Homer Circle

Legacy of a Winner

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:38 -0400

Every sport has its superstars. They grow in stature during the course of their careers until they stand head and shoulders above the pack. None stands taller than Roland Martin, who announced his retirement from professional bass fishing in November.

Even at 65, Martin is an extraordinary competitor. Yet he chose to retire from the sport after 35 years because he became dissatisfied with his performance in recent tournaments.

"I'm a really proud person and I came to the conclusion that I can't compete at the same level
I used to," says Martin. "My interests are changing now. I had some excellent hunting trips last fall and got a nice bull moose in Alaska and a big elk in Utah. I had some great fishing trips, too-just for the fun of it. I really enjoyed myself and I didn't think about fishing in bass tournaments. I just felt like it was time to go."

Born to Catch Bass

I first met Roland in 1966, a year before Ray Scott held his first bass tournament and a few years before Roland began competing professionally. I had heard about the phenomenal young angler from a friend who had hired Roland as a guide on Lake Santee Cooper in South Carolina.

My wife, Gayle, and I joined Roland for a three-day fishing trip. He lived up to his billing: Though only in his mid-20s, he knew more about bass fishing than most seasoned veterans. The highlight of the trip was when Gayle hooked the biggest bass of her life. The lunker burrowed down into weeds and wouldn't budge. The weeds had grown up and covered the surface in places and were so thick we couldn't get the boat through them. Roland pondered the situation for a moment. "Don't worry," he said, "we'll get that bass." Then he took off his shoes, emptied his pockets and waded out into chest-deep water to retrieve the l0-pound-plus largemouth from the weeds.

At the end of the trip, as we were bidding Roland goodbye, he told us that his parents had been killed two weeks before in a car crash in Belgium. Such was his ability to concentrate on what he needed to do to get a job done.

I thought to myself, this kid will go far in whatever direction he decides to take with his life.

That he did. Roland went on to garner almost every accolade
possible in professional bass fishing. Although he never won a Bassmaster Classic (he finished fourth in his first Classic in 1971 and his last in 2003), he was an odds-on favorite to win in virtually every one for which he qualified. He's a member of the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame as well as the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. Last year, bass tournament fans selected Roland as the second greatest bass professional of all time, behind Rick Clunn.

Secrets to Fishing Success

Through the years, Roland racked up his impressive tournament record while traveling around the country to and from events, filming a television series and keeping sponsors happy by appearing in hundreds of fishing seminars.

I believe that his ability to maintain a winning edge despite all the distractions in his life can be summed up under three headings.

Motivation "I love fishing, whether I'm in a tournament or just fishing for the heck of it," says Roland. Don't we know it. Every time he utters an excited "Aww, SON, it's a MONSTER!" when he hooks a bass during his television program, his enthusiasm is evident.

Determination "Everything I've ever tried, whether it's hunting or fishing, I've willed myself to do the best I could and not quit until time runs out. The next cast is the one that counts."

As Gayle and I discovered many years ago, Roland's determination to reach a goal sets him apart from most.

Observation "I pay attention to everything when I'm on the water:
temperature, wave action, light, water clarity, cover, structure. I've trained myself to really focus on the surroundings." A student of ffish and fishing, Roland translated what he saw and learned into a system we call "pattern fishing" today. What it means is that if you can catch bass on a certain lure at a place where a variety of environmental conditions are prevalent, you should be able to catch bass anywhere else on the river or lake that fits the same pattern.

Motivation, determination and the ability to draw the right conclusions from what you observe-many anglers share those traits, but something in Roland's persona magnified them and elevated his skills to a higher level.

So now Roland is riding off into the sunset, though in a bass boat instead of astride a horse. But what a run he had.

Don't expect Roland to sit on a porch somewhere, kicking back in a rocking chair. He will still find time for his favorite hobbies-turkey hunting, tarpon fishing and designing fishing tackle among them. Doubtless Roland will remain a key figure in the fishing industry, as well as serve as an example to anglers who want to excel, whether they're fishing for fun or fame.

Soft Touch for Fish

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:37 -0400

One reason winter is such a tough time to catch bass is that colder water slows the fish's metabolism. Bass just don't feed as often, and they tend to want smaller bites when they do get hungry.

Beyond that, winter fish of any type don't go after bait or a lure with the same voracious behavior they exhibit at other times. Those arm-jarring strikes of summer are just pleasant memories. A lot of anglers fail to hook fish in cold weather simply because they don't know when they're getting a bite. That's why winter is prime time for finesse approaches such as drop-shotting. Another productive approach is what I call "tactile fishing." I depend more on my sense of touch than on any of my other skills.

A Whisper of a Strike

I didn't invent this approach. It was taught to me over the course of four score years of fishing by various anglers. Among them was a Kentucky tobacco grower, Billy Burns, who provided one of my first lessons. Billy used to outfish me by about five bass to one on most trips, so one day I decided to pay more attention to what
he was doing. He used a jig-and-pig combination composed of a quarter-ounce leadhead jig and
a pork-rind trailer.

Once Billy cast out the jig-and-pig and let it settle, he worked
the lure back with short, soft lifts
of his rod tip. And he worked it very slowly-nothing revolutionary there. What was different was that Billy held the fishing line between the thumb and forefinger of his rod hand, which was positioned ahead of the bait-casting reel. He was intent on feeling whatever the lure touched as it crawled along the bottom. I asked him what he felt. "Everything," he said.

"Sometimes when a bass in-hales a jig, there's just a slightly different feel and that's all," said Billy. "There might be a momentary sharp tug, but it might be just a slight tightening of the line, or a slackening of the line when the bass sucks the jig in. Whatever it is, I set the hook immediately."

To detect such minute changes, Billy focused completely on the line and the lure. He didn't talk, and he didn't really listen when others were talking to him. I don't know which was more important to his technique-touch or mental concentration-but I do know that when Billy combined the two, he was a formidable angler.

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Set the Hook Now

Glenn Lau, a noted Florida filmmaker and my longtime fishing buddy, has the same sort of focus when he goes after lethargic bass. Glenn favors spinning tackle with light line. Instead of just casting out a lure and reeling it back in, he employs a retrieve that is reminiscent of a flyfisherman slowly "hand-crawling" a streamer across the bottom. Glenn holds the line flat across his fingers and maintains some tension with his thumb to feel the lure, which usually is a small soft-plastic offering.

Glenn also believes in setting the hook the instant a bass has taken the lure. After viewing his underwater films, I'm convinced that bass can inhale a lure and
spit it out before the angler even knows a fish is there.

"A bass will take a worm completely in its mouth, hold it for about two seconds and then expel it if it doesn't taste right," says Glenn. "Set the hook as soon as you think you feel it."

Glenn uses braided Spiderwire on his spinning reel. Although
it has a diameter equivalent to about 8-pound-test, it's 30-pound-test line. Better yet, you can feel a gnat landing on it. The same goes for fluorocarbon line, which is also known for its sensitivity. As a general rule, the less a line stretches, the more sensitive it is.

In terms of lures, jigs will work, but Glenn's picks are either soft-plastic jerkbaits or "trick worms," as the lifelike plastic phonies are known. In summer, jigs or 4-inch Yamamoto Senkos are good choices. Glenn rigs a Senko wacky-style; that is, with a 1/0 to 4/0 hook buried through its middle so the worm drapes over it. Water depth determines hook size. The bigger the hook, the faster it will sink. Glenn will cast out, let the worm sink and settle for about a minute and then very slowly retrieve it at a snail's pace across the bottom.

Winter Rigging

When the weather is particularly cold, Glenn relies on a soft jerkbait that emulates a stunned baitfish, or a Zoom trick worm in a dark color. He rigs either bait unweighted, with the hook buried in the head, and casts it to the outside edges of weed lines. Bass often move into weeds when a sudden cold snap comes along or migrate to offshore drop-offs. Here again, the weight of the hook is more critical than its size. A bigger hook will sink the bait faster, and when you're fishing deeper water, that's important.

When you go after bass this winter, give tactile fishing a try. Learn to fish by touch and consider switching to more sensitive lines and tackle. Rods that feature blank-through handle design are a good start. Most important, slow your approach and let your fingers tell you when you've got a strike. You can catch fish even in the coldest weather, once you get the feel for it.

Deep Jigs for Winter Bass

Terminator made its name as a producer of titanium spinnerbaits, but lately the Oklahoma-based company has been branching out into other types of lures. Its new Football Jig, in ½- and Ã‚Â¾-ounce sizes, looks like a winner for deepwater winter anglers. The new jig is available in six colors and features a razor-sharp Mustad Ultra Point hook that will penetrate well even when you're fishing light line in deep water. (About $3; 800-944-4766; terminatorlures.com)

Beat the Summer Slump

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:36 -0400

Sun and heat have a way of inflicting fishermen with a bad case of the blahs. A few hours in the sun and an angler's mental and physical energy are sapped. His presentations are less sharp, his reasons for choosing certain lures less rational.

The fish, meanwhile, have their own reaction to the weather. In some still waters, oxygen content may be uncomfortably low, making bass lethargic. There's probably less rain and wind, so the water around them is clearer than in other seasons. With light penetration at such high levels, bass can see much better and aren't as easily fooled by artificials. Being ambush predators, they also migrate to hard-to-reach places where they can use shade as cover, whether it's under boat docks, in the thickest parts of laydowns or even suspended in deep water.

In addition, natural food is at its most abundant. Biologists tell us that bass eat more than twice as much in summer as at other times, although they feed in spurts between long periods of inactivity. Depending on the waters they inhabit, bass have their choice of young-of-the-year panfish, crayfish, frogs, insects, shad and shiners.

No surprise to you: Fishing is tough. But don't feel lonely. Even the best professional anglers have days when nothing seems to work, at least not consistently.

That's when each tries his trick of last resort.

#1 California Bassin'

Big-bass guru Mike Long catches lunkers on giant soft-plastics and plugs during Southern California's mild winters and springs. But it's the light-tackle techniques he learned while trout fishing that help him catch largemouths during the summer. When Long was a kid, he learned to flyfish with tippets as light as 2-pound-test. It taught him the patience to play a bass without applying too much pressure.

"If you want to catch bass in the summer on clear, deep lakes, you've got to fish California-style, and that means fishing with light tackle," says Long. The San Diego angler's summer gear is a whippy spinning rod and a matching reel with 5-pound-test line. Long has caught bass up to 9 pounds on the outfit, which he uses to cast a 4-inch finesse worm on a drop-shot rig. He skin-hooks the head of the worm with an Owner Size 4 Mosquito hook and positions it about 18 inches up the line from a Lunker City Magnum (3/8-ounce) Bakudan weight.

PREFERRED TACKLE: Graphite USA
6-foot 4-inch light-action spinning rod with a Daiwa Team Daiwa (TD-Z or TD-S)
spinning reel and 5-pound-test Maxima monofilament.

FAVORITE SCENARIO: Early and late in the day, Long concentrates on the outer edges of weed beds. At midday, he moves out to fish flats, points and humps with nearby deepwater access. The best offshore spots have aquatic vegetation.

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#2 Luring Lunkers Topside

Bassmaster Classic champion Paul Elias usually fishes a large Texas-rigged plastic worm through deepwater cover during the dog days of August. But when the fish aren't
cooperating, the Mississippi pro will try chunking a topwater lure such as a Zara Spook in the same area. Crazy as it sounds, it often works.

PREFERRED TACKLE: 7-foot Quantum medium-action rod with matching Quantum PT reel with 6.2:1 gear ratio, 12-pound-test Trilene XT mono.

FAVORITE SCENARIO: Deep, clear water with standing timber such as Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Table Rock Lake and Ross Barnett Reservoir.

#3 Dancing a Jig

Hot weather finds Missouri pro Stacey King hitting the banks early and late in the day. When the sun is high, however, and bass have gotten into the midday doldrums, King hunkers down and fishes cover with jigs. A half-ounce Bass Pro Shops Lazer Eye sporting a 5-inch twin-tail trailer in green pumpkin or black/blue is King's favorite.

"If you can find some good cover in deep water, usually there will be a bass arod it somewhere," says King. "These fish aren't active, but you never know what it will take to make them bite. I might start off retrieving the jig fairly quickly, maybe pumping it through the cover. I fish a jig with a lot of erratic movement. I'm trying to make a bass strike when it doesn't have any intention of striking."

PREFERRED TACKLE: 6½-foot medium-heavy Johnny Morris pitching stick and matching bait-caster with 6.3:1 gear ratio. King will use a heavier rod where cover is thicker. He uses 10-pound-test fluorocarbon line in clear water and 17-pound-test in stained or deep water.

FAVORITE SCENARIO: Highland impoundments where there is some water current due to hydroelectric generation at dams. King zeros in on humps and ledges with logjams at various depths, starting at about 8 feet and going deeper.

#4 Spooning With Sonar

When he's fishing big impoundments in the summer, Gary Klein's first job is to find baitfish. The Texas angler uses his depth finder to home in on "activity zones," layers in
the water where the best environmental conditions-light penetration, temperature and dissolved oxygen-converge. Shad descend on such areas to feed on zooplankton, and bass often tag along.

"An activity layer is where most of the baitfish are located, and bass will often suspend nearby," says Klein, a two-time Angler of the Year and perennial Bassmaster Classic contender. "Once I find what I'm looking for, I'll jig a spoon like a Hopkins or Mann-O-Lure at the right depth-snap the rod up and let it fall back. Sometimes I let the spoon go all the way to the bottom and then just bring it up slowly-whatever works."

PREFERRED TACKLE: 6½-foot medium-heavy Quantum PT casting rod, Quantum bait-casting reel (6.2:1 gear ratio) and 20-pound-test Trilene XT monofilament.

FAVORITE SCENARIO: Deep lakes with flooded river or creek channels.

#5 Keeping a Worm Wet

When bass are persnickety, Texas pro Harold Allen ties on a 4-inch V&M Ringworm and starts looking for "resident bass" that stick to inshore cover such as docks and brushpiles. "I like to fish the Ringworm Texas-rigged with an eighth-ounce sinker and a 2/0 hook," says Allen. He uses a black Ringworm with a blue tail for most conditions and green pumpkinseed when fishing clear water. His retrieve is basic: Cast the lure into cover, jiggle it out, retrieve it quickly and cast again.

PREFERRED TACKLE: 6½-foot Shimano Crucial rod with a Shimano Chronarch bait-casting reel. Depending on water clarity, Allen rigs up with 10- to 14-pound-test TripleFish monofilament. The clearer the water, the lighter the line.

FAVORITE SCENARIO: Shallow areas where different types of cover overlap, such as fallen treetops and aquatic vegetation.

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#6 Coaxing a Reaction Strike

On a hot day in August 1999, Davy Hite learned that bass aren't always where they're supposed to be, or behaving in textbook form. That knowledge helped him win the Bassmaster Classic.

That year's Classic took place on the muggy Mississippi River delta near New Orleans, and Hite caught much of his winning stringer from a secluded pocket where the surface water temperature was a sizzling 91 degrees when he started fishing in the morning. It warmed up another 4 degrees by the end of Hite's fishing day.

"Hot water doesn't hold oxygen very well, so I knew that the bass in this area would be lethargic. I thought I would have to drag a soft-plastic slowly along the bottom through vegetation. What I wound up doing was catching a lot of my fish by triggering reaction strikes up in the water column," recalls Hite. "I rigged a Junebug-colored Gambler Bacon Rind (a soft-plastic "creature bait") on a three-eighths-ounce sinker and started fishing it at varying speeds between buzzing just under the surface and crawling it along the bottom. The funny thing was, the bass wanted it moving along at a pretty good clip from eighteen to twenty-four inches deep. Anything else was ignored.

"The moral of the story is that you have to experiment with retrieve speeds and depths," says the South Carolina fisherman.

PREFERRED TACKLE: Pflueger 7-foot medium-heavy pitching rod with Pflueger President bait-casting reel (6.3:1 gear ratio) filled with 20-pound-test Berkley Big Game monofilament or Vanish fluorocarbon line.

FAVORITE SCENARIO: Wherever bass are suspended in or around weed beds in water between 4 and 8 feet deep.

#7 Oxygen Is the Key

Television fishing show host Bill Dance of Memphis grew up fishing what are perhaps the toughest waters of all: the oxbow lakes of the Mississippi River. Here in the summer, lack of current translates into fairly stagnant water and listless bass. But Dance has learned that even small upticks in the water's dissolved oxygen content will activate bass, at least enough to make some of them bite.

"My favorite time to be on an oxbow lake in the summer-or any other lake where there's no water movement-is from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon," says Dance.

Here's why: Aquatic vegetation generates dissolved oxygen through photosynthesis, a process that is activated by sunlight and spikes when the sun is overhead. So midday is prime fishing time for Dance, who uses a No. 4 split-shot rig with a 6-inch black Yum Pro Ribbon worm, fished on a spinning rig with 8-pound-test line. "I Texas-rig the worm on a 2/0 or 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook and then pinch a number four split shot on the line about twelve to fourteen inches away," notes Dance. "I fish it very slowly along the bottom. I'm not trying for a reaction strike; I'm trying to force-feed a bass."

Dance uses an oxygen meter to determine where the best concentration of dissolved oxygen is and focuses his efforts there. "A good oxygen meter won't tell you where to fish, but it will tell you where not to fish," notes Dance. "What you're looking for is a dissolved oxygen reading of at least five parts per million-the higher, the better. If you find that from two feet under the surface down to five feet deep, that's the range you need to be fishing. If the oxygen content drops to, say, three parts per million at six feet deep, there's not much point fishing that depth."

PREFERRED TACKLE: Quantum 6½-foot medium-action Bill Dance Signature Series spinning rod and Quantum Energy PT spinning reel with 8-pound-test Stren Clear Blue monofilament.

FAVORITE SCENARIO: Oxbow lakes (including Reelfoot Lake in western Tennessee) and farm lakes. Banks or offshore flats with aquatic weeds are good target areas.

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THERMAL SQUEEZE

It's summer ad crawling it along the bottom. The funny thing was, the bass wanted it moving along at a pretty good clip from eighteen to twenty-four inches deep. Anything else was ignored.

#7 Oxygen Is the Key

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THERMAL SQUEEZE

It's summer a

Bass and the Big Picture

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:35 -0400

Bass fishermen can get locked into a routine that might be self-defeating. At the beginning of a fishing trip, they rig up the lures that worked for them before on a particular lake and at a certain time of the year. They pick through soft-plastic baits to find the "hot colors" for the month, or choose the crankbaits that really caught 'em here last year. In other words, some anglers automatically do what they did before, without
taking into account environmental changes that could alter the fishing
picture. And perhaps no factor is more overlooked than water clarity.

Water clarity determines how well and how far bass can see. It can change many times over a day's fishing. A lake can be very clear in general but turn muddy where a stream pours into it. And muddy lakes can contain patches of clear water where springs well up from the bottom, or where they're fed by clear creeks.

Early and late in the day visibility in a dingy lake is low, but the middle of
a sunny day will enhance visibility, allowing bass to see farther. Water clarity is never a permanent state, and observing it and anticipating changes when you are on the water will help you determine success. It is not the only factor, because bass rely on their other senses to survive, but water
clarity is important.

So, how do we measure visibility below the surface, and how do we fish murky and clear waters? The old-
fashioned test is to tie a bright yellow or white lure to your line on a 6-foot rod and then extend the rod into the water. If you can see the lure, the water is clear and you can bet bass will see your lures from several yards away.

If the lure disappears at 3 to 4 feet, the water is dingy but you're still in good shape, especially if you will be fishing shoreline cover. If the lure isn't visible beyond a foot away from the surface, the water is murky. And if it
is not distinguishable at inches, then you've got muddy water and will have to employ special tactics to attract bass.

Bass can be caught from water where visibility is at either end of
the spectrum. But different conditions require different approaches. The following tips will help you formulate a master plan to match the circumstances you encounter.

Downsized and Sneaky

Keep in mind that all fish, regardless of their size, are spooky in clear water. If you're going to fish water that's so clear you could read a newspaper on the bottom from 10 feet away, be prepared to make long casts well beyond visible targets. Not only do bass become skittish at the sight of an approaching angler, but they also race for the depths when they hear a fisherman approach.

Use your boat's trolling motor sparingly, if at all; drifting is better if you have a favorable wind. The first place to look for bass is near any available cover, especially on bright days. Baitfish hide in heavier cover such as flooded treetops or bushes, in aquatic weed beds or underneath docks; fish cover thoroughly because bass gravitate to such sanctuaries to pounce on any prey that are foolish enough to leave their hideaways. Use the lightest low-visibility line your tackle will accommodate. Fluorocarbon monofilament will do the job nicely. [pagebreak]

Choose lure patterns that resemble the size and shape of the predominant food fish, like shad or shiners. Try small crankbalts-lipless or billed-that can be retrieved rapidly and have a tight wobble. Don't rule out buzzbaits, either. If you want to try a topwater lure, pick a stickbait that can be worked across the surface quickly. Subtlety is the key here. Sometimes you don't want bass to get a good look at a lure; you just want to trick it into thinking the bait is a free lunch that
is running away and entice the fish into a reaction strike.

Some days bass won't chase down a lure, regardless of water clarity. Rather, they want their meals served up in front of their noses.

If a fast retrieve doesn't work, switch to small Texas-rigged plastic worms in neutral colors such as natural, red or black. Straight-tail worms will work best in these circumstances. The Charlie Brewer Slider rig, which
features a worm or other small soft-plastic lure Texas-rigged on a weighted head, is a good choice. A drop-shot rig is another excellent way to present baits to reluctant fish. It can be fished in place with the barest movement imparted by the rod tip.

Use the most natural looking baits you can find, in subdued colors. Stick with the cover, or fish near drop-offs where light penetration is diminished and fish feel more secure.

Dingy Water Isn't So Bad

South of the northern lakes made gin-clear by the filtering work of zebra mussels, most of us fish slightly turbid water around the calendar. That's okay, because it provides us with the greatest range of possibilities. For one thing, bass aren't so skittish and you can use rigs with heavier line and get closer to fish-holding cover. Topwater lures that make a fuss, such as prop baits or poppers, are great choices
provided the water is warm enough to draw bass into the shallows. Diving crankbaits and spinnerbaits also do well in such conditions, as do soft-plastic jerkbaits fished under the surface.

In off-color water, choose colors that match prevalent forage. Retrieve lures at normal speed; the object of lure presentation is to suggest to a bass that there is something good to eat passing nearby, but it's something that can be easily overtaken.

Although bass might not be able to see potential prey well in off-color water, they don't need their eyes to detect other things passing by. Bass have the ability to detect things moving through the water by feeling how they displace water. A sensitive lateral line that runs down either side of a bass has millions of tiny neuromast cells that can detect vibrations from swimming baitfish, other predators and artificial lures. Here's a tip: Areas where dirty water meets clear water, such as where a muddy river runs into a lake, can be great places to fish. Bass often gravitate to such areas and use the muddy water as ambush cover.

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Tackling Muddy Water

When the water is practically opaque, use big spinnerbaits or diving or lipless crankbaits that emit strong vibrations as you retrieve them in deliberate fashion. Remember, the bass can't see well, so a steady retrieve lets them home in on a bait better for a solid strike. The stronger the vibration, the more the
tip of the rod being used to retrieve
the lure will dance. Likewise, a topwater lure, such as a Jitterbug, that is retrieved steadily across the surface
is more apt to draw a solid hookup.

If bass are holding closer to the bottom in deeper water, a large plastic worm or jig equipped with rattles is a better choice. Retrieve them slowly, giving bass plenty of time to zero in on them. Shaking a jig with rattles without moving it is often all it takes. Some of my biggest catches of bass over 10 pounds have come from water that was downright muddy. Given a choice, I would rather fish muddy water than clear water. It's really tough to fool lunkers when they can see the trick you're trying to play on them.

Where either extreme in water clarity prevails, learn how to handle its
special problems. Fishing conditions are seldom perfect; that's why the most successful anglers are those who've learned to be versatile.

Fall Bass Secrets

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:33 -0400

I'm a fall kind
of guy when it comes to bass.

Fishing is good then, better even than in the spring, because you don't have to deal with high water or abrupt weather changes that put bass off their feed. As autumn winds gradually cool shoreline waters, shad start migrating up the feeder streams of lakes to feed or to spawn. As they go, the larger bass that have stalked them all summer follow in roving packs.

Hunger doesn't make the lunkers easy prey for anglers, though. They never would have grown so large otherwise. Such bass can't all be caught on the same lures, using identical techniques under similar circumstances. You have to fish like a pro to be
successful in the fall. The following advice, from people who catch bass for a living, should help in that regard.

1. Shallow Cover and Big Bass

denny brauer is the b.a.s.s. all-time money winner, with 15 career wins and more than $1.8 million in prizes. The
Missouri pro has earned similar accolades and payouts participating in the FLW tournament circuit. More than anything else, jigs have been responsible for Brauer's success, and he sticks with them throughout the year. In the fall, he swims jigs to get bass on the line.

His approach is predicated on the belief that big bass, or at least some of them, are shallow-water homebodies that stake out shoreline cover such as docks, laydown trees and aquatic weeds. Rather than stalking baitfish around a lake, such lunkers wait for shad to come to them.

"My choice for all types of cover is a Strike King premier Pro-Model jig with a Strike King 3X Chunk trailer," says Brauer. "I use either one-quarter- or three-eighths-ounce models. The quarter-ounce jig is easier to swim but the heavier jig is easier to present on a windy day, and you can get the heavier jig into the strike zone quicker and keep it there better."

Once Brauer has a target sighted, he pitches or skip-casts his jig to it with his bait-casting outfit, which is teamed with 50-pound-test Stren Super Braid. He lets the jig sink a foot or two below the surface and then retrieves the lure by pumping the rod while reeling in slack line. "I hold the rod tip up at about ten o'clock; I've really got to watch the line and set the hook as soon as a bass strikes because the rod is already so high," says Brauer.

The reason why Brauer swims the jig instead of letting it sink is because he believes that in the fall, bass suspend in cover that is at about the same level as baitfish. To be efficient predators, the bass have to have cover, whether it's the shade under a dock or water weeds.

"I like a white jig with a pearl-white Chunk behind it,
especially if the water is clear," says Brauer. "This approach will catch bass of all sizes, but mainly it will catch the bigger fish. The big boys have a home in cover and they're waiting for dinner to come to them."

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2. Check All Depths With a Mix of Lures

shaw grigsby is a veteran of 10 bass master Classic championships and one of the top all-time money winners in professional bass angling. He thinks that once a fisherman finds a big concentration of shad, he's won half the battle.

"Once I find shad, I look for the closest structure-ditches or channels-with associated wood or weeds," says the Florida angler. "I believe that bass will stay in aquatic grass until it dies down; then they'll move to wood or rocks. If you find shad in an area that has those cover ingredients, you're in the right place."
When he's fishing a typical Southern lake, Grigsby likes to start shallow and move deeper as he has to. In early fall, it's likely that many bass will still be in deeper haunts; late in the season, they will have moved up to the bank.

"I don't really have one lure that I use most of the time," Grigsby confesses. "I'll start with a shad-colored spinnerbait and work shallow cover. Anoer good bait is a white jig or a Strike King Pro-Model Flip-N-Tube."

If fish aren't positioned near inshore cover, Grigsby will go prospecting, blind-casting with lipless crankbaits such as a Diamond Shad. "I'm really concentrating on the shad bite," says Grigsby. "If the bass haven't moved to the banks in that cove or stretch or feeder creek, I'll start working my way out and fish deeper. The bass are close."

Grigsby's favorite rig to explore offshore waters in the fall is a Carolina-rigged plastic worm. The Florida pro backs away from the shore far enough to fish submerged points and the flats between the bank and drop-offs. Once he gets a strike or two, he might switch to another lure that covers more water faster, such as a diving or lipless crankbait.

"To some extent, where you start fishing in the fall
depends on the latitude of the reservoir you're fishing,"
concludes Grigsby. "If it's early fall and the water is still
fairly warm, you might want to start offshore. If the water has already cooled down, start at the bank."

3. A Rig Bass Can't Resist

although bill dance retired from professional bass fishing many years ago to focus on a long-running
television program, he's still acknowledged as one of the all-time greats of the sport. The Tennessee angler knows that as good as fall fishing can be, there are times when bass will loaf offshore and leave shad alone.

Faced with such challenging times, Dance has developed a foolproof way to put bass in the boat. But be forewarned, this tactic requires patience and persistence.

"One of my best fall fishing tricks is to use tube jigs to catch inactive suspended bass in areas where there seem to be a lot of shad present," says Dance. "In fact, it's also a great technique for winter fishing. If you can get a tube jig down in the faces of bass that aren't feeding, it will make them change their minds."

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Job one is using his bow-mounted sonar to locate bass on or near offshore structure such as ledges. Once he finds them, Dance uses a spinning outfit with 14-pound-test Stren Superbraid to cast a 4-inch Yum Garrett Mega Tube (rigged on a 5/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook) or a 3½-inch Yum Vibra King Finesse Jig (with a 4/0 Gamakatsu) and presents the bait so that it falls very slowly into the strike zone. Shad and Arkansas shiner are his two favorite colors.

"Suppose I see bass on my fish-finder graph at fifteen feet," says Dance. "I want the tube to drop about a foot every three seconds. It's going to take about forty-five seconds for the tube to get down there, but one cast to a good place is worth more than fifteen casts to a bad place. A slow fall is critical, and the tube has to be horizontal, which looks more natural than just dropping head first."

Once he's reached the magic depth, Dance twitches the rod tip about an inch upward to impart a sudden movement of the tube. Usually, that does the trick.

4. Hit 'Em High and Low

Larry nixon is another of professional bass fishing's top all-time money earners, with more than $2 million to his credit in the B.A.S.S. and FLW circuits.

As contradictory as they seem, two of Nixon's
favorite fall patterns involve fishing for bass on the surface and fishing smack-dab on the bottom.
"I look for fish that are either near the bottom on structure or at the surface, usually around wood cover or some kind of vegetation," Nixon says. "If I see a surface commotion, I'll throw a chugger or a propbait like a Rapala Skitter Prop (silver with black back or, for smallmouths, fire-shad). If there's nothing going on at the surface, I look in deeper water for underwater channels and ditches. Then I fish with Hopkins jigging spoons or tailspinners like the Mann's Little George or the Rinky Dink."

According to the Arkansas pro, chuggers or propbaits work best in wind-rippled water. Nixon uses "walking" baits like Rapala Skitter Walks, Heddon Zara Spooks and Sammy Lures when fishing still water.
"Although fishermen generally think of a topwater bait as being a lure strictly for shallow-water situations, in clear water you can pull bass that are near the bottom or suspended in deeper water with surface lures," says Nixon, who makes long casts with a 7-foot medium-heavy bait-casting rod and 14-pound-test Trilene XT.

A good sonar is the key to Nixon's deepwater approach. Like Dance, he idles around a cove or creek arm until he finds a channel. Then he follows it, watching the screen for signs of bass. His favored equipment for this job is a 6½-foot rod and a reel loaded with 20-pound-test XT.

"It's absolutely essential that you watch your sonar when you're looking for shad and bass," he says. "Contours are my targets-any changing structure features that attract baitfish. It might be a drop-off or a sharp bend in the old creek channel. The fish usually will be stacked up somewhere on it or nearby."

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5. Bulge the Surface With a Spinnerbait

jimmy houston is a former professional bass fisherman whose happy-go-lucky personality has won millions of fans to his syndicated television show.

Houston's favorite strategy is to "bulge" a gold-bladed Terminator spinnerbait near the surface of the water so that the top blade makes a wake. The idea is to mimic the vibration of a single shad racing for safety. The size of the spinnerbait Houston chooses for the job-anywhere from Â¼- to ½-ounce-approximates the size of the shad present.

Houston's go-to color for largemouths is white or a mixture of white, chartreuse and blue, but he likes louder colors such as bubblegum or chartreuse and white for smallmouths. He seldom uses a trailer and prefers a bait-casting rig with 14-pound-test Trilene XT dyed with a low-visibility green color.

"I like a six-and-a-half-foot medium-heavy rod because it casts well and it helps me keep the spinnerbait up in the
water," adds the Oklahoma fisherman. "The really important thing is to use a rod that will allow you to cast as
accurately as possible. You need to put the bait in the hard-to-reach places along the bank where the bass are, and sometimes you're aiming at a mighty small bull's-eye."Nixon uses "walking" baits like Rapala Skitter Walks, Heddon Zara Spooks and Sammy Lures when fishing still water.
"Although fishermen generally think of a topwater bait as being a lure strictly for shallow-water situations, in clear water you can pull bass that are near the bottom or suspended in deeper water with surface lures," says Nixon, who makes long casts with a 7-foot medium-heavy bait-casting rod and 14-pound-test Trilene XT.

A good sonar is the key to Nixon's deepwater approach. Like Dance, he idles around a cove or creek arm until he finds a channel. Then he follows it, watching the screen for signs of bass. His favored equipment for this job is a 6½-foot rod and a reel loaded with 20-pound-test XT.

Trick Bass With Scent

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:32 -0400

Scented bass lures have become the stuff of strong sales pitches in the past few years. They come in two forms, built-ins and add-ons. One of the most frequently asked questions is, Do scents really make sense? I believe they do.

Adding scents to fishing lures is not
a modern phenomenon. I first became aware of the practice back in the 1930s when I was a kid working in a local sporting goods store in Ohio. I managed the fishing tackle and waited on many of the area's better fishermen, who came in not only to buy tackle, but to deliver or get the latest scuttlebutt on where the bigger bass were
biting. Anybody who liked to talk about fishing spoke my language, and through such informal chats I learned about the enhancing scents that anglers added to their lures.

Among the wonder scents these wizards of fishing employed were vanilla, peppermint, mustard and licorice from their home cupboards. From pharmacy shelves they used esoteric extracts such as asafetida and myrhh. While some of those fishermen of yesteryear used such add-ons to attract bass by their senses of smell and taste, other anglers used them to mask repulsive odors from insect repellents and outboard motor fuel.

It wasn't until the 1980s that scents charged onto the bass-fishing scene in a big way. At first the new generation of scents were add-ons from spray bottles or other applicators (Fish Formula, B.A.N.G., Yum, Dr. Juice). Scent types included extracts and oils from many kinds of creatures: crayfish, minnows,
leeches and worms. Salt- or garlic-
impregnated baits came next.

Then a variety of lure makers began adding their own concoctions to popular soft-plastic types such as grubs, worms, crayfish, shad and hellgrammites. They sold like hotcakes on a cold winter morning.
For a good while, I remained skeptical about whether it was added scent or the natural appearance and feel of soft-plastics that was catching bass. I invited one lure maker to conduct a test with me, my aim being to settle the question once and for all.

I suggested that each of us would rig two outfits: one with a scented lure and the other with the same lure, but unscented. Instead of making multiple casts with one lure, we would make one cast with a scented lure, then switch to the unscented and alternate the lures throughout a day's fishing.

I figured that such a test would preclude the possibility of hitting a hot spot for multiple catches and unfairly tilting the test in favor of either type of lure. The lure manufacturer said he would get back to me, but he never did. I still hold that my approach would make a valid test.

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Proof is in the plastics

Three years ago, I witnessed a demonstration that convinced me that scent-added lures do catch more bass. I was strolling around a sport show and joined a crowd watching a pro fisherman who was in the process of demonstrating various lures and tackle atop a giant aquarium on wheels that was swarming with bass of all sizes.

The angler tore off pieces of a plastic worm and tossed them into the tank. A big bass suddenly rushed up and slurped in one of the chunks with a flaring of its gills, but then spit out the plastic. After noting the fish's reaction, the fisherman asked the crowd to watch what happened when he dropped pieces of a Berkley Power Worm in the water. He pitched in chunks of the same size as before, but this time the bass sucked them in and swallowed them. I have been using Power Worms since that revealing episode. And Berkley (Pure Fishing) deserves credit for investing a fortune in necessary laboratory equipment to conduct tests at its research lab in
Spirit Lake, Iowa.

A researcher there, Dr. Keith Jones, has conducted dozens of studies of bass over the years and discovered what triggers positive olfactory reactions.

It's all extremely scientific, but the
research and subsequent producct testing have revealed that
scenting lures to emulate
natural foods will trigger strikes. Basically, what Jones and his fellow
researchers did was
run lures of various types around a large, circular aquarium holding bass of all sizes. Then they observed how the fish reacted when different scents were applied. For the hard baits tested, the addition of scents doubled the number of bass strikes over the non-scented. Also, bass held onto scented lures three times longer than non-scented lures. While adding scents to soft-plastics did not increase the takes by bass dramatically, the fish did hold onto them significantly longer, which would provide an angler with more hook-setting time.

Jones is preaching to the choir. I'm already a believer and you will be, too, if you give scents a try. If you're
serious about catching more bass, douse your favorite lures with scents or use baits with
attractants already added.

Bass on the Move

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:32 -0400

Sometimes you can beat the water along a shoreline to froth with your lures and still not catch bass. That's because most bass, especially the bigger ones in a typical impoundment, migrate away from the shoreline after the spring spawn. By midsummer, most bass are chasing
migrating baitfish around the lake and positioning themselves near points, channel ledges, sandbars and the like.

When bass take off for parts unknown, you have to go into the wide-open spaces to find them. Trolling will help make your search shorter.

Surefire Fish Finder

When I was a lad, trolling was a last-ditch tactic to try before heading for home without fish. Looking back, however, it occurs to me that such trolling episodes frequently resulted in bass larger than our usual average caught by casting. Sometimes we trolled to locate the best fishing areas in lakes we'd never fished before. We used lures that grubbed along the
bottom when trolled slowly, which we accomplished either by drifting with the wind or using a small outboard
engine. Besides catching an occasional fish, our lures transmitted information to us regarding the bottom composition-whether there were weeds, rocks, gravel, logs, brush, sand or mud down there.

Slow trolling also gave us an idea of water depth and structure such as drop-offs, creek channels, long points and midlake humps. If we had some sort of topographical map-such maps were rare back then-we could match what we detected with our fishing rigs against features shown on the map. A strike suggested a couple of things: first, the fish were at a certain depth at that spot; and second, the chances were good others might be at that depth at similar structures in the lake.

Trolling during daylight or after dark is still a great way to fill a livewell in the summer and also to learn what's under the surface for future reference. Of course, nowadays you can learn all you want about a lake with a good sonar unit and it will take only days, rather than weeks. But you won't have as much fun as you can by trolling, and if you don't drop a line, you're guaranteed to go home fishless.

Map Out a Strategy

If you expect to be a serious troller, start by getting some good topographical maps of the lake you fish regularly. Maps are especially handy for pinpointing stair-steps, drop-offs, declines and sheer shorelines. Once you learn the nature of the lake's structure, you can select certain lures and boat speeds to cover each component efficiently. A GPS unit with built-in lake maps, or one that can use removable map cards, is a great tool for trollers.

The approach and the equipment you'll need for trolling are fairly basic. A good trolling rod is 6½ to 7 feet long to provide good leverage in a fight, and it has a stout butt section for setting the hook on a long line. Whatever reel you have should be okay. I recommend using a 40-pound-test fused-braid line (which has a diameter similar to that of 10-pound-test monofilament). The stronger line will come in handy when you have to pull lures loose from snags, and the small diameter helps crankbaits achieve maximum depths.
Lures must be selected to cover all depths, from top to bottom. Lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits, swimming spoons and diving crankbaits are great for working stair-step shores. Just make sure you position them correctly relative to the bottom configuration. For example, put a minnowbait or lipless crankbait (which doesn't dive but maintains a steady depth governed by your boat speed) on the shallow side of the boat.
Try running a shallow-diving crankbait on the offshore side.

Medium-running crankbaits will have slightly longer lips than shallow runners and dive 4 to 8 feet deep. If the fish aren't positioned in water less than 8 feet deep, it's time to try the deep runners. These tend to weigh about
½ ounce and dive 15 to 20 feet.

When you're trollinng crankbaits, it's essential to make sure that they're tuned properly, especially if you have more than a couple of lines out. Each type and size of lure you troll must be able to run at high retrieve speeds without veering to one side or turning over and twisting line.

To make sure a lure is tracking properly, suspend it about 5 feet off the rod tip and troll it beside the boat so you can observe its performance at various speeds. Begin at a crawl and slowly
increase your speed to 15 mph, which is fast for trolling. Each lure should run on a true centerline. If one veers to the left, use longnose pliers and bend the line-tie slightly right until it runs on center; vice versa if the lure runs right.

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Start Shallow

Begin trolling along shallow shorelines and use lures that contact bottom intermittently. Cover each lake section thoroughly, beginning at the head, and concentrate on the areas whose cover, structure and depth should attract bass. If no bass are contacted here with lipless crankbaits or spoons, move out a bit deeper and try medium-depth crankbaits such as FlatFish or minnow divers.

Finally, move even farther offshore and fish the deep drop-offs with big-lipped diving plugs.

Troll at different speeds for varied depths and actions. When a bass latches on, remember the depth at which it was holding. Keep a felt-tip marker handy, and right after you set the hook, mark the line in front of your reel. Then troll back over the same course, letting out line to the telltale mark to reach the same depth. If you get another strike, you've hit pay dirt.

If nothing is stirring offshore, here's another tactic to try: Return to near the shoreline and use shallow runners that you can swim and wobble at top speed. Really race along close to shoreline cover. Other anglers might think you're wacko, but high-speed trolling can trigger reflexive strikes when nothing else will turn on the bass.

Before you call it a day, try "wind trolling." Tie on a 1-ounce jighead with a curlytail grub trailer. The unusually heavy head will hang suspended almost vertically below the boat and give you the best feel of pickups. Let the breeze drift you along. Unless it's blowing a gale, the wind should keep the boat moving at just the right speed. As you drift along, keep the lure in contact with bottom features, where hefty bass lurk in ambush for prey swimming overhead.

Trolling isn't brain surgery, but you do have to learn how to fish in the right place with the right lures. Give it a try. There's one thing I can say about the canny trollers I know: They rarely go home skunked.

Getting a Lure Unstuck

If you troll lures with treble hooks, one thing is certain: You will hang up. That's why it's smart to carry a lure retriever in your boat. These devices cost less than $10 apiece and are available from tackle shops or mail-order outlets.

Another option is to equip your trolling lures with Ultimate LureSaver rings, used to connect treble hooks to a plug. A LureSaver is made of titanium, a
metal known for its resiliency and "memory." If LureSavers are used in place of O-rings, you can pull a lure free from a snag so that you only lose the treble hook and not the plug. Once the lure is free, the LureSaver returns to its original shape and you can put another treble hook on it.

The LureSaver is available in various strengths to match the line on your reel. (About $8-$11 per package of six; 866-587-3728; www.ultimateluresaver.com)

Where's the Bass?

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:31 -0400

Many articles have been written about how bass think with regard to where they are likely to be at certain times of the day and year, and how they react to different lures and presentations. Anyplace bass fishermen gather you'll hear various opinions on the subject of bass hangouts and habits, some of which foster friendly arguments.

I had my own ideas on the topic, too, until a dedicated fisheries biologist named Mike Lembeck disabused me of some of the notions I'd held for many years. My education came during one of Lembeck's studies of bass in six
California lakes. Lembeck used sonic telemetry to track the fish's movements at various times of the day.

Hooked on Sonics

Sonic telemetry involves planting a miniature radio transmitter inside a bass's body. The operation to implant the bug is harmless and each transmitter has its own "beep code" to identify it and the bass in which it is implanted. Lembeck, who was conducting the study at the behest of San Diego County Fish and Wildlife Committee when I visited with him, was tracking the movements of tagged fish using an aquaphone mounted on a short rod and lowered over the side of a boat.

In each lake, the aquaphone picked up the signals of the transmitters and let Lembeck know the whereabouts of the bass that wore them. The sizes of the 147 fish in the study ranged from
1 pound 4 ounces to 14 pounds, and included bass in such storied lakes as El Capitan and San Vicente. I spent a couple of summer days on El Capitan with Lembeck and returned home much savvier about where bass are likely to be, and their reactions to lures and the presence of perceived danger.

One morning, after donning earphones and submerging the aquaphone receiver, Lembeck listened for a while until he signaled me that he heard a beeping signal. Then he looked at his stopwatch to measure the time between beeps so he could identify the fish transmitting the signal. He gestured toward a small treetop that had collected windblown debris in its branches. It was several yards away, but within casting distance. "The signal I'm picking up tells me it's 'Mabel.' She's five years old, weighs about six pounds and probably never will be caught, but not because fishermen don't fish here.

"My test shows that either Mabel is well educated about angler sounds and ignores any lures, or she is just one of those fish that takes off for deeper water whenever she suspects a dangerous intruder is in the neighborhood."

Tempting Mabel

At that point I decided Mabel had to be caught and I was the fisherman who would do it. Fishing around in my tackle box, I rigged up with a plastic worm and told Lembeck my plan. "I'm going to try something tricky that maybe Mabel hasn't seen." I cast the worm about 10 feet past the woody cover, reeled it slowly back until it was just outside the pile and let it sit there, doing nothing. It was only a matter of time before the curious bass came out from her hiding place and inhaled the worm...or so I thought.

At that moment, I saw the aquaphone rod in Lembeck's hand turn and move toward open water. "There she goes, about a hundred feet down the shore and still going," he said with a grin. "I told you, if anything comes near her hangout, big or little, Mabel takes off like a scared rabbit. She is a survivor, like a lot of bass on heavily fished lakes. Probably, she never will be fooled by a fisherman."

By that time, Lembeck's study was two years old and he had learned a lot about bass and how they perceive things in their watery world. Among the lessons suggested by Lembeck's findings are the following:

1. Hit the sunny banks

Bass display no preference regarding sunlight. They do not select the shady side of cover, nor do they go deeper to find shade during high noon hours. If food is available in the area, and all other conditions are favorable, bass will sstay in that location no matter the time of day or the amount of sunlight that's illuminating the water.

2. Ignore the weather

Lembeck discovered that bass would hold a favorable position regardless of rainy, cloudy or clear-light conditions, heavy winds or atmospheric temperature swings. Bass weather and people weather are two different things involving two distinct environments.

3. Put a bait in all cover

Some bass that Lembeck tracked showed a preference for small hiding places. One bass would stay around a single rock, another near a submerged bush, a third behind a cluster of weeds. Others chose to hang out in thick weed beds or dense brush. Still others were roamers, almost always cruising around the lake.

4. Find offshore haunts

Bigger bass-those in the 6- to 10-pound class-usually stay sequestered in one hangout away from the bank most of the year except when they move into the shallows to spawn or when a special feeding opportunity presents itself. Lembeck noted that the favorite haunts of bigger bass often were brushy, weedy or rocky points where deep water was close by.

5. Fish below shad

In late summer, it's common for bass of all sizes to school and attack roving shad. According to Lembeck's study, when the bigger bass in a lake gathered to follow summer shad migrations, they cruised below a shad school, not behind it. And the biggest bass stayed below the smaller ones, dining on crippled shad that filtered down to their level.

6. Revisit fishy spots

In his telemetry studies, Lembeck discovered that some bass just never learn, despite being caught multiple times. If caught and released, they might return to the same cover and fall for the exact same fishing tactics
later. Lembeck also found that bass in deeper water were less wary than bass that hid in shallow covers.

In fact, when bass are stacked up along a channel or over a hump in deeper water, they can be easy to catch. The harder task is locating them in the first place.

2003 Fishing Awards

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:31 -0400

It's not surprising that so many adults entered eligible fish in
OL's 2003 Fishing Awards Program, but the number of anglers 12 and younger who qualified in the Youth Division is downright amazing. And they didn't just make it by a cat's whisker. Some of the youngsters proved they could catch lunkers with the best of them. One example:
Jacob Charlton, 6, who entered the biggest crappie of all. His catch, which weighed 2 pounds 3 ounces, was caught from Alberta Creek in Oklahoma on a live minnow. And Ashley Crossland was best overall with her 16-pound 10-ounce walleye, which went after a Rapala crankbait in Lake Erie.

Commendable adult catches include Michael Baker's
80-pound blue catfish, Sid Steinke's 38-pound 4-ounce muskellunge, John Migliori's 14-pound 7-ounce rainbow trout, Lois Pietz's 50-pound king salmon, Ronald Caliguire's 4-pound 6 ounce brook trout, Ivadell Nordheim's 13-pound 1-ounce walleye and Jerry Thornton's 47-pound flathead catfish.

Thomas Prouty of Jefferson, Maine, caught a 7-pound 5-ounce smallmouth last January while icefishing near his home and it held up as the heaviest smallie of 2003. Nordheim, who caught the biggest walleye among adult anglers, waited until November to land his lunker. It was the last species winner entered.
It's interesting to note that, other than natural baits, tried-and-true lures that have been around for many years
accounted for a number of the heaviest catches. Familiar names such as Mepps, Dardevle, Flatfish, Kastmaster, Suick and Bomber made the lineup used to catch the lunkers.

Each angler who topped a best-of-species listing was awarded a pewter pin signifying that his or her catch was the heaviest entered for a particular species. There were a number of close finishes in some categories, perhaps indicating that angling skill is not confined to a lucky few and that the nation's fisheries are generally in good condition.

All eligible entrants in the program received a colorful patch for cap or jacket plus a certificate of participation. Check the list of 2003 winners below. Of the hundreds of entrants who qualified last year, these anglers managed to land the biggest fish in each of the eligible-species categories.

Now the slate is clean and it's time to start fishing for
the 2004 Outdoor Life Fishing Awards Program. [XLINK 589465 "Click Here"] to find out how to enter next year's contest.

Remember, all entrants who catch eligible fish of the
required minimum size will receive a certificate and patch. The pewter pins are harder to come by, reserved for those
anglers who weigh in the heaviest fish in each of the eligible species. But you can bet that somebody is going to win the pins this year; why shouldn't it be you?

Click Below to View the Winners

[XLINK 610296 "Page 1"]

[XLINK 610281 "Page 2"]

[XLINK 610278 "Page 3"]

[XLINK 610266 "Page 4"]

Special Thanks to the Following...

Catch a 10-Pounder!

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:31 -0400

he test of any serious bass angler is to catch a lunker of more than 10 pounds. It's a test relatively few fishermen actually pass. Then there's Dennis Rahn, who at last count had 939 bass over 10 pounds to his credit and who hopes to top 1,000 in the next couple of years. No doubt he'll add a few more to his tally this spring.

Mind you, Rahn didn't actually land all of those bass himself, although he probably could have. He's a Florida bass-fishing guide, and his knowledge of where to look for the fish and how to approach them has made hundreds of clients happy they booked him. He fishes with live shiners, a favorite food of bass. But even though Rahn uses live bait, there are no guarantees. Knowing how and where to position shiners near aggressive lunker bass is the real trick to catching big fish.

THE SIGHTING TACTIC

I first met Rahn several years ago after a Missouri buddy, Buck Rogers, phoned me and expressed a burning desire to join the 10-pound-plus club.

I told him I would scout around for
likely fishing holes and guides in central Florida, which is prime big-bass country. The more people I talked to, the more times Rahn's name came up as a big-bass guide.

After getting the okay from Rogers, I booked Rahn for a day in February. We got down to business as soon as we left the dock. First we motored around the lake, stopping occasionally in places that Rahn knew were bedding areas. He wore
polarized glasses and studied each bed carefully from several yards away
before making an appraisal of the lunker that was on it and whether she might be caught. Rahn proved his
mastery of bass on that trip. Not only did Buck catch his first 10-pound-plus largemouth, but he caught two in one day. His biggest weighed 11½ pounds; the other topped 10½ pounds. Both were released and Rogers went home with keeper memories.

READING THE FISH

Through years of practical fishing
experience, Rahn has learned how to read a female lunker bass's mood and whether she is likely to bite.
"If the bass is a light-green color, she hasn't been there long and probably is still in the courting phase. She might not be aggressive," Rahn says. "If she is really dark and aggressive-making big swirls as she chases bluegills around-she can be caught. When she's laid her eggs and is just kind of hanging around with the male for a day or two and doesn't appear to be too aggressive, she's going to be tougher to catch.
"It's like the pre-rut, rut and post-rut with deer," adds Rahn, who is a fervent bowhunter, "except here it's the female bass that you're trying to
locate in the most vulnerable phase."

POSITIONING THE BAIT

Rahn fishes shiners, but he doesn't just hook them and cast them out into the bed. Instead, he anchors well upwind of the lunker's lair. Rahn has the angler feed out anchor line slowly from the stern until the boat drifts close enough for Rahn to place the hooked shiner in position. Then Rahn has the angler pull the boat away from the bed with the anchor rope until they are a few dozen feet away. It's a waiting game after that. The female might return to the bed soon or she might move in slowly and inhale the shiner with a flare of her gills.

"This is the system that has worked best for me over the years," says Rahn. "I use a big bobber to keep track of the shiner, and the shiner might be four to eight inches long. I also want the bobber to provide some drag so the shiner can't get far away and into the weeds. This rig makes a big splash when you cast it, and the bass scoots away. So
instead, I slip in, drop the shiner straight down and then get out of there. The female might move off a few feet but she's not going far for long."

Rahn catches his own shiners with a cast net, but shiners of all sizes are readily available at most bait stores in central Florida. Rahn likes lively shiners that will move aroound once they are released into the water. If they aren't moving around the bed enough to suit him, he might give the line a pull to motivate the minnows into action.

"When you hook a shiner in the back, it will move better, but if the bass is especially aggressive it doesn't matter if you hook it in the back, through the lips or behind the anal fin," says Rahn. "If the bass isn't particularly
aggressive, she might not want the shiner moving around a lot. Or you might have to go to a smaller shiner. Sometimes you have to be patient and change things around until you figure out what the bass wants, but these are bass that weigh over ten pounds, so they're worth the extra trouble."

Rahn's standard big-bass outfit is a fiberglass bait-casting rod with a stout butt and sensitive tip, matched with an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6500 loaded with 30-pound-test monofilament. An Eagle Claw wide-gap No. 84 (5/0 ring-eyed offset) hook goes on the end.

Anglers who have never fished with live bait tend to think of it as giving
unfair advantage to the fisherman. Give it a try before you decide. I think you'll discover that 10-pounders are never pushovers, no matter what the bait. Dennis Rahn has convinced me that there is a real science to catching big bass consistently.

To set up a fishing trip with Dennis Rahn, call 352-685-2575.