All posts by hellabass

Looking back and forward

December 27, 2012 hellabass

2012 was a weird fishing year for me, it started with some really good bass fishing in March and April on the river, but my tournament season got off to a later start due to a 2 week family trip to Ireland in May. Overall, my tournament partner Josh Douglas and I were always a half step off during the NABC season and had a pretty terrible year on that circuit. I did win a tournament on Lake Marion near my home and cashed a few other checks, but by my standards not a good year. Looking back, I may have tried to fish less tournament and focus on the ones I fished a little harder. Fishing life balance is a continuous learning process with two small kids in my family.

For 2013 I look forward to a few new partnerships that are in the works that I will likely be sharing with you soon and open your eyes to some new products that will help you catch more bass. I really hope to get a few more videos done this winter and all of next year, I got a list of good things to work on, just need to block out the time to shoot the videos.

I do plan to fish fewer events next year and plan to focus on them a little harder with more practice for each event. With that, I believe I need to work on breaking down water faster and finding fish faster with the limited time I have, in the end, I will probably never have as much practice time as I used to, so I need to adapt. I have tenative plans to get revenge on the NABC field in 2013, if not that, I will probably focus on the Great Lakes BFL division.

I also hope to get my oldest daughter out in the boat next summer when she is 5 and get her to land her first bass and keep exposing both my girls to the outdoors and fishing to keep them excited about it.

I know the posts have been a little far and few between lately, but this blog is far from dead, just re-energizing!

Well, hope you all had a great Christmas and a safe New Year’s, but I need to get off this computer, I only have a few days left to score an open water smallie before December is over…

Advanced Bass Tactics, Fun Fishing, Tips and Techniques

Winter Bass = Blade Baits & Hair Jigs

December 20, 2012 hellabass

As air temperatures become almost unbearably cold and water temps
dive into the 30′s, I have found that few baits produce bass like Blade
Baits and Hair Jigs. Far too often these baits are forgotten in our
tackle boxes and rarely get the playing time they deserve. Even for me
they had become such an after thought I found myself having to do an
emergency restocking for my early winter bass fishing.

For hair jigs, I like a hand tied football jigs with a blend of hair
and round rubber in blacks and browns. There are some places that make
nice jigs, but for the most part, I like to tie my own. In my last few
smallmouth trips, a custom nearly all black combination combined with a
subtle compact trailer like the Evolve Kompak Craw
was the ticket. I generally fish these baits so slow on the bottom, it
is like counting rocks on every cast, you almost can fish slow enough
on some days. My usual setup is 15lbs flouro and a long rod with a
moderate tip for feel and strong back bone for hooking up in deep water
on long casts, but a balanced rod with light tip is critical for the
light bites in cold water. My rod of choice is a Champion Extreme DX 744 from Dobyns Rods. Here is a video of a buddy & I catching some smallies with this deep football hair jig technique – Watch Video.

Football Hair Jig w/ Kompak Craw Trailer

On the flip side, blade baits can really trigger fish and you can
actually fish these pretty fast in comparison to hair jigs and still get
bit. Depending on depth ranges, I like a 1/4 to 3/4oz blade baits can
be casted and worked on slow deliberate hops almost like speed worming
to find and catch good quality fish, plus you are likely to catch just
about any fish that swims in the waters you are fishing. Your rod and
line setup can vary depending on size and weight of your blades baits,
for 1/4oz or smaller baits, you may want to consider a spinning rod. As
I usually throw 1/2oz or heavier blade baits, I like to use a moderate
cranking rod like the 704CB or 705CB from Dobyns and fish them on 10-12 lb fluorocarbon.

1/2oz Blade Bait

So once you fill your hunting tags, consider getting out on the water and trying this dependable One-Two Punch!

Oh yeah, Have a Merry Christmas!!!!

General, Gifts for Bass Fishing Rubes

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Bass Fishing Deals

November 21, 2012 hellabass

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and many of the best online bass fishing tackle retailers have some solid deals to try things you have always wanted or just stocking up for spring. Plus, you may as well get some shopping done from home, while your wife fights the crowds! Many of these sales run before Thanksgiving, through Black Friday to Cyber Monday and some even longer!

So I though I would try to summarize and highlight a few for you here.

Bass Tackle Depot has one of the longest running sales going now thru Nov 30, 20% off almost everything plus free BassWest subscription over $100 and a free $25 Gift card if you spend $300

Land Big Fish runs now thru Nov 26, they have 20-25% off a large selection of select brands.

Monster Fishing Tackle is running 20% off most inventory now thru Nov 27.

Bass Pro Shops

has a unique 5 day sale running through Sunday Nov 25.

KrugerFarms.com has a Cyber Monday special only on Nov 26

There are others, like Tackle Warehouse, they are running 20% off as well.

Plus, per usual I am always inspired to dig up some stuff to sell on my ebay page, right now there is Tungsten Jigs, Shakey Heads, and a few other things, check back, as I will likely be adding items for this holiday weekend, since I will be home watching the kids while my wife shops and spends!

Fun Fishing, Multimedia

Not ready to pack it in just yet….

November 15, 2012 hellabass

There is just something up about launching a bass boat at a vacant boat ramp in November or December, knowing that most anglers have winterized their boats, put their tackle in storage and are either watching football or hunting, that is appealing to me.

Knowing that almost certainly I will have the lake or river to myself as well as the bass that are in it. I went fishing this past Sunday, the weather was awful but my Under Armour from KrugerFarms and the smallmouth made it not so bad.

To be honest, the fishing was kind of tough, the smallies were just barely nipping and grabbing our presentations in 25-38ft of water, but I guess that was to be expected when we had a 30 degree temperature swing over night and the water was only 42 degrees. It is always nice to fish with good equipment, but when fishing that deep and the bites were as light as they were, I know my Dobyns Champion Extreme DX 744 put extra fish in the boat. The balance, sensitivity and overall balance made it the perfect option for scraping football jigs in that deep cold water. Check out a few of the catches we got on video. You could not move your jig slow enough for these fish.

I did pick up one fish on a drop shot leech and Paul got a couple bites on a shakey head, but almost all the fish fell for the football jigs. Overall, we boated around 26 smallmouth, which is pretty good anytime, but under the conditions it was darn good. When we got off the water, it was so cold that when Paul went to spray and wipe down his boat, it just froze to the side of the boat!

Even though we just had a cold snap that froze most of our local ponds, I am pretty sure I will give it another shot this weekend. Late fall / early winter fishing can be great, but make sure you are dressed right, if you need some UnderArmour, KF has the best selection you will find anywhere!

Advanced Bass Tactics

Have you heard about the new 10XD?

October 23, 2012 hellabass

UPDATE 1-10-13 – Stike King 10XD are available in online stores, like here!

If you are plugged into bass fishing, you have probably heard about the last FLW Open event won on Lake Sam Rayburn, where on the last day Phil Marks blew away the field and caught several of his bigger fish on a new Strike King 10XD super deep diving crankbait prototype. Get some more details here on W2F.

Among bass fishing circles, the Strike King 6XD is already largely considered the deepest diving stock crankbait out there. Not to mention KVD and many other pros have cashed a ton of checks on the 6XD.

The new 10XD is much larger then the 6XD as you can see in the picture above, but word on the street is that it is not much harder to crank in then a 6XD, DT20 or DD22. I am not a deep cranking aficionado by any means, but I am baffled that it took this long for something like this to come to market. I mean we are already going big with swimbaits and giant worms, why has it taken this long for a monster deep cranker like the 10XD?

And are you going to jump on this bait or are you going to hold out for the 12XD or 15XD? Also, better question, what depths are attainable if you long line a 10XD? Last parting though, this 10XD on 15-20lb fluorocarbon should be a Falcon Lake Bass Killer!

General

Why Choose Fishing?

October 18, 2012 hellabass

Some good info passed on from TakeMeFishing.org

October not only toes the 50-yard line of football season, it’s also
the middle of youth soccer season, the end of baseball season, the start
of basketball season, a great time to hit the trails for a run, a hike
or a bike ride, and a picture-perfect month for a golf game. With these
and many other sports options, everyone has a lot of choices for being
active. So, why should someone choose boating and fishing?

Well, for a start, you may find boats for sale are more inexpensive than you had previously thought. Here’s a playful yet informative way to answer that question .

As you look for ways to relax and unwind from the day-to-day grind,
we recommend considering the minimal cost, ease, accessibility, and
enjoyment of fishing and boating. Join the 83 million Americans who
went boating and the 46 million who went fishing last year. In fact,
take a friend, a family member, or even your teammates.

As a nation enthralled with sports, Americans have a lot of choices for both indoor and outdoor activities. Whether it’s a game of H.O.R.S.E on the basketball court, watching your kid score the winning goal on the soccer field, or a friendly round of golf among colleagues, there’s always a sport you can participate in. So with all of these choices why should someone choose boating and fishing? The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation’s (RBFF) Take Me Fishing™ campaign (TakeMeFishing.org) answers this question with a playful yet informative infographic. This new visual highlights how boating and fishing offer everything a recreational sport should and more.

In 2011 alone, 83 million Americans participated in boating ¹ and 46 million went fishing.² As it turns out, annually more people fish than play football and basketball combined.³ This comes as little surprise considering fishing and boating are fun and relatively inexpensive ways to enjoy the outdoors, as well as bond with family. In addition, studies show that just being near water can help naturally lower anxiety and reduce stress. ⁴

“Sports are a big part of people’s lives, and Americans look to them as a way to relax and unwind from the day-to-day grind,” said RBFF President and CEO Frank Peterson. “If you consider the minimal cost, ease, accessibility, and enjoyment of fishing and boating, there is no question in my mind that these two sports can compete with any out there.”

An additional bonus to boating and fishing is the accessibility. There are 3.5 million miles of river in the U.S. and 90 percent of Americans live within one hour of navigable water.⁵ There are also two times as many boat ramps in the U.S. as there are golf courses, so if you’re looking for a place to launch a boat, you won’t have to look too far.⁶

If all of those benefits weren’t enough to give boating and fishing a leg up over the competition, add in the fact that participation helps fund efforts to conserve our natural waterways.

“A portion of all fishing tackle and license sales, as well as boat supply and registration sales, fund the conservation and preservation of our nation’s waterways helping to ensure that future generations can enjoy all that nature has to offer,” said Peterson.

Since 2007, the Take Me Fishing campaign has generated nearly $33 million for state conservation efforts. The campaign increases awareness of the need to protect, conserve and restore the nation’s aquatic resources by encouraging participation in recreational boating and fishing. These efforts impact conservation efforts throughout the country.

For more information on boating and fishing and places to participate in the sports, visit TakeMeFishing.org.

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Tournament Info

That’s a Wrap

October 12, 2012 hellabass

Well as of last weekend, I am pretty sure my 2012 tournament season is all wrapped up. I hope to do some fall fun fishing yet and get some filming done, been awhile since I had anything new to share on my YouTube channel.

The season ended with a big event, in which my partner and I came up short of the $20k prize. Practice on the Mississippi River was a bit tough for both Josh and myself, but we both added a few pieces everyday and found a handful of areas with quality fish. Inserted below are some of the better practice fish.

Day one of the North American Bass Circuit Championship was windy from the start, it was easy sailing from Red Wing to the mouth of the Lake Pepin, from there south to Wabasha was pretty intense with winds gusting over 20 mph from WNW. Nothing super bad, but 25 miles of rough water takes it toll on you and your equipment if you are not smart about it. Fortunately, we had one semi-protected spot on the north end of Pepin, we were able to stop in and pick up two keeper smallmouth. From there we ran to a rip rap area north of Wabasha and picked up two more smallies. We then ran within site of the Alma dam to an area that had big smallies in practice and I got our 5th keeper smallie on a jerkbait. After that, it turned into a grin, we fished a bunch of wing dams, closing dams, wood, sand drops, etc and had nothing to show for it. We were able to make a stop on Lake Pepin on the way back to get a small upgrade on Largie that Josh picked off on a jerkbait. After that, we decided to run to the top of the pool near the Red Wing dam and hit a few things, Josh did have one nice bite, but it did not hook up, so we returned to Colvill park with moments to spare and we ran out of gas idling past check-in. We ended up 18th after day 1 with 10.3lbs.

Day two was a bit less windy, but still breezy for sure, the wind had shifted more North and made our first couple stops a washout. Our fist stop in Wabasha resulted in nothing as well. Our 3rd stop quickly resulted in me rolling a big smallie on a jerkbait and Josh getting a 4.4lb smallie on a Biovex jerkbait , we saturated that area, but could not muster another bite. Around the corner I got our 2nd smallmouth on a jerkbait and the next stop I picked up a squeaker smallie on the same jerkbait. We then hit a similar mid-day lull as day one. We got into another area and Josh had a heartbreaking situation with a big fish sawing him and his high end Japanese jerkbait off on a gap in a wing dam. Shortly after that, I flipped up a chunky largemouth on a Black/Blue Big Bites Salt tube off some wood. From there, I made a on the fly decision to hit a small point that just looked right and I got out 5th smallmouth. From there, we decided to test the lake, hoping the wind would cooperate on a spot or two.

The very first spot, I almost immediately hooked up on a nice white bass, we agreed that was a positive sign on the river, meant there was food here. Turns out that sand drop was loaded with white bass, smallmouth and largemouth of all shapes and sizes and we caught fish almost every cast the last hour on jerkbaits and Red Eye Shads before having to fight the wind back to Red Wing. We ended up upgrading a few fish there, but could not get the 3lb bites we probably really needed. Man it was tough to leave biting fish like that!!!!

We made it back to Colvill Park with a few minutes to spare and a enough gas to make it all the way in. We had a better day, weighing the big fish of the tournament and over 13lbs, but we ended up out of the money in 15th place. Congrats to Brian Korfmacher and Todd Brunson, they clearly figured out something the rest of the field did not!

For those that have not fished with NABC, they run a great circuit, they did release a tentative 2013 schedule:
Sturgeon Bay
Lake Pokegama
Mississippi River
Leech Lake
Chippewa Flowage – Championship

Overall, I think it is a pretty sweet schedule and will have to strongly consider fishing it in 2013!

Announcements, Federation News, Multimedia

Props to my Pops!

September 14, 2012 hellabass

Little behind on my blog after the whirl wind that was last week. While I was at the TBF Northern Divisional, the MNBFN Tournament of Champions (TOC) was taking place on Island Lake Reservoir just north of Duluth, MN. Sadly this was the first time I have missed the TOC since 1997.

On a positive note, my father, Wayne Lindgren brought home the title on a rather stingy fishery. We both have qualified for divisionals in the past and come close to a state title, but he got it first. He weighed 9 smallmouth over the two day event for 25.21lbs, nearly a 2lb margin of victory. The bite was so tough that out of 130 plus anglers, only two anglers managed a 5 fish limit each day of the event. You can find the final results here.

3 of his 4 Nice Smallmouth Bass from Day 2

Wayne fished a handful of spots, mainly he finessed soft plastics such as LFT Fork Craws & Craw Tubes in 3-5ft of water. Deadsticking was definitely part of the tactic to tempt the pressured smallmouth. He also reports losing a 4lb plus smallmouth on day 2 that would have really opened up his lead.

You can read a nice write up from Sam Cook and also check out some video coverage from local FOX21 of Duluth. Also a short blurb from Duluth Tribune.

Congrats again Dad!

Also, I got some fishing stuff on ebay right now, check it out. Lucky Craft, Okuma Reel, Fishing Line, Soft Plastics, etc….

Federation News, Tournament Info

8 days on the water

September 13, 2012 hellabass

This past Saturday to Saturday was nothing but bass fishing and more bass fishing mixed with a little tackle prep and driving. Four 12 hour practice days and four 8-9 hour tournament days. It started at 4:30am on Saturday September 1st with a 2.5 hour drive to La Crosse, WI to begin my practice period for the TBF Nothern Divisional on the Mississippi River.

I spent all four of my practice days in Pool 8 of the Mississippi River, being this was a draw format tournament, I did not want to have time wasted locking and running during my potential four hours. For the most part my practice was pretty productive, each day eliminated a ton of water and found a few areas or stretches that I felt pretty good about. I definitely spent quite a bit of time in the huge lake area around and north of Stoddard looking for the mother load of grass fish, but they eluded me.

Practice partner Eric Sanft w/ Wing Dam smallie that didn’t bite during tournament

Day 1 of the tournament, I drew Brian Dull from Ohio and he had some fish in the Black that he wanted to spend time on, so I decided to stick close and fish my fish on the upper end of the pool. I ran to a rock bar in the Black where I had two 3lb smallies in practice, it only yielded one short. Next stop was a sand/rock drop that I fished with a Ima Square Bill, I caught several shorts and one keeper. That burnt up about an hour and they we headed to top of French Lake. I worked it hard with a jerkbait only to catch several shorts, the same jerkbait that put an easy 13lb limit in the boat 2 days prior. I then hit one of the better sand points with my Square Bill and picked up a nice 3lb smallmouth. I then worked that point a Game Hawg on a Carolina rig and got another keeper on the first cast. I caught many more shorts on the C-rig in the area and on other points. After hitting other points and getting shorts, i came back to first point and caught my 4th keeper on a Lethal Weapon Drag Queen Football jig. We worked the area a bit more, but then started heading back to the Black River. On the way out, I made a quick stop on a small rock point that eyed up on the way there. One cast with a Baby Brush Hog and keeper #5 was in the boat. We ran a few areas of my partners in the Black, many short and a few missed opportunities for him. After that we returned to an area that I had. I caught a nice fish flipping a beaver house to get rid of a small 14 incher. We then pulled up where i caught my first keeper, I noticed a bit of bait, so I cranked my Hydrowave on full Shad Frenzy, the bass started pushing bait, I caught a keeper I could not use on the Ima Square Bill and my partner got his 4th fish, we made it to check-in with 20 seconds to spare. I weighed 11-05, middle of the pack and 4th on the Minnesota team.

Day 2, my partner Joe Mazzuca had only 1 fish on first day, so he let me pretty much run the show. We hit a few closing and wing dams at top of the pool, couple shorts, Joe lost a smallie at the boat and a big drum for me. We hit two more wing dams on the way down to Stoddard area. My closing dam fish did not cooperate, Joe got a swim jig fish and I caught a nice 3.5lb largie on a Ribbit and missed a few other nice fish on frogs/toads. From there I went to a flipping area where I got another keeper on a Beaver. I decided I needed show these fish a little more finesse, so I went back through the prime area with a Leech Fleck Kompak Craw and boated a 4-04 Largemouth. I was starting to get against the clock, so I ran to some cut banks further up the pool. I caught a few shorts and a 15″ smallmouth on the Kompak craw. We then headed for the Black, we only had about 20 minutes to fish, neither of us could fill our limit. Disappointed with my 4 fish effort, but they weighed well at 11-07, that 5th fish would have been huge. Thank goodness for the big fish that the Kompak craw produced. I slipped to 5th on my team, but move up a little in the standings.

Day 3, I knew I needed a bigger bag, so I ran straight down to my flipping area that yielded the 4lb bite the day before. It was a little slow, I once again got a small keeper starting around with the Beaver, but then switched to the Kompak craw and caught 3 more keepers including a 3lb fish. From there, I hit up the closing dam area, finished up my limit, but could not get the frog fish to bite. I hit another flipping hole near the box and got a decent cull on the Kompak craw. With about 2 hours to go, I hit some of my good wing dams from practice, could not get any good smallies, but plenty of big drum on a football jig. We finished up in French, but the fish would not go in the short window we had. I ended up with 10-15 on the final day. It was good weight for our team to stay in 4th place and get a decent check. I ended up 25th overall, but learned plenty about the late summer to early fall transition on the Mississippi River.

Right after the weigh-in and team picture, I had to head from La Crosse to Walker, MN to fish a NABC tournament on Leech Lake. The drive was a bit over 6 hours and Leech is massive at 120,000 acres. I had not been here in about 5 years, but it for the most part is a shallow fishery, fish what you can see is normally the deal. We were greeted with moderate winds in the morning that grew to 25mph that caused 7 foot waves on the main lake and washed out other shallow fish. I fished this event by myself, as my partner Josh was down at Fort Gibson Central Open. We needed to fish them all to make championship. With no practice under tough conditions, I only managed two decent fish for 5lbs, but we made the Championship and the Basscat held up well in the big water.

I will be on break for a couple weekend before I start practicing hard for the NABC Championship out of Red Wing.

Bass Basics, General, Tips and Techniques

5 Lure Challenge

August 27, 2012 hellabass

I was invited to respond to a Avid Angler Challenge, basically what 5 baits would you pick with to fish for the rest of your life. So you only get 5 and you are stuck with them….

Seem easy at first, but 5 is not that many compared to what I keep in my boat and being a tournament bass angler, you need to be ready for anything!

1. 1/2oz BassTEK Tungsten Jig – For color, I’d tie up a custom skirt with a Green Pumpkin & Brown combination. I probably fish a 3/8oz jig more now, but since I am stuck with one, the half will help me fish deep structure better when I need to. I can swim it, flip it, drag it, stroke it, bass jigs are super versatile.

2. Baby Brush Hog – To be versatile in most water clarities I’ll go Green Pumpkin Blue. I like this bait, because ti catches fish of all sizes, tough bites and good bites. I can fish it on texas rigs, shakey head, as a jig trailer as well mojo and c-rigged. Just a great bait that gets bit in all conditions.

3. 1/2 oz Chrome/Blue Lipless Crankbait – Not sure on brand, probably a Red Eye Shad or a Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap. Either way, as long as your patient, you can work any water column that needs a baitfish presentation and chrome blue catches fish everywhere. So if I am only going to have one crankbait, this would be it.

4. Lake Fork Ring Fry – Doesn’t matter which color, as long as it is green pumpkin. This bait is an awesome do nothing looking bait that plain catches fish. It probably most resembles a bluegill. I often work this bait weightless like most others would fish a senko, but you can rig it most of the same weighs mentioned about the Brush Hog above. The on other thing I would ask of this bait, is to fish it weightless and it would as act as my frog as well over pads and duck weed.

5. Yellow Magic Popper – Sometimes you just need a topwater, when fish are keyed on bait, it is a must, plus a supper fun way to fish. I would go with Bone or shad pattern. To me, this is the best topwater I own and have ever thrown!

Do you think you can narrow your baits down to 5? Leave a comment and let’s hear it!