General, Gifts for Bass Fishing Rubes, Multimedia, Product Reviews

My Tackle Grab UnBoxing Experience

February 1, 2013 hellabass

I recently had the opportunity to try Tackle Grab for a month. The basic principle behind Tackle Grab is you sign up for a monthly membership ranging from $12-16 depending on how long you sign up and you get new baits in the mail every month. Kind of like fruit of the month club, but for fishing.
Interesting thing about Tackle Grab is that you fill out a profile, which asks you questions about the species, type and location of fishing you do most often to help tailor your tackle pack to your needs and wants. Check out the following video to see what I got in my box.

All in all, I think the value that I received in my initial January box was worth more then the $15 box of single box membership. I got a sample pack of two drop shot weights from Road Hog Baits, a Kahara Yajirobee 3 Blade ($15 value), some Optimum drop shot baits, and some Evolve Kompak Craws ($5) & a Yo-Zuri Pin Minnow jerkbait ($8). So 5 things with a retail value around $30-$35. It is all stuff I could use, not sure if I would have bought it all if I was shopping, but that can be a good thing as well. The Optimum Baits Wacky Shads are solid, as I have used them before (comparable to Jackall pintail or cross tail shads) and I love the Evolve Kompak craws, I have actually caught smallies on the ones in Tackle Grab between filming video and posting this blog.

I guess the other unique thing, is you earn points every month for being enrolled, you also can earn points by doing reviews, referring friends and other activities, those points can be used to shop in the Tackle Grab store of additional items, either new stuff you want to try or if you want more of the stuff you already received in your box.

Overall, if you are into trying new baits, and wanting to build your bait arsenal, this can be a pretty cool service for anglers.

General

Mississippi Gulf Coast Fishing

January 31, 2013 hellabass

Looking for a new destination to experience a
fishing trip of a lifetime? Well, look
no further than the Mississippi
Gulf Coast. The
Mississippi Gulf Coast hosts the most abundant and diverse species of salt
water fish within the Gulf of Mexico.
Whether you’re a freshwater, saltwater, fly fishing, or deep sea angler,
the Mississippi Gulf Coast has it all for you. Not to mention the abundance of things there are to do along the Gulf Coast (take a look at this) making it a no-brainer fishing location for dedicated anglers out there.

With
a national average of about 68 degrees, Gulf Coastfishing is every angler’s dream. The
numerous bays, bayous, and other shallow inshore waters will help ensure all
day non-stop fishing action filled with catching species such as flounder,
grouper, tarpon, barracuda, red snapper, and bonita. Charter trips are always a great idea. The guide will be able to show you the
region’s hot spots where you can spend half the day or the entire catching fish
for sport or for dinner! It’s a great
way to spend time with your family or with a few of you best buddies. Nothing feels better than that adrenaline
rush of sitting around on the boat to strapping in and reeling in a monster
fish!

If
saltwater or deep sea fishing isn’t your cup of tea, don’t fret. Choosing to fish inland is a great option as
well due to Mississippi’s rich lakes, rivers, and streams that are home to
largemouth bass, catfish, and trout. You
may also want to enlist the help of a guide as well for these fresh bodies of
waters. Many of the guides also are
professional or semi-professional anglers who compete in the Bass Master
tournaments. If you chose to enlist the
help of these professional anglers, not only will you be shown the best fishing
spots in the area, but you will probably receive some tips and techniques from
a pro! So if you’re looking for great
fishing in a great part of the world, be sure to check out the Mississippi Gulf
Coast!

Guest Author:
Gulf Coast Regional Tourism Partnership

Advanced Bass Tactics, General, Tips and Techniques, Trend vs Mirage

Picking best colors for bass jigs

January 23, 2013 hellabass

So recently a fishing buddy and I were going back and forth on top jig colors for a side project we are working on. We spent quite a bit of time going back and forth, so I decided it may be easier to poll a larger audience to confirm or debunk our assumptions on what colors bass anglers across the US favor for their flipping jigs.

It started out as a simple survey I put together, but responses came in rater quickly and exceeded the limit of the free Survey Monkey account. So I am writing this post to share the results from the first 100 responses which only took a few hours to get and now we have hundreds of responses I cannot access until I pay to upgrade. So my thought, is to share the initial results here on my blog and invite more of you to participate.

Once I hit a larger threshold of responses, I will pay the fee and then sharer the larger results with all of you. So please take this survey, if it takes more then 60 seconds you are probably over thinking it. Also, consider emailing, sharing, this blog post and results with your fishing friends so we can gather as much data as possible.

So below are the 1st 100 response result summary and below that the chart that was posted to survey.

Jig Skirt Color Chart for Reference

If you could only pick 5 of these colors to stock your flipping jig box with, which 5 would you pick? Take the quick survey – http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/69ZQ5YR

If nothing else, I hope this helps new anglers spend their money wisely on picking jig colors!

Announcements, General

Strike King 10XD Now in Some Stores

January 10, 2013 hellabass

Just caught wind of this, thought I would share with all of you. While I am in no rush to get my 10XD’s, those of you that are not for the most part ice locked, probably would love to spool up your heavy cranking sticks with 17-20lb fluoro and chunk these bad boys around.

As of now, LBF has limited quantities and colors of the 10XD in stock and available right now, check it out here. If you don’t know what I am talking about or what the rage is about, read my other post here. Looks like

Bass Pro Shops

has them loaded into their store, not sure if they are ready or just able to be back ordered, but they will probably go live there soon.

Happy Hunting, feel free to leave a comment if you want to share some other stores that have the 10XD’s in stock.

Fun Fishing

Last trip of 2012

December 31, 2012 hellabass

I almost went the entire December without fishing and without obviously landing a bass, but on the last Friday of the month I was able to get out for about 4 hours in the afternoon. I threw my waders, a few Dobyns Rods and a small assortment of tackle in the back of the vehicle and ventured out.

On my first cast with an Ima Square Bill I got smacked really hard by something, and about 8-10 casts later I finally connected with a small smallmouth bass, it was a relief to catch one and to know my streak of catching legal open water bass in Minnesota would stay alive. I kind of pride myself on catching open water bass in the frigid MN winters.

From there, I worked and waded down the bank chunking the square bill, connecting with a fish here and there. My fourth fish was finally of some quality, it was around 3lbs, so I slowed down and started saturating the area with plastics.

I picked up a fish on a a shakey stick worm and small shakey beaver, both baits that I poured in my garage. I felt like I should be getting more bites, so I tried a Pumpkin Oil Kompak Craw on my 3/16oz Shakey Football head. It didn’t take long to starting getting more bites and connecting on more fish.

I soon landed a 4lb plus smallie and shortly after that a huge walleye that I estimate at around 30″ and 7-8lbs. Overall, I caught about 10 more fish on the Kompak craw, it was a nice late season outing with decent numbers and excellent quality with several fish in the 3lb class. It was also a pleasant surprise to see how well the Kompak craw performed on the shaky head. I’ve known for awhile that it is an excellent flipping and punching bait for largemouth, but in the last two months, it has proven to be quite deadly as a finesse offering for cold water smallies and one giant walleye.

Not bad for an undesirable species, LOL! It was released to swim again. Too big to eat in my book. This is a trip, I wish I had a buddy and a scale, would have liked to weigh the big smallmouth and the walleye, I am most certain it was the biggest walleye I’ve ever caught and it is tough getting decent pictures with a cell phone by yourself.

This eye, gave my Dobyns Savvy 702SF a good work out. Plenty more walleye and smallie pics in this gallery as well.

Happy Safe New Years!

General

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!