All posts by hellabass

ima Emailer ~ December 2008

December 30, 2008 hellabass

Welcome! to the ima Emailer ~ December 2008 Issue

The IMA EMAILER brings you news from ima pros Fred Roumbanis, Michael Murphy, Bill Smith and ima pro staffers across the USA and worldwide.

ima’s Year in Review and Going Forward

Welcome to our year-end review where ima pros Michael Murphy and Captain Karl Bunch reflect upon where ima is now, and where ima’s headed product-wise.

In terms of products, ima has designed, tested and released five bass lures in the USA within approximately the past 18 months.

Although ima’s a company from Japan, these bass lures are made for North American bass anglers, and are not sold in Japan:

For 2009, four new ima bass lures are under development:

Rattlin’ Roumba for spring time release
Big Stik topwater for summer release
Baby Flit 100 for autumn release
Shaker shallow crankbait (release date not yet decided)

With less than two years in the North American bass market, ima’s still in its infancy. It will take a little longer for ima to grow, that’s only normal, to get to the size that ima will eventually be. But there’s no doubt that ima’s off to a good start, and they’re here to stay. So check them out. They’re great baits. True, you may spend a little bit extra on ima, but you’re going to get what you pay for from ima. A good lure is the most vital piece of equipment that stands in between you and the fish you desire. You can buy any ima baits, and you’ll be able to rely on them with confidence.

That’s ima’s commitment to you for now, and for the new year. Thank you.

ima Roumba

Where we are now – ima Roumba Wakebait / Shallow Crankbait

Michael Murphy: Places where the Roumba’s most advantageous are where you see a lot of shallow grass and overall, the Roumba’s really good when fish are shallow. There have been times I’ve caught fish with the Roumba by waking it in over 50 feet of water, but I think where the Roumba really shines is anytime when you’re anywhere shallow, and especially during the spawning season. That’s not to say the Roumba won’t work in the summer or fall – it does. But around the spawn when the fish are wanting to be in the shallows for a month or two, that’s when the Roumba really plays a role.

The Roumba’s a good search tool when there are a lot of average size fish, say your 2-3 pounders. They may not always take the bait solidly but they will come up behind the Roumba and show themselves. So it’s a search tool, and it will tell you where a few of those 2-3 pound fish are, and they’ll go right back to a piece of cover, a log, or a stick-up. Some fish may have a bed that the Roumba pulled them away from… and they’ll go back into those spots. So you can pick up something else, a Texas-rigged worm or a Senko, and catch those relatively smaller fish that wouldn’t commit to the Roumba.

That’s not to say you will not catch these 2-3 pounders on the Roumba. Yes, you will get a fair percentage of them – but not all of them will strike.

What you’ll find different when it comes to bigger bass, is that you will pretty much stick the huge fish that come up on the Roumba. Usually, if you get around a big fish, it will commit. So the Roumba, if you throw it enough, it will definitely increase your chances to get those bigger fish, and in a tournament situation, the Roumba will get those good kicker fish you need these days. The Roumba has been proven to get that better grade of fish in shallow cover.

Captain Karl Bunch: The Roumba is designed primarily to be a topwater wakebait. Simply hold the rod tip at about ten or eleven o’clock and just a steady retrieve on a medium/heavy rod will give it a nice, wide wobbling wake. There’s no rattle, just a wake – and that’s what gets their attention.

The neat thing about the Roumba, if you are searching a shoreline, trying to find fish, you can effectively and easily cover a shoreline by first making three casts with the rod tip up to use the Roumba as a surface-roiling wakebait. Then make the next three casts with the rod tip down, so it runs about a foot deep with a real wide wobble. Depending on the fishing line used and retrieve speed, with the rod tip held down, the Roumba gets anywhere from 12-18 inches deep, typically about a foot. The effectiveness of this is that there are times when bass just don’t want to come up and hit a topwater. There are times they’re down tight on the wood, in the shallow wood, and using the Roumba as a shallow crankbait, it will come through wood cover very well. It will also come through light or scattered vegetation very well. The beauty is you don’t have to constantly switch between one rod for topwater and another rod for shallow-cranking. You can just use one rod, and the Roumba saves you a lot of time, saves a lot of energy and let’s you effectively and quickly cover a shoreline using it as a search bait.

When I am guiding clients, I’ve had many days when the weather conditions may have changed overnight, when we must hunt to find the fish, and I’ll just instruct my clients to do the same thing – make three casts using the Roumba as a topwater wakebait and three casts with the rod tip down, using it as a shallow running crankbait. Used this way, the Roumba has found the fish for me and my clients quickly and effectively many, many times, resulting in successful, productive trips.

ima Rattlin’ Roumba

Where we’re headed – ima Rattlin’ Roumba. Spring 2009 Release.

Captain Karl Bunch shows a bold new color named ‘Double Cheeseburger’ for stained or muddy water.

Captain Karl Bunch: The Rattlin’ Roumba will be available in the spring time, and it’s going to expand the Roumba’s effectiveness. A guy who fishes water that’s really stained or muddy and feels he needs the rattling noise to go along with the wake, the Rattlin’ Roumba will allow him to do that, and it’s going to come in a few new, brighter colors to give dirty water anglers even more confidence. So the Rattlin’ Roumba will have some brighter colors for dirty water, in conjunction with the rattling noise.
Michael Murphy: The addition of the Rattlin’ Roumba is really going to help in those painful tournament situations when you may have fish located shallow, maybe even sight-fishing on beds, but then the water dingies up overnight, whether it be from rain, wind or whatever causes a dirtier water situation overnight. So you still know the fish are there, you just can’t see them or you need to alert them a little bit more to the lure’s presence. The regular Roumba may not be enough in dingy water. That’s where the Rattlin’ Roumba can definitely help you. The wake is still there, with the rattling noise to help them locate it better in dingier water.
So you’ll have two options. The Rattlin’ Roumba will be good in dirty water, but that same rattling noise may be too much for clear water where you may do better with the original non-rattling model.

ima Skimmer

Where we are now – ima Skimmer Topwater

Michael Murphy: In comparison to the Roumba (which is ideal for heavy cover, shallow backwater areas), I consider the Skimmer as more of an open water baitfish type of topwater bait. I’m not saying the Skimmer won’t work in a backwater spot (and vice versa), but the Roumba is more apropos for a shallow, spawning situation or vegetation. The Skimmer and Roumba also move different, and the actions are different. The Roumba is more like a bluegill or frog type lure for shallow cover situation whereas the Skimmer is more of a shad or pelagic baitfish lure for open water. So I tend to use the Skimmer more on main lake points, over deeper water, around rocky, sandy or clay shorelines without much vegetation or cover. With the Roumba, you would probe and pry and dissect shallow cover whereas the Skimmer is more for open water, schooling bass, and suspended bass situations.

Captain Karl Bunch: The Skimmer one of the easiest small pencil type stickbaits you’ll ever throw. It doesn’t require a lot of technique, and it’s surprisingly effective on brackish water striped bass that share tidal water with largemouth and smallmouth as well.

In fact, the Skimmer is gaining a strong following among ocean surfcasters use to the Skimmer’s solid construction and because of the long distance casts that can be achieved (for its size).

ima Big Stik

Where we’re headed – ima Big Stik. Summer 2009 Release.

The Big Stik is a through-wired hard plastic bait, and right now there are only limited prototypes available of the Big Stik.

It’s going to be big on the West Coast for California’s trophy largemouth, and also in Texas and Mexico. It will be very effective for striped bass, either in freshwater or salt.

Since it’s through-wired, a continuous length of heavy wire runs from the nose to tail, including the belly hanger. So it will be able to stand up to all your inshore saltwater battlers, big striped bass, bluefish, peacock bass, pike and musky too.

ima Rock ‘N Vibe

Where we are now – ima Rock ‘N Vibe Lipless Sinking Vibration Bait

Captain Karl Bunch: As a fishing guide, the Rock ‘N Vibe has become one of my best friends. This lipless crankbait works like a charm. It has good action at any retrieve speed. So anglers can’t fish it wrong. Anyone can use it very slow, medium speed or fast, and the Rock ‘N Vibe doesn’t lose its action. So when I have a guide trip, and fish are hitting the Rock ‘N Vibe, I know my clients are going to have a good day no matter how they use it!

One of the things that is also amazing to me is that the Rock N Vibe can be fish it as a deep water, vertical jig or ‘blade bait’. This can be very effective around bridge pilings and stuff. Some of these places can be snaggy and filled with all kinds of man-made cover where you may get hung up a lot. So I’ll just throw some of my older, beat up and less expensive blade baits until I get to know the terrain and the cover in the area, and then I’ll throw the Rock ‘N Vibe in there tight around the bridge pilings and stuff, and it’s very effective.

Michael Murphy: The Rock ‘N Vibe lipless crankbait shines best when water is around 45-55 degrees. That ten degree spectrum is going to be in spring and fall, and it’s when you have a lot of baitfish movement. That’s the water temperature range when fish may be transitioning off a jerkbait bite (in spring) and when they are coming off a jerkbait bite, that’s a pretty good time to show them the Rock ‘N Vibe. This is the time when fish are going to get active in newly-growing grass, also starting to move up onto warming flats, and the Rock ‘N Vibe takes center stage at that time.

Off deeper ledges or channel breaks in the summer, the Rock ‘N Vibe may also be used like a hard plastic jigging spoon – one that rattles – in the summer. But where it’s really going to shine is in spring and fall, when it’s just a little too warm for a good jerkbait bite, that’s Rock ‘N Vibe time.

ima Flit 120 and Baby Flit 100

Where we are now – ima Flit 120 Jerkbait

Where we’re headed – ima Baby Flit. Autumn 2009 Release.

The Baby Flit will be 100mm long.

Ima pro Michael Murphy is designer of the Flit jerkbait.

Michael Murphy: The Flit 120 is a bait that you can fish almost year round. Of course, when you get way up north, smallmouth country, there is not going to be any bad time to throw a Flit. If smallmouth are around, they will always eat a Flit.
When you get into more southern areas, the Flit’s most effective in cooler spring, winter and fall months. But even in the summer, when the water’s warm, I’ve had some killer days when the wind comes up.

In summer, a lot of main lake fish usually stay either very deep or very shallow, and since the Flit 120’s working depth is about 6-8 feet deep, it’s not good for very shallow or very deep fish. It is going to hang up in shallow grass and scum – or it isn’t going to reach them when they sulk on the bottom in deeper water on windless summer days. But you can have some killer days with main lake fish on windy days. All the fish will all start schooling off wind-blown points and on top of any other underwater rises. These fish will tend to suspend up high in the water column. They’ll suspend no more than 10-12 foot deep off points, humps and any other bottom uprisings that are facing into the wind, with wind-generated current moving past. When the wind dies down, these fish will move back up too shallow or descend too deep for the Flit 120 to be effective. But while the wind blows, the fishing can be phenomenal with the Flit 120 for suspended fish on wind blown structure in summer.

My most consistent and productive time of year, however, for the Flit 120 seems like its when the water is always at its cleanest and clearest in the early spring, before the spring rains come. At times when there are no algae blooms, not so much rain, that’s when the jerkbait bite can be best.

Switching the conversation to the new Baby Flit 100 which will be released in 2009, I’ve found that when it is super cold water, fish don’t want a bigger profile jerkbait at that time. So the Baby Flit can be more effective in super cold water.

And in those shallow, backwater areas, where the regular Flit 120 goes a little too deep and hangs up, I’ve found that the Baby Flit will stay just above the grass line, even a very grassy lake like Guntersville, Alabama.

The Baby Flit doesn’t go near as deep. Whereas the Flit 120 goes 6 to 8 feet deep, the Baby Flit goes 4 to 6. So it can stay right above that depth of grass; you won’t be hanging up as much, and it is a friendlier, smaller size of jerkbait that’s more acceptable at times when fish won’t commit to a bigger bait.

The Baby Flit has one less hook, but they’re the same size hooks as on the Flit 120. Also, there isn’t a major weight difference, castability difference or any difference in the tackle you would use with either the Flit 120 or the Baby Flit. You can throw both of them on the exact same rod, same line and same set-up. You won’t have any problems to switch from the bigger Flit to the smaller one. As small as the Baby Flit is, it casts like a bullet. and since it has the same size and strength hooks as the Flit 120, you don’t need to treat it any differently, except it fishes a shallower depth and has a smaller baitfish profile. The only downside is, it seems so long to wait until autumn 2009 to get your hands on it!

ima Shaker and Shad

Where we are now – ima Shaker Flat-sided Crankbait in Captain Karl’s favorite color, Plemmons.

Where we’re headed – a prototype of the ima Shad. Release Date Not Yet Decided

You can consider the ima Shad to be pudgy but not fat. The top and bottom is rounded but it does have somewhat flattened sides. So it isn’t completely round. The biggest difference is the Shad’s going to be more of (but not entirely) a rounded body crankbait whereas the Shaker is a flat-sided crankbait. The Shad’s not going to run any deeper. Both are shallow-runners, although the Shad’s a slightly smaller bait than the Shaker.

Captain Karl Bunch: I use the Shaker a lot. Earlier I had talked using the Roumba as a shallow-running crankbait which gets about a foot deep. Some days you will find that’s not deep enough to get bites. So when there’s a need to go deeper, the Shaker is the bait I tie on.

The Shaker runs 4-6 feet deep, depending on retrieve speed and line diameter (I like to use 10 lb test with it). It has lots of wobble, and surprisingly, it comes through the edges of grass lines a little bit better than many other cranks. The Shaker has such a wide wobble that it helps keep itself clean of grass and sheds debris. It also comes through wood pretty good, and it floats. So if you feel it hitting a limb, you can stop it, and it will float up so you can snake it over the limb and it won’t hang up.

In terms of water clarity, I have fished the Shaker from clear to stained to muddy water, no problem. As the water gets muddier, I just throw on a brighter color. One of my favorite ‘go to’ colors is Plemmons. The Plemmons color seems to work in just about any water clarity.

Michael Murphy: Earlier, I talked of using the Flit jerkbait in colder water, and I mentioned my preference for using the Rock ‘N Vibe when the water ranges between 45 to 55 degrees. That’s also close to the water temperature range when I prefer throwing the flat-sided ima Shaker. More precisely, the 50-60 degree range, both in spring and fall when the water’s in the fifties, is when I do best with the flat-sided Shaker. I typically use it when shad or any type of baitfish abound.

Both the Shaker and the prototype ima Shad have computer-board lips. This is a lightweight, ultra thin lip material that creates a lot livelier action than other baits with a thicker, heavy plastic bill on them. In river systems, where there’s a lot of water current, the Shaker and Shad work especially well, since the light, thin lips let them produce superior lure action. Whenever there’s any water current, they mimic baitfish swimming in the current. Even little streams and creeks that you can’t get a boat into, where you wade, the shallow-running Shaker and ima Shad do well because the moving water just activates them. In these moving water situations, you don’t have to do a whole lot to do well with these two baits.

The difference I’d say when it comes to the ima Shad prototype versus the Shaker, the Shad’s more of a rounder version, and that makes it even more of a summer type bait. So when the water is even warmer, say when the water temperature’s 55 to 65 or even up to 75, that rounder shape and the little different action makes the prototype ima Shad even more of a summer bait – especially in rivers or any water current situations.

Well, there you have it! Those are our year-end reviews of the five ima hard baits available to you today, and previews of the four ima baits under development for 2009.

Thank You! For Reading the ima Emailer

ima’s a big name in Japan where ima is known for its hardbaits. ima is now making a big name for itself in North American too, with the help of U.S. bass pros who have designed new ima hardbaits for the USA.

Gifts for Bass Fishing Rubes

Gift #8 for the Bass Fishing Rube in your life!

December 23, 2008 hellabass

Alright, if you have not bought a fishing gift yet for your favorite angler, you are just about out of time by now, but it is not too late……

Gift cards from a fishing or outdoors store is a great gift. Many of you do not like buying gift cards, because you think its taking the easy way out or not thoughtful enough, but I do not know any of my Bassin’ Buddies that would not love a nice gift card that will let them buy some great stuff for themselves.

Many fishermen are a picky breed when it comes to buying tackle and gear, often times they prefer to do their own shopping, which makes gift cards a great option.

Not to mention a few great online retailers offer electronic gift cards, so it means you can get them instantly and no shipping!!! Here are a few places to get them.

Bass Tackle Depot
Bass Pro Shops
LandBigFish.com
Monster Fishing Tackle
Nationwide Tackle

Hope this helps you out of a last minute bind!!! Also, Merry Christmas and hope you all have a safe and very wonderful Holidays!

Rich
RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Gifts for Bass Fishing Rubes, Product Reviews

Gift #7 for the Bass Fishing Rube in your life!

December 22, 2008 hellabass

It is getting to be crunch time to find and you running out of time to get a good stocking stuffer for your favorite bass angler. This is a sweet little product that you can sneak in their stocking that will save them a ton of time and a bunch of money over the next year.

Click here to see the first look video Mend It! Video

Mend-It! is a great solution that acts like a glue when used to bond soft plastic baits and swimbaits back together, but does not stick to you or your other stuff. The great thing is, it brings your favorite, expensive and hard to find colors and baits back to life, which means you can spend more time fishing and less time shopping for new baits. And more time fishing, means more fish in the boat!!!

You may have heard that this stuff dries up to fast, but they have revamped the packaging. The problems this young company had with product drying out in the bottle has been eliminated with their new patented bottles which insure your Mend-it will outlast your boat, but I would advise you to use it up, because its saves you money, waiting that long would be silly!. I used Mend-It! last year to fix my swimbaits, my ring frys, basstrix and other baits; it works so much better then super glue or soft bait glue when it comes to bait repair. I was even able to fix some of my bronzeye and furbit frogs with it.

Rich
RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Gifts for Bass Fishing Rubes, Product Reviews, Sponsors

Gifts #6 for the Bass Fishing Rube in your life!

December 15, 2008 hellabass

The shopping season is dwindling down, so its time to ramp up the Gift Ideas for bass fishing anglers in our lives!! In my mind, nothing says happy holidays, like the gift of Tungsten

Baits utilizing tungsten, help anglers catch more fish and lure with tungsten, do not contain lead, so they are better for our lakes & rivers. So if you give your favorite angler a little tungsten in his/her stocking, you can feel good for 2 reasons! So here are a few ideas of some great ways to give the gift that keeps on giving.

The new 4″ Tru-Life swimbaits are the hot ticket right now, big enough to put big bass & pike in your boat, but not too big to sacrifice bites. The thing that makes this bait very unique, is the adjustable weight and sink rate system created by the removable tungsten balls that can be put in or taken out on this bait.

Another new Innovation is the Tru-Tungsten soft plastics worms that already have tungsten powder in the head or tails of the worm to weight it. So this saves the hassle of adding a sinker to your rig, but also helps with hooks ups when setting the hook, because there is no sinker in the way of your hook set.

Or another thought is to keep it simple and just slide some basic Tungsten worm sinkers or Zappu tungsten nail weights in their stockings.

You can find all of this stuff online and most of it at your local tackle retailers, happy shopping!

Rich
RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Gifts for Bass Fishing Rubes, Product Reviews, Sponsors

Gifts #5 for the Bass Fishing Rube in your life!

December 10, 2008 hellabass

This gift idea entry is actually going to be a 3 in 1 combo platter because the guys at Secret Weapon Lures have too much cool stuff to just list one thing!!! Also, I have attached a person 30% off coupon code at the bottom of this entry for you being a reader!!! This coupon code is good for buying single spinnerbaits & buzzbaits as well, so if you are already a SWL fan, you can use it to stock up!

Gift Idea #1: Recoil Rig™ Gift Pack

Need the perfect gift to thrill an angler who seems to already have everything? This gift pack supplies special tools an angler can use to coax the biggest bass out of the thickest cover. Bring your drop shotting and finesse presentations to a new level. You also have the option to look at pages that can thoroughly review the different Fiskedrag for any fishing needs, this way you’ll be able to surprise your fishing friend with something they may have never thought to experiment with!

Keep your bait back where the biggest fish lurk. Twitch, shake, shimmy, splash, and tremble it until a trophy-size bass, snook, walleye, trout, or musky can’t stand it any longer, then hold on! The secret in this weapon is the Spectra™-wrapped latex shock cord that stretches between the fishing line and sinker. Every motion of your rod tip is transferred to the lure, creating incredibly life-like action. Improves catch rates for soft plastics, live bait and cut-bait, too.

This 132-piece kit is available only until Christmas Day. And as an introductory special we have it discounted over 50%! Backed by Secret Weapon’s unconditional money-back guarantee. Get it now!

Gift Idea #2: Recoil Rig™ Master Fisherman Pack

Double the components… double the savings! This is the kit our Prostaff and top touring pros are snapping up for themselves. Enough components to last an entire tournament season. This is serious fishing tackle for anglers who want an edge on the water. Get it now!

Gift Idea #3: Secret Weapon Tackle Packs

High-performance, top-quality fishing tackle for anglers who insist on the finest fishing gear and understand how to get the most from it. Secret Weapon has 22 Tackle Packs that meet the needs of anglers at every level, from novice to professional guide to elite tournament pro. Each tackle system is engineered to enable the anger to innovate-adapt in seconds to changing conditions, to configure the perfect lure for every cast.

Good (500-combination Master Packs), Better (2,000-combination ProPacks), and Best (5,000-combination Expedition Pack) – all unconditionally guaranteed. Already the best value in the sport fishing world, they’re an even greater bargain with your 30% discount coupon code.

Single lures make great stocking stuffer as well!

30%
OFF

purchases from Secret Weapon’s Online Armory*

Special Coupon from Rich’s Bassin’ Blog!!!!

Anglers like having secret weapons in their tackle boxes – lures they count on when a tournament is on the line, bragging rights are at stake, or a kicker fish is needed to complete the perfect day on the lake. Secret Weapon lures and tackle packs enable anglers to adapt to changing conditions, save money, and ensure satisfaction all year long.

Rated a 2008 Top-10 Fishing Gift!

Share this offer with family and fishing buddies. Discount coupon eexpires December 31, 2008: PCPSRL9
*30% discount is for lures, kits, and tackle components. It does not apply to shipping costs, discount gift certificates, and special sale items.

SWL makes the only spinnerbaits and buzzbaits that I own or use!

Rich
RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner

Fantasy Fishing gets Richer

December 9, 2008 hellabass

WORLD’S RICHEST FANTASY GAME JUST GOT RICHER

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – FLW Fantasy Fishing, the world’s largest and richest fantasy sports game, announced it is substantially increasing its prize pool from $7.3 million in 2008 to $10 million in cash and prizes in 2009 with a guaranteed $1 million cash winner, plus six guaranteed $100,000 cash winners. Additionally, FLW Fantasy Fishing is offering a $3 million cash exacta and a $5 million cash exacta, plus over 2,500 other prizes including new Ranger boats, a Chevy SUV, four-wheelers and hundreds or thousands of dollars in free cash cards and Walmart gift cards.

FLW’s Player’s Advantage membership is the unique tool that offers many advantages to its members, which include the all-important winning edge statistics that players will need, including the history and statistics of all the competing anglers, up-to-date information on the tournament fisheries, weather conditions at and before tournament time, the hometown favorites and their records, who fishes better in the various weather conditions, plus many more tips about the potential favorites to win each tournament.

In 2008, Player’s Advantage cost $39.95 per year. Those individuals who act now can sign up for only $10 for the entire 2009 Fantasy Fishing season which will give them all of the important information and tips as well as all of the other Player’s Advantage opportunities, of which there are many. An important fact: Among all those who played Fantasy Fishing in 2008, it was the Player’s Advantage members who won at a rate of 400% more than the non-members, including the $1 million winner Michael Thompson.

For those individuals 18 years and older who wish to play the $10 million FLW Fantasy Fishing game in 2009 and want assistance in picking the teams, Player’s Advantage will be offering them the pundits’ picks, which will allow them to basically push a button that will give them what is called the “Quick Pick.” Additionally, they will receive mobile updates, expert blogs and access to FLW Live to watch the weigh-ins as they happen for all four days during each of the seven tournaments.

“FLW Fantasy Fishing is something we have worked tirelessly on and have sincerely enjoyed sharing the excitement of the players and the extraordinary growth that we have experienced in our inaugural year,” said FLW Outdoors Chairman, Irwin Jacobs. “Our inaugural season in 2008 was such an incredible success that frankly, it ran participation off the charts. We wanted FLW Fantasy Fishing to have another year of even greater growth in 2009, so we decided to offer an additional $3 million in cash, plus enhanced features and tools such as Player’s Advantage for a total cost of the unbelievable price of only $10 for the entire 2009 FLW Fantasy Fishing season.In 2008 Player’s Advantage proved to be the invaluable advantage to its members by winning four times more often than those who weren’t Player’s Advantage members. The FLW Fantasy Fishing game has positively transformed many individuals’ and their families’ lives from around the world. Visit fantasyfishing.com to see and hear directly from last year’s Fantasy Fishing winners how their lives were changed in 2008 by playing the richest fantasy sports game in the world.”

In 2008, FLW Fantasy Fishing’s inaugural year, it crowned fantasy sports historical first $1 million cash winner Michael Thompson. Additionally there were seven $100,000 cash winners during the seven FLW Tour tournaments along with over 4,000 additional prizes ranging from a $39,565 Chevy Silverado to a $51,495 Ranger Z19 bass boat to hundreds of thousands of cash cards from Walmart to BP gas cards. For a complete list of prizes for 2009, please visit fantasyfishing.com.

“FLW Fantasy Fishing obviously changed mine and my family’s life forever in the most positive way,” said Thompson, who recently purchased his dream house on 40 acres in Minnesota thanks in large part to his FLW Fantasy Fishing Player’s Advantage membership. “I can’t wait for the 2009 season to begin as I have already signed up for Player’s Advantage and recruited many more of my family and friends to also play the game. The prizes being offered by FLW Fantasy Fishing are unbelievable and to think that someone again will win a guaranteed $1 million in cash or possibly $3 or even $5 million in cash is truly amazing, if not remarkable. Playing the world’s richest and largest fantasy sports game not only offers tremendous prizes but also improves relationships and camaraderie among family and friends who can and will enjoy playing Fantasy Fishing together.”

There is an additional new game to Fantasy Fishing in 2009 – “The $3 Million Power Hook” in the Forrest Wood Cup Championship. FLW Fantasy Fishing will be offering this amazing additional guaranteed cash prize of $3 million in cash to any individual who selects the first through fifth place anglers in their exact winning positions at the Forrest Wood Cup Championship which begins on July 30 and concludes on Aug. 2, 2009. There will be only 77 professional anglers competing in the Forrest Wood Cup whereas in all of the other six FLW Tour qualifying events there will be approximately 150 professional anglers. Participants will also have the opportunity to win an additional guaranteed $5 million in cash in the “Rank 7 Exacta Bonus Game” for any player who selects the first through seventh top finishers in any one of the FLW Tour qualifying events in 2009 in their exact winning positions.

Another new addition and very exciting opportunity to win thousands of dollars in cash for those playing Fantasy Fishing in 2009, will be a newly-developed referral program allowing participants to earn back $2 in cash for every $10 Player’s Advantage membership they are responsible for referring and signing up. Basically, participants earn 20% cash payback for all Player’s Advantage cash memberships they register. If an individual signs up five players, they will receive their own Player’s Advantage for free. If they register 100 Player’s Advantage members, they will receive $200 in cash. If they sign up 1,000 members, they will receive $2,000 in cash. Or imagine for being responsible for registering 10,000 people and earning $20,000 in cash. There are no limits to the amount one can earn in recruiting Player’s Advantage members. All recruiting cash due to those individuals will be paid within 30 days upon conclusion of the Forrest Wood Cup Championship on Aug. 2, 2009.

“Record numbers of people in the world of fantasy sports enjoyed playing Fantasy Fishing in 2008; however, millions of people stood on the sidelines watching as FLW Fantasy Fishing awarded $1 million in cash to Michael Thompson, plus $100,000 in cash each to seven individuals for playing and winning a fantasy sport,” said Jacobs. “Just as Fantasy Fishing is the greatest fishing game on earth, we have now developed the Fantasy Fishing referral program to get everyone involved and participating. We are looking forward to rewarding those that generate interest in our game, getting more people involved in our sport and having the time of their life playing Fantasy Fishing with their families and friends.

Along with the special price NOW of only $10 for a Player’s Advantage membership in 2009,
fantasyfishing.com will feature many articles, interviews, online videos and improved scoring techniques. For additional information, the complete rules and to register, please visit fantasyfishing.com.

FLW Fantasy Fishing continues to be the leader around the world for the richest fantasy game offering $10 million in cash and prizes in 2009. Fantasy Fishing permanently changed the landscape of fantasy sports in 2008 with the offering of $7.3 million in cash and prizes and attracting players from more than 123 countries throughout the world. But now in 2009, FLW Fantasy Fishing is going to top that by offering an unbelievable $10 million in cash and prizes to many families and individuals that will no doubt make their dreams come true. To register now for Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit fantasyfishing.com.

Fun Fishing

Blog entry over due!

December 8, 2008 hellabass

Man, it’s been way too long to get this entry up. I took this fishing trip the day before Thanksgiving, I usually pride myself on timeliness of my fishing entries. Oh well…..

So Dave Cindrich and I walked the banks of Mississippi in search of cold weather bronzebacks. We started slow, as we each missed several bites on different soft plastics (grubs, tubes, craws, etc) I finally got the hook into a few on a LFT Fork Craw rigged on a 3/16oz Picasso Shakedown head. I usually throw a green pumpkin tube about 99% of time this time of year, but wanted to try something different and hope to draw a few bigger bites. After losing a couple shake down heads, and wanting to save a couple, I went back to my usual 1/8oz tube head with a 3″ Power Tube and caught many fish. I believe Dave caught most of his fish on a 3/16oz head and a Strike King Coffee Tube.

Not many pics, this is one of the bigger fish caught, probably around 2.5lbs, caught a few this size

At the end I rigged a bigger 4″ Mizmo tube on a Shakedown head. I rigged this one in a fashion referred to as a “Stupid Tube”. Which reminds, me that I need to take pictures to show how this is done, as I often get asked via email. I picked up a few fish on this as well. All in all, the bite was steady buy not great. I believe I caught 33 or 34 smallies and a big 10lb plus carp and my guess is that Dave probably landed 12-15 smallmouth, took him awhile to warm up and get in the groove.

Picasso Shakedown Shakey head

Hopefully the weather warms before the end of the year, as I have a couple more vacation days to burn, but fishing is so much easier when its above 25 degrees out and your guides don’t freeze!!!
Rich
RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

FLW Tour

Hackney dominates at Falcon Lake!

December 1, 2008 hellabass

Last week FLW held their FLW Series fish-off at Falcon Lake in Texas. The Fish-off format is interesting in the fact that it seed anglers from the FLW East & West series in a head to head format to make the Forest Wood Cup, but there is a overall winner as well and Greg Hackney put up a sick 3 day weight of 109-06. He was just a few ounces from breaking the FLW 4 day record in a 3 day event. So that is 15 fish for over 109lbs, quick math gives him a 7.3lb per fish average.

Greg caught most of his fish on the new Strike King Anaconda 10″ worm, fishing pretty deep along an old road on a bluff edge. You can find a lot of good info and detail in this BassFan.com story. One thing that is somewhat strange, is while Hackney was off the charts, man anglers struggled to put 5 fish in the well every day. That may be because guys were going for big fish, knowing they needed 5 big fish a day just to keep pace.

Photo: FLW Outdoors/Rob Newell

Also, welcome email subscribers #79, 80 & 81!!!

Rich
RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Gifts for Bass Fishing Rubes, Product Reviews, Sponsors

Gift #4 for the Bass Fishing Rube in your life!

November 30, 2008 hellabass

All anglers and outdoorsman for that fact really need a good set of polarized glasses. First and foremost, to protect your eyes from wind, bugs, stray hooks and lures, dust and dirt and numerous other potentially damaging UFO’s. Let’s face it, most if us would struggle to enjoy life as we know it without our eyes and likely the set you have is the last you will get.

The most important factor of sunglasses is fit, if they are lightweight and fit well, you will keep them on and they will protect your eyes, if you don’t wear them, they do you know good. The next most important feature is quality optics, low quality optics can strain you eyes in many ways and actually make your eyes tired after wearing them.

With all this said, I trust my eyes to JKruz Eyewear. My personal choice for cloudy days is Tortoise Storm frames with amber lenses and on bright sunny days I go with my Riptide carbon frames with green mirror tinted lenses

These glasses are high quality at affordable prices, check them out!!! Act now and you can get a free pair of floating polarized sunglasses when you order any other pair, that is a great plan to get multiple people crossed off your list or to get a little something for yourself

Rich
RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Product Reviews, Sponsors, Tips and Techniques

ima Emailer ~ November 2008

November 30, 2008 hellabass

Welcome! to the ima Emailer ~ November 2008 Issue

The IMA EMAILER brings you news from ima pros Fred Roumbanis, Michael Murphy, Bill Smith and ima pro staffers across the USA and worldwide.

ima Pro Fred Roumbanis Makes Amistad Easy

What does ima pro-staffer Fred Roumbanis do when he gets time off from his busy tournament schedule? You guessed it, Fred goes fishing!

In this issue, Fred tells us all about one of the country’s hottest new trophy bass destinations – Lake Amistad which straddles the border between Texas and Mexico. Amistad has become one of the hottest big bass destinations for US anglers in recent years.

Recently, Fred and Optimum Baits CEO Matt Paino headed down there to enjoy a Texas-style trophy bass fun fishing trip. They stayed at Byron Velvick’s Amistad Lake Resort.

Matt Paino says, “We would like to include our appreciation and gratitude to Byron Velvick. We stayed at his Amistad Lake Resort. The accommodations were great and Byron made sure that we, like all his guests, had an enjoyable time at his resort. One day, Fred ran into engine troubles and Byron let us use his boat and really bailed us out.”

Destination Amistad

Since the Bassmaster Elite Tour first started stopping there only a couple of years ago, Amistad instantly became a hot destination for many anglers from across the country, and for those who have not been there yet or who are thinking to go there soon, I’d like to make this not only an ima story but also a destination piece, says Fred Roumbanis.

I’ll talk primarily about ima baits but also include the other baits that I would typically use on Amistad, meaning swimbaits.

So, I will give some information about those lures, but also the story’s meant to help you do well if you go to Amistad – and this kind of story’s called a ‘destination piece’. So here goes!

Fred’s History on Amistad

My history with Amistad is, the first time I went there in November 2005 was right after a Bassmaster championship, I swung by on my drive home and fished Amistad for about four hours and caught about fifty bass. Nothing over three pounds, but just tons of fish, and I was blown away with how awesome the lake was.

So I was really excited to think I’d be coming back the next season in the spring when the big fish would be up and the Bassmaster Tour would officially stop there for the first time. What I’d heard was Amistad is an awesome springtime lake, big fish move up then in the clear water so you can see them, almost like in an aquarium. I was psyched!

I had that whole winter to plan for how I would approach Amistad. I had been thinking about trying my California-style swimbait tactics on Amistad, and I thought maybe I would have that whole technique to myself there, which I pretty much did. Swimbaits were well-known of course in California (where I grew up), but still at that time, swimbaits were not widely used on the pro tours.

Well, I finished second to Ish Monroe at that first Bassmaster Elite on Amistad in 2006, but in so doing, I actually brought swimbait fishing into the Bassmaster Elite series for the very first time. So that was a big deal for Amistad because not only did Bassmaster TV coverage of that event help Amistad become a hot new destination for big bass almost overnight, but it also become a destination for people to use big baits.

That first tournament on Amistad in March 2006 was pretty amazing. I thought I did everything in the off-season to be ready for those big fish, and Bassmaster had definitely scheduled the best time for us to be in there. I was confident going in that I would break 100 pounds at Amistad, and I did with 101.13 for 4 days.

I was catching 20 fish a day on a swimbait, all over 4 pounds, and culling 4’s to get 25 pound bags. The tournament came down to whether I’d get the one or two bites to make me a really big bag of fish. I caught so many quality fish the final day that my camera guy ran out of tape with about a 1/2 hour to go before weigh-in, and on my very last cast I hooked a nine-pounder. I actually touched and almost grabbed it before it bolted under the boat and got stuck in a tree and ended up losing the tournament for me. It’s funny but ‘losing’ the tournament meant I came in second place.

Despite that, I definitely was prepared for that kind of fishing on Amistad. I grew up fishing the California Delta and Clear Lake. Those are two big bass factories where I had really cut my teeth in tournament fishing. So big fish have always been something that I have been prepared for, and I really prepared myself for what Amistad had potential for. I just got that one bad break and dropped that nine-pounder that cost me the win. I had to live with that throughout the season. I had some nightmares you know, awful nightmares. I could have easily kept that nine-pounder engaged and brought it up, but I decided to feed it some line off the spool by hand. I had thought I was in open water, and I did not realize my boat was sitting right on top of a tree. As you may be able to tell, that one mistake still haunts me.

Early Morning Roumba

One of my main things whenever I go to Amistad, I go there with the intention of fishing for big fish. So I want to throw big baits. Like with the ima baits, let’s take my Roumba topwater for instance. I didn’t just want to throw the solo Roumba. I wanted to big up the presence of that bait by adding a tail section of a swimbait to the back of it, attached by a HitchHiker screw wire coil clipped on the back split ring. This gets clipped to the split ring above the rear treble hook.

What that does with the swimbait tail attached, it displaces more water on the surface, it kicks and gives the Roumba a bigger profile and presence. So we rigged the Roumbas like that on Amistad.

In the mornings, they really ate the Roumba well. I mean we had a solid Roumba topwater bite to start each day. Most mornings, you can have until about 9 o’clock for this. So basically, you have about 2 to 2-1/2 hours of good topwater fishing in the mornings on Amistad.

Look closely to see the swimbait tail that’s been attached by a wire clip to the end ring of this Roumba. The clip and swimbait tail swing independently above the tail treble hook.

Midmorning Flit

Some time around 9 o’clock each day, the fish tended to stop roaming and would begin to tuck up into the cover, especially if the sun poked out. So then we went with the ima Flit. It’s a three treble hook jerkbait, almost five inches long. So it’s a good-sized jerkbait, what they call a ‘120’, and that’s just a little bigger than most other jerkbaits on the market.

Once they headed into the cover, which was bushes, shrubs and several kinds of scrub trees, you could still pull them out of there with the Flit. You could jerk it around the bushes, and make them come out and attack it. We were not really pinpointing a certain type of bush or tree. It didn’t matter. However, I did seem to notice some of the bigger fish came off salt cedar trees. It seemed there were more bugs or insects in the salt cedars when they flooded, and probably because of that, more bluegills and baitfish were around them. Even more spider webs were obvious in the salt cedars, and those trees with more bugs had more baitfish and bigger bass in them. Life attracts life!

When the fish tucked up into the cover after the morning topwater activity, the reason why we started to throw the Flit at them in the cover, is because of the way you can jerk the Flit around the bushes, it commands attention. It really shimmies when you work it. Then you let it suspend there for a second, and that truly antagonizes them. So the Flit moves real quick and erratically, and then it just sits there. And they come out and grab it. You can stop it right where you think is best, right in front of the bush where you think a bass is holed up. It’s not like something that’s swimming by, that’s only passing through. It stops and stays right in front of their bush. So it’s kind of like sitting there in their space, and they’re going to attack it for that reason. It triggers that reaction bite. These fish, they may not come out for something that’s moving past. If something just keeps going and passes by the bush, they’re not going to bother it. But as soon as the Flit stops and hangs around, that’s what makes them react on it.

Matt Paino savors the moment with a nice midmorning Flit fish. Matt says, “My one most important comment may be, when preparing to come to Lake Amistad, plan on upscaling all your baits. If you are used to throwing a 4″ jerkbait (100mm or so), go bigger and tie on the 5″ (120mm) ima Flit, for example. The lake has a good mixture of bait, ranging in all sizes. There is big and small bait for bass to choose from. However, you’ll have better chances to catch the bigger fish at Amistad if you throw the little bit larger baits.”

Early Afternoon Swimbait Bite

In the afternoon, you may want to get out the swimbait. The swimbait we threw during this trip was a new one that Optimum came out with – the Baby Line Thru. It’s a five-inch swimbait and its got a really wide head to it. That big head gives it a little bigger presence in the water. It just makes it look like a big, easy baitfish to a bass. So the BLT was our swimbait of choice. You can check out the new Baby Line Thru at www.optimumbaits.com.

Of course, you could catch swimbait fish early too, but after lunch was really when we’d use them. The bass at this time of day were deep in the thick grass. You’d want to cast the swimbait out and let it sink for a little bit, and get a slow roll down deeper usually on the inside grass lines. Where the grass is, an ideal depth for this is around 15-16 feet, so you want to slow roll that swimbait down through that, near the grass, near the tree tops, swimming in and out of the cover.

The cool thing is, as the water level rose daily on us during this trip, the grass was almost like kelp. What I mean is, at low tide in the California Pacific ocean, kelp looks like a mat all balled up and lays over on the surface. Well, as the water rose on Amistad, the grass stood straight up. So you can actually work your swimbait through it a lot easier. It wasn’t really matted up or too dense, not too tight together. There was a lot of room in the grass for the swimbait to move through it pretty freely.

So that’s where and when we were throwing the Optimum Baby Line Thru swimbaits in the afternoons.

When you are throwing the swimbait, you will be able to get by with the lighter colored patterns (such as the BLT Sexy Shad) in the clear water, and then go to the darker swimbaits and your chartreuse ones (like the BLT Table Rock Shad) in the stained water to catch your fish.

The nice thing about the Baby Line Thru when you hook a fish with it, the bait will slide up the line and not interfere with fighting a fish.

Since the BLT slides up the line, a fish is not biting down on it for the entire fight, so that helps you catch a few more fish than usual on one bait.

Yes! Baby Line Thru comes through in a big way for Matt!

The Wind and the Rock N’ Vibe

Also in the afternoons, or any time we were along a flooded treeline or a windy bank, we went with the ima Rock N’ Vibe lipless bait. Now that’s not a very big bait, but we went with that because a lot of the baitfish that we saw on Amistad this time were surprisingly tiny. So the Rock N’ Vibe’s a little loud, noisy bait that matched the hatch.

Actually, we did really well with the Rock N’ Vibe. Any creek we found that had just a little bit of stain or streaks of mudlines or wind blowing against brush lines or treelines where you could stay off a ways with the Rock N’ Vibe and cast into it – we caught numerous fish that way.

In many of these creeks, the water was high from recent flooding, so there’d be an outside treeline, and you’re not really near the flooded bank in these cases. So we were just staying ‘outside’. The trees were out in the flooded water, and you can see that in some of the photos.

Fishing the treelines was outstanding with the lipless Rock ‘N’ Vibe.

The backs of any creeks are places an angler can look for year-round action on Amistad. They’ll always be some shallow fish in the backs of the creeks. So you can go there anytime. With the Rock N’ Vibe in the wind, depending on the depth we were fishing, just cast out, and as soon as it hits the water start reeling. Give it a few jerks, kind of rip it back and forth. That bait, you can reel it slow and you can reel it fast, and it still is going to come in true without any trouble every time. So you can work it erratically.

What I particularly like when its windy (which it was this trip), is if there’s any kind of a mudline formed from the wind pushing against a bank, any bank.

Mudlines are awesome for throwing lipless crankbaits and it’s something I’ve always been successful at doing – fishing mudlines with a lipless bait.

Fish can get under a mudline, and even though it looks like its muddy, actually under the water, under a mudline, it is really clear under there. So basically, the mud is only a film over the surface, which is like perfect cover to a fish. Best of all, its a kind of overhead cover that you can fish right through it with treble hook lures! It’s pretty amazing that most of the mud is floating around on the surface. Yet underneath it is real clear.

Some great fish were landed on this trip courtesy of the ima Rock N’ Vibe.

Late Afternoon Happy Hour

And then in the late afternoons and evening hours, that was when everything just got awesome. The fish would come up, start schooling and start busting on bait.

The nice thing about when they are busting like that, it seems you can catch them on just about anything you want at those moments – and indeed we did! We had all the rods ready on deck with the different ima baits. You can throw the Flit, the Skimmer, the Shaker, Rock N’ Vibe or Roumba, and pretty much catch fish on all those when they’re schooling and breaking on bait on the surface. It’s a good technique to rotate through the different ima lures at such times. After you catch one or two fish on one bait, switch up and throw another bait so you don’t give them too much of the same one. If you rotate lures, you can catch a couple more fish faster that way.

The ima Skimmer proved perfect for late afternoon and evening topwater schooling action.

Rod, Reel and Line Recommendations

We had most models of ima baits and BLT swimbaits rigged on separate rods for the duration of our trip. As discussed throughout, we found times of day when and locations where one or another bait seemed better-suited to the situation.

For a lake like Amistad with some pretty tough cover and equally tough fish, we fished everything on 15 pound test baitcasting tackle pretty much straight across the board.

The Roumba and the Skimmer topwaters, we fished them on P-Line CXX. That’s a copolymer line and it floats. You want those baits to be on a line that can help keep them on the surface, yet won’t take away from the action.

On the Flit suspending jerkbait, we liked it better on sinking fluorocarbon line.

The Rock n Vibe really didn’t matter much. We fished it both on P-Line CXX and on fluorocarbon.

Come on Down!

When Matt and I were here, the lake was flooded, so fish were scattered into the newly-flooded water, but this is not as unusual as it sounds for lakes like Amistad. This far south and on other similar lakes in Mexico, they tend to have seasonal water level fluctuations, depending on the year.

During this trip, we had some consistently strong winds. But even with all that, we had a pretty good trip.

The water color on Amistad is usually pretty clear, and as the lake fluctuates up and down, there is always going to be some of the same kind of cover as we described in this article, brush, trees, grass, creeks and so on, either being flooded or exposed. Amistad is filled with grass, cover and brush, so the fishing areas just expand or contract as the water goes up or down, and the fish tend to adjust to that fairly well.

If you ever get a chance to go there when the lake is low, spend as much time as possible looking over the entire place – and learning it. I think I have a pretty good memory and can remember certain things, obviously not everything, but then when the water comes up, I remember things like there’s a great ledge that should be coming up here, and then you can find it on the graph, and usually something like that, where the old shoreline used to be, you can throw out and catch a good fish on it right away.

As the water level rises, you have to really think in your mind and get a handle on where was that old shoreline. Cause that old shoreline is what those bigger fish become accustomed to, and a lot of those bigger fish like to stay on it. They can be very territorial, and they like to kind of stay on some of those older shorelines, even when a good amount of new water has risen over them.

Now you know, many of the bigger fish are going to live deep there, that’s just their nature. So keep that in mind at Amistad.

If you go to Amistad, of course there won’t be the same conditions we faced, but you should hopefully still be able to try some of the ima lures and tactics described in this trip report. Everything we’ve described is a typical day starting with a couple of hours of topwater, and then the fish stop roaming or chasing, pull into the cover, and once the sun peaks overhead after noon, you can go deeper down off the grasslines, and then find the schools up top toward the end of the day. A guy can go down there most any day of the year, spring, summer, fall, and being it’s so far south, the climate stays warm, so there isn’t that much of a winter. You can pretty much follow the plan I’ve given you here and catch fish all year round.

The awesome ima baits and swimbaits we discussed, those were our best choices, and I’d say they’re my perennial choices for this lake. I’m pretty sure I’ll be packing more of the same great baits the next time I journey there.

If you go to Amistad, I hope you can pretty much follow this story and try some of the lures, tactics and types of spots we fished, as they should have a chance to work most anytime there.

Like Matt and I, you may catch a lot of fish and some good ones. We hope you have a great time.

Where We Stayed

“We stayed at Byron Velvick’s Amistad Lake Resort. It just so happens Rick Clunn (center) was there teaching a class in bass fishing. So it was good to spend a little off season time hanging with a guy like that,” says Fred.