bass and saltwater species, too. The main thing to remember is be careful what kind of trailer you use on this style head so the spinner blades still spin freely, and not get tangled in some wiggly plastic appendage. This is a great “search lure” for cover large amounts of water when trying to locate more active fish.

Blakemore RoadRunner

Another specialized shape is the football jig. Shaped like a football at a 90-degree angle to the line tie, these jigheads are meant for one use: Bottom crawling. When slowly drug along the bottom this shape allows it to flip upwards when contacting rougher patches of bottom. Kind helps whatever trailer you have on it look like a crawfish in it’s claws up defensive position. You can use many different types of soft plastic lures on this style jighead, but the “Hula Grub” is the standard. I use a football jig in heavier weights (½-ounce or more) to probe large areas of mixed rock, like a main-lake point at Beaver or Table Rock.

There are so many choices in jigheads that this is not intended to be a comprehensive look at every conceivable choice out there, just several of my choices for the way I fish.

As always, email me with any questions or comments.

Pre-spawn Crappies and Water Temperature.

2009-03-23T05:19:00.000-07:00

Most fishermen can really get into the Crappies when they are shallow and well into the spawn, but the most savvy anglers know that they can target them as they move shallow during warming spells starting well before the spawn. How shallow? It depends. If Crappies are using deep water in large reservoirs like Table Rock, shallow may mean 15-feet deep. In your local pond or smaller lake, it can be 4-feet or even less. The key to finding where the Crappies are is targeting the warmest water you can find in a given area.

If you’re in your well equipped fishing boat your depth finder will tell you what the water temp is, but if you’re fishing out of a johnboat or canoe you’ll either have to use a small thermometer or just use your best guess. After several warmer days in late February or early March (especially with some south wind ) you can easily find the warmest water in South-facing coves if you think about it a little.

Crappie movements and Bass movements during these warming trends tend to shadow each other but tend to be slightly different, although when Crappie fishing you’ll catch an occasional Bass, and vice versa. The points leading into coves are obvious places, but docks or other cover just within the cove can be better locations for Crappies to find that warmer water, as the relate to cover if they can find it. They may move out away from cover to feed, but when they are less active they’ll usually drift back to some submerged form of cover. If you know the brush piles and blow-downs you usually catch fish on during early May, find spots with cover about halfway between those places and the main lake and check that type of area first. Go out towards the main lake if the water temperature is still low or after a cold front, and back further if it’s warmer. There’s no magic temperature, it’s more relative to what the temperature has been recently. Occasionally Crappies will congregate in areas they’ll later spawn in after many unseasonably warm days, but they’ll be skittish and usually cruise more that simply bury in the brush.

Where the real key to finding groups of Crappies is finding that warmer water in a given area. Small channels, dock areas that collect wind blown warmer water, any little area that is a degree or two warmer than the surrounding water. Crappies aren’t going to cross a mile of reservoir to find 2-degree warmer water- it’s more about finding the warmest water in an area where the Crappies are already at. If this spot is a brush pile on the edge of a creek channel, you may have hit the mother load. Isolated pieces of cover along Crappies’ migration route toward their spawning coves should always be checked. I have several of these at places I fish and once found they tend to produce year after at the right times, just like those brush piles they’ll be around a month or so from right now. A small cove or cut in the bank that collects wind-blown warmer water may be too shallow to attract Crappie, but check the point or drop adjacent to the cove and you may be surprised.

It doesn’t seem like much, but as little as a degree or two higher water temperature can mean the difference between catch-able, active Crappies, and tight-lipped stuck inside the brush pile ones. I use faster lures to try to locate the fish at this time of year, one of my favorites is a standard 2-inch curly tail grub on a weedless 1/16-ounce "Slider" jighead swam around, over, and through cover. Go to 1/8-ounce jig for water deeper than 6- to 8-feet. Colors? I try yellow/white or silver/blue first. The darker the water, the brighter I go. Another awesome little Crappie catcher is the smallest suspending jerk baits like the Husky Jerk 06, or the new XRap in 08 or 06. For colors, try Silver/Black or Silver/Blue/Orange belly, and the "Clown" color, too. In the clearest water I like the Silver/Black. Work these the same as you do for Bass. A twitch-twitch-pause retrieve with extended pauses beside or over the top of cover can catch the biggest Crappies of the year, those big pre-spawn females. One of the funnest options is breaking out the fly rod and using a smaller Clouser Minnow tied with bath-chain eyes instead of the regular lead ones. When tied this way they are much lighter and can be retrieved very slowly, almost suspending by or over cover. Crappies love the Clouser!
When you do catch one then it’s time to break out the float rod and get precise with bait or artificials under a float on a specific piece of cover. If you really get into a big group of Crappies be mindful that they haven’t spawned yet, and if you want good fishing for years to come, let most (if not all) of them go.
Good luck.

Over-Gunned and Over-Scoped.

2009-02-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

I wind up talking to all kinds of people through work or at the store or wherever life takes me, some folks know I’m an outdoor guy and some even read my blog, others are just engaging in the normal small talk about their deer season. After hearing lots of these folks conversations I notice two trends happening with the deer rifles hunters are choosing, and that is the vast majority are over-gunned and/or over-scoped. Before you think I’m picking on your .300 WSM with the 4X12 Nikon scope, if you shoot it well and it works for the type of hunting you do, I think you’re doing better than people who use .22 center fires for deer. There is such a thing as being under-gunned, too. But back to the problem at hand. Most of the people who hunt deer stick with the five most popular rifle calibers for our hoofed and horned 4-legged quarry. The top five are .30-06, .7mm Remington Magnum, .270 Winchester, .243 Winchester, and the .30 Winchester Centerfire, also known as the “Thirty-Thirty”.

All except the .243 can have a good amount of recoil in light rifles, enough so that most folks don’t shoot them very well. If you aren’t going to practice with a rifle much, if it kicks the hell out of your shoulder, you aren’t going to be very good with it. So let’s start with the light kickers, and go from there.
Many folks start out deer hunting in their younger years with a hand-my-down .30-.30 lever action, and that still works good for deer if you shoot not much further than 100-yards. (Note: Hornady “LeverRevolution” Ammunition LeverRevolution can extend your range somewhat, but you still aren’t going to be picking off deer at half a mile. Getting a 7mm Magnum won’t instantly let you do that either, but more on that later). So what’s wrong with a lever gun chambered in the .30 Winchester Centerfire? Not a thing. Matter of fact, if you hunt from a tree stand or in deep woods, there are very few other rifle/cartridge combinations that work so well. Sexy and brand new? Nope, but time tested and reliable. Recoil isn’t bad in the standard rifles, but the “youth” or compact models with short barrels can be more that a beginning youngster can handle.

How about the .243? I’m a little biased here because I’m a big fan of the .243, although mostly from it's use as a varmint rifle. Initially the 6mm cartridges (.243 and it’s ballistic cousin the 6mm Remington) were designed as dual-purpose rifle rounds, for both deer and varmints. I think with careful shot placement, they excel as deer killers, and due to the light recoil, precise shot placement is easier than with a harsher kicking rifle. I’ve shot everything from heavy barreled varmint rigs to featherweight youth rifles in .243, and none had any recoil to mention to my shoulder. Realistically “kick” is a subjective thing, and everyone can handle different levels, but a light kicker sure helps a newcomer succeed. I think .243 is just on the light side for deer, but miles away better than .22 centerfires. I know that here in Missouri plenty of people bag their deer with .223’s and 22/250’s every year, but where I grew up in Kansas, .243 is the minimum for big game, including the smaller Antelope. Makes plenty of sense to me. Just be sure when you are buying your .243 ammo you are buying the stuff made for deer, not varmints. Stick with 90- to 100-grain bullets, not the little 75-grain or lighter “screamers” meant for coyote or ground hogs. My last thought on the 6mm’s versus the .22 centerfires is this: If someone can’t handle the recoil of the .243, maybe they aren’t big enough to hunt yet.

Unfortunately, there aren’t really many popular caliber choices until you get to the .270 Winchester, and by popular I mean in stock in the sporting goods section of your local X-Mart. And that’s too bad, because there are plenty of “cult” cartridges that are such good deer calibers that the average hunter will never see. Great things like the .250 Savage, .260 Remington, the 7mm-08 Remington, the .257 Roberts, and European favorites like the 6.5X55. All of these are available in great rifles, and just plain ruin a deer’s day without much kick or blast. All are capable of 200-yard+ shots, which is further than the average shooter can hit accurately, anyway.
Here you see the drop, velocity, and energy figure for some factory loads for the .250, .257, and .260: .250/.257/.260
And here is the 6.5X55 and .260 versus the 7mm-08: 6.5X55/.260/7mm-08
For reloaders these calibers are simple and easy to use, and great for everyone from beginners to experienced rifleman. For people who have to buy off the shelve ammo, your choices can be limited, with the exception of the 7mm-08, which is becoming a favorite for light “mountain” and youth rifles. It's my favorite deer rifle caliber. Light kick for serious punch downrange. Maybe a little more recoil than the others, but noticeably less than the .270 Winchester.

When I would meet someone who was the real he-man chest beater type of hunter, I’d ask them out of the blue if they use a 7mm Rem Mag. “You betcha!” was the answer 90-percent of the time. There are a couple of fantastic shots who I know who use the 7mm Mag, but it was the choice for a certain type there for a long time. Now they seem to have moved on to the WSM cartridges, so they have to decide which they think is more Macho, the .270, 7mm, or .300 WSM. These are fantastic flat shooting cartridges, but for most deer hunting not really necessary. I’ve noticed most “7 Mag guys” hate, no, loath the .270 Winchester. One was heard to say “I’d rather shoot a .308 Winchester than the .270.” I asked why, and no rational answer could be found in the words that came forth, basically it was “I just don’t like it”. I don’t understand that, because if you want moderate recoil, long range, and plenty of choices in rifles, .270 should be your thing.

Ballistic bias? Nope, one would have to understand the ballistics of a cartridge first. So it's some half-assed personal bias, but people aren't logical very often. Want proof? Here’s the comparison between two loads in popular bullet weight for both the .270 and the 7 Mag, both using the streamlined Nosler Ballistic tip bullet:
.270 vs. 7 Mag
Velocity, wind drift, and bullet drop are within a gnats hair of each other. Energy numbers are higher for the 7 Mag due to the slightly heavier bullet, but no deer hit with either one in the same spot would know the difference, but the recoil of the 7 Mag would be more in same weight rifles, and want to take a guess why? The slightly heavier bullet accounts for some, but the real reason is the amount of powder in the load. Seriously- when a ballistic program asks you to input the weight of the powder charge of the load to calculate recoil, that’s exactly why. The more powder, the more of a “rocket effect” you get in recoil. I stole that term from “Rifle Loony” John Barsness because it’s a really good description. Looking at a couple of reloading manuals I have shows most .270 loads call for about a 60- to 64-grains of powder, but the “big 7mm” loads for the 150-grain bullet call for as much as 80-grains powder to boot that bullet down range. Science, man.

This brings us to the venerable .30-06 Springfield. Many people love it, but in lightweight rifles it too has plenty of recoil. In heavier rifles, most experienced shooters can handle it and the 7 Mag. It’s just in light weight rifles that most people buy it can be excessive. You probably see a trend here: Light rifles and a pretty good sized bullet going downrange with plenty of powder behind it = recoil. This can be as much of a rifle style problem as a caliber selection issue. The most popular style of bolt-action rifles, the “sporter style” was developed when people actually had to go out and hunt for their deer- spotting and stalking, or “still hunting”, slinking quietly through the woods and talking what shots presented themselves. This style is represented by slim 22-inch barrels and trim wood (or synthetic) stocks- you can easily recognize this type rifle. These days most hunters sit in a tree stand and wait for a deer to walk by, and carry their rifle to that point on a padded sling. The simple answer is to get a heavier, target type rifle for the serious kickers. For lighter, more easy-shooting calibers a sporter remains a good choice.

The second problem I keep seeing is hunters putting really high magnification scopes on their rifles, on the order of 12 or 16 power for the high side of a variable scope. 3X9 variables are probably the most popular, and while not the worst choice, what usually happens is our stereotypical hunter- let's call him Brad- goes to the range to sight ‘Ol Bessie in, cranks that sucker up to 9X, shoots his couple of shots to verify he can hit…something, then leaves it turned up to the highest setting. You see what’s coming. A deer walks by at 20-yards, and Brad can’t line up the shot in the scope because all he sees is hair or tree, and either spooks the deer fiddling with the scope or shoots- poorly, then cusses the scope. If he thinks he’s smart, (he thinks he's a genius) he gets a “peep through scope mount” which makes it possible to see the iron sights, but makes the scope too high to use without taking his head off the stock, making it essentially useless. Smart? Uh, nope.

The simple answer is a low powered variable scope. They aren’t as popular as the standard issue 3X9, but are much more useful for the average big game hunter, especially where shots a often less than 100-yards. I’ve used a 1.5 X 4.5 on my 7mm-08 for several years now, and the key is to leave the scope turned down to it’s lowest setting. A 3x9 really isn’t a bad choice either, just leave it turned down, and if you feel you need the magnification for a longer shot you can always turn it up. It won’t spook a deer 100-yards away to do it, but I’ve made some great shots out to 200-yards with that little 4.5 power scope turned all the way up, and it has made me re-think all my scope choices. I only use higher magnification scopes for varmint or targets, and my highest powered “hunting” scope is a 3x9- and that’s on my Squirrel rifle for making head shots on the little varmints at 50-yards or more
For a riflescope primer, start here: http://www.opticsplanet.net/how-to-choose-riflescope.html