Gangley

I LOVE THAT GUY!!! That guy always makes my day, especially when he gets his arse handed to him by somebody that looks like he just stepped off the set of the Beverly Hillbillies and jumped into a worn out boat with "inferior" equipment. Now I like nice equipment, have my expensive toys and will spend what some consider "good money" on what I like, but what I purchase and how much I spend is not discussed with others and I will NEVER make others feel insecure about the gear that they use or can afford. Anybody worth a grain of salt and eating high on the hog has at one point known what it was like to crap in low cotton without two pennies to rub together. The insecure db's showing off their gear are the ones who never had it rough or have forgotten. Those guys dont bother me, they are easy pickens usually. What really gets me nervous at the tournament launch is the older guy running a mid 90's boat with worn out front-deck carpeting and an antiquated, but well used sounder. Thats the guy that impresses me, thats the guy I want to talk to, thats the guy I want to go fishing with.

I cant believe that ya'll have yet to say one of the best fishing songs EVER: Robert Earl Keen Jr. - 5 Pound Bass Me and my 8 year old son listen to it every trip to the lake. The intro says it all "Up this morning Before the sun Fixed me some coffee and a honey bun Jumped in my pickup gave her the gas I'm goin' out to catch a five pound bass" http://youtu.be/Pv6OvaQ1aAU

I generally keep one brake on my curados and my tension knob set loosely. If I press the thumb bar, the lure drops instantly and will hit the ground 5 feet blow in about 2 seconds. When I cast I dont "whip" it, I make sure its a slow and smooth cast, let the weight of the lure load the rod, and use my thumb to monitor the spool. Once you do it a while you can feel when the line is backing up (birds nest) and can adjust your thumb in mid cast to account for it. Like mentioned above, it just takes familiarity with your equipment.

Yellow Magic popper Spoon Money Minnow

You might be looking too deep into the word choice there Bobby A baitfish-imitating lure that moves erratically? Sign me up, I'll give it a whirl.

The horny toad was the lure I used A LOT when I first started fishing for bass. I became pretty profficient with it during tha time and used it mainly three different ways. 1. Reeled steady across the top like a buzzbait. 2. Tug Tug then Pause in the openings(Repeat). The lure would sink on the pause and glide to the bottom (5'-6') in a very smooth manner. Had to watch the line carefully for twitches when fishing it this way. If no hit, I would reel up the slack then tug it a few times until it got back to the top, then kill it again at the next opening and let it glide down slowly 3. Buzzing from lilly pad to lilly pad. Once on a lilly pad, I would then let it sit on the pad for a bit with very light but constant movement. I would basically twitch it in place on the lilly pad to mimic a frog moving around. This worked extremely well when there were bluebird skies and high temps, I am assuming because the lure cast a shadow through the pad where the bass were seeking comfort from the sun. The bass do tend to hold onto these lures for a while, maybe because of the thickness of the lure which is substantial compared to others. I am not sure, but I do know that the bass in our local waters seem to like them pretty good and hit them on a regular basis. As far as sinking vs floating, some of the colors consistently sink while others consistently float, a simple matter of density differences between materials used (glitter, no glitter, salt, etc). My all time favorite color was Bull Frog. I have caught more bass with the ZOOM Horny Toad in that color scheme than I could possibly remember. Best of luck to you.

Yeah, the hair jig works well, very well. As usual, quality components give you quality results. Also, if your losing atleast one jig a trip, then your most likely fishing in the right places. I will generally lose one jig every 2-3 hours at a new spot, but once I have that spot dialed in and I know what cover is there, I may go a week without losing one. Fear not, once you get the structure in that location dialed in and can tell exactly what part of the structure your jig is coming through and what will be coming up next, you'll be amazed at what you can drag that jig through successfully.

Awesome, thanks for the heads up!

Early on when I first started fishing, a lot of my fishing occurred at night and I found that I had the best luck using the same color choices that I use during the day and that my catch ratio was better without rattles except in a few certain situations. Even with muddy water, I found that rattles didnt help me at all unless I was fishing along a soft bottom with no moon light. If I was fishing rocks or hard substrate, the fish found my jig equally as well with rattles or without. The lead head makes an awful lot of noise bouncing off of rocks and the rattles aren't neccessary for fish to locate it. Also, when you see a bass' wake 5 feet away from your lure as it goes to attack it in muddy water with less than 6 inches of visibility, you quickly realize that rattles and colors may not be as important as you would think. If fish are hungry, they will find your jig pretty quickly.

Wacky rigged Senkos or senko-type baits. I hate them with a passion. Dont get me wrong, I love letting my kids use them and I encourage their use of them since its an easy way to get them into fishing. However, when I fish with friends or solo, I fish for different reasons and the senko doesnt jive with those reasons. I cant explain it well so I'm sure I'll sound like a complete a$$ when you read this. Fishing a senko to me is like putting a chair on top of a deer feeder and shooting a pet deer that is tied to the leg of the feeder. I cant help but dwell on the thought that It requires no effort, very little skill, and very little technique. In reality I know that isnt true and that there are many variances and differing techniques that require intricately detailed presentations that you must be very skilled with to work it properly. For some reason though, I cant get over my initial thoughts on them and because of that, in MY MIND its a horrid way to fish and I absolutely abhor it,

BINGO

Lipless: Rat-l-trap Shallow: Bomber Model B Balsa Medium and deep both go to Rapala DT series

RW, I have heard good things about the Menace, might give them a try in the upcoming months. The Rage Craw has done well for me with this combo, but I'll probably give the menace a try once it heats up and I am swimming a jig more frequently. Minnow, yeah, they seem to be typical, hehe. The pumpkinseed, somewhat similar to your chosen color choice, is stout for me as well. I usually flip with it and a ZOOM fat albert grub. Anything greenish with tad of orange seems to do pretty good around here

I have been using the Northstar jigs for well over a year now, almost 2 years actually, and they have almost completely replaced every manufacturer in all my jig containers. They truly are a quality jig and I have yet to have a skirt fall off or break a hook. My favorite jig is the 3.8 oz Flip & Swim Jig in the Alabama Craw skirt matched up with a craw trailer in the Bama Color Scheme (Net Bait or Rage usually). They match up beautifully together and my results this year have been great. The Flip & Swim head design comes through weeds with ease while still allowing the jig to stand the craw up in a defensive pose if desired giving the end user the ability to present the same lure in a multitude of different ways. I also caught my PB flipping this jig but in the Pumpkinseed skirt. If yall havent had a chance to try them out you definitely should, they outlast and outperform just about every jig I have tried in the past and I wont be purchasing any other brand in the near future unless my needs drastically change. Kudos to Northstar, great jigs that produce great results. Jig Trailer

I dont exclude a lure simply because its being promoted by a professional and just happens to have that professionals name on it. I simply discard all comments or reviews that the specific pro has on the said lure, period. I have a few KVD 1.5 and 2.5's, but I darn sure didnt purchase them based on anything he had to say. It was based on reviews, comments, and results by individuals who fished them and had no affiliation with him or Strike King.

If I see a pro using a product he doesnt endorse of have on his boat/shirt/truck/etc. then I will pay great attention to what he has to say about it. If it's KVD telling me about KVD cranks then I might as well be deaf/mute. I could care less to hear somebody endorse something they are being paid to endorse because I cant establish credibility with that pro. When I watch my fishing shows, specifically the bass tournaments, I'm not watching the pro or listening to the announcer, im trying to catch a glimpse of what lure the pros are using and how they are working it.

Fat alberts work good. Also, a LFT Magic shad does REALLY well.

Yellow Magic Popper Xcalibur Zel-Pop

I never liked this photo because I alway thought it awkward with me laying down behind the kids instead of the wife, but this is me, wife, son and daughter.

Their 4.5 and their 6.5 Rattlesnakes are fantastic. The baits have a TON of action and a very potent garlic scent. Though the 6.5 is a good thick profile worm (though its actually pretty skinny), it has a wonderful shimmy to it and works great on a shakey head as well. I mostly texas rig them with an unpegged bullet weight, but they also do great on carolina rig and drop shot. Regardless of the technique, I always run the hook through the head, come back through the body and texpose the hook, never hooking it wacky style. Many people wacky rig them and have success, but I can't seem to do well with them that way for some reason. One technique that you dont see them used often with is a drop shot, but a slight jiggle of the rod tip creates a lot of action with these baits on a drop shot and has resulted in some good limits.

Hooligan, Though I value your opinion and input on many topics broached on this site, to say my post is ENTIRELY not applicable is obsurd. They were suspended above a thermocline, be it in 10 feet of water or 100, it doesn't matter. They swam downward to feed, and through a thermocline to do it. Of course it isn't everyday common, but it does occur at a rate greater than .001%. Again, I am not arguing about when, where, why and how. I'm simply stating that bass will feed downward in reply to RW's question.

For each tournament it is vitaly important to see out your angler and figure out how he is planning on fishing. If he is planning on running and gunning with spinnerbaits and crankbaits, then my soft plastics assortment would be pretty small. If he is planning on camping out on one or two spots the entire day, bring a full arsenal of plastics and a video game or two To answer your question though, if I needed to limit the amount of soft plastics I carried with me, I would take my single favorite soft plastics in three basic categories: some action(trick worm or senko), more action(ribbon tails), and crazy action(Rage Tails or equivelant). I would cary a light and dark in each color for a total of 6 plastic soft lure choices (3 different types with 2 colors of each type). With those plastics I am only limited by my ability. However, like mentioned in a prior post my main focus would be on making sure I had the appropriate terminal tackle to fish soft plastics in most any condition. For example, it's pretty hard to fish soft plastics as a co-angler behind a guy who is flying down the bank throwing a crankbait unless you have some heavy sinkers that get that bait where you want it quickly and are heavy enough to keep it there while being dragged down half a mile of bank in under 5 minutes. Otherwise you might as well be fishing a weightless worm in hurricane.

They definately will feed down when suspended. Is it common, I dont know, but it does happen. For instance, when the thermocline is around 12 feet I sometimes can still catch them in 15 feet of water when dragging a crank along the bottom. I am pretty certain they dont stay down there long though, and are simply going down to feed then coming back up. However, I can see the bass suspended 3-4 feet off the bottom where I'm fishing and will still get multiple strikes with the crank banging around 3 foot below them and the thermocline. Does it happen often, no, but it happens often enough to where I dont mind spending 15 minutes in an area banging cranks off the bottom when the fish are suspended 3-4 feet up.

How, When, and Where? How: I wont go into what rod, reel, and line you should or shouldnt use but instead simply list what I use. Personal preference trumps all else so fish what you are comfortable with. My rod is a Med Heavy American Rodsmiths David Fritts Cranking Rod - 7' long My reel is a Shimano Curado E5 My line is Trilene 8lb XT (yes, 8lb, its tougher than you would expect) My presentation is simple, plow the bottom with the bill and run into everything I can. Pause a second after running into solid objects before starting the retrieve again. When: Anytime. Just as some bass stay shallow year round, some bass will stay deep year round. However, late fall/winter and just before the dog days of summer are when I'll start really looking for fish gathering deep. Once the thermocline sets up, Ill fish fish the maximum depth of the thermocline plus an additional 2-3 feet deeper. There will be fish below the thermocline, just not many. I assume they are down there feeding for breif periods then find their way back above the thermocline, but I honestly don't know. Where: This is the challenging part for me sometimes. Some days I will search and never find them. Other days I will search for an hour only to find them in one spot that appears identical to others that I have already checked, and they will be stacked THICK. Once found, you can usually sit on them and make a good trip out of it. Specifically, I look for channel swings with steep drop offs on either side of the channel. Ill usually fish the edges of the dropoffs but will sometimes hit the bottom of the channel for a while. The second place I look for is mid lake humps. Much like channel swings, when I find them they are stacked thick and you can make a good trip out of a single location.

You generally either need a structure change (channel swing, drop off, etc), some sort of cover, or both to fish worms to their potential. However, one of the exceptions is mid lake humps. Though a hump is definately a structure change, some are so wide spread and vary so little in elevation that it can be hard to distinguish them from surrounding structure and they can appear to be a flat thats only a foot or so above the surrounding area. During summer time and winter time the bass will sometimes load up on these "humps". Though there is absolutely zero cover in the area, a large worm dragged across the hump and through these schools can be VERY rewarding with big fish and lots of them. However, when the fish are stacked up on humps, dont think that a worm is the only tool to get them. A deep diving crank, heavy spinnerbait slow rolled, carolina rigged fluke, etc can be just as good.