Bass Fishing
Chatter baits vs. swimming jigs
At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be that much difference between where and how someone would fish a chatter-type bait versus a swimming jig.[…]
Bass Fishing
Bass Fishing
Suspended Animation —Jerkbait tips for wintertime bass fishing
Cold water, shallow water, clear water; plenty of situations make it hard to get fish to bite. For largemouth bass, one of the biggest mistakes anglers make in these conditions is fishing too fast and pulling baits through the strike zone with only a brief window of opportunity for predators to make their move. […]
Bass Fishing
Jerkbait enhancement
With any jerkbait, a suspending posture at rest is usually what you want, but some days find the fish most interested in falling baits.[…]
Bass Fishing
Suspend in the salt
When winter pushes trout and redfish into deeper canals and inner marsh arteries, suspending baits often earn the attention denied to sinking and faster-moving baits.[…]
Bass Fishing
Tackle up
West Monroe’s Jim Dillard throws his jerkbaits on a long rod of 6-foot-10 to 7-2, but nothing too heavy.[…]
Bass Fishing
Caney Chatter – An unusual Caney Lake tactic for winter bass fishing
The last thing that comes to most people’s minds when thinking about Caney Lake is a chatter bait. Kenny Covington isn’t most people. He is a bassaholic who isn’t afraid to buck conventional wisdom.[…]
Bass Fishing
Best Caney Lake chatter bait colors
It’s hard to get me to believe that lure color makes much of a difference.[…]
Bass Fishing
Giant salvinia forcing Caddo Lake anglers to change their game plan
Old dogs don’t learn new tricks.
This cliché reminds me of a bassin’ buddy with whom I fished Toledo Bend several years ago.
“If they don’t bite this jig, I ain’t gonna catch them,” he grumbled.
Unfortunately, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Anybody predicting they aren’t going to catch bass at Caddo Lake right now because of all the giant salvinia will be just as accurate in his or her assessment.[…]
Bass Fishing
Bass anglers find Black Friday bite at Caney Lake
My wife and I have an agreement: I get to go hunting and fishing as much as I want as long as I don’t make her go with me.[…]
Bass Fishing
Venice bass are back following Hurricane Isaac
It is hard to think of catchy line to announce the news about Venice: Bass fishing is making a comeback. Several club tournaments and reporters are beginning to see an upswing on Venice bass.
Hurricane Isaac did a number on the lower Mississippi Delta, but Mother Nature has a way of repopulating an area. Immediately after the storm, reports were dismal to total devastation. But never underestimate the power of the mighty Mississippi and the amount of sediment, food and fish she moves in a few short months.[…]
Bass Fishing
Bass drawn to the Poc’it Craw
When a Port Allen bass angler needed to cull some fish in his livewell during a recent Bassmaster Southern Open on Lewis Smith Lake near Jasper, Ala., he started fishing with a soft plastic that had been on the market no more than three weeks.[…]
Bass Fishing
Pearl River bass love a jig in the fall
Fall is a great time to be on the water. First, most boats on the Pearl Rivers are loaded with hunters rather than fishermen. Second, jig fishing takes off as the leaves turn and the weather cools off.[…]
Bass Fishing
West Pearl River bass biting at breakneck speed
Despite a recent fish kill up north and the devastating effects of Hurricane Isaac down south, the West Pearl River was just as I remembered.[…]
Bass Fishing
Lack of rain turns northshore rivers into spotted-bass hotspots
The autumn is, far and away, Joe Lavigne’s favorite time of year to fish the north shore’s rivers.[…]
Bass Fishing
Outside the Box — Tips for better spinnerbaits
Few bass anglers give much thought about what spinnerbait they tie on the ends of their lines. Want proof? Take a look at what’s lying on the front decks of bass boats all across the Bayou State.
Odds are you’ll find 75 percent have tied on 3/8-ounce chartreuse-and-white spinnerbaits with tandem Colorado/willow-blade combinations.
The other 25 percent? According to West Monroe’s Kenny Covington, they’ll have tied on a 3/8-ounce chartreuse-and-white double-willow spinnerbait.
“But none of them know why they’re throwing either one,” Covington said. “They may know that bass are slamming spinnerbaits right now because they’re up shallow feeding on shad, but they don’t know why they have those particular kinds of spinnerbaits tied on.”[…]
Bass Fishing
Go identical to trigger more bass strikes
You would be hard pressed to find a spinnerbait at your local tackle shop that featured two blades of the same size. The front one is usually smaller than the rear one because it helps the blades work in harmony with each other.[…]