The Bass pro's

[crankbait2009]

I was watching The Bass Pro's television show and this time KVD was in it talking about his swimbait jigs.  he was fishing a football head type jig with the soft crawdad tails attached to the hook.  every time he went to put the soft bait on, he would bite the end of the stem off it....

why does he do that?  rather than taking it out of the pack and placing it on the hook, he'd rip the tip off, then place it on.

[Hellbenderman]

He was probably just customizing it. Perhaps it made his skirt ride out funny or something. Or, maybe he like the taste of plastic.

[aarogb]

He does it to get an overall smaller profile of the jig and so that the fish don't bite just the pinchers of the trailer off.

[flippin and pitchin]

He was using a SK Rage Craw and wanted to shorten the bait to make it a bit more compact. The rage Chunk was too short so he bit of 1/2 inch of the longer version. The swim jig is not a football head. It's pointed and somewhat streamlined to get through vegetation. Good observations.

[crankbait2009]

that is correct, now that you mention it.  it was pointed and he did call it a swim jig.  i did a rewind on my direct tv to watch it again..........

makes sense about cutting the profile down, but he never mentioned why.

another question.  while i was watching the same episode, the bass pros were all using baitcasters.  i tried watching as close as i thought i could and i never once saw them feather the line with there thumb while casting.  now, unless they did this so quickly that i didnt see it.  while they casted, they actually had close ups of each pro when casting and i never saw the thumb move.

is this possible?

[BASSclary]

My thumb constantly feathers the spool during the whole cast. If I were to watch it, I dont think I would really see my thumb move. Were their thumbs blatantly off the spool? If thats the case they probably just have their brakes dialed in.

[Sam]

Crankbait2009, the pros do lots of things they do not share with us.

If you read any of Kevin VanDam's books he shares some of his secrets with you.

Ike is the same way with his double secret information but he will share it with you at his seminars.

Attend a Bassmaster University and you will hear a lot of information that is not made public in DVDs, books or magazines. 

[crankbait2009]

bassclary - that could be but i kept watching it over and over to see if they actually feathered the spool....i wasnt seeing it.  i would think the right thing to do was feather.

my revo STX can be thrown sometimes without feathering depending where the breaks are set but i dont mess with that. i feel more comfortable feathering....to each his own though

[flippin and pitchin]

The thumb on a baitcaster's spool is like a clutch in a transmission.  Friction or the lack there of controls the rotation of the spool.  The movement is very subtle and I doubt you would see it.  It's neat you are paying such close attention.  TEVO everything and watch it more than once.   

[Hamby]

It would be hard to see him actually feathering the spool. His thumb is probably riding just over the top of it and barely touching the line. When i cast, my thumb never moves from the spool release bar.

I agree, it's cool that you're studying these videos. I will tell you there's no substitute for actually trying one though. It looks so easy when the pros do it (as you're learning now). Took me a few trips to actually be able to effectively fish with one. Now i'll try my hardest not to fish with a spinning reel. Baitcasters give you so much more control.

[B A S S E R]

I don't think you would notice him feathering it. Its just so natural for me that i couldnt tell you if i did it on the previous cast or not.

[senile1]

Keep watching and learn. This is the best instructional bass fishing show on television IMO. The next episode has a nice 5 minute tutorial from Brian Snowden on Winter fishing. It's amazing how much information he fits into his five minutes.

[Nick]

Yep, in three years of fishing using sophisticated  electronics, and watching and listening on the net, seminars, and tv, one can learn what it took us old fellas 30 years (and counting) to learn.

Old Virgil Ward, Harold Ensley and the like weren't quite this dialed in their approach to impart knowledge for us to mine, but we old timers probably felt better about learning so many keys to fishing success because we did it ourselves without much help, by the seats of our pants, time on the water, and lots of trial and error.

I was darn proud locating that first brushy pile I found on a lake with my tiny Lowrance and the school of bass living there that had never seen a Fliptail plastic worm before. Very satisfying back in the day!