All posts by hellabass

Fun Fishing, Multimedia

Finally a few smallmouth

Been a slow winter bass fishing for me this winter, the weather has been great, but time commitments have made it near impossible as of late.  I had not caught a Minnesota bass since November!  On the bright side, I did make a November trip to Lake of the Ozarks, a December trip to Lake Falcon & caught a Sailfish in Playa del Carmen, so I am guessing I will not get many sympathy comments from the faithful blog readers.

Even with all that, I was feeling some urgency to get my first 2012 bass under my belt and the Minnesota bass season closes at end of February for awhile, so my window was shrinking.  So against my better judgement I set out for some fishing this past Sunday in weather temps that I would normally pass on, 14 degrees with wind chill of 1.

It ended up being not too bad other then not being able to feel my hands and fingers after touching wet fish a few times.  I ended up with 16 smallmouth, mostly 2-3lb chunky fish, all came on a Shakey Beaver combo except for one on an Ima Square Bill. (See video for Shakey Beaver rigging).  My fishing buddy for the day got 6 nice smallmouth on soft plastics as well, he wore better gloves and did not get frost bit fingers like this guy.  Also of note, unbelievable how my DX 782 Dobyns spinning rod launches lights baits & gives great leverage when fishing from waders, super sweet setup with a 4000 size spinning reel.
 
But on a positive note, I can report near normal feeling in my right fingertips as I type this blog.  Which is good, because I plan to brave the cold to chase some winter largemouth this weekend!

FISH ON!

Announcements, Multimedia, Product Reviews

Sneak Peak into New Zayta Rods from Dobyns

Dobyns Rods have risen quickly to become a very popular rod among casual bass anglers to the most serious tournament anglers alike.  Their roots are definitely on the west coast, but they have quickly expanded their market and popularity across the United States and beyond.

At last year’s ICAST they launched the Coalition Series and the Savvy Micro series and now this year they will debut the new high end Zayta Series rods.  These rods will incorporate 3M Nano Matrix resins to build a rod lighter and more sensitive then their popular Champion Extreme Series.  This 3M resin is used in other high end rods like G-Loomis NRX and St. Croix Elites. 


Photo Courtesy of Tackle Tour – Follow Link for more pics!

Prototypes of these rods were on display at the recent ISE show in California.  You can read initial reviews from Tackle Tour and also check out this video of Gary Dobyns himself taking about the new Zayta series and the growing Coalition Weapons Series.  As Gary claims, “This will be the best rod money can buy”!

As a Dobyns fan and enthusiast, I will be anxious to add a Zayta or two to my lineup in the near future!  Just to be clear, its Zayta, not Zeta!



Fun Fishing

Back From Playa

It was a much needed break, relaxing with the wife and another couple at the beautiful Grand Mayan resort just North of Playa del Carmen in Mexico.  So that and the holidays is the reason for the lack of activity hear on the blog.

I did get out fishing for half of a morning, nothing special, but we did “Luck” into a sailfish right before the morning trip ended.  It was pretty cool to feel how hard a 40-50lb class sailfish pulls and that is not big by any means for a sailfish.  Check out the pics and the video.

On a positive note, feel pretty recharged and the warm weather definitely gave the fishing bug big time!



Fun Fishing

Quick Falcon Lake Trip

This past weekend I finally got down to see my Dad and fish with him on Lake Falcon.  A bit of a whirlwind trip and only two days of hard fishing.  The weather was about 15-20 degrees cooler then normal for Zapata, TX this time of year.  The cooler temperatures seemed to temper the fishes’ attitude a little but we still caught some good fish.

My Dad spent some time practicing before I got there and had one really good area identified and it didn’t take but about 10 minutes to get the first bite, it was only a 2 pounder on Brush Hog it felt good to swing back on a largemouth which feels good to a Minnesotan in December.  A few minutes later I got another fish on the Brush Hog, I then tried one of my new Kinky Beavers in Okeechobee Craw, quickly caught a bass and then got a pretty good fish on, turned out to be a good sized catfish.  Shortly after the cat, I got a nice 5 plus pound fish on the Kinky Beaver.  Just after I got my limit of fish by switching back to the big brush hog, my Dad loaded up on a good’un, soon I helped him scoop a 9lbr into the net that fell for a dark jig.

I worked hard throwing several baits, and I ended up catching around 15 bass and got a few 6lb class fish, but the 9lbr was the highlight of the day.  I caught some nice fish power shotting a Lake Fork Hyper Freak.  We caught quite a few 4-6 lb fish and our best 5 would have weighed over 34lbs.  The best area was a channel drop with hard wood on the top of a 4-6ft ledge dropping into 20-25ft.

We started in this area early on Sunday, but the water was 3 degrees cooler and there were 2 boats already there.  A few fish were being caught by the other boats and us included, but size seemed to be down, as I quickly caught a fish on a jig, but it was only about 2lbs.  After the other boats slid away from the sweet spot, my Dad bowed up on another dandy, it went 10-07 which fell for a Mag Fluke.  We fished hard the rest of the day and mixed in some other areas, ended up with 13 fish, good ones were tough to come by, but my dad got 7-10 just before dark of a rock pile in about 8ft of water on a Carolina Rigged Magnum Fluke.

Weather and short amount of time, limited the amount of video that I was able to shoot, but I will put together a few clips soon and probably embed it in here when it is done.  In the mean time, check out my photo album here.

For those of you that want to fish Falcon but are a little worried, after visiting I have no apprehension or worries about returning to do some more bass fishing.  You are more likely to get mugged at your local shopping mall then run into trouble down on Falcon Lake.  My only complaint, is that the trip was far too brief!



Fun Fishing, General, Multimedia

Making Lemonade

About 11 months ago, I had a whole pile of lemons and now I about to have glass of super sweet lemonade this weekend.  Early in January, you may have read this blog post about I how I justified to myself that it wasn’t so bad that a dream trip to fish in Mexico fell apart in the 11th hour.

It was a tough pill to swallow at the time, but my airline ticket was purchased in my name by the would be sponsor of the trip, so I had a nice credit with US Airways in my name, well this weekend I am using that credit for a flight to San Antonio and driving down to Lake Falcon to fish with my father.

Bummer that I don’t have some extra time off at work to fish more then Saturday & Sunday, but I’ll take my chances for two days on Falcon.  My dad has been dialing in on a deep bite lately.

I am going to pack the video cameras, so I hope to get some good footage of some Falcon monster to share with you in the near future!  Goals for this trip:
Exceed personal best of 8.3lbs
Double Digit Bass
Whack some Bass & Have FUN!

Here is a video of Tom Redington & Justin Rackley whacking some Falcon Bass from last week!

Leave a comment if you got any tips on the bite down there right now



General

Sneak Peak into Major League Fishing (MLF)

If you follow bass fishing, you have probably seen rumblings from Boyd Duckett, few other anglers, BassFan.com and a few other outlets about Major League Fishing (MLF).  A few weeks back they held their first event on Lake Amistad, but interesting enough, no results posted to internet or shared in the news.

Supposedly there are some real unique things to MLF format, real-time weights for whole field, so you can see what your competition is doing and results for public won’t be released until it airs on Outdoor Channel of pay-per-view web format. These are supposed to be ready for viewing sometime in 2012.

Other cool things, its only 24 anglers, supposed to be a week long event, no gps coordinates coming into event and immediate catch, weigh,  & release.  This week they also released a few photo albums on Facebook.

Looks like all competitors are fishing from BassCats or Nitro Z7 boats.  Most anglers have very similar jerseys, not the full customization you see on the Elites Series.  Also, Bass Pro, Scott’s, Geico, Busch Beer, & Jack Links appear to be a few of the key sponsors.

Supposedly the new style is made for the TV and internet fans, so it will be exciting to see how this all unfolds!



Announcements, Bass Boat Corner, Fun Fishing, Multimedia

Got new boat out one last time

Last Sunday I got out for about 4 hours and we caught a few good smallmouth, it was more about getting the new boat out once in Minnesota before it was too late.  Now I get to stare at it every day for the rest of the winter, sigh
 

On the positive, with the help of a fishing buddy, I installed new lighting in my garage, I put 6 recessed can lights right above my boat.  So now I have great lighting for working on tackle and other boat projects, plus it makes it look like a show room in the third stall.  The lighting is good enough, I may do some video spots from there this winter to keep my YouTube Channel fresh.

Here is my latest video production.

Black Friday deals have already started at Bass Tackle Depot, time to score some sweat deals 20% off and more.

I listed some boat props on eBay tonight and I plan to list stuff on ebay on Black Friday while my wife spends at the stores, so I for sure have a G-Loomis GLX and a Shimano Chronarch B SF picked out for listing this week, plus baits and other stuff.  So keep a watch out for them! You can  find thermo lite board at Merritt Supply and other supplies from here.

Have a safe Holiday Week!



Bass Boat Corner

My New Cat – Long and fun weekend

Finally recovering from a long and fun weekend.  Fishing buddy Paul Coffey and I left Friday after work and drove down to Warsaw, MO to pick up a boat that I purchased from Pro’s Choice Marine.  We did stop and visit the Bass Pro Shops in Altoona, IA; nice that they are open until 10pm.  Got into town for a quick nap in the SUV and then had a nice breakfast at a local cafe.

The boat was advertised and they were great to work with, they make sure your boat is 100% water ready!  So we did not waste any time and launched the boat into the upper Osage arm of Lake of the Ozarks.  After test driving the boat for a bit we fished the rest of the day.  We ended up catching tons of fish, but struggled with size, the fish were choking a Chartreuse Shad Ima Square Bill and white swim jigs.

Had some solid BBQ at Brown’s BBQ in Clinton, MO, large portions and reasonable prices.  Then got a room in St Joseph.  We then fished for about 4 hours on Lake Mozingo near Maryville.  Mozingo seemed to have tons of potential and we got a few fish, but 4 hours was just not long enough for us to crack the code.

We got home for dinner at home and some family time, about 6 hours total sleep for the weekend, 40 some bass, a few white bass and a crappie and brought home my 2005 Bass Cat Pantera Classic.

We will end the post with a few boat pics, to see all fishing and boat pics, see the photo gallery here
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Announcements, Fun Fishing, General

Boat Week

Ever since my old boat died at end of August, I have been casually shopping for a boat, about a month ago, I found a deal that I felt that I shouldn’t pass up and now this weekend I am going to Missouri to go pick it up.  Pictured below will be my boat for next year, its a BassCat Pantera Classic with a 200 Merc.


Thanks to those that shopped my ebay auctions and clicked a few ads to help me get a few extra bucks in my boat fund!  I will be fishing Lake of the Ozarks on my trip this weekend as well.  Watch my facebook page to see more pics & vids from the trip and of boat all weekend long.

Hopefully weather will remain nice and I can get my new boat out when I get back and get some more smallies like this one that I recently caught.

I thought about getting an Alabama Rig for my trip to Lake of the Ozarks, but lead times are just too long after Dan Morehead won a tourney on Kentucky Lake and ebay seems a bit crazy to right now for the A-rigs.

So if any of my readers have fall fishing tips for Lake of the Ozarks, leave a comment or send me an email.  Or if you got good food or lodging recommendations around Warsaw, MO, comment on that as well!  I think the plan is to fish out of Brown’s Bend area this weekend.



Advanced Bass Tactics, Multimedia, Product Reviews, Tips and Techniques

What’s up with the Jika Rig?

Not too much before being knocked off my pedestal seat by the Alabama Rig this week, I started seeing rumblings on Twitter and forums about the Jika Rig.  It seems every couple years, there are new rigs, techniques, gear and technologies to keep up with in bass fishing.


As pictured above (Fork Craw, 3/0 EWG Hook, Voss 1/4oz Weight) – can be done w/ single or double split rings

The Jika Rig (also called The Jig Rig) is very interesting, it is actually very simple.  While Owner company is marketing this, it began is Japan, much like the drop shot and the Neko Rig.  You can buy this rig pre-rigged, but I really don’t see the point.  You almost certainly have the stuff in your tackle box already to make them and if not, just about any local retailer would have what you need.  If they don’t, order them online.

All you need is a good selection of offset wide gap worm hooks, some split rings and a weight with wire loop or attachment on top and put the three together.  I have also seen, where people have used short pieces of braid to make a loop and tie the weight to the split rig, making it almost like an ultra low profile drop shot.  I think you can use different shape weights to tailor your presentation and to the cover.  You can also use one or two split rings to adjust the action as well.

To me, the Jika Rig is a cross between a Texas Rig, Football jig and a drop shot, also kind of like the Biffle Hard Head.  I also think this rig will prove to be very versatile, can be flipped pitched, dragged like a football head and probably serves as a decent bed fishing rig among other things.

Here is a video of a JikaRig (JigRig) that I made and demonstrating underwater at a boat ramp.

I think its most attractive quality as it offers freedom to the plastic and offers it in a very horizontal and natural way.  I think Byron Velvick does a great job explaining the features and benefits of the rig in this video.

So leave a comment if you have used the Jika Rig or think you have a good application where you think it would excel!