By Mike Pehanich

Jared Lintner teams the right tools with knowledge, practice and three new Uncle Josh MEAT trailers to coax big bass from docks and heavy cover. Follow his seven guidelines to flipping and pitching success!

Jared Lintner knows a thing or two about both big bass and flipping/pitching technique. His home waters of Clear Lake and the California Delta are fabled big bass waters where he has honed his skills to become one of the most effective practitioners of flipping and pitching technique on the Bassmaster Elite Series tour.

His bread-and-butter bait for this “tight quarters” casting is the venerable “jig-and-pig” combination – a rig made far more effective with the arrival of the Uncle Josh MEAT line of jig trailers made entirely from pork fat.

An avid proponent of the jig trailers in the “pork-fat-only” Uncle Josh MEAT line, Lintner influenced the creation of the MEAT Craw and TW CrawFrog and the MEAT TW Bubba — products sold exclusively through Tackle Warehouse.

 Jared Lintner describes his three favorite jig trailers in this SWF video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXRFSsM082o

(Also see Jig & Pig Tips: Jared Lintner’s ‘Special Request’ MEAT jig trailers on the Uncle Josh website.)      www.unclejosh.com

Here he shares his seven top tips for effective flipping and pitching.

Tip #1: Enter the darkness – Docks, sunken boathouses, fallen trees…Such cover casts discernible shadows that beg your attention. “The far corner of that boathouse where the water is really dark…that is going to be your money cast!” says Lintner. “Put your bait anywhere there’s a transition from light to dark. Bass don’t want to sit where they can be seen. They want to sit in ambush. Always remember ‘the deepest, darkest spot’ when you are flipping and pitching a jig!”

Tip #2: Let it fall! – The cardinal sin of errant flippers is failure to follow up an accurate cast with a vertical fall. “A lot of guys engage the reel and start working the bait the second it hits the water. Don’t do that!” warns Lintner. “Let the lure fall on a slack line, and a lot of times you will get a reaction bite as bass grab it on the fall. But if you tighten that line immediately, the bait starts coming to you right away. That’s not natural.” And you will miss the fish!

Lintner prefers the buoyancy and lifelike action of the all-fat Uncle Josh MEAT pork trailers when flipping and pitching jigs.

Tip #3: Use tools of the trade – Gear up with rod, reel and line that will allow you to present your baits properly and pull fish out of heavy cover. Lintner’s tools are the G. Loomis 894 FPRGLX flipping rod with a Shimano Chonarch E7. “I like a 7:1 gear ratio because a lot of time that fish is hot and moving, and you have to catch up to him quickly!” His line choices are Sunline FX braid and 25-pound test Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon.

Tip #4: Work Outside in – Don’t miss the easy pickings! Pick apart the outside edges of docks, brush and tree limbs before pitching to the ambush points deep within the cover.

Tip #5: Dare to get in there – Pitching to heavy cover is no game for the timid! Many anglers avoid the nasty cover where big bass lie in ambush. Big mistake! “That cast on the front edge of the dock is doing nothing. But skip that bait under the dock, and now you are in her house!” says Lintner. “You have increased your odds of getting a big bass by more than one-half by getting that bait two feet under the dock rather than just dropping it on the edge.”

Tip #6: Corner them! – Dock corners, cross beams, the intersection of a boat’s stern with a dock face…corners create multiple shadows and outstanding ambush points. Complex dock layouts create more prime locations as well. Look for ladders, too.

Tip #7: Practice – Growing up, Lintner emulated masters of flipping and pitching technique like Denny Brauer and Tommy Biffle. He copied their practice habits, too, setting up coffee cans in his parents’ backyard and flipping and pitching to these tough targets daily. “You can’t just get the right rod and reel and right pork trailer and think you are going to drop your bait on a dime,” says Lintner. “Practice is everything!”

By Abe Smith

Fry riding high is a sure sign that bass will bust a surface lure! The master of “pop” and “tops” tells what it takes to catch them.

Zell Rowland rarely misses a window of opportunity to fish a topwater lure.

And that window is wide open during the bass’s post-spawn period.

“The easiest time to catch bass on topwater is when males are up protecting fry,” proclaims the man that many consider the all-time best topwater angler to ever fish the pro circuit. “During the post-spawn, they are constantly running bluegill and other predators away from the bed or the fry. The females will be up and swimming around also, and they will feed on fry as well. So this can be an easy time to catch the big ones, too…But, you know, I would hate to be a bass fry!”

That male bass is a fry’s only protection from predation in those early days following the spawn, and those high-riding fry with their cruising protectors turn the attention of bass and angler alike to the surface.

High bank vs. broad flat

Zell first zeroes in on the type of spawning area he is fishing.

Popping and chugging baits are "must-haves" when pursuing post-spawn bass.

Bass don’t always have classic spawning bays to perform their annual rite of reproduction. On reservoirs with a lot of structure and quick-tapered banks, like Georgia’s Lake Lanier, for example, bass often spawn on or near tapered banks. While males guard fry, females may have moved only to adjacent dropoffs.

“Lanier has always been one of my favorite lakes to fish because it is a lake made for me to catch four- and five-pounders,” says Zell. “I can go around that lake and visually identify those 90-degree dropoffs off shallow flats where I know the female will be laying.”

Such conditions call for long casts along the breakline. With sufficient water clarity, depth is no object, even to recuperating females.

“Those fish will come up 10 to 20 feet to hit a bait,” says Zell.

Propeller baits are top producers on shallow spawners.

“One of my favorite baits when the fish are shallow is the (Smithwick) Devil’s Horse,” says Zell. “With a Devil’s Horse or Heddon Torpedo or Tiny Torpedo, I can control the distance the bait moves by bending the blades forward or backward. When I bend the blades forward, I can jerk the bait 10 times and still move it only a foot to two feet. That way, I can keep the bait around the target – a bush, a rock…something I can see. The bait creates commotion, but it barely moves!”

Shallow post-spawn bass are very aggressive, notes Zell, and they will come quickly to a bait.

Many anglers rank Zell Rowland as the best topwater angler on the Bassmaster Elite Series tour.

Later in the post-spawn period, males begin separating themselves from the fry and chasing them like shad, which also come into play as their spawn takes place.

“My favorite baits then are those that I can move, like the Rebel Pop-R and the (XCaibur) Zell Pop or the Zara Spook,” says Zell.  “I can fish these baits on deeper inclines, too.”

Zell keeps his bait moving when fish are on the ledges.

“One thing a bass can’t stand is the sight of an injured bluegill or shad that isn’t moving too far because it is easy prey,” he says. “I won’t hesitate in the retrieve very often like I would if I were fishing shallow around cover.”

Lure and size selection often correspond to the reservoir he’s fishing and the size of the forage.

“At Sam Rayburn, the shad are bigger than they are at a lake like Lanier,” he says. “A lake with smaller baitfish is where smaller topwaters like the Tiny Torpedo come into play.”

“Feathering” the bait

Feathered tail hooks add a dimension to topwater baits, especially during the post-spawn period.

“That feathered hook means a lot,” says Zell. “I have always believed that if I am hesitating that bait even for a moment, I can almost make a fish bite it with that feathered trailer.”

Don't underestimate the value of a feathered tail hook on topwater lures.

A feather is “lightning fast” in how it opens and closes, notes Zell. Even when he is barely turning the reel handle, the feather adds pulsating action.

“A feather shuts real quickly then slowly starts to re-open as the bait is sitting there,” he says. “It adds a lot of action without the angler doing anything!”

He adds a feathered tail hook even to baits on which they are not standard.

“I put a feathered trailer on a Zara Spook all the time,” he says. “You really want it there when the fish are not quite as aggressive as you’d like.”

He always opts for twin-colored feathers, and one color is always white.

“I always put the white feather facing down,” he explains. “All fish have dark backs and light-colored bellies.”

What’s my line?

Fluorocarbon is never an option on topwater lures. The high-density line sinks and pulls the nose of the bait downward, restricting its action. Monofilament line floats or sinks very slowly, facilitating the action of topwater lures.

Line diameter matters, too.

The Heddon Zara Spook defined the walk-the-dog bait concept, and it remains one of the deadliest topwater lures ever.

“The biggest thing to remember is that lighter line allows you to get more action out of the bait,” says Zell. “A heavier line delivers less. That is why I always spool up several rods to change the speed or action of a bait.”

Short but sweet

This post-spawn period is brief, stretching to several weeks at most. After a week or 10 days after the spawn, even the males turn on their fry, preparing the little guys for the “eat-or-get-eaten” world they will need to adapt to if they are going to survive. Fry head to shoreline cover, and the adult bass’s attention may fix on a wide array of foods from the fry themselves to spawning shad, bluegill, and other options.

“The big thing to remember is to always let your eyes do the looking for you,” says Zell. “You will see balls of bass fry, bass chasing fry like they chase shad, and all kinds of signs of what size topwater to throw.”

Time to open up the tackle trays and dial ‘em in!

“That’s why we have 500 lures in our tackle boxes,” laughs Zell.  “And have a lot of sizes of topwater lures to choose from, too – small, medium and large.”

By Mike Pehanich

Lake management expert Nate Herman knows a thing or two about growing big fish, but his records aren’t the only ones that prove “ transplants” grow biggest and best!

The accumulation of state record data adds weight to Herman’s contention that extremely large fish are:

Giant bass are only the beginning of what a well-managed water can grow.

1)    usually introduced to a body of water after they have grown past the perilous early stages of fish life, and

2)    generally few in number for their species in the water they grew up in!

—-      —

When Nate Herman calls, I listen!

A discussion about lake and farm pond management practices with Nate, the mind behind Herman Brothers Pond Management, sets my mind reeling for weeks on end!

Herman creates countless fisheries, from tiny ponds to lakes of several hundred acres. Some of his waters have such varied and complex structure and biodiversity that, had you come blindfolded, you would swear you were fishing a vast reservoir!

Musky sighting

Last week, Herman sent me photos of a musky and hybrid striper caught at one of the lakes he manages. The musky photo showed a fat 42-incher that he might have passed off as a 42-pounder were the truth not in him. The hybrid striper was thick and well fed, to say the least.

This musky, grown on a 40-plus acre lake, was only four years old at the time of capture. Nate Herman of Herman Pond Management supervises manages the lake.

The musky was only four years old!

Neither catch surprised me. Herman often grows huge fish on lakes he has designed or managed. But the recent catches compelled the Peoria, Ill.-based lake maker to reflect on the reasons behind his success.

“Whether the species is smallmouth bass, catfish, hybrids, crappie…we can always grow the fish we stock into big fish. Why?” Herman asked himself. “With any game fish, the first year or two of life is pretty rough in a pond, small lake or even a big body of water. But when we can grow a fish first at a hatchery pond or fish farm or sanctuary of some sort, they really have a chance to grow into trophy fish.”

What particularly interested Nate was that it didn’t matter if he had tailored lake management practices to a specific species. He often could grow giant fish — largemouth bass, smallmouth, hybrid stripers or muskellunge — with multiple species in the same body of water!

His memory flooded with more examples, and the questions each raised. Why , for instance, was the rare catfish always growing to big proportions in a pond where bass “stunted out” at 12 inches?

In most cases, the lone or “outsider” species wasn’t reproducing.

Controlling numbers of the species reduced competition in the niche the fish occupied. They may even have spared individual fish the stress of annual spawning.

State record fish catches also convinced him he could turn this knowledge into a fisheries management principle.

Hybrid stripers are becoming more popular introductions to managed waters. They grow fast and fight hard!

“I’ve really dug into it, and I’m finding that state record fish basically are stocked fish,” he assesses. “Rarely do you find a trophy of record proportions that is born in a given body of water and has lived in that body of water his whole life!”

Herman’s observation got me thinking, too, about countless records and fish anecdotes. I recalled a northern pike from a private strip mine lake that briefly held the Illinois state record. I used to fish that lake regularly with friends, and rare indeed were the pike we caught!

My fishing buddy John Hynds manages a 28-acre lake with an abundance of relatively small carp but nary a big buglemouth in the bunch!  My cousins, on the other hand, own a farm pond that everyone believed to be carp-free — until a 35 pounder surfaced one day!

Head start program

Herman has been applying this simple principle to pond and lake management practices.

“I am growing bigger fish by stocking them at one to two years old,” he explains. “I am especially applying this to managing smallmouth in ponds. We can grow really big smallmouth just by stocking fish at a slightly advanced stage of development. You really don’t need them to reproduce. In fact, the research on stocking sterile largemouth bass seems to indicate we can grow almost all these fish to three or four… on up to six or seven pounds.”

Food source

The management logic goes beyond stocking a fish too big to get eaten, too, Herman stresses. Fish need an adequate food source at each stage of their development! And sparking an early growth spurt helps them in multiple ways.

“Often by stocking musky at 12 to 16 inches, they have a much better chance of growing big,” he explains. “If they are only eight to 10 inches when they enter the system, yes, they can be eaten, but they also may not have a food source sufficient for them to do well, to hunt effectively.”

Nate Herman with a musky grown on home water! (Photos courtesy of Herman Brothers Pond Management)

He has stepped outside the box to apply the principle to stunted bass populations, too.

“People think I am insane when I tell them to stock 50 14-inch bass per acre in a lake with a bass population stunted at 12 inches,” says Herman. “The key point is that stunted fish are old by the time they reach 12 to 14 inches. But once a fish gets past the (size) hump of that population, it finds so much food available!”

By Mike Pehanich

If you love the challenge and fight of big fish, try carp fishing with tools and baits designed for the “monsters” that swim in waters large and small across the United States!

Angler alert: there’s a monster in your backyard!

It’s true. And if you thrill to the pull of a big fish, you’ll go out and meet the monster – on your terms or his!”

“Carp can grow big in small waters,” says Munenori Kajiwara, carp expert and U.S. distributor for Marukyu, Japan’s largest manufacturer of ground and dough baits for carp. “And it is so much easier to catch a 20-inch carp than a 20-inch bass. And carp get so much bigger, too!”

Like father, like son! Lintaro Kajiwara cashed in on one of his dad's ground bait tips with this golden beauty. Large carp are found in countless waters, large and small, across the United States.

Indeed, they do! Carp of five and 10 pounds are common and a 20-pounder is well within reach in waters large and small across the country.

Numbers are great. Catching a limit is an accomplishment. Taking a personal best for a given species is a landmark. But nothing matches the throbbing surge of a special fish, and, make no mistake, a giant carp that is artfully captured can be something special!

“I tell families at my carp fishing seminars that there is a monster in their backyards,” says Kajiwara, a tournament carp angler born in Japan. “You can catch big carp almost everywhere, and they really fight! If you want your kids and your whole family to experience the fight of a big fish, try carp fishing!”

As a tournament carp fisherman, Kajiwara has sophisticated equipment that would dazzle and dismay the legions of North American carp bashers – and impress even pro bass and musky fishermen. His artillery includes quad pods, electronic bite detectors, clever terminal rigs, and pricey rods and reels fine-tuned to the task.

Yet the price of entry for quality carp fishing can be low. A modestly priced rig can be more than adequate if you do some smart shopping. The price of participation will be modest, too, since the overwhelming majority of carp angling takes place from the bank.

Last frontier

Carp are ignored across most of North America, but that’s hardly the case around the rest of the globe. The carp is a prized catch in much of Asia, including Russia and Japan, and extremely popular in Europe. That has left carp aficionados in the United States an almost untapped resource.

Lake Erie/Niagara River guide Terry Jones chanced into this carp at the mouth of the Lower Niagara between catches of smallmouth bass and steelhead, but you will catch more giant carp if you target them with the right baits and tactics.

“The U.S. is the last frontier for carp fishing on Planet Earth,” says Kajiwara “And a lot of small waters produce very large carp.”

I can vouch for that! My cousins hooked a tackle-busting mystery fish in their farm pond a number of years ago. The giant broke off unseen after several sizzling runs. Later that season, a “monster” carp upwards of 35 pounds came to the surface during an electro-shock survey.

No carp had ever been seen or reported from that pond. So half the mystery remains!

Carp often thrive in waters with marginal game fish populations due to depth or lack of suitable habitat. My fishing partner John Hynds manages a lake in northern Illinois with a fluctuating bass and panfish population but a reliable population of willing carp year after year.

Nature has equipped carp with some of the best survival tools in the underwater world. They can tolerate a wide range of water temperatures, low levels of dissolved oxygen, and turbid or even polluted water conditions.

And their instincts have earned them a reputation as one of the “smartest” fish in fresh water.

Under pressured fishing conditions carp can be elusive and angler-wary, which is why serious carp anglers have developed such refined rigs.

Yet they can be comparatively easy prey in waters where angler offerings generally answer few if any of the carp’s natural cravings. True, worms and other natural baits catch their share of carp and even artificial lures — from flies to hardbaits  – take the occasional monster, but nothing compares to a bait that appeals to the carp’s refined senses of taste and smell.

Another monster in the backyard! Big carp are plentiful in small waters, and they can grow to tackle-busting dimensions. Carp fishing is an easy way to treat your family members to the thrill of fighting big fish.

Baiting up!

“Ground baiting” is common practice within the carp fraternity. Practitioners spread mixes of grains, vegetables and animal and insect protein to attract or keep roaming carp in an area. Many North American carp anglers have used corn both as an attractant and a hook bait, but prepared baits formulated to carp tastes produce far better results. They have a more favorable effect on the aquatic environment and fish health as well!

Marukyu, which is the largest manufacturer of carp baits in Japan and one of the largest players in the global market, entered the U.S. market in 2012 with both “ground baits” to attract carp and “hook baits,” hardened dough bait formulations intended for the business end of the angler’s line. Today those baits are available in select retail and on-line stores or through direct order. (Try one of the retailers listed at the end of this feature, or call Munenori Kajiwara at 630-299-6508)

“Ground baits come in multiple sizes, colors and flavors,” explains Kajiwara. “Marukyu designed the baits for specific water conditions, water temperatures and seasons.”

Particle size is the biggest variable in seasonal selection of ground bait varieties, though some carp anglers opt for large particle ground baits strictly with the intention of attracting larger carp.

Marukyu sells a wide assortment of sizes, colors and flavors of baits formulated by some of the foremost carp experts from Japan, the United Kingdom and France. Marukyu baits are available at Lee's Global Tackle Connection.

“Boilies” are the “hook baits” of choice for serious carp fishermen. These rounded balls of grain, fruits and faunal protein catch carp on every continent.

“Marukyu makes two types of boilies: a bottom type and a ‘pop-up’ or floating type,” explains Kajiwara. “The ABR, or ‘advanced boilie recipe’ baits were designed in the United Kingdom with the intention of catching monster fish there, but we are catching a lot of fish in the U.S. with them!”

If you are planning to face the monster in your backyard any time soon, try serving him from a menu he prefers. But hold on to your rod. You will find some real monsters out there!

Marukyu carp baits are currently available through these retailers:

By Mike Pehanich

By early March of each winter, crappie anglers from the North need to scratch the itch for open water action.

No species satisfies like crappie at this time of year. Both black and white crappie are ready to bite, and often the biggest specimens of the year cross the gunwale.

Kyle Schoenherr shows off a monster black crappie caught off a rocky ledge on Kinkaid Lake.

“Crappie are moving into the creeks feeding Kinkaid Lake in good numbers right now,” crappie pro Kyle Schoenherr reported today. “The water is still cold, and I’d say we’re still a step away from the crappie pre-spawn period here.”

In December, I fished with Schoenherr. who guides on this 2,750-acre reservoir in southern Illinois. We pulled in crappie in good numbers right across the entire size spectrum despite cold temperatures and gusting winds. (Watch for future videos on crappie technique.)

Schoenherr’s All Seasons Crappie Fishing Guide Service enjoyed good success several weeks ago on Rend Lake in this ridiculously mild Midwest winter. But the lull in that bite has him back on Kinkaid, his home water.

“The fish have moved midway to three-quarters up the creek arms,” continued Schoenherr. “They are not real shallow yet. We are finding them mostly in seven to 15 feet of water.”

Best baits are glow-color plastics on 1/16- to 1/8-ounce jigs and Road Runners from TTI Blakemore.

“Kinkaid is generally a clear lake, but the water is a little murky from recent rains, and it is usually more stained up in the creek arms anyway,” added Schoenherr. “That’s why those glow colors are producing. Right now, the red and chartreuse glow tubes seem best. I inject the cavity with Berkley PowerBait Crappie Nibbles for added attraction.”

Kinkaid offers great fishing for largemouth bass and offers one of the finest musky fisheries in the state. It’s a terrific year-round fishery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge3WIZeiS3k

Kinkaid Lake profile

Location: Southwestern Illinois near the town of Murphysboro, 100 miles southeast of St. Louis.

Size: 2,750 acres

Notes: Located in Jackson County on the edge of the Shawnee National Forest, Kinkaid is one of the most picturesque lakes in the state with its high rock bluffs, clear water and scenic overlooks. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources manages about 4,000 acres of the surrounding land.  The U.S. Forest Service manages another 5,000 acres. Kinkaid-Reed’s Creek Conservancy Area controls another

300 acres. The area also hosts other great fishing waters, superb hunting, and abundant birds and wildlife.

For more details about Kinkaid Lake, contact nearby Lake Murphysboro State Park, 52 Cinder Hill Drive, Murphysboro, IL 62966, phone (618) 684-2867 or fax (618) 687-1220.

I’d had enough of the computer last Sunday, so even with a trip to southern Illinois’ Newton Lake less than two days away, I broke free for some late afternoon pond hopping.

My first stop was a 3- to 4-acre lake nestled between a popular park lake bordering a golf course and a residential community. It is shielded from public view on both sides by a ridge, and, even though I have seen discarded bait cups along the bank, I have never shared the water with another angler.

This is the kind of bass development ponds can yield. I took this hawg from pond #2 last May.

I had fished it the previous April (never in March), taking a half-dozen fish up to about 3.5 pounds on the Jackall Flick Shake and a wacky-rigged Senko on a two-hour outing. I decided to leave these bread-and-butter baits in my bag this time out.

My second cast with the Sebile Soft Magic Swimmer drew a hard thump but no hook-up. Two casts later, I set the hook and briefly turned what appeared to be a four-pound-plus bass. Unfortunately, all I “caught” was that momentary glimpse.

A small Rapala Clackin’ Rap produced a pair of nice fish, but, when the action slowed, I moved on to my second pond stop, a golf course pond that showed no signs of early March traffic from the plaid-pants crowd.

Two of my first three casts with the soft Magic Swimmer drew short strikes. But a few casts later, I hooked up with a fat 2.5-pounder. A couple more fish fell for the soft swimbait.

In between them, I took a 12-incher on a dead-sticked Neko-rigged leech from Northland Fishing Tackle. That “finesse” fish told me to think “small” and to think “slow.”

I switched to a finesse jig and added a small NetBait Paca Craw trailer in green pumpkin.

Stickworms (wacky rigged or fished weedless on a worm hook) and Jackall Flick Shake worms tore up the largemouth during April and May, but this time I left those baits at home and fished lipless crank baits, swimbaits and finesse jigs with craw trailers.

Two good fish came quickly, the second topping three pounds. Both fish came right off the rocky breakline at the bottom of the pond’s rock apron.

A total of 10 fish in a mere three hours! When you are just trying to shake off a bad case of office jitters, that’s a satisfying afternoon!

                                                                                                                             – Mike Pehanich

For tips on how to fish these golf course and development ponds, check out: Small Waters Strategies: Development ponds

See “Types of Small Waters — Index & Tips” under Mike Pehanich’s Small Waters Fishing “Resource” menu for a profile of  this lake type and for tips on how to fish development lakes and ponds.

By Mike Pehanich

Every once in awhile, you come across a product that changes the game.

Two years ago, BASS founder Ray Scott called me regarding “The Porker” feature I had written for Bassmaster

Doug Lee, whose father designed the Twin Troller X-10, has a bass to show Frank Jones, Freedom Electric Marine president.

magazine. Ray has devoted a huge part of his business life to small waters fishing through his Ray Scott Legacy Lakes operation, which designs and manages lakes for high quality fishing. As usual, our conversation soon turned to small lake fishing, particularly at President’s Lake, his home water, which some have called the “best bass lake in America.”

“Man, you should see this new boat I’m fishing from here at home,” said Scott. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my bass boats. But for fishing small waters, this boat is something else!

Ray arranged a call for me, and months later I met with Freedom Electric Marine president Frank Jones and Doug Lee, whose father had designed the craft.

Doug demonstrated the boat in a test pool at the headquarters in Benson, North Carolina. Watching him maneuver in an oversized swimming pool was impressive, but how would it perform on the water?

The Twin Troller X-10 put me in position to take this largemouth bass from an irrigation lake in North Carolina.

We fished several irrigation lakes over the next couple of days, and I could see quickly what had captured Scott’s enthusiasm.

We launched our two Twin Trollers easily where no launch existed at all.

We fished dense moss along a flooded timber shoreline with artificial frogs, and the boat performed like a champ. With the help of a sonar unit, I was able to hold tightly to a breakline contour, which produced a 22.5-inch female largemouth recovering from her recent spawn.

Two-foot control

You can launch the Twin Troller almost anywhere, ramp or not!

The boat is powered by twin 36-pound thrust MotorGuide electric motors (72-pound total thrust) that are recessed and center-positioned in the hull. The two-pedal foot control device not only provides forward propulsion but enable you to maneuver left, right, forward, backward and even to spin the boat in a tight circle as if you were on a zero-radius lawn mower.

The shallow draft enables you to scoot into and through water few other boats can navigate.

Ray Scott was right. This boat is a game changer!

For more information on the Twin Troller visit the Freedom Electric website.   Small Water Fishing readers will receive $100 Discount by entering MP101 in the Coupon Code.   

We’ll revisit those sod irrigation lakes near Benson in upcoming SWF features and find out how Doug Lee and Frank Jones fish them. Stay tuned!

By Mike Pehanich

Panfish anglers are basking in the light of glow-in-the-dark jigs and soft plastics.

Sometimes even bright guys can’t see the light!

Well, “bright” I may or may not be, but it sure took me long enough to catch on to the value of glow-in-the-dark jigs and soft plastic worms and other creature shapes in the pursuit of bluegill, crappie, perch and other tasty freshwater eatables!

The concept is, quite literally, as simple as day and night.

Fish won’t hit a lure that they can’t find, and even fish with excellent night vision can use a visual assist when feeding in dark, murky water or under the cover of night.

Glow-in-the-dark, jigs and soft plastics, also known as “glow” or “UV” baits, capture ultraviolet rays and – here’s the cool part – can actually store them for a brief period. Both painted jigs and soft plastics become “glow activated” by exposure to sunlight or artificial light.

Then drop them into dark water and see how they shine! Or, better yet, see how fish take a shine to them!

Shining bright at late ice

Decades ago, we used glow-in-the-dark spoons to catch king salmon and brown trout in Great Lakes harbors at night. And I got in step with walleye anglers who have long employed glow jigs for their favorite nocturnal predator.

That I balked at using UV plastic baits for panfish probably had more to do with me clinging to the “nothing can match live bait for panfish” premise than it did with the “glow” concept.

In recent years, however, a wide array of soft baits have proven deadly effective on panfish. Berkley’s Gulp! and PowerBait brands bred their own cult followings with a wide array of baits resembling the foods that comprise the typical panfish diet of plankton, insects and tiny baitfish and fry. Now an even wider array of offerings area available mainstream tackle makers as well as a few regional garage operators.

This past season, I fished new panfish plastics from Northland Fishing Tackle’s Impulse line and the Ecogear line of soft plastic worms and minnow/fry baits, which made its American debut not much more than a year ago.

In addition, I fished a lot of lowlight conditions this past ice fishing season. The conditions ranged from snowy overcast afternoons to twilight and even early evening and night ventures. My inability to see line and lure led to frustrating and even embarrassing tangles as I struggled at times with the seemingly simple task of dropping a bait through a hole in the ice six inches from my knees. But at least it led to an obvious question:

What can I do to make the bait more visible to me and, more importantly, more visible to the fish?

The answer, of course, was simple.

If there’s no light in the water, add the light to your bait!

UV Line-up

Whether you are fishing on a lake capped with snow and ice or a pond haunted with the splashes of rising fish on a summer evening, “Glo(w)” or “UV” baits are worth exploring whenever you think the fish need visual assistance to find your lure.

Northland Fishing Tackle’s Impulse line offers Glo White color options in all of its Impulse Panfish Baits and Glo Chartreuse and Glo Pink options in its Waxy, Tapeworm, Tadpole, and Mini Roundworms.

Ecogear offers a wide array of “glow” colors in its “Mebaru Shokunin” line which includes a 1.5-inch Minnow, 2-inch Straw Tail Grub, and a 2-inch Straw Tail Grub Slim as well as in the 3-inch Soft Sansun worm. These UV colors include: Pearl Glow, Glow Orange, Pink Glow, Melon Glow, UV Shrimp, UV Silhouette, Red Glow with Red & Black Flake, and Clear Pink Glow Blue Flake, to name but a few.

Make sure you carry a light source such as a flashlight or camera flash unit to “charge” the baits every few minutes. Northland offers a compact charging light.

Northland also offers a wide variety of jig styles in “Super-Glo” colors as well as a line of “Super-Glo” Attractor Hooks.

Jig matchup

Matching these small baits to the proper size jig and hook shank is a matter of experience as well as preference. But you will want a selection of tiny jigs with fine wire hooks even in open water fishing simply because the baits – particularly the worms – have such a small diameter that they can be threaded on to only the thinnest wire hooks in a conventional jig/worm configuration.

Even if you fish the worms “wacky” style, you will want a hook thin enough to prevent constant bite-offs when sunfish nibble at the ends.

By Mike Pehanich

Patrick Sebile, founder and creator of Sebile Innovative Fishing Lures, part of the Pure Fishing brand family has amassed more rod & reel records than any man alive. How then would this renowned globe-trotting angler approach bass fishing on a small lake?

I had the chance to find out when I joined the French angler and redfish professional Travis Tucker on a 70-acre lake in Polk County, Florida, on an overcast day in February.

Patrick Sebile takes a different approach to bass fishing than most pros. He positions his boat in a high percentage area. Then he fancasts with a fast moving back, like the Sebile Flatt Shad or Snagless Flatt Shad, following up with a slower moving bait like the Sebile Soft Magic Shad or AT Worm.

Sebile does not approach bass fishing like a touring pro. Rather he draws his strategy from his incomparable breadth of angling experience. He has fished on every continent but Antarctica and in countless nations. He has caught over 700 species of fish, a fact that he cherishes even more than his hundreds of regional and world records.

But I will let him explain his bass fishing strategy himself as he did to me as he sized up and picked apart this grassy Florida lake.

Big bass are rarely the most "catchable" bass, so catching them often calls for a "change-up" presentation.

Says Patrick:

“In typical power fishing for bass, the angler is in front of his boat. He has control of his electric motor with his feet. He follows, say, 20 or 30 yards from the shoreline. He moves the boat at a certain speed.  He casts his lure every two, three or five yards. His strategy is to cover maximum distance to find biting fish.”

“You will not hear me say this is the wrong approach. But I like to approach bass fishing differently.

“Instead of doing one cast, one cast…cast after cast continuously, I arrive at a spot and fan-cast the area with a fast moving bait.

“Now, when I have made those five, six casts from ONE position of the boat, I put that rod down, and I take a slow-moving bait.

“Many times I am catching more fish. And many times I am catching bigger fish on my slow -moving bait.

“I catch a lot of species. With almost every single species, the bigger the fish gets, the less likely it is to expend energy to chase.  When that big fish sees the bait that will catch most of the average fish of its family – and this is true for most species of fish — he will not move for that lure. He won’t expend energy for that one. Sometimes? Yes, I don’t want to speak in the absolute!

“Every species seizes opportunity. Most of the time, we don’t see the bass we are after. You cover water. That eight-pounder may be there, but you are not catching it with your typical presentation.

“But if, on the next cast, you show that fish a different bait or even the same lure if it allows you to fish it fast or slowly…now you have a chance!

Sebile likes the Stick Shad because it allows him to go from a fast, aggressive bass fishing approach to a slow, finesse presentation without having to change lures.

“That is the reason my Stick Shad is one my favorite baits. I don’t say this to promote the lure. It is the honest truth. I like it because I can take that same lure and twitch and jerk it fast  for a reaction bite, and, on the next cast, fish it finesse style. I don’t have to change a rod or a bait or untie a snap. I also have the bait in different sizes, which also changes the look.

“Yes, I cover less water than other anglers. And sometimes an angler will find an area with a concentration of  (big) bass and — part skill, part luck – he will catch them. Also, in many situations, a predator is competitive. If  you locate 30 bass in a corner, you have a good chance to catch them because of the competition. That is deep in the belly, deep in the nature of the fish! Competitive instinct!

“That is not the rule, however. It doesn’t happen every day.

“But every day you do have big fish out there knowing they will catch their prey with little movement because it has taken an ambush position, perhaps between two patches of grass with the bass near the middle.  He can sit there all day. He doesn’t have to move.  He just waits…

“When a (golden) roach (a.k.a. golden shiner) passes him, it is already too late for the second roach behind him. Wham! The bass hits. The shiner disappears.”

Patrick Sebile and Travis Tucker show off one of many fish caught that day on Sebile's Snagless Flatt Shad, which we worked through heavy cover.

 By Mike Pehanich

Anglers hail spring as a time of plenty, a stretch of halcyon days when bass come off their winter fast and bite every bait in sight.

Well, maybe not every angler sees spring that way…

This "last cast" bass weighing 12 pound, 13-ounces fell to an XCalibur XR Rattle Bait 100 at Dream Lake in Livingston, Alabama

“Everyone always talks about the great fishing of spring,” says bass fishing legend and popular TV host Bill Dance. “Well, spring sucks! Spring is one of the hardest times to fish because of the constant fluctuations and weather changes. Barometric changes, rising water, falling water, muddy water…always something!”

Given his druthers, Dance would prefer the generally more stable conditions of autumn over the vagaries of spring. But, hey, spring is spring! The ice is gone, bass are on the move (at times, at least), and…heck, we have all had enough of winter already, haven’t we?

Besides, good things can and do happen in spring, Dance admits. When conditions are right, bass can be gluttonous and make almost any bait in your tackle box look like angling’s greatest invention.  But most days, the angler’s challenge is to match his bait and presentation to the dictates of the bass’s mood and metabolism, which can slow to a crawl, especially when a cold front kicks activity back a couple notches.

Bass fishermen struggle in spring for two fundamental reasons: 1) they are often working their lures too fast, or 2) they aren’t covering enough water.

If that sounds like an order to “slow down but move fast,” well, like it or not, that is often the challenge. When you’ve found the bass concentrated in a relatively small area, a jig or the simple “Senko” solution may find you thinking you have solved spring bass fishing finally and forever. But, if fish are spread out, as they usually are, you’ll want to have several tools and techniques in your arsenal to strain water, draw strikes, and help you determine a pattern fast!

Here are three.

Jerkbaits can be incredible on Great Lakes smallmouth. Consider deep diving models, too.

Jerkbaits

If your own fishing experience hasn’t convinced you of the beauty of an artfully presented jerkbait in spring, perhaps the highly publicized success of the pros can!

Cliff Pace, the Elite Series pro from Petal, Mississippi, rode a jerkbait bite to a half-million-plus in first place prize money at the 2013 Bassmaster Classic on Grand Lake of the Cherokees in February. Pace worked football jigs for deeper fish and for all of his fish on Day Three, but when bass moved up on the flats during the first two days of the event, he fooled them with two jerkbaits, the Jackall Squad Minnow and the Jackall Soul Shad.

He wasn’t the only one jerkin’ in that 39 to 42 degree water either! Two anglers scored big with tried and true “Old School” jerkbaits: Mike Iaconelli (4^th place) with the Rapala Husky Jerk, and Jason Christie (7^th) with the Smithwick Rogue. Brandon Palaniuk twitched a Storm Twitch Stick on his way to a runner-up award. Two others used their own designs to Top 10 finishes — Mike McClelland (5^th) with his Spro McStick 110 and 85, and Kevin VanDam (8^th) with his Strike King KVD Jerkbait.

Jerkbaits offer the advantage of covering water with an "in-your-face" pause that bass can't stand.

Jerkbaits give a spring angler the best of both worlds – the ability to cover water yet deliver a slow in-your-face look to lethargic bass.

My angling buddy, In-Fisherman writer Cory Schmidt, tells the story of fishing jerkbaits with Ron Lindner one spring. That day, Cory had such a hot hand that it compelled the Hall of Fame fisherman to put down his rod and come in for a close-up view to study every detail of Cory’s presentation.

Finally, with his eyeballs only a foot or two from Schmidt’s hands, Ron found what he was looking for.

“It’s all in the cadence!” he barked.

Vary your cadence and – even more importantly – the length of the pause between jerks. Suspending jerkbaits often thrive in cold water, and serious jerkbait anglers often add Suspend Strips or implant split shot in lure bodies to keep the baits suspended in the strike zone for a longer period.

If fishing cold, clear water saps your confidence in spring, a jerkbait just may be the antidote to your condition!

Lipless crankbaits

While the jerkbait shines in clear water, the lipless crankbait may be your all-around workhorse for most water conditions we face in spring.

Lipless crankbaits lure giant bass in spring. Don't pass up transition areas from deep water into potential spawning bays.

“No-lips” enable you to cover water quickly. However, if you take a run-and-gun approach to fishing them, you will be missing out on more than half the fun.

In late winter two years ago, I caught a 12-pound, 13-ounce largemouth at Dream Lake in Livingston, Alabama, on an XCalibur XR 100 Rattle Bait. Two days later on different water, I caught the second 10-pound-plus bass of my career, followed by an eight-plus, seven-plus, and six-plus in rapid succession on the very same lure. My partner that day caught a 9-3 on a one-ounce Rat-L-Trap, too!

The key to our presentation was keeping the bait in the strike zone and working it at a pace that suited the bass in these coldwater conditions. Most of my fish came on a lift-and-drop presentation – with nearly all the fish hitting the bait on its descent!

A season earlier, I had fished with Mark Davis of “Big Water Adventures” television fame on a windy day when the thermometer sank to the low 20s at 6:00 a.m. and didn’t climb above the freezing mark until 1:30 in the afternoon. One of the two presentations that finally brought us fish that day was a lipless crankbait worked just above bottom on 8-pound fluorocarbon and a spinning rod. Once Davis dialed them in with that presentation, 19 more fish followed with nary a runt in the bunch!

Patrick Sebile schooled me in the use of the Sebile Snagless Flatt Shad on southern waters two winters ago.

The lipless category is loaded with good baits. In addition to the XCalibur Xr and its One Knocker Xrk cousin, I like Sebile’s Flatt Shad and Snagless Flatt Shad, Rapala’s Clackin’ Rap, Jackall’s TN 60 and 70, several of the new lipless baits from Rat-L-Trap, including the Zombie Shad and High-Def series. I will also be trying Spro’s AurkuShad, Kopper’s Live Target lipless baits (especially the golden shiner model), and probably a half dozen others this season.

I also mix low-resonance rattle baits with high pitch baits and carry silent lipless baits as well.

These baits can work magic. Once you shake the chuck-and-wind habit and learn to adapt your presentation and speed of retrieve to conditions, your catch rate will soar.

I carry a ton of lipless crankbaits in a wide variety of sizes, colors and shapes. Contrary to popular belief, they are versatile four-season baits that will prove their worth under a variety of conditions. But they truly have earned their reputation as coldwater winners.

Hair and marabou jigs

Savvy North Country anglers often start the early season with hair jigs.

Great Lakes smallmouth bass expert Joe Balog likes bucktail jigs after ice out on his home waters of Lake St. Clair and the Western Basin of Lake Erie, and he works them along the bottom with great success.

A marabou jig counted coup on largemouth and this smallmouth bass on a Brainerd-area lake in May.

I like the versatility of marabou jigs, which can work almost anywhere in the water column. My Northwoods fishing partner John Crane, calls the pulsating quality of these baits “the secret within the secret.” Marabou seems to breathe as the fine particles of its feathers puff during a pause in the retrieve or from current or even the slightest “coffee shake” you impart. What’s more, marabou resembles a wide array of foods on the bass’s menu, from leeches to baitfish to crawdads.

Now, do you cover water quickly with a light marabou jig? Not in terms of distance. But marabou jigs are great for straining the water column. The water resistance provided by these unique feathers allows a light jig to drop slowly. With subtle reel and rod action, you can keep the bait working within a fairly tight band of water throughout the retrieve. Just track the relative depth of your bait by counting it down after the cast. Note the speed of your retrieve so you can duplicate it once you have dialed the fish in.

Prime choices are the Marabou Finesse Jig from Northland Fishing Tackle, a Johnson Beetle Bou marabou jig, or a Lindy Fuzz-E Grub. Some anglers pull out the fly-tying vase and craft their own.

Under tough conditions, I’ll go with a very small jighead of 1/16 ounce or lighter. To cast such light jigs, you will want to go to a relatively long spinning rod of 6-6 or longer and a light superline of 10-pound test or less, with a line diameter equivalent to a four-pound or lighter monofilament. Berkley Nanofil has worked great as has Northland Bionic Walleye Braid, both of which are available in hair-thin lines of four-pound test and lighter. Sufix 832 also gets a nod.

Cory Schmidt holds hair jigs and marabou jigs in high regard, especially in early spring.

In earlier features, I’ve discussed blade baits and finesse jigs with compact pork trailers.

Add these to the three bait categories offered here, and you’ll be loaded for bear come cold water!