Category Archives: Tips and Techniques

Bass Basics, Multimedia, Tips and Techniques

Must see bass fishing video

Kind of a bonus blog entry today, I usually do not do more then one entry per day, but this was too good.  Things you will learn/see in this video:
Instructional info on catching schooling bass
Early glance at Prototype Lipless crankbait from Ima Lures
Bill Smith hooking Michael Murphy in face with said Lipless crank
The entire removal process

It is a little graphic, but very educational.  Not sure if I am more impressed with Murphy on his calmness and toughness during hook removal process or how he finished his cast with the jerkbait even with hook in face.  Bill Smith had to feel a little dumb hooking his Ima ProStaff teammate on camera.

This actually happened to my in my very first club bass tourney at age 14, fishing with my uncle, I took a Zara Spook right under my chin about 10 minutes into the day.  Pretty much the same drill, push hook through, cut the barb off and back it out.  Slap a band-aid on it and finished the tourney, only weighed two fish though.

Share with your buddys,
Rich
RichLindgren.com 
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog


Bass Basics, Tips and Techniques

Good Read on Tungsten and Bass Fishing

Tungsten Weights:
Are They Worth The Extra Cost?
Story By Margie Anderson

Who could ever have imagined that anglers would be paying more than $5 for a single worm weight? Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
“You have to keep in mind that if something puts otherwise impossible fish in the boat for you, the check you cash after a tournament makes it well worth the few bucks you spent at the tackle shop,” says professional bass fisherman Gary Dobyns. “Tungsten weights opened up the whole world of punching to us. Bass school up under thick, dense mats of weeds when the sun is high, and it is almost impossible to get anything but a tungsten weight through those mats. The lead you’d have to use would be as big as your finger, and a lot of times it really turned the fish off.”

In fact, that very dilemma is what led to the first tungsten weights. Sam Aversa was a pro bass fisherman who wasn’t content to simply flip the edges of impenetrable weedbeds. He wanted in there. His company, Penetrater Weights, was one of the first to come out with tungsten weights. Tungsten is much harder and denser than lead, and the slick finish he puts on them adds to the ease of penetration.
There are different grades of tungsten. Dobyns explains that tungsten is actually a powder that is compressed into different forms.

Mixing the tungsten with other metals like tin, nickel and copper will lower the price of the weights but will increase their size. Tungsten is by far the densest element you can buy for less than precious-metal prices. It is actually as dense as gold, but it’s harder and about 100 times cheaper. Not only is a tungsten weight smaller than lead, it’s so much harder that it doesn’t get hung up as much.
“The hardness of the tungsten also makes it more sensitive,” Dobyns says. “It transmits vibrations up your line better. I know it sounds gimmicky, but it’s true.”

Punching
When you’re punching a tungsten-weighted plastic worm through a massive tangle of weeds or debris, getting the lure down there isn’t your only problem. Once you get bit, you’ve got to pull a wildly thrashing bass out of there, and it isn’t going to want to come along peacefully. Dobyns uses 65-pound test line and a hook that is made specifically for punching. A good, stout flipping stick is a must because you’re going to need a lot of power to haul a big bass out of cover that thick.
Punching isn’t limited to matted weeds or lily pads. Big floating rafts of debris get washed into Western reservoirs during spring when the snows melt, and getting through those is every bit as difficult as punching through the weeds that will grow later in the year. In summer, the water is cooler under there, and the fish also like the shade.

The Insert Debate
Dobyns prefers to use Tru-Tungsten weights, which have a powder coating that wears like the tungsten itself. Since the coating is so hard and slick, there is no need for inserts.
Aversa’s Penetrater Weights don’t have inserts either. He says you can order them with inserts, but he doesn’t like them.
“It’s not a question of if an insert will fall out, but when,” Aversa says.
According to Aversa, there isn’t a glue that will penetrate the pores on tungsten, so nothing really holds well. Liners sometimes push out when you peg the weight, and a Teflon liner is particularly hard to glue in. So when he gets an order for weights with liners, Aversa doesn’t use Teflon but a special industrial glue.
These inserts are designed to protect fishing line from burrs on the weight.
“I think they kind of defeat the purpose of the tungsten,” Aversa says. “Since they are between the line and the tungsten, they tend to dull the transmission of the vibrations.”
Dobyns adds that if an insert cracks, it frays your line.
Arizona tournament angler Gary Key doesn’t understand the controversy about inserts. He’s used tungsten weights extensively and has never had an insert fall out.
“I suppose if you really banged one around the rocks it might eventually fall out, but so far it hasn’t happened to me,” he says.
Key claims that the inserts in the weights he uses are so thin and tight to the metal that they make absolutely no difference in the sensation you get from the tungsten.
As for inserts popping out when you peg a weight, Key doesn’t worry about that either. He uses bobber stoppers to keep his weights in place, so nothing gets pushed through the weight except the line itself.

Tungsten Down Deep
Key fell in love with tungsten before he ever even saw a mat of weeds. Fishing the deep, clear reservoirs of Arizona doesn’t offer much opportunity for punching, but it definitely calls for finesse.
“Tungsten weights cost a lot more than lead, but I think they’re worth the extra couple of bucks,” Key says. “First of all, they’re so hard that they really telegraph what’s down there. When I’m pre-fishing, they let me know when something is a rock or a stump or just plain mud. With a tungsten weight on fluorocarbon or braid, I can read the date on a dime.”
Key favors a long, skinny drop-shot weight that hardly ever gets hung up. He also uses larger tungsten weights for Carolina rigs. However, the tungsten Key really loves is the nail weight. He puts these tiny weights in wacky-rigged Senkos and just slays the bass.
“You can pitch these to trees and docks, but the real secret is that they are absolutely dynamite on deep-water humps and ledges,” Key says.
Without the little tungsten nail weights, it would take forever to get a Senko down there. Key likes to weight just one end of the Senko to make it wobble and dive.
Wes McCracken is another tournament angler who has found that tungsten is worth the money. A Texas rig is one of his favorites for fishing submerged trees, and he often fishes a very small Texas rig on spinning gear. He uses 12-pound test fluorocarbon and a 1⁄4-ounce or even smaller bullet sinker. For these lightweight worm rigs, McCracken uses a medium-heavy spinning rod with a fast tip and plenty of backbone. He can cast a 3⁄16-ounce sinker much better with this rig than with a baitcaster.
“It’s crucial to pick the right weight,” insists McCracken. “Sometimes one will outfish the other, even if the difference is really small. It changes the rate of fall. If you get bit on the fall, you know you’re using the right weight.”
Likewise, if you’re using the wrong weight, you’ll get slapped a lot but not bit. Sometimes even the type of weight can make a big difference.
“Jennifer and I were both fishing identical setups, but I was using tungsten and she wasn’t,” McCracken recalls. “I was getting bit way more often than she was. I hate to have to fish tungsten because it is so expensive, but if that’s what it takes, you have to do it.”

Tungsten — Not Just For Weights
The density and hardness of tungsten make it ideal for other bait applications as well. For instance, lure manufacturers have begun offering swimbaits that incorporate tungsten. Some of these lures have chamber and peg systems that allow you to quickly adjust the placement and number of tungsten balls in the lure so you can control the running depth and even the action of the lure.
Hand-poured worms with tungsten powder poured right into them are also available. This makes rigging much easier and makes the worms fall true.
Tungsten spinnerbaits have become common in the lure industry over the last few years.
When it comes to jig fishing, tungsten jigs have an obvious benefit — they can be flipped into tight quarters.

Not-So-Heavy Metals
Another benefit of tungsten is that it’s non-toxic. These days, that’s a big deal. Many states have already banned lead or are considering banning it because lead sinkers can end up in birds and kill them.
If using a non-toxic weight is your major concern, there are other, cheaper alternatives. Non-lead sinkers such as brass, bismuth and steel are available. While they are not as dense as tungsten, they have other benefits. They may be bigger than the same weight in lead, but the hardness of these metals means less line wear. Lead is so soft that it can deform, making sharp edges right where your line enters the weight.
The only downside to tungsten is the price. Its density and hardness make it an ideal element for weights, and to tournament pros and avid amateur anglers, the benefits are well worth the price.
Story By Margie Anderson

Product Reviews, Sponsors, Tips and Techniques

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.

 

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 it’s debut in the U.S. market.
U.S. bass pros Bill Smith, Michael Murphy and Fred Roumbanis have helped IMA design new hardbaits for the USA.
We’ll send you stories and tips from Fred, Bill and Michael every month.

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Bass Basics, Product Reviews, Sponsors, Tips and Techniques

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

Bass Basics, Get to Know'em, Multimedia, Tips and Techniques

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

Get to Know'em, Product Reviews, Sponsors, Tips and Techniques

In Depth with Michael Murphy & the Ima Flit

Good News! This month’s emailer is all about the Flit, but also note that the first major shipment of ima Shaker crankbaits have arrived in stores, with more on the way. We will be doing a full story on the Shaker crankbait in April (not too far away). So please stay tuned, and kindly ask your local tackle shop to carry the ima Shaker crankbait, Flit jerkbait and Roumba wakebait too.

Interview with Michael Murphy on Spring Fishing with the Flit

ima has recently introduced it’s new Flit jerkbait, and  anglers everywhere are eager to be the first to try the new Flit this spring!

In this issue, Michael Murphy (“MM“), designer of the Flit is interviewed, with a question and answer session focused on fishing the Flit during the spring time.

This interview certainly won’t cover every facet of fishing the Flit. We’ve aimed at what you may need to know to get started with the Flit in March and continue using it in April and May. As you read, think spring time and what bass are doing now.  Later in the season, we will share additional tips on using the Flit – summer Flit tactics, fall and winter Flit tactics we will provide in future issues. For now, we hope you enjoy the interesting Flit facets below for spring fishing with the Flit. Thank you.


ima Flit designer Michael Murphy

Q?: To set the scene, what kind or rod, make or model do you fish with the Flit? What reel? What line?

MM: The rod I like to use is the Fenwick Elite Tech, ECPS69MH-F. This is actually a 6’9″ Pitching stick. I stand 6’5″ tall, and with the elevation of the boat bow above the water, standing on the front deck, this rod is the perfect rod for me to be able to point my rod tip straight down without dragging in the water. I believe this is critical for ease of use, to hold the rod straight down without hitting the water, but this will be different for everyone. For a shorter person, it may be a 6′ rod. Overall, I like a medium/heavy action rod with some good backbone but still a good amount of tip for casting, working the lure and for playing a fish gingerly if it is barely hooked.

Q?: How do you recommend to attach your line to the Flit? Why?

MM: Directly to the eyelet. Some like to use a clip on their jerkbaits, hoping to get more action. This action is already naturally build into the Flit without having to do this. Adding a clip would most likely result in the front hook continuously catching the line. A clip is not needed. Simply tie direct to the split ring already provided on the lure. As far as knots, any type of good cinch knot goes well with fluorocarbon, except I do not like to use a Palomar with fluorocarbon since I believe it increases the chances of knot failure, and I do like to use fluorocarbon on my Flit.

Q?: How deep does the Flit dive? Are there any certain types of cover or structure or something else specific that’s an ideal situation for the Flit due to its working depth?

MM: Many jerkbaits are first designed on looks (eye appeal) and then the bill is constructed to achieve action and depth. Since the Flit is designed based on the idea of matching the hatch and to mimic the cadence of baitfish, specifically of the herring family (i.e., blueback herring, gizzard shad and threadfin), the action is already built into the Flit body. The bill is there to only achieve depth, not impart action. If you would like it to achieve its maximum depth, point your rod tip down toward the water to obtain 8 feet of depth on 8 lb fluorocarbon or 6 feet of depth on 10 lb fluorocarbon. You may change the position of your rod tip to make it run shallower. With your rod tip pointing directly up at an eleven o’clock position, you can make it walk just beneath the surface. The Flit very effective, whether used to fish deep on bluff walls or shallow just under docks.

Q?: Is there anything you can do in terms of rod, line or retrieve or any other bait adjustment that lets you reach different depths? Is there anything that can make the difference of getting the Flit a couple of feet deeper or shallower?

MM: As mentioned above. line diameter and also line type do make a difference. The general idea whether using the ima Flit jerkbait or the ima Shaker crankbait, is the smaller the line diameter the deeper the bait will go, simply due to less line drag. However, with the Flit, the exception to this would be at rest. Mono floats and fluoro sinks. You could use this to your advantage to behave differently or run at different depths dependent on specific situations. Again, this will vary among line brands and types. No two lines are exactly the same.

Q?: Sometimes a bait gets categorized as a smallmouth killer or a spotted bass killer, or a largemouth magnet. Do you think the Flit has a special or higher appeal to smallmouth, spotted bass or largemouth? Why or why not?

MM: I couldn’t tell you. The Flit catches all three bass species equally and all very effectively. I think you can’t tag this type of reputation on the Flit, since all three species feed on members of the herring family, which makes them all equally vulnerable. I can tell you, with all three bass species there are no differences. They all eat it most excellently. If anything I would call it the “anything that swims and feeds on baitfish magnet” because it is not just with bass, but it could be redfish, pike, perch, gar, you name it. I have caught practically everything on the Flit so far.

Q?: Some anglers mention having a good jerkbait bite first thing in the morning, and then have it fade out and die on them by mid-morning. Is that something you’ve seen about the Flit bite? Is the Flit bite similar to what some have experienced with an early morning topwater bite, that it’s usually good at first light, and shuts down once the sun hits the water? Or is there anything you can do or any conditions or factors that make for a good Flit bite all day (or as long as those factors remain present)?

MM: No. It is not like that. As the sun comes up, I start to chase shadow lines. It may be the shadow line off of a bridge, dock, trees, bluffs, etc. Seems like bass will just pull tight to these shaded areas. It is not just with jerkbaits, I would say this applies with all lures under these early morning conditions and it is merely the natural behavior of how bass act. I say this, because I would never say a topwater bite will completely shut down. Instead, it will just change. I have had some of my best topwater days on Lake Lanier over 30 feet of water on clear bluebird days catching both spotted bass and largemouth. I think the shutting down of any bite or that sudden “lock jaw” is nothing more than a myth. Strike zones and the willingness to commit may become smaller, or how fish may hold to structure may change under changing conditions. However, at the end of the day. it is all basic behavior and simply what makes the best sense for how a bass can ambush its prey. Bass are always eating, it is just a matter of how or where. I have never seen a tournament where someone did not catch something. So I am not a big believer in a bite shutting down because the fish were not eating. The bite just changes or shifts. As anglers, we may lose the bite, but it’s still going on somewhere.

Q?: What would you say is the biggest error you see anglers make with jerkbaits?

MM: Certainly it’s stereotyping the technique. The belief that it is only good for spring and for post frontal situations. They (jerkbaits) are good all the time.

Q?: Overall, what action are you trying to create with a jerkbait, and with the Flit specifically? What impression are you trying to make on the bass with the Flit? Is it supposed to be an injured or disoriented baitfish – or a perfectly normal baitfish movement?

MM: Both. You can make it look disoriented or like a normal baitfish. Whatever condition or mood the bass may be in, you can match it. The Flit can be fished with random jerk and pause techniques, or with a consistent walking side to side motion. It is based on the concept like a Zoom Fluke or other soft jerkbait, or a topwater like a Super Spook. Both the Fluke and Spook have very effective actions. Now imagine being able to do that on a bigger scale, better and where you are more easily able to catch the fish that are just slapping at it and not really willing to commit. You’ll hook a good percentage of these non-committal fish with a jerkbait.

Q?: With the jerk component of the action you create, do you vary the jerk for different seasons or different reasons?

MM: Yes, the colder or less active the fish are, the tighter the walk or the shorter the jerks I will use with a longer pause. The warmer or more active the fish are, the harder I will lay into the jerks and the more frequent and consistent I will work the lure with less pauses.

Q?: With the pause component of the action you create, do you vary the pause for different seasons or different reasons?

MM: Yes, as mentioned above.

Q?: Which is the most important part, the jerk or the pause?

MM: It depends on the time of the year. Both are equally important. This goes back to the previous two questions.

Q?: What other elements are there to the action? Is the reeling an important element? How fast or how far you reel, do you vary that? Any other elements to the action except the jerk, the pause, the reeling?

MM: I typically reel a quarter to a half a turn per jerk. With this type of technique, the reel is nothing more than a tool to hold the line, and a good drag and high speed retrieve when fighting a fish.

The most important elements to working a jerkbait are the rod action and how you work the rod. In addition, your attention to details of what happens to the jerkbait on different jerks and rod angles, and tying all this together to discover what is most persuasive action to the bass on any given day.

Q?: Do you look to develop a cadence or Flit “action” for the day? That is, once you catch a few on a certain sequence of jerks and pauses, do you find all your fish going for that same sequence of jerking-pausing? Or do you catch fish on a diversity of cadences during the same day?

MM: Absolutely a cadence or “rod action pattern” materializes many days. This goes right along with my previous answer and the paying attention to details that spell what is the fish’s preference for the day or for the situation at hand.

Q?: At what point do most strikes occur? What induces the strike – the jerk, the pause, the reeling in or what?

MM: The pause, over 90% of the time.

Q?: How would you say that jerking, pausing and reeling in a jerkbait differs from popping, pausing and reeling in a topwater popper? Is it essentially the same action for a popper and a jerkbait? If not, what are the differences between working a topwater popper and working a jerkbait (except of course you can see the popper)?

MM: Yes, they’re both pretty much the same. Especially in the aspect that there are about as many different and effective ways to work a popper as there are to work a jerkbait

Q?: What if you suddenly see a bass following the Flit as it gets near the boat (or shore)? What do you do to convert those followers into biters? How do you get them to commit and whack it? Or if they break off the chase and drift away, how do you get them to come back and strike on the next cast?

MM: There is a technique that I discovered with the Flit, and it is the only jerkbait I have found you can do it with, because it has such tight walking action. With the right among of slack before the jerk and immediately after allowing the bait to glide, you can make the Flit literally do a 180 degree about-face. If the fish is trailing close enough and not willing to commit, you can make it bite out of mere reaction with this 180 degree turn-around maneuver. Bass don’t have hands to swat, they use their mouth, and this results in a catch. This does take practice, but it is one of the absolute coolest thing you will ever experience. I did it on Lake Murray with a 5 lb 8 oz bass, it was unbelievable!! I have done it with many other fish, but the 5 lb 8 ouncer was the coolest because it followed the Flit the first cast and peeled off, and then I was able to get it to track it again and I did this 180 on it. It was so funny because it was apparent it hit out of sheer reaction to the 180 turn-around. This bass didn’t even know what to expect or what happened. It just bit, but it didn’t even fight. That was the down side. It was pretty lethargic. At the same time, it was pretty funny.

Q?: How come so many jerkbait bass are partially hooked on the outside of the mouth? Some have suggested that the bass is slapping the lure’s tail or pushing against the lure’s tail so it can turn the long jerkbait 180 and swallow it head-first. What do you think of that?

MM: I used to have fish (two spotted bass, a largemouth, and two crappie) in an aquarium. I would feed them gold fish. If they were hungry and/or competitive, they would eat the gold fish any way they could get them down, sideways, tail first, head first, it didn’t matter. As the competition abated and/or they were getting full, they were more selective and would go for the goldfish head first. However, doing this, is a little harder for them to do. So they would ambush them from the side, battering them, with scales falling off, until the prey moved slow enough and were an easy enough target for them to successfully eat head first. With jerkbaits, I believe that may be what they are doing at times, hitting the jerkbait first as to kill or stun it to make it easier to eat. In many cases they will go through this motion with their mouth closed or mostly closed as to not eat it, just incapacitate it first. With a jerkbait, the hooks may naturally end up on the outside of the mouth.

Another explanation is far simpler. A fish swims up to inspect the bait and simply noses it, much like it would nose a jig, worm, or crayfish on the bottom of the lake out of curiosity, but with a jerkbait, because of the sticky-sharp trebles and the jerking motion of how the lure is worked, the nosy fish may get stuck around its mouth or side of the fish’s head, resulting in a catch. Such fish certainly are not intentionally being snagged, but depending on the particular state regulations or tournament rules, this may or may not be deemed a keepable catch.

Q?: Before we conclude our interview, Michael, are there any other points you’d like to mention about jerkbaits or spring time fishing with  the Flit?

MM: I think we pretty much nailed many of the most important questions. I can’t think of anything else to add. Thank you for asking.

Good News! This month’s emailer is all about the Flit, but also note that the first major shipment of ima Shaker crankbaits have arrived in stores, with more on the way. We will be doing a full story on the Shaker crankbait in April (not too far away). So please stay tuned, and kindly ask your local tackle shop to carry the ima Shaker crankbait, Flit jerkbait and Roumba wakebait too.

Tips and Techniques

Dymamite Spawning Bass Article

I found a really good article, of all places, in Field & Stream magazine.  I never thought they would have a decent bass related article, but I was killing time in a waiting room for a doctor appointment.  I was glad I put my pride aside and flipped through the pages.  I actually thought about taking the magazine when I left, but common sense prevailed.  Another cool thing, there is a copy online, you have to view 13 different pages to read it all, but I guess that is how the pay the bills with advertisement, but I think its worth it.  Here is the link to the online article.  The premise of the article, is one guy scuba dives around spawning females while another guy fishes above, really excellent info. 
 
I think there are a couple key tips, that can help most of us if we are targeting spawning fish in a tournament situation.  I know some of you hate everything about fishing for spawners, if this is you, skip this entry and pretend it never happened

Basically there are 12 elements to this article, I would copy and paste it all here, but I am sure there are copyright rules about these things

In the name of articles, if you have not checked out some of my articles on my main site, check it out!

Also, for some of you that may not have noticed, I have another Blog about tackle & gear.  Check out my latest on a New Jig Chunk, Stellar Shimano Rebates, and more….

Also, Thanks to email subscribers #52 & 53!

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

If you enjoy this Blog, consider making a PayPal donation to help keep it going. No Donation too small, Thanks!

General, Multimedia, Tips and Techniques

Anatomy of the Bassin’ Blog

This post is to help all your readers optimize your time spent here and get the most out of the Bassin’ Blog.  So I am going to break down the different functions and options you have.  Basically the Blog is broken in to 2 columns of information.  On the right is are the listing of most recent posts and summaries.  On the left (sidebar) there are a myriad of blocks of info and tools to help you get the info you are looking for.

Back to Main Page – link will get you back home no matter what area you are in.

Subscribe to Blog – place where you can enter email and you will get all new posts delivered to your inbox as soon as they are published.  This is handy so that you do not have to remember to go out and look to see if new content is here, plus you will have the info before anyone else.  You can also subscribe to individual topics and post if there is one you are particularly interested in, you will get all comments and updates.

Category Archives – I assign every post to at least one category, so that you can browse though these categories and find info quick, most are self explanatory.  ‘Tournament Info’ is where I log all my practice and tournament days on the water

Recent Comments – This displays the 10 most recent comments by other readers and myself, often I will add updated on comments to certain topics there, rather then creating a new post, plus I usually answer all questions left in a comment

Recent Entries – Browse most recent posts by title and date

Quicksearch – great way to look up a topic or word and see all the posts that contain that info.  Lakes like Amistad, Guntersville, Minnetonka or Patoka….    Or maybe baits like Tru-Tungsten, Secret Weapon or Swim Jigs….   You need to keep in mind that there are over 190 posts and growing every day, most of the time you can only see the current month on the front page, there is a lot of info if you are willing to dig a little.

Google Ads – these are text ads based upon keyword matching, everytime you click on them I make a few cents, so feel free and help offset the costs of doing my blog and other websites. I’ve even been thinking about hiring an external company like Linear to help drive my blog even further to success and the more traffic I get, the more it will inspire me to keep pushing forward with my blog and goals.

Monthly Archives – Browse by previous months, go back to January 2006 and see the humble beginnings of this Blog

BlogRoll Links – Other sites with good info that I like, check them out at your leisure

Syndicate This Blog – These are links for RSS (Real Simple Syndication) basiclly you can sign up using these links and content will be pushed to your Feed Reader, there are many and MyYahoo and MyMSN have them built in, if you are interested I can help you if you get stuck.  Just another way to be on the cutting edge of getting information.

 – if you see this symbol, it is a link to help you get RSS feeds setup through FeedBurner, click here and its falling down easy to get recent entries of the blog to show up on your MyYahoo or MyMSN home pages :0

Hope you find this helpful and just ask if you have questions.

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

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FLW Tour, Tips and Techniques

What does it take to win in Bass Fishing?

I found this article on the web today and just had to share it all with you.  I could not agree more, you need to develop your own strengths and confidence techniques to take yourself to the next level.

Winning involves more than a secret spot or a magic lure
By Jay T. McNamara, Ph.D., L.P. – 08.Dec.2006

“The difference between good and great is very small, but it is made up of many things.”

Readers of this column know I don’t quote people very often. Telling you what Larry Nixon thinks or what Jim Moynagh says flies in the face of one of my most important performance-psychology principles: Learn to think for yourself.

However, these words provide the best answer I know to the question asked in the title of this month’s column. I’m not sure if this an original quote, but since I heard it first from Rick Clunn, he gets the credit.

Fishing vs. competing vs. winning

If you have been on the tournament-fishing scene for some time, you are probably familiar with the different stages competitive anglers go through on the way to being successful. When the competitive bug first bites, the novice angler is filled with a combination of awe, wonder and panic. You think it might be fun to fish a tournament, but it seems like a scary proposition. Nevertheless, you eventually decided to sign up and give it a go.

In the beginning, you most likely felt out of place, though at another level, it was great fun being around good, competitive fishermen. I’m sure you remember your initial nervous energy at registration dinners and pretournament meetings. There you were, finally, sitting at the same table with well-known competitors, guys with their names and sponsor logos on their shirts!

Then, on tournament day, there was the excitement in the misty morning air, the rocketship ride up the lake and finally your first cast a tournament fisherman. And whether or not you caught anything, the real thrill came later in the day when the bags were brought to the scales. Look at those fish!

In these first competitions, it was enough just to be in a real tournament. Certainly, you wanted to do well, but you knew you were not in the same league as the big boys; your expectations were small. If you got lucky and caught a few fish, you had something to be happy about. Typically, however, you are a spectator rather than a participant at the weigh-ins.

Even touring pros fondly recall that “happy to be here” stage. However, for the true competitor, that stage does not last very long. Watching other people hold up big fish gets old fast. At some point, you decided you not only wanted to have a fancy shirt and a cool boat, you wanted to consistently catch fish.

Competing

You probably remember the internal conversations you had at that point. Maybe you began by telling yourself how stupid it was to fish where you did because that’s not where the tournament winners fished. Remembering how Dad or Grandpa talked about scoping out secret fishing holes, you started paying attention to where the top finishers spent their day. You were very sure it must be the spot. After all, they caught their fish on spinnerbaits, and you have a spinnerbait, right?

I’m sure you smiled as you read that last sentence. Ever since our Neanderthal relatives began jerking fish from the water using a piece of meat impaled on a bone hook, anglers have been seeking “The Secret Spot.” In retrospect, the simplistic attitude you demonstrated then was comical. The old saying “I didn’t know what I didn’t know” comes to mind, eh? But at least you were paying attention to one important part of the complex equation that successful competitors use.

However, it didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t just the spot, because, well, “the spot” on which tournaments were won seemed to move around from month to month and from year to year. As you participated in more tournaments, you found that the lures, the locations and the people who won changed quite a lot, actually, from one competition to the next. You began to consider that the formula for success might be more complex than you had originally imagined.

You also began to notice that some anglers consistently finished high in the standings, leading to the obvious conclusion that tournament success was more than just luck. It took a little longer, but you also eventually figured out that imitating tournament winners was a losing proposition. Fishing this tournament the way the last tournament was won turned out to be a lot like a dog chasing its own tail.

Winning

It didn’t happen right away, but eventually you began to develop confidence in a few baits, and you also formed a tentative sense of where the fish were likely to be on different waters at different times of the year. You still made a lot of mistakes, and while you may have cashed a check now and then, winning was still an elusive concept. If you are highly competitive, and I suspect you are, you remember how difficult it was to turn in one mediocre performance after another.

At this juncture, many people give up, or they reach a plateau beyond which they struggle to progress. Continued improvement now, you may recall, required as much courage, fortitude and tenacity as anything else.

Which brings us to back to the opening quote. As for other top professionals, your door to winning swung open the day you came to appreciate that while there are a lot of individual little things that can lose a tournament for you, there is no one thing that creates a winner.

Winning, as opposed to placing high, is not principally related to a secret spot or a magic lure. Instead, winning involves many things, all of which matter. That’s an important psychological concept to appreciate, so let me say it again: Winning involves many things, all of which matter.

It includes practical dimensions like having reliable equipment and mastering fundamental fishing skills, and it requires knowledge of things like fish behavior and the effect of weather on the location and movement of baitfish. Winning also is related to hard work, long hours of practice, the ability to learn from your mistakes and a host of other psychological variables such as confidence, poise under pressure and resilience in the face of adversity.

And one of the most fascinating things of all is that the specific list of things it takes to win varies, sometimes significantly, from one angler to the next. Jim Moynagh doesn’t fish just like Larry Nixon, and he doesn’t fish exactly like Dion Hibdon, or anyone else for that matter. While those guys have a lot in common with each other and with other top pros, they have each figured out a unique set of fishing skills that has allowed them to be winners. On your way to becoming a winner, you will probably end up doing the same.
Jay T. McNamara – For Full article

So did you like this article???  I think it is very solid and makes a ton of sense.

Don’t get me wrong, its not that you cannot learn from another angler or emulate portions of strategies or techniques, but you must make them your own.  I feel like you can make them your own through practice and building confidence as well as tweaking to fit your style.

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

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Bass Fishing Podcasts, Multimedia, Tips and Techniques

More Bass Fishing Radio with Me

Hey all,

Added a podcast feature, just click on the play button.

Another online fishing radio show that I did has recently been released.  It is a feature on Catch’n.com Radio
Check it out on Catch’n.com.

If you liked the other show at all, this one is a little longer and spends more time on specific lures and techniques, I think it is a better show with more info.  Here is the link again: http://catch-n.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7496

or if you prefer to download the show directly – http://www.catch-n.com/audio/richlindgren.mp3 – careful it is a long show

Hope you enjoy & feedback is welcome….

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

If you enjoy this Blog, consider making a PayPal donation to help keep it going. No Donation too small, Thanks!