Category Archives: Fishing Tips

Fishing Recap, Fishing Tips

Carolina Rigging for Trout in Arkansas

Rainbow Trout Caught on Carolina Rig at Lake Atalanta, Rogers Arkansas
Arkansas lake Rainbow Trout.

Fishing in Arkansas during January can be a hit or miss situation with the weather. One day it could be mild and in the 50s and the next day you may encounter sleet and ice and below freezing temperatures. One thing that you can count on is lake water temps dropping well into the low 40s and even the high 30s in some small lakes.

This is a great time of year to do some trout fishing in Northwest Arkansas, either in the White River tailwaters of Beaver or Table Rock lake or in some select clear water lakes in the area like Lake Atalanta in Rogers.

As primarily a bass fisherman I don’t own a fly rod, but you can use some bass techniques for some easy trout fishing. One of these techniques is to fish Carolina-style, but with a different and more finesse setup.

Owner Fishing Hooks - Mosquito size 8 Model 5177-031
Use size 8 or 6 hook.

One of the keys to making this work is to have a good quality sharp hook in the appropriate size. When using an egg-style floating bait, I’d select an Owner Mosquito Hook in size 8, or size 6 if you prefer. These Owner hooks are reliable and needle-sharp which is critical in a situation like this. They also have very small barbs that are easily pinched down depending on the waters you fish. If your local tackle store doesn’t carry these, you can find Owner Hooks on Tackle Warehouse.

Simply set up your rig by using a lightweight spinning rod and Shimano reel and attach a small swivel to a 4lb (try P-Line) leader with a small bullet weight and glass bead on the main line. Tie your Owner Mosquito hook to your leader, making it anywhere from 1 to 3 feet depending on water depth. Apply your floating bait egg

Close up of Owner hook in Rainbow Trout Caught on Carolina Rig at Lake Atalanta, Rogers Arkansas
The Owner Mosquito Hook in size 8 is the perfect small size for trout, but is needle sharp for a nice hookset.

on the hook, adjusting so just the tip of the hook is showing.

To fish it, simply toss it upstream in a current allowing it to then slowly bounce along back to you, taking up slack as it goes. This is a great system for fishing ponds or lakes with trout because you can either cast it out and leave it until you get a bite, or periodically move it a bit. The floating bait will look like a natural snack for the trout. Once you get a bite, the sharp Owner hook doesn’t require a strong hookset.

Give this technique a try the next time you want to try some trout fishing on a cold day. It’s an easy transition for a bass fisherman to find some success with trout.

Fishing Tips

Golden Retrievals With Crankbaits

I once heard Bassmaster Elite Series Pro Angler Greg Hackney say that he can “…make a fish bite with a crankbait.” He continued by saying “…because a fish is kind of like a dog. No matter how good of a dog he is you can make ’em bite.” Since poking a stick through a fence won’t work for a bass what’s the magic formula to making it bite? The answer may partially lie in the art of presentation via the retrieval. Let’s look at an example to illustrate some points:

It’s a beautiful day. The sun is out, a slight breeze is blowing and it’s lunch time. You settle down to enjoy your meal and suddenly a pestering fly takes on the persona of Tom Cruise in Top Gun. Ole “Maverick” is coming in to buzz your tower and spoil your peace. First it flies right by your noggin causing your head to flinch. Next it hits your fingers holding your beloved BLT sandwich. You flail your hand to try and shoo the quarter inch pain in the posterior away. Next, as a coup de grace, the fly zooms up to your face and hovers a mere inch from your eye. You instinctively grab for the fly with your Cheeto stained free hand.

Your head moving, your hand shooing, and your grab for the pest are all reactionary actions. You don’t think about it, you just do it. This is why a crankbait is considered a “reaction bait”, because the fish isn’t necessarily biting out of hunger. It’s biting because your goading it into an involuntary, non-hunger induced reaction.

So, let’s put yourself in the place of the fly and run through some progressions. You’ve got your favorite Skirmish crankbait tied on and you’re going to give Billy Bad Bass enough incentive where he can’t ignore your masterly hand painted crankbait any longer.

First Progression: The Steady Retrieve
Probably the retrieve most new anglers use. Throw it out and real it back. It can be effective but the fish need to be in a more aggressive, or arguably a hunger driven, mood. Like the fly buzzing by your head in the example above, a crankbait rolling in and steadily rolling on can cause an action but not necessarily the aggressive bite reaction we are looking for.

Second Progression: Bang It Into Something!
This is a big one and where most strikes occur. Make sure your crankbait is either bouncing along the bottom or colliding into something. Like the fly above your hand will move if a fly runs into it. It’s just instinct. If the bass are relating to wood, brush, or rock don’t be afraid to send that Skirmish hunter killer in there and let it deflect off of that cover. Hitting something near the bass causes the crankbait to rapidly change direction and, as a by-product, creates a slight pause in the retrieve. Bass are opportunistic predators and many times nature will dictate that they react by biting.

Third Progression: The Pause
Here’s a nugget I’ve watched some of the best crankbait fisherman I know, or watched pros, do. Let’s say you’re moving down a bank that doesn’t have a lot of cover. Like the fly above that hovers in front of your face we want our crankbait to do the same. You can reel the crankbait down to running depth, and then give it a short pause. Real it a few turns and then pause. Or, like I’ve seen Elite Series crankbait expert Kevin Short do, the pull and pause. Just like it sounds you reel down the crankbait to running depth, pull the bait, pause while reeling back in the slack and then pull again. Rinse and repeat. In this action you try to mimic our hovering fly with the pauses. A bass will have trouble passing up an easy meal that swims up and pauses right in front of it.

While you’re out this season with your Skirmish crankbait tied on try these methods and watch your strike percentages increase. If your friends take notice and ask you what your secret is, just smile and say “fly fishing!”

— Justin Phillips

Fishing Recap, Fishing Tips, Reviews

Power Plant Lake Winter Fishing

I want to share a technique I used this past December on a power plant lake in Arkansas to catch a large number of big bass, probably my most fun month of fishing this year. Almost all of them were caught using a Norman Lures DD22 or Deep Little N crankbait.

This fatty had been feeding on shad when it bit my Norman Deep Little N in white green fleck.
This fatty had been feeding on shad when it bit my Norman Deep Little N in white green fleck.
Bass about to move up on some shad.
Bass about to move up on some shad.

At Swepco Lake in Gentry, Arkansas, bass boat and kayak anglers fill the parking lots and storm the water when winter arrives. This year is no different, with a chill in the air and ice on the banks, the “hot tub” was a nice 74-76 degrees near the plant discharge. There are a lot of ways to catch good fish at a lake like this, particularly when the bite is on.

For me, the most effective and consistent method for bigger bass this time was to do some deep cranking, going after bass which were herding shad and then feeding. A second key was identifying the depth of the bass and then choosing the correct crankbait to use so that it would run just a few feet above the bass. A Norman DD22 runs as deep as 17 feet and a Deep Little N runs as deep as 12 feet.

When a school was identified and depth determined, I’d simply deploy the crankbait and repeatedly retrieve it in the vecinity of the bass. To keep things moving slowly, my setup was a 5:4:1 Lews reel on a Dobyns FR 705CB crankbait rod.  To get the bait as deep as possible, I used a light 8 lb mono and thumbed the reel instead of setting my drag. Finally, for some extra persuasion, I used a Fish Allure scented tab (shad) on the baits, on the body, just behind the front treble.

Norman DD22 in Firetiger gel coat and Deep Little N in white green fleck.
Norman DD22 in Firetiger gel coat and Deep Little N in white green fleck.

This technique netted dozens of bass and was a fun combination of electronics, crankbaits and gear that all came together at this power plant lake. Hopefully this gives you some insight or ideas on something to try on your next trip.

Fishing Tips

Applying Scented Tabs to Hard Baits

Many bass fishermen use scent on their baits when looking for an edge in creating a bite. When using a crankbait, topwater or otherfa1 lure there is a way to add scent to help trigger strikes – applying Fish Allure tabs.

Fish Allure tabs come in various sizes to fit different types of lures.
Fish Allure tabs come in various sizes to fit different types of lures.

Unlike spray-on or gel scents, Fish Allure scented tabs can be applied to hard baits and will not immediately wash off once in the water. When water hits the tab it activates the amino acids. This puts out a scent designed to help convince the bass they are chasing live prey. The tabs last for up to 60 minutes in the water, so you can be confident it is working.

Using Fish Allure Tabs
This Bandit 100 is ready to catch fish with the tab placed right behind the front treble hook.
This Bandit 100 is ready to catch fish with the tab placed right behind the front treble hook.

I utilize Fish Allure tabs the most on topwater lures like a Heddon Zara Spook or on a squarebill crankbait like the Bandit 100. When applying the tab I try to place it where the bait will stay in contact with the water but the tab is protected from the harshest action of the lure. After 60 minutes, simply peel off the tab and replace, or, if finished with the lure before time is up you can dry off the tab and use it again on the next trip.

On a Zara Spook I will place the tab just in front of the front treble hook.
On a Zara Spook I will place the tab just in front of the front treble hook.

For tournaments or other outings where I’m tying on early or the night before. You can go ahead and add the scented tab in advance – unlike other oils, gels or sprays. Fish Allure comes in various scents. I generally prefer to use the Shad scent on most baits. If you are looking for an edge in your fishing and something different than what others are using, try Fish Allure.

Boost your confidence when fishing for Largemouth Bass, Spotted Bass or Smallmouth Bass.  Improve your success with hard baits by using Fish Allure tabs.

 

Fishing Tips

Plastic Bait Organization for Kayak Fishing

Organizing soft plastics in the limited space provided on a fishing kayak can be a challenge. I tried a few different methods before settling on the one that works best for me.Organizing soft plastics for kayak fishing.

When bass fishing from a relatively small kayak with little
storage space I had to find a system that ensured I had the right plastic worm, creature bait, trailer or swimbait with me at the right time.

Lurenet.com Article on Organizing Soft Plastics

Lurenet.com recently wrote up an article about my system using temperature and technique to keep the right baits with me on the water in an easy to manage way:

Organization Means Everything

While fishing from a kayak offers many advantages over angling from a boat, copious storage space is not among them, which means a smart kayak angler has a well-thought plan before venturing onto the water.

 “Without some type of system, you’re always having to swap tackle and reorganize gear before every trip,” said Jason Kincy, YUM brand Organizing soft plastics with ziplock bags.ambassador and host of the Kayak Fishing Focus website. “Because there are so many types, sizes and styles, soft plastics can be a particular challenge.”

Kincy’s approach to organizing soft plastics is system that incorporates...READ MORE at Lurenet.com 

Fishing Tips

Kayak Fishing Tournament Packing List

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What gear do you need for a successful run in a kayak fishing tournament or kayak bass tournament series? The dog days of summer are about over and it is almost time for fall tournaments and year end championships to take place. Whether a first time tournament angler or a seasoned pro, you have to make sure you have what you Kayak fishing tournamentneed before a day on tournament waters.

I have competed in different types of tournaments and tournament trails – including single day events, year long trails, weeknight yakpots and online kayak fishing tourneys.

Kayak Fishing Tournament Checklist
  1. Hawg Trough and camera – The cornerstone of kayak bass fishing tournaments is that you measure the length of your fish instead of the weight. This Catch Photo Release (CPR) approach requires you to have an approved measuring device like a Hawg Trough on board along with a way to take photos such as a camera or phone. Be sure to understand what is allowed in the tournament rules for submitting pictures and choose the one that works best for you. Tip…practice, practice, practice taking and submitting your photos!
  2. Tackle appropriate for the waters – When hitting the lake or river for a fishing tournament in a kayak, space is at a premium. Think about the water condition. Is it clear or stained? Rising or falling? Temperature? Spending some time here can make sure you have the right baits on your yak throughout the day. Some of my go-to baits on board include Heddon Zara Spooks, Booyah jigs and spinnerbaits, YUM plastics and Norman crankbaits. For an extra boost take a look at Fish Allure scented tabs for hard baits.
  3. Safety gear – Make sure your kayak is lit, has visibility flag, whistle and that you are wearing a PFD.  Here are articles by Paddling.net and NRS about safety gear. Tip…if it is a roadrunner style event or a big body of water, make sure someone else knows where you generally are in case you don’t make it back to weigh-in.
  4. Miscellaneous items – Some other items I always take into a tournament include a watch or clock I can see to monitor time, extra reel and line, snack and drinks, net, sunscreen and foul weather gear from Stormr.
Make Your Own List

Every kayak fishing tournament angler is different and likely has additional tips, but this list hits on some of the main items I’d advise someone to consider having on board as they launch in the next tournament.

Thanks for reading, follow Kayak Fishing Focus on Facebook.

Fishing Tips

Summertime Kayak Night Fishing for Bass

Here is an article from Lurenet.com describing kayak night fishing during the dog days of summer. This article explains my I always use YUM soft plastics when kayak night fishing.approach to find night-time bass. I’ll use a YUM Thumpn’ Dinger or YUM Ribbontail on a Texas rig with a 3/8 Gambler weight and a 4/0 hook. On the weight I’ll add a Fish Allure scented tab to help trigger the bite. My full rigging setup is an 8:3:1 reel on a Dobyns Fury 7’0″ 704C rod with 14 lb line.

Here’s the article from Lurenet.com:

The dog days of summer are neither comfortable for fishermen nor fish. But while anglers have the option of retreating to the air conditioned indoors, largemouth bass can only seek deeper water or thicker cover. In either case, it makes them more difficult to find and catch during the heat of the day.

Jason Kincy, YUM brand ambassador and diehard kayak angler, solves both problems by fishing at night on the lakes near his Bentonville, Ark., home. “It’s hot and muggy and water temps are running at around 94-degrees right now,” he said, “so I’ve been starting my fishing day at about 8 p.m.”

Angling after dark isn’t particularly unusual on southern waters during the summer, but for Kincy, who hosts the Kayak Fishing Focus website, it means first pinpointing the most promising spots to make his 3 or 4 hours on the water as productive as possible.

“The ideal is a rock bank, or a bank that has some rocks on it, that’s fairly steep and close to deep water,” he said.

When kayak night fishing, Kincy targets depths from 15 feet up to the shoreline at night and a steep bank, he explained, often means the fish will simply get there earlier in the evening. “If there’s sunken brush in that 8-to-12 foot range, so much the better.”

When his kayak is sitting a good, strong cast from the shoreline and in 20 feet of water, Kincy knows he’s in the right spot for a YUM Thump’N Dinger Texas-rigged behind a 3/8-ounce bullet sinker. “It’s a good nighttime lure because the U-shaped tail adds vibration bass can zero in on after dark. I usually start with Watermelon/Red Flake and Black/Blue Flake as it gets darker.”

A 7½-inch Texas-rigged YUM Ribbontail, or a Bad Jamma on a Booyah Bankroll Jig, are other solid options for his drag/hop presentation, which is fast, but not too fast, he explained.

“The fish can be anywhere from the shoreline on down,” he said, “so I want to cover water, but at a pace that allows the bass time to react.” 

– See more at: http://www.lurenet.com/blog/fishing-dog-days-at-night/#sthash.m1xuqY1n.dpuf

Fishing Tips

How To Use Fish Allure Tabs for Jig Fishing

Fish Allure Pro Mike McCoy explains how you can use Fish Allure scented bait tabs when fishing a jig. In this video he shows how to apply the tab so that it stays in place while working the jig.

Learn more about Fish Allure on their website, or check them out on Facebook.

 

Fishing Tips

Ways to Rig a YUM Warning Shot and Kill Shot

A finesse approach is often what it takes to get the fish to bite, andyum-logo YUM has a couple of versatile plastics you can turn to when the fish are finicky and the bite is tough. The YUM Warning Shot and Kill Shot are key go-to baits that can be rigged in various ways to trigger bass to strike.

The YUM Warning Shot has a thin, waggly side to side blade-like tail, and the YUM Kill Shot features a thicker tail with a much more subtle up and down tail movement. Both can be deadly and fished in four different ways.

YUM Warning Shot rigs

  1. Drop shot nose hook exposed – For fishing the drop shot in less cover, deeper or if I’m going to drag it through the water at a faster pace. Leaving the hook tip exposed allows the bait to swivel much more easily around the hook itself, providing a bit more action. Shown with Gamakatsu hook.
  2. Drop Shot nose hooked – This is how I drop shot most of the time because I generally will use the drop shot in shallow situations around cover and leaving the hook barb inside the nose makes it weedless enough to avoid serious hang-ups. This rig does sacrifice some action, but generally I don’t see a difference in performance. Shown with Gamakatsu hook.
  3. Split shot – For more of a gliding and extremely weedless action out of your Warning Shot or Kill Shot, try a Texas rig with a 2/0 wide gap worm hook. After setting up the Texas rig, add a split shot 6-10″ above the hook on the line. This method is for fishing either very shallow or in cover and slowly dragging the bait letting it bump and deflect in an erratic way. Perfect for when bass are chasing bait fish shallow.
  4. Finally, put the YUM Warning Shot or Kill Shot on a jig head (I prefer one that is weedless) for an irresistible finesse bait. You will want to remove the first segment of the bait so it will be flush with the jig head when threaded on the hook. If you want to bounce along the bottom like a feeding baitfish, I would prefer the Kill Shot. To ‘swim’ it along the bottom, the Warning Shot will give you a bit more of a swimming look. Grub head is weedless and is from PJ’s Finesse Baits.

There are many more ways you can use these great YUM baits, but these are the ones I recommend. Give them a try the next time you need to downsize and get that key bite.

Fishing Tips

Top Six Kayak Fishing Tournament Lessons from 2015

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My first year competing in kayak bass fishing tournament trails was a real learning experience. Each and every event taught me something new – and sometimes the lessons were painful, but made me a better competitor and helped me accomplish a successful Razoryak Tournament Trail season. Here are some of my top kayak bass fishing tournament lessons learned from 2015:

  1. Fish security is very important. This seems obvious, but if you don’t get a quality photo on the hawg trough, you can’t count the fish. In my very first kayak bass fishing tournament on a tough day of fishing at Swepco Lake, I lost three bass off the board while taking the picture – leaving me only one to turn in on the card. It was a bad start for the AOY points race and I finished far down the rankings for this event! Some people use a clip or fish grips (as their circuit may allow) and others just have a certain technique that helps control the fish. What I learned here is I hadn’t practiced this enough going into the tourney. When getting started, this is something you should practice over and over with your hawg trough and camera when pre-fishing or fun fishing so that it is second nature on tournament day!
  2. Take care and time when taking photos. In my second kayak bass fishing tournament of the year my luck improved and I caught a very competitive limit (and kept them on the hawg trough for the pic) but in my excitement I didn’t focus enough on making sure each
    kayak bass fishing tournament fish
    This bass was caught using a Heddon Super Spook around submerged rock along the bank.

    bass had its mouth fully closed for the photo. I was in too much of a hurry and not taking the time to work a bit with the fish to get the mouth closed. I finished third in this event, but lost out on Big Bass and second place due to deductions on three of my five fish. Learning from this, I didn’t have a deduction the rest of the year.

  3. Don’t give up! You hear this all the time and read it in almost every article, but staying focused and not giving up on a bad day is difficult. During the WAKA River Run event I had scouted a location where I’d never fished and got off to an OK start, picking up a couple of largemouth bass early. Over the next several hours I didn’t get any bites and didn’t have a clue. I wanted to quit, give up, and was thinking about an early start on the long drive home. But I kept going and kept trying. With less than an hour left before tournament turn-in I caught a 16″ and 17.5″ on back to back casts and then one more a few minutes later. Caught on a wacky rig, check out Yum Dingers for some great color options) This resulted in my first win of the year and Big Bass for the tournament. If I had listened to my self-doubt and frustration then I would have missed out on a great finish. Two other times in 2015 I had similar experiences with catching an important fish in the last 30-45 minutes – don’t give up!
  4. Pay attention to the details. Another difficult lesson learned this year is not to take small details for granted. It’s not enough to pick the right bait, make the best cast and work the lure perfectly. I paid the price a few times this year for not doing some little things to help make sure I landed the bigger fish you need to win. Some things to focus on include ensuring your hooks are sharp (change them out if necessary!), check the drag settings on every reel, and take time to tie the right knot for your technique and re-tie as often as needed. On one tournament day at Lake Charleston I lost one of the biggest largemouth bass that I hooked all year when the knot broke from worn line and my drag was too tight. This could have changed a fourth place finish into a first place finish!
  5. Take an inventory before you launch.  Finding the pattern on tournament day to get bass in the kayak is a terrific feeling. Losing the lure that’s catching them, or running out of the plastic bait that’s pulling them in is an awful one. If you have a go-to confidence bait or some key lures for a particular event, be sure you have more than one in the boat. One of the things I enjoy about kayak fishing is the challenge in managing a limited amount of space and gear I can take on the water. One event this year I did a very poor job of this and it cost me when the key pattern emerged and I wasn’t prepared to take advantage.
  6. Map out your time. This is one item I figured out fairly early and it works well for me. Before a tournament starts I know exactly how long it takes me to get on my fishing location and how long it takes me to get back to turn in my card.  This allows me to maximize my time on the water casting for bass without risking missing the cutoff.  Things can happen such as a vehicle or equipment breakdown, but other times people just misjudge paddling or driving time.  This is particularly helpful in Beaver Lake style road runner events, or if you keep paddling further, clock your time. To help with this I keep a visible watch face in my kayak so I know what time it is at all times and can keep tabs on when I need to get moving.

Many of these tips are fairly basic but are all related to some personal lessons learned and I hope are helpful to kayak bass fishing tournament anglers regardless of experience level.