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ima Shaker

Welcome! To the ima EMAILER ~ May 2008 Issue
The IMA EMAILER brings you news from IMA pro staff members Bill Smith, Fred Roumbanis,  Michael Murphy and other Ima pro staffers across the USA and worldwide.


Good News! This month’s emailer is all about the ima Shaker crankbait.


Designer Bill Smith Debuts Long-Awaited ima Shaker Crankbait

Hello. It is BASSMASTER Elite Angler Bill Smith here and I am proud to say that I designed the ima Shaker for you. It is a small, flat-sided, shallow-diving crankbait with a thin computer board lip. At 2-3/4 inches long, the Shaker weighs 3/8 oz and runs 3 to 5 feet deep. With its internal weight transfer system, the Shaker let’s one reach unprecedented casting distances with a crankbait of this kind.

I designed the ima Shaker to improve upon and replace the flat-sided balsa crankbaits that are regional favorites in my section of the country, the southeast USA. I grew up fishing balsa crankbaits for over twenty years, and I know them well. I know what are balsa’s merits as well as balsa’s weaknesses.

Since the Shaker is the latest improvement upon and replacement for balsa, I feel it is appropriate to first share a few words with you about the Shaker’s predecessors – balsa crankbaits. So first, here is a bit of the interesting history of balsa cranks…

A Little Background on Balsa Crankbaits

Originally, going back over forty years, the Big O is one of the first milestones. The original Big O they say was whittled by hand out of balsa wood by Fred Young of Oak Ridge, Tennessee in the late 1960’s – and they say that is the start of balsa crankbaits for bass in the USA. Mr. Young was not the only one whittling balsa crankbaits in the region 40 years ago, but the Big O is the one to achieve some sort of national fame and lasting historical significance. It really only did that because it was reproduced in hard plastic during the early 1970’s by Cotton Cordell and quickly sold by the millions. But my point is that as far back as 40 years ago, hand-carved balsa crankbaits were popular and prized baits across the south even then.

Other early and legendary names in balsa crankbaits include Jim Bagley, Lee Sisson and certainly Rapala. As I understand it, these were on the scene since the early to mid-1970’s. Today, these names still have national and worldwide recognition. When it comes to balsa crankbaits, many bass anglers may be familiar with those names.

What’s not so well-known outside the region is the ongoing refinement of locally hand-crafted balsa crankbaits by lure builders across the region and states of Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and parts thereabouts. This is all considered balsa crankbait country.

Especially within the last twenty years or so (since the mid-1980’s), many of the locally-produced balsa crankbaits used across this region have been refined to a fine art. This is woodworking and furniture-manufacturing country, where whittling’s a pastime and a handful of guys here have the modern toolshops and wherewithal to produce high quality balsa crankbaits.

There was an old gentlemen from whom I remember my Dad would buy hand-crafted wood topwater lures. This fellow worked in a furniture factory, and made lures in his spare time. This old gentleman did not even fish, but he paid close attention to the constant feedback from the anglers who were his customers, like my Dad. He’d make the changes they suggested to him, thereby improving his topwater products. Both the anglers and the artisan took a sense of pride from this. Over time, he gained quite a local reputation and following for well-made, fish-catching topwater baits. Now take someone with that woodworking skill and love, with a little tool shop, who takes pride in their work and also likes to fish, and that’s what’s been happening for the past twenty years in this part of the country with regionally-produced balsa crankbaits.

You can think of what’s going on here as being similar to what’s gone on with swimbaits on the west coast. For the longest time, swimbaits were a local phenomena, designed, developed, locally-made and used on the west coast as an effective way to catch the bass there. Of course, we see today that swimbaits work everywhere, not just California.

Likewise, balsa crankbaits made in and used across the southeast, have been local favorites for the longest time.

But as we’ve found with swimbaits, these balsa crankbaits (and now the ima Shaker) will also work everywhere, not just in the local region, but everywhere across the USA.

As a Bassmaster Elite Series pro, including all the places I’ve traveled, all the water I’ve fished across the country, 95% of the places I’ve been from coast to coast and border to border, these balsa crankbaits (and now the ima Shaker) have worked for me.

And I can tell you that there isn’t a Bassmaster Elite pro who I know who doesn’t have a box full of flat-sided, hand-made custom balsa crankbaits on his boat, ready to use at every event across the country. These are baits that are hard to get, that have taken years for many of the pros to amass the boxfuls they’ve got. Every pro has them and knows that at any time or any place, flat-sided balsa crankbaits can prove effective.

Introducing the ima Shaker

Now that I’ve gotten you interested to try balsa crankbaits, let me tell you that the new ima Shaker is an improvement upon and replacement for a certain kind of balsa bait – the flat-sided crankbait.

The flat-sided balsa bait gained a following in the Tennessee/Alabama market years ago. It’s real strong on the Tennessee River chain, and also on Ohio River system, where they seriously refined the trend of the smaller flat-sided baits to imitate smaller shad so prevalent there. Over time, this flat-sided crank spread throughout the southeast market.

The ima Shaker is the very latest flat-sided crank that matches this most common smaller size of shad.

The Shaker has a very lifelike baitfish appearance. With the flat sides, the Shaker imitates more of a shad than the typical fat, bulbous, round-bodied crankbait. The flat-sided Shaker looks like a shad and has a more realistic profile. Yet it still has the characteristic wide wobble of a balsa bait.

However, the ima Shaker is not balsa. The Shaker is a new injection-molded hard plastic bait with a computer board lip. The Shaker is designed to have all the merits but none of the weaknesses of balsa.

Some of the big disadvantages of balsa crankbaits versus the ima Shaker are:

Good Quality Balsa Crankbaits Ima Shaker
They can’t take but one good hit on a rock or a log or the diving bill may loosen from the surrounding softer balsa lip slot. The main factor is durability, the lip stays in. The lip slot is molded (not hand-cut) with a very tight tolerance that helps fortify and secure the computer board lip within the surrounding, tightly-fitting hard plastic.
The line tie eye and hook hangers are screwed-in, slots for lips and belly weights are drilled and then glued by hand, not always perfectly. The component parts, hangers, eyes, weighting system and lip are precisely fitted into injected-molded bodies, with little to no possibility of being off.
The hook hangers or front line tie eye can loosen up under a little too much pressure or pull right out of balsa. The hook hanger and line tie are molded in “figure-eight” stainless wire. Not likely to ever pull out under normal fishing conditions.
A balsa body will often break toward the thinner tail section, especially if a fish is hooked on the tail treble only. The hard plastic body is not likely to ever break under normal fishing conditions.
Balsa is a light wood and especially with the flat sides, hard to cast. It often waffles in the air like a potato chip, falling all too short, causing nasty line snarls or backlashes. The Shaker features an internal weight transfer system allowing the bait to fly incredibly far distances on the cast with greater accuracy and line control.
No two are ever quite the same, due to the natural inconsistencies of each piece of wood, plus the line tie, hangers, belly weights, lips are not always consistent. For any 12 balsa baits, you tend to find 2-3 are truly good and will catch most of your fish. Another 6-8 may only ever be average catchers, and 2-3 may never work well. ima has eliminated this problem of inconsistent baits. Every Shaker will run true straight out of the package. The buoyancy rate and action will be the same each time. We took a long time to get the ima Shaker perfect, based on decades of experience using balsa. We made the prototype Shaker the  best we could – and precision injection-molding makes it consistent for every single bait.
The good ones are hand-made and always hard to get. Often you have to be a pro or know the lure builder to have any chance. If you place an order today, the waiting list may take from one to two years for some. The ima Shaker is readily available now at fine tackle shops across North America. Anyone can get the Shaker, a lure similar to the hard-to-get flat-sided balsa cranks that most of the top pros have a boxful.
Because they are so fragile and hard-to-get, most anglers avoid using their best balsa cranks in heavy cover, the very places that fish favor most. The ima Shaker can be fished through all difficult cover – around docks, rocks, stumps – that would utterly destroy a balsa crankbait. The bodies won’t break or chip and loose chunks (like balsa does) when they flare off of wood or a rock.
Good quality balsa cranks are expensive. The Shaker costs less than good hand-made balsa crankbaits. The Shaker is a GREAT BUY when you think that you are spending more for a hand-made balsa bait that you don’t know will run true and balsa has the potential of getting destroyed quickly.

As you can see above, the Shaker is designed to imitate a balsa bait, and improve on it. The advantages of the Shaker over balsa are many – more durable, lasts longer and with its internal weight transfer system, is easier and more accurate to cast than balsa.

Because a flat-sided balsa crank is such a poor casting lure, a lot of time you can only use one with 6-8 pound spinning gear to have any hope of casting a decent distance. Even then, you are probably talking about a 40 foot cast with a balsa crank on light line spinning gear versus a 60 foot cast with the ima Shaker on 10-15 pound baitcasting gear. That heavier grade of baitcasting gear could pull a balsa crank apart like it was cotton candy – if you could even cast a balsa bait on such gear (you really can’t).

So you’re comparing 60 feet with the Shaker on a 10-15 pound baitcaster versus 40 feet for balsa on 6-8 lb spinning gear.

That’s 20 feet longer that the Shaker is in the water, attracting fish, on every cast. That’s significant and equates to more fish caught due to the Shaker staying longer in the strike zone.

So not only is the Shaker more durable, able to withstand the force of heavier tackle, but also casts much further (and accurately) and can be fished in dense cover that fish love.


Color Patterns

The hard-plastic injection-molded nature of the ima Shaker is a radical new departure from balsa crankbaits – but the finishes and color patterns are not.

The ima Shaker finishes make them look like they’re balsa cranks. When painted and finished, it’s hard to tell at first whether the Shaker is plastic or wood.

We’ve tried to stay true to the well-known regional color patterns used on hand-made balsa cranks across the southeast, plus we’ve stayed with the unique names used for these regional color patterns.

The guys in the southeast who throw balsa cranks will be familiar with these names and colors. They are derived from favorite colors of parochial balsa baits –  like the color Plemmons is one of the most famous. That has been around for ages, and everyone in the region knows what color it is just from the name – Plemmons.

Besides Plemmons, Coach Dog and Dolphin are probably the three most famous colors in the region.

Another unique color is named Hortin as well as Chartreuse Hortin. These are names that have never changed for ages. We felt a need to make the names and colors of the ima Shaker very familiar to the guys in the southeast in balsa bait country. At the same time, it’s going to be a little education or learning experience for anglers in other parts of the country. But don’t worry, you will get familiar with these colors quickly. When you catch a few fish on them, they’ll become your favorites too.

Another color is Lime Coach Dog. If you don’t know what coach dog refers to, it is a Dalmatian. They were trained in days of yore to run alongside and accompany carriages or coaches on the road. So the Coach Dog lure color has Dalmatian spots all over it.

One thing that Lime Coach Dog, Matte Bluegill and Coach Dog (shown above) have in common is that they are early spring time colors. I feel why they work best then is that they really imitate bluegill that are the prevalent forage up shallow then. I could never figure out any rhyme nor reason why, but Coach Dog always seems to work better when the bass first come up shallow in the spring whereas Lime Coach Dog tends to hold up and lasts a little longer through the latter part of spring. Matte bluegill is always effective as long as small bluegill abound.

Plemmons and Rootbeer (shown above). These are two solid shad colors. They excel whenever there are lots of shad around. Now, root beer always seems to work fished right in the thick of the shad. You may wonder about that, because it does not resemble a shad color. In its case, you don’t try to match the hatch. You try to stick out from the rest, and bass hone right in on it.

Some of the other colors – Black Chartreuse for instance, are old familiar standbys. A few of the colors, such as White Shad and Alabama Shad, are simply solid, universal shad colors. Don’t leave home without them.

We talked about color choices above being based on certain seasons or prevalent baitfish. Color choice can also be based on water clarity:

  • Clear water. Matte Bluegill, Hortin and Rootbeer are reliable.
  • Dirty water. Try Dolphin, Black Chartreuse and Coach Dog. There is a little bit of rattle sound which helps. Fish pick up on that little noise, plus the crankbait’s vibration can call them in from a decent distance in dirty water.
  • Stained water. The most productive water color, better than either clear or dirty water. For shallow-running flat-sided crankbaits, I always like to have some stain. A wide variety of colors will work in stained water depending on the season, the prevalent bait and other factors.

Plemmons is probably the favorite color of many because Plemmons works in any water color. So always give Plemmons a try.


Where and When to Use the ima Shaker

The ima Shaker is a shallow diver, running 3 to 5 feet deep.

Therefore, where and when it works best is in shallow water, no more than eight feet deep.

Simply, where you have bass in a water depth of five foot (less than 8 foot), that’s the strike zone within which the Shaker is going to work.

  • Spring and Fall. Bass are most often up in shallow water in the spring and fall. So the Shaker will work anywhere there’s shallow water during spring and fall. Especially in stained or muddy water, fish like to stay up shallow for a longer part of the season.
     
  • Summer. Once you get into the summer season, you need to dissect your lake or reservoir into the main lake body versus the side creeks, the upper river arms or tributary type areas.
     
    In the main lake body or big basin type areas, bass tend to move off the banks and they occupy deeper water beyond the effective range of a shallow-diving crankbait in summer.

    However, there are always some bass shallow all through the summer, especially if you go up into a river arm, the back end of a creek, an inflow end of a reservoir, or anywhere with a current situation, you can produce shallow bass on the Shaker throughout the summer.

    On reservoirs where water is routinely drawn to generate electricity or for whatever purpose they pull water, bass tend to move from deep havens to nearby shallow areas for the duration that moving water flows through those shallows. So even the main lake, when they pull water during the summer months, can have shallow bass willing to belt the Shaker at those times.
     

  • Winter. As in summer, many bass tend to pull into deeper areas off the banks in winter, and in the colder months of the year, bass tend to want a tight-wobbling crankbait anyway. The Shaker is more wide-wobbling.

For those who live up north in smallmouth country or wherever one bass species is more prevalent, you’ll be glad to know the Shaker appeals equally to all three species of bass, largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass.

The swimming action of the ima Shaker is very unique. It took a lot of time until I got the action perfect. With all that’s written above, there’s just no way I can truly describe how well this crankbait wiggles through the water. You really need to get one and go watch it swim to believe it. Once you see that, you’ll want to use the Shaker all the time.

You can really hit rocks, stumps, shallow structure and not get hung up. Usually, when a crankbait has a real wide wobble, the hooks swing out from side to side and grab everything – but that’s not the case with the ima Shaker. You can go right through tree tops, stump fields and rock jumbles, and unless the bait gets wedged, just give a little slack, and it’s going to float up and over most anything down there.

Okay, here’s one last good tip for when and where to use the Shaker that I’ll tell you and then say goodbye. One thing I do a little different when shad are up on the surface away from the bank, over relatively deep water, the wide wobble of the Shaker swimming through the shad schools will break up the shad, cause the shad to flush, and that can provoke a strike. This little trick can work when bass are present, but not very aggressive on topwater lures. The fact that the Shaker’s a few feet under the surface, and busting up the shad schools as it comes through them can be effective.


 


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MN Bass Opener Big Bag Challenge!!!

Here is the deal, my buddy Josh Douglas decided to do some fun fishing on Memorial Day, not practicing for a tournament, just going out and trying to really whack’em!!!  But being the competitors that we are, we had to spice it up a little.  We decided we would make it a team tournament, US vs. the Bass!!!

We picked a South Metro lake, calculated a loft goal, set that as our mark.  Two guys, 6 hours, the goal….
Best 5 Bass = 20lbs.  I told you, we had lofty goals!!!  They sound familiar if you watched the episode of World’s Greatest Fishing Show where Zona and KVD set a 20lb goal on Lake St. Clair in the fall.  Nobody said we were original..  LOL!!!  Neither one of us would claim to be as talented as Kevin VanDam, but the antics that happen in our boats are not much different then you see on Mark Zona’s show.

We decided to fish out of Josh’s boat, we got to the landing and were fishing by about 8am.  We started the day shallow, working inside week lines and pad clumps with weightless soft plastics.  We quickly started getting bit, but the first few were the wrong size.  Keepers but not the kind of fish that add up to 20lbs.  A few more boat lengths down the bank, Josh gets a big fish on, but is snaps his fluorocarbon leader.  The fish stayed there and we could see it.  It was a real toad, we tried to get her to bite again, but nothing doing.  In the next little cut, I had a pretty good fish hooked up on a 4″ Green Pumpkin Ring Fry, but sure enough I dumped here too.  We continued to work the same patterns in similar areas and got a pretty quick limit, but it only weighed around 7lbs, time to start culling!!!

Pic of 4″ Green Pumpkin Ring Fry

Finally about an hour later I get the first nice fish in the boat, a definite 3lbs plus on the Ring Fry.  From that point on, things slowly got better, we started putting better fish in the boat.  Even though things were getting better, we both missed some more nice fish, that definitely could have helped our bag.  At about noon, I got our biggest fish yet, it was a 4lb 7oz beauty.  She took the Ring Fry as well, she was hanging on a stump in about 3ft of water.  A beautiful fish, big head & healthy, but clearly spawned out.  A week earlier and she was an easy 5 and she will be a 5lb fish later this summer when she starts putting the feed bag on.  That fish gave us about 18lbs.  We decided to head back to work that big fish from early this morning.  We made long casts to the area, no bites, we got just close enough to see she was still there, but she was not having anything to do with us, we also saw one just as big about 20yds down the bank and neither one would humor us.
 
We then moved out to the main lake to work some smaller pockets and some rocky humps and shoals.  I broke out my Tru-Tungsten Bluegill swimbait as I knew we needed a big bite to push us to our goal.  No takes, but I was really impressed with the action.  You will hear more about that bait this summer!!!!   Josh then tried my TT Swimbait, so I picked up my Ima Shaker in Matte Bluegill and started working the rocks & weed clumps.  I quickly boated a nice 2lb plus fish and then got a 3lb’r up to the boat on the Shaker, both nice fish, but not increasing our total.  But I was impressed with the Shaker’s action and its quick return on investment
 
Pics of bigger fish

We finished up working some docks, wood & milfoil with Jigs and other baits, couple more fish, but no bigguns
We ended the day with 5 fish 18lbs 4oz, overall we must have caught around 30 bass, and had several more bites and saw other big fish cruising.  Once again, it was frustrating too see so many big bass, but so many not in a catchable mood.  I think all or all but one of our big 5 came on the Ring Fry, one may have been on a weightless tube.  Had we not set the goal, we would have called the day a huge success, but we really wanted to get there, but still a great time.  We both could have fished cleaner and we both believe we had the bites to meet our goal.  I think you will see some more challenges like this in the future

I am sure you will see Josh post his summary of our trip on his Blog soon as well!  Also welcome email subscriber #71!!!

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

Carolina Rig Basics

I thought I would take a break from tournament coverage and do a post more focused on tips & techniques.  I found this info on Carolina Rigging which is very informative.

Carolina Rigging
D. B. Jackson

Carolina Rig

The Carolina rig is one of the most effective  bass fishing techniques on the planet. Two top 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series pros – Peter T and Kenyon Hill – consider it a mainstay in their arsenal on the tour. Between them they have banked over $1,000,000 using the technique.

And, the great thing about Carolina rigging is that you don’t need to be an expert to use it effectively. It’s easy to make and even easier to use.

The basic rigging is as follows: Thread a sinker and a bead to the main line running off your reel. Then, tie a swivel to the line. The bead should be between the sinker and the swivel.

Tie a leader to the other ring of the swivel and a hook to the far end. Attach your favorite soft plastic lure. Toss it out over your favorite structure or near your favorite cover and you’ll should be good to go.

Those are only the basics, however. To make your rig more effective give these refinements a try.

1. Sound: Beads are made from different materials. Each has its own unique sound as it smacks against the weight; some are loud and clank, others are soft and barely tick. Change beads to create a different sound.

2. Line size and strength: The line running from your reel to the swivel is important but isn’t visible to the fish. It’ll have no effect on lure action or movement. Heavy fluorocarbon or braid increases feel and sensitivity while reducing break-offs. Give one of them if you haven’t already.

3. Tie knots carefully: There are three knots in a Carolina rig – two on the swivel and one on the hook. That’s three places for trouble to develop. Take your time, tie your knots carefully and retie frequently throughout the day.

4. Adjust leader length: The length of your leader directly affects the way your lure looks to a bass. Short leaders tend to keep your bait near the bottom and restrict its action. Longer leaders do just the opposite.

5.  Hook size and design matters: A round bend model is not an offset worm style. And, neither is a circle hook. Make sure your selection suits your style of fishing and the bite pattern of the  the day. 

Buy good, high-quality hooks. Keep them sharp and make sure they’re big enough. Bass have very big mouths. They can handle a big hook.

6. Get creative with your lures: You can rig darn near any bait available with a Carolina rig. Hill used a 10-inch worm on his during the Pride of Georgia. And, don’t think plastic lures are your only choice.

Small, shallow-running crankbaits can be Carolina rigged. They wiggle just fine as they’re being pulled behind a sinker along the bottom. (Rapala minnows and Shad Raps are especially effective when fished this way along sand and rock bottoms.)

7. Vary your retrieve: Most anglers drag the rig back to their boat. That may work some of the time but it won’t work all of the time. Try varying the speed of your drag, give the assembly a hop every now and again. And never be afraid to do something different – radical – if you’re not catching bass.

Fish Harder Carolina Rig Components
Larry Thornhill

Ask any angler on the 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series tour and they’ll tell you that Peter “T” Thliveros is the master of the Carolina rig. Simply put, there is no one that has his level of experience and expertise catching bass with this simple, yet effective, technique.

Fish Harder Companies commissioned Peter T to design component parts for Carolina rigging.  They very best available to anglers today.

“We wanted nothing but the best and so, we went to the best. There’s nothing on the market today that compares to them,” says Tim Gregory, CEO of the Norcross, Georgia based fishing tackle conglomerate.

Peter T Smart Pegs
Tru-Tungsten® Smart Pegs are the most innovative on the market. The peg is designed to recess into the weight for better line protection and easy weight repositioning.  Works great for finesse carolina presentations with lighter weight bullet sinkers.

Smart Peg

Smart Pegs are available in two sizes and two colors.


Peter T Force Beads
These natural composite beads attract fish and produce an extremely loud and unique sound. Each bead is coated with a Duraseal™ coating for added durability and they match our colored weights and your plastic lure to make a uniform bait. They are lead-free and environmentally friendly. The added sensitivity will allow you to Discover the Feel® and the increased loudness will allow you to Fish Harder!

Force Beads

Force Beads are available in 2 sizes and 6 colors.


Peter T Finesse Carolina Weights
Tru-Tungsten® Finesse Carolina Weights increase sensitivity and minimize hang-ups using our insert free 97% pure tungsten. The rounded front easily works through grass and rock, while the concave design on the bottom maximizes sound due to the contact with our Peter “T” Force Beads.

Carolina Rig

Finesse Carolina Weights are available in three sizes and two colors.

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

Deer Lake – Club Tournament #2 – May 18, 2008

Going into Deer, I had a sneaking suspicion that things could be tougher.  My suspicions proved to be true for most of they field.  My partner, Matt Veech (Gopher Jr. Member) were last out, so we lingered around to fish some of the cabbage and shallow structure near the ramp.  I started out with a Matte Bluegill colored Ima Flit jerkbait, working the drop over where some cabbage tapered off from about 5 feet to 10ft.  Nothing happened there.  I then started flipping a 1/4oz Tru-Tungsten jig into some wood, I caught one that was so close to 14″ but not quite.  I then worked my way onto a flat and caught 3 short fish on a RedEye Shad in Metallic Tn Shad.

We then hopped to another area and Matt quickly caught several short fish drop shotting a baby brush hog.  I then tried my Baby Ring Fry with a 1/8oz Tru-Tungsten sinker pegged about 18″ up the line and caught several short fish right along side of him.  As the sun got higher, we started poking around the shallows.  I was tossing a Jackall Flick Shake worm on an 1/8oz Zappu Inchi Wacky Jig.  Caught a few short fish on that, the larger fish were far & few between and very weary.  I then spotted a fairly large musky up near a tree.  I flicked my Inchi Jig in front of his face and he quickly sucked it in.  I set the hook and the battle was on, he was giving me all I wanted with 8lb Vicious Fluoro, once I got him a little closer, I saw I had him hooked perfectly in the corner of his mouth.  I got him close to the boat several times, but my bass net was so tiny that it just did not work out.  After having him in net range 3 or 4 times he finally busted me off.  He was probably in the 35″ range.  It would have been nice to get my hands on her and get a picture for the blog

Well we continued to try different things all day, spent a lot of time on docks.  I caught several fish on texas rigged baby ring frys and 1/4oz TT Jigs.  Overall, I fished pretty sloppy, it seems every time I would hook a good fish, I would manage to drop them.  If they were short, I would then every time.  My JKruz Riptide Sunglasses allowed me to see a lot of decent fish around docks, but it was very frustrating as most of them were not interested in biting.  With about 15 minutes ago, I finally got one to the boat and it was a good fish.

At the weigh in, I weighed my one fish at 3.5lbs.  It put me in 7th place out of 22 guys, there were several zeros.  That fish was good for Big Bass money, which made me feel a little better about only boating one bass.  You can see the final standings here.  Hopefully, I have all these drops behind me before my first Bassmaster Weekend Series tournament on the Le Homme Dieu Chain on June 7th.   If there are any boaters that are fishing the MN Weekend Series and are looking for links, let me know as I have 3 non-boater buddies looking for links.

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

Bone Lake – Club Tournament #1 – May 17, 2008

This year I did not have time to practice for my first club tournaments nor did I have my gear prepared like I would have like to.   None the less I was excited to get out and do some open water bass fishing.  I had fished Bone previously about 4 years ago and I had done well in that tournament, so my plan was to fish the memories to start and then adapt from there.  Our club had decided to fish the tournament as a 4 fish limit with no culling to follow WI state rules.  Also my partner had to leave at 11:30am to go to his college graduation.

7am came & my partner Corey Brant & I were boat # 5 out of 11.  I was pretty sure if we could get into the boat canal on the north end of the lake, we could get some early bites in there.  One of the other first 4 boats also went there, so we let them get in there a ways and then fished behind them.  Corey & I each got two keepers and several short fish.  I caught my two fish on a green pumpkin baby ring fry with a 1/8oz Tru-Tungsten sinker pegged about 18″ up the line.  First fish was about 15″ and the other about 16″.  Corey got his two on a 3/8oz jig and they were both just over 14″ bass.  The other boat also caught several keepers.  The action tailed off, so we tried some other areas.

We then moved to some points & islands to look for staging fish.  I mainly threw a Matte Bluegill colored Ima Flit jerkabait and RedEye Shad in Metallic Tn Shad, which I think looks alot like a sunfish color.  Caught several fish on each, but none of which I kept.  Corey also caught a few short fish. 

I then decided we should try some docks, because past experiences on Bone I have noticed that the bass like to stage on the docks on this lake.  The first dock we fished, I caught a 14″ on a 1/4oz Tru-Tungsten jig, I chose not to keep it.  I then decided since Corey only had about 45 minutes left, that I would drive him around to the next few docks and I would throw a 3/16oz Secret Weapon Lure spinnerbait.  In about 6-8 docks, he got 3 keepers, couple of them were 2.5lb plus fish to fill out his limit.  We then packed up and headed back to the landing so that I could weigh him in.  He finished with 4 fish for 8.7lbs and 2.9lbs was his big fish.

So I spent the rest of the day fishing docks with 1/4oz & 3/8oz Tru-Tungsten jigs in natural Watermelon & Green Pumpkin color combinations.  I probably caught 10-15 more keepers and many more short fish.  I did not actually keep my last fish until 2:45pm, when I finally got a fish close to 18″.  It was really a blast, when you found the right stretch of docks, you could catch a bass on every dock and sometimes multiple fish.  One dock, I actually caught 5 keepers and a couple shorts.   My All-Charge unit was very important during this tournament as well.  I put a lot of strain on my trolling motor batteries as I would burn from dock to dock on high often.  On this day, more docks fished = more bass in the boat.  So it was nice that every time that I fired up my outboard to move areas, my All-Charge unit would freshen up my deep cycle batteries.

Made it back to the weigh-in with a couple minutes to spare, many others had come in early as well, because they had their 4 fish.  Overall the fishing was good for most.  I ended up taking first with 4 fish for 9.6lbs and my big bass was 2.9lbs.  Big bass weighed was 3.4lbs.  Most of the better bags were also caught shallow, either around vegetation or docks.  Overall I was pretty excited with the good start, even though I executed poorly and missed several fish and was hoping to duplicate on Deer lake Sunday, but I also knew that Deer can be much tougher.

Stop back to read about Deer, should have the post up soon!
Rich
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Quick Outing, Quick Blog Entry

Well I finally got my boat out on Sunday.  Probably on Crystal Lake for about 1.5hrs, spent most of my time running the outboard to make sure everything was running well.  I also, made sure, livewell pumps, pro-air, bilge and all electronics were a go.  Might have to do a little trouble shooting on the front flasher.   Water temperature gauge said the main lake temp was around 57 degrees.

Also put down the trolling motor for a bit, threw a little #8 Husky Jerk & Secret Weapon Lures Sidearm spinnerbait.  Caught 4 bass pretty quick, 3 little fellers and one about 2.5lbs, could not find the northerns I was looking for
I also, made about 5 casts with a Picasso Fantasy Football jig across some rocks with my new Shimano Cumara Rod and Core reel just to see how it felt, better then I imagined!!!
Ken Cook Fantasy Football - Dressed

Also, if you have time, check out the Record Setters video of Paul Elias on Falcon.  You pretty much see every fish he catches and he talks a lot and breaks down the tournament, very good if you have 20 minutes to watch it.

Also, check out a new MN Bass Fishing Blog by John Haynes!!

Welcome email subscriber #70!

Rich
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Bass Tackle Depot - Free Shipping $50 Orders - Great spot for hard to find Bass Fishing Gear!!


Kenyon Hill Wins at Clarks Hill

Fish Harder’s
Kenyon Hill Wins at
Clarks Hill

Kenyon Hill - Clarks Hill

Kenyon Hill, Bassmaster Elite Series professional, bagged 68 pounds of bass over four days to take the gold at the fifth, 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series event held on Clarks Hill Lake in South Carolina, May 1-4, 2008. For his efforts Hill earned $100,000.

“Most of my fish were caught with a Carolina rig. I used plastics rigged with a ¾-ounce Peter T Finesse Carolina Weight & a

Peter T Force Bead,” he says. “It was a dynamite combination for postspawn bass. I targeted hard points where the bass were roaming looking for food. It worked for me all four days.”


Baby Steps

Baby steps refer to the slow process of getting my boat and my gear ready for fishing this year, much in part to our new baby girl.  Saturday, I went to Gander Mtn to get my WI & MN fishing license, plus a map of Winnebago Chain for this summer and a new Red Eye Shad in a Neon Shad (Chrome/Blue Back with Red Stripe).  Its very similar to my favorite color Rat-L Trap which is Lake Fork Special.
  Image of Original Rat-L-Trap Crankbaits
Today, I was out in the garage removing all the boxes and other stuff that was being stored on top of my boat.  I also did some maintenance on my trolling motor, batteries and other boat stuff.  Felt good to he out there and tinker around.  My tackle needs some major organization, not likely to happen before the first club tourneys.

My plan is to get out on Lake Marion here in Lakeville next weekend to make sure the motor is running well and she is sea worthy.

I did find time to watch the live weigh-in on Bassmasters.com from Clarks Hill and it was great to see Kenyon Hill get an Elite Series victory.  Here is a snippet from an article on how he caught them:

“Hill’s big bass Sunday hit a shad-colored Sebile swimbait. He also caught fish this week on a chrome-colored Cordell Pencil Popper topwater lure. But Hill said his go-to lure by far this week was a Carolina-rigged Zoom Trick Worm. He fished it on a 3/4-ounce Tru-Tungsten slip sinker paired with a Tru-Tungsten Force Bead, which Hill claims creates a fish-attracting sound as they click across the bottom.

Like almost everyone else in this Elite Series tournament, Hill was targeting shallow flat points where post-spawn largemouth bass were coming to feed on spawning blueback herring baitfish.

Peter T, who finished 8th used a very similar Tru-Tungsten setup and Zoom plastics as well.

Few more email subscribers signed up lately, we are up to 68!!

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

Bass Blog Break

Been awhile since I last made a Blog entry.  I have been on a bit of a hiatus due to the birth of our baby girl Riely Lindgren.  Up here it is finally starting to get warm enough to do a little fishing.  My first tournaments will be 2 club tournaments in Wisconsin on Bone & Deer Lakes – May 17 & 18.  I am looking forward to that, it will be my first fishing from the boat of the year.

Since I last blogged, my buddy Billy Harris from TN broke the lake record smallmouth for Old Hickory with a nearly 7lb monster!!

Todd Faircloth won the Elite Series tournament on Lake Amistad of a “magic tree”, we also got a glimpse of the new Tru-Tungsten Tru-Life Swimbait during the coverage used by Clark Rheem.  Man that bait looked sexy and he caught a nice bass on it as well.  I just got two if my own (7″ Bluegills) in the mail a couple days ago.  They look fantastic!


Well, it we be much easier to keep the blogs current once I get out fishing, so check back often!

Rich
RichLindgren.com 
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Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Great Bass Fishing Video Tips from John Crews

Ran across one of John Crew’s videos on the internet and then noticed he has 29 great videos.  Here are a few of the better ones that I have watched.

First one, how he became a Pro

If you wait until the end, cool clip from Clarks Hill Elite Series as well

Here he talks about shallow cranking

Here John tells you about of a few of his favorite products that he is not paid to tell you about…

Over all there are 29 videos, you can find them all on YouTube!

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