Pro Angler Advice

[Hawkeye21]

13 hours ago, Zeeter said:

Kind of like I mentioned before. These guys make a living fishing. They're out there every day. They could take just about any lure and make it work for them, so it doesn't matter who supplies them as a sponsor. I could never fish with a Quantum reel, but KVD can. If I was out on a boat every day like he is I could make it work for me.

 

Those KVD Quantum reels are actually a great bang for your buck.  I bought one of his combos for my fist baitcaster and it's still one of my favorites.  It actually has more features on it than my $100 reels and it even manages to catch fish just as well too.

9 hours ago, Ohio Bassin said:

I know right after KVD won his last classic in Louisiana you couldn't find a SK KVD 1.5 in stock anywhere for months so I think it depends on the pro.

 

I remember reading about how he won with the Chartreuse Black Back 1.5 so I bought one right away.  It's still one of my favorite lures.  Those 1.5 squarebills just flat out work. 

[Zeeter]

Sometimes I'll buy what they're throwing if it doesn't make much difference. Unless I know another brand, or if the price of what they're selling is outrageous then who cares? Especially if I like what he's saying and his video helped me a great deal. In those cases he made me a better fisherman so I don't mind patronizing his sponsors.

 

If it's a high ticket item then it's completely different. I had two Live Target swimbaits in my shopping cart last week based on a video of some guy glowing over them. When I asked around in the forum I deleted them.

[Zeeter]

19 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

 

Those KVD Quantum reels are actually a great bang for your buck.  I bought one of his combos for my fist baitcaster and it's still one of my favorites.  It actually has more features on it than my $100 reels and it even manages to catch fish just as well too.

 

I remember reading about how he won with the Chartreuse Black Back 1.5 so I bought one right away.  It's still one of my favorite lures.  Those 1.5 squarebills just flat out work. 

 

I was just trying to make a point. I've never actually used a quantum as I am a shimano guy. If a guy is out there 270 days a year he's going to start feeling bites that some of us amateurs wouldn't feel. I guess using a reel was a poor analogy on my part. Maybe go with fishing line, instead. 

 

When Ike won the classic a decade ago he used Manns Stone Jigs. I immediately got some of them and they are my go-to jigs. So again - low ticket item and I don't mind using their gear. High ticket item I'll ask around.

[Chance_Taker4]

1 hour ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I remember reading about how he won with the Chartreuse Black Back 1.5 so I bought one right away.  It's still one of my favorite lures.  Those 1.5 squarebills just flat out work. 

I agree I lines my whole tackle box with those 1.5 squarebills after that classic mostly because I never fished them before and on my first cast throwing the Sexy Shad I caught my PB and now I have a squarebill tied on every outing

[RichF]

Another thing - back in the days before youtube became so prevalent we had to learn everything from magazines and watching fellow anglers. I never bothered reading too much into what they say. Once there was an article on "kicker fish". Once you reach your string limit you go after that kicker fish. Of course it was all nonsense. Who doesn't keep trying to catch that bigger fish after the limit is reached? yet these guys went on for two pages about how important the kicker fish is. It was ridiculous and I felt stupider for reading it. The pros back then weren't giving away any real information like - what do you do to get that kicker fish?

 

This isn't nonsense at all.  Most guys that fish 3 to 4 day tournaments will "fish for a limit" first thing, every day of competition.  That means they're going to fish MLF style (shakey head, wacky rigged senko, etc) just so they can put 5 keepers in the box quickly.  It's no easy task to limit every day in a tour level event.  Most of the touring pros are just fishing for a check so they can continue with the season and often times, just limiting every day will guarantee they cash.  Once they get their 5, then they have more freedom to fish for a kicker/bigger bite.  This usually means they will throw bigger baits which will drastically lower their catch ratio.  

 

On 3/18/2017 at 2:51 PM, sully420 said:

90% of all fishing gear is good enough to get the job done.

 

This right here is gold.  It doesn't really bother me if a pro pushes a sponsored product even though they might not use it a lot, because I know that you can catch bass on just about everything out there.  I use the "pros' recommendations" as a way to see what kind of stuff is out there on the market.  If they're showing off something that looks neat to me (and not obnoxiously priced), I'll give it a try. Whether or not that specific product was used to win a tournament has no bearing on my decision to acquire. 

[Zeeter]

11 minutes ago, RichF said:

 

This isn't nonsense at all.  Most guys that fish 3 to 4 day tournaments will "fish for a limit" first thing, every day of competition.  That means they're going to fish MLF style (shakey head, wacky rigged senko, etc) just so they can put 5 keepers in the box quickly.  It's no easy task to limit every day in a tour level event.  Most of the touring pros are just fishing for a check so they can continue with the season and often times, just limiting every day will guarantee they cash.  Once they get their 5, then they have more freedom to fish for a kicker/bigger bite.  This usually means they will throw bigger baits which will drastically lower their catch ratio.  

 

If you read the article you would have been put off by it. Certainly they go for the limit first. But the article goes on to ask several pros about kicker fish. Basically, the answer was "yes, I go for kicker fish after I get my limit." No insight on what changes they make. Anyone reading the article would have said the same thing: Why write a three page article where pros express that after their limit they go for bigger fish? Was there some notion out there that after fishing for the limit they simply stop and go home?

[RichF]

8 minutes ago, Zeeter said:

Was there some notion out there that after fishing for the limit they simply stop and go home?

 

Probably not this but I'm sure there was the assumption that switching to bigger baits will often produce a kicker bite.  While they may not have explicitly explained that, the notion could probably have been inferred.  I'm not saying there isn't a lot of dud information out there, but my assumption about this article is that it wasn't necessarily meant to be a "how to catch a kicker" article but more of a "this is how I approach a tournament day" piece.    

[Zeeter]

1 minute ago, RichF said:

 

Probably not this but I'm sure there was the assumption that switching to bigger baits will often produce a kicker bite.  While they may not have explicitly explained that, the notion could probably have been inferred.  I'm not saying there isn't a lot of dud information out there, but my assumption about this article is that it wasn't necessarily meant to be a "how to catch a kicker" article but more of a "this is how I approach a tournament day" piece.    

 

Quite likely. It's just that it took three pages for everyone to essentially say the same thing. Gotta get that kicker fish to get ahead of the pack. Well duh! And of course I was being sarcastic in that section that you quoted me on.

[jimf]

I actually think most if not all of us, whether we like to admit it or not, are influenced by marketing to some degree.  And a pro discussing the baits and gear used is just that - marketing.    I think we are all pretty aware what they are doing, but subconsciously when you hear KVD (or fill in your favorite pro) talking about their gear, clothing, sunglasses, truck etc....  you are probably being influenced even if it is only at a subconscious level.   

 

 

[Zeeter]

Personally, I won't buy anything that doesn't say "Ike Approved" on it  

[chattooga_ basser]

Well okay I'll admit to having a bunch of biffle bugs and hard heads stocked up. However I usually do best with the biffle bug as a jig trailer and a craw or trick worm on the hard head.

[jakebrake]

On ‎3‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 2:54 PM, Zeeter said:

Personally, I won't buy anything that doesn't say "Ike Approved" on it  

So, you're an Eisenhower fan?

[Mike L]

On 2/9/2017 at 11:12 PM, Gotfishyfingers? said:

You can always sign up to be a Marshall. That way you can see first hand what exactly they are throwing and techniques their using.

 

That's what I did at the first Elite of the year on Okeechobee.  

I was more interested in how, where and why he was useing what he was useing. 

The decision making process he used was more important to me than the specific bait or equipment used. 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

 

[oakeybassin]

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 9:41 AM, Zeeter said:

To this day I think the BPS senko clones are just as good, if not better than the Senko brand.

My uncle always fished top of the line gear.  He would spend big bucks to have brand names.  While I do agree that reputable brands my be of higher quality, I think that some of the big dollar items are just hype.  We fished multiple times with a guide on the Delaware River and my uncle needed to fish Senkos.  The guide was sponsored by Yum, so he recommended the Dinger.  I watched my uncle go through six packs of senkos to our two packs of dingers.  Dingers, which are about half the price of senkos held up much better to the abuse from the smallies that were hammering our lines all day.  Ever since, I always fish a dinger instead of a senko because I saw that it actually did work and this was a perfect example of a guide standing behind his sponsored product because it was great.  Other than that, I'll try to just pay attention to technique and style.

[chadmack282]

On Friday, February 10, 2017 at 0:05 AM, Brayberry said:

Years ago, I had a buddy win a Bass Invitational, he led wire to wire.  I read every article I could on the tournament, as I personally knew the guy, and had already spoken with him and knew all the details on the win.  Every magazine, including Bassmasters, said he won the tournament with 2 lures, a "unidentified bait" and specific Shad Rap.  Technically True,  but the unidentified bait they had a picture of and it was obivious to everyone is was a old Smithwick Rogue (not a sponsor), and the Shad Rap (Rapala was a sponsor).  The articles led you to believe the Shad Rap did most of the damage and the Rogue just caught one here or there, in reality it was the Rogue that caught all of his keepers, and the Shad Rap he only threw for 5 minutes on the last day just to catch something on it to say it caught fish.  After that I never trusted the magazines or pro's.  I jut watch what they are doing, not what they are saying

Gotta pay those Bills!!!