BassBlaster

Wind direction and jig trailers, Winter lipless tips, Cold-water jigging

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Today’s Top 5
Wind direction should affect your jig trailer choice??
To me this is amazing. When I was talking to Jewel owner Gayle Julian about cold-water jigging in rocks — Tuesday’s tip — at the end of the convo Gayle got going about jig trailers.

 

Before giving you the juice, please understand this, which I’ve sorta said before: Gayle is one of those genius mad scientist bait-developer types. You know what I’m talkin’ ’bout — the guys who don’t think like the rest of us and usually catch more fish than us too. So here goes:

 

> “Back in 2006 I had [time to] spend every Friday and Saturday fishing Norfork [AR], our local lake here. I wanted to see how fish reacted to jig size, color and shape, and also trailer choice.

 

> “One day I’d catch them and the next day I’d get no bites, so I started paying attention to conditions. What I noticed, and it’s served me very well since then, is if you have any kind of a north-south or west flow of wind — so N W or S/SW — you can use a trailer with quite a bit of action…like a twin tail, Paca Chunk or Rage Craw. But if the wind is out of an easterly flow [typically post-front, sometimes colder but not always], you do a lot better with baits like our Finesse Craw or a Beaver-type bait…something with no action.

> “I fished every Friday and Saturday from the end of October til March 1 — that’s quite a few days — and that’s what I learned. I’d also noticed the activity…seemed like the days with an easterly flow of wind, nothing was moving [even on land, like squirrels].

 

> “The day before, if the wind was blowing in a NW or W direction you could catch them on [an active trailer], but [the next day with an E wind] you could go in the same areas with the same color and not get a single bite.”

 

He said changing the trailer would get him bit — might be 15 bites vs 30 the day before, but it wouldn’t be none.

Gayle said he’s found this works “almost without exception, every time since then,” and folks who have heard about and adopted this themselves have told him it’s worked for them. So…?
“To be honest I’ve probably lost more fish over the years…trying to muscle them that extra little bit towards a net.”

Gussy Jeffstafson talkin’ ’bout no nets on the Elites vs nets. Innerestin’ perspective. Personally always thought nets were just for trash fish (non-bass) and saltwater….

 

Here he is tryin’ to land a smallmouth:

Word is all the pros do lippin’ trainin’ with this dude in the off-season:

Winter lipless tippage.
Because it’s a thing man!

 

Kevin VanDam

 

> My favorite retrieve is to yo-yo it on a semi-slack line. I let it flutter down because the Red Eye [Shad] has an enticing shimmy as it falls. That’s when 90% of strikes come. I use that slow-pull/stop retrieve all the way to the boat.

 

Cliff Crochet

 

> …Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap…he likes to go a little heavier [3/4] in the colder months [on 15-20 lb Seaguar Tatsu fluoro]. “I like to upsize that bait in the winter so it’ll stay deeper. With the bigger bait in shallow water, you can dig a whole bunch. I’m talking about throwing a 3/4-oz bait in 4-5’…digging, deflecting and looking for that reaction bite.”

 

Ticky-Tacky L Bassin

 

Gotta hit this’n again because it’s so nutz…but just might work:

 

> The flip flop retrieve…involves very gently lifting and dropping the rod tip without moving the bait laterally across the bottom. You quite literally flip the bait back and forth from one side to the other without lifting it off bottom. Every 10-15 flips you give the rod an extra bump to move the bait forward about 12″ then repeat the process. This retrieve works best in the coldest of cold…. [Guess it’s too cold to reel??]

 

 

Puttin’ this lil deal together, I stumbled over the $25 Catch’em Caro Mr. Winters Lipless Crankbait on TW. Handmade wood (I think?) lipless, 4″ long and 2.25 oz. Who knew?

Would you fish it??
No idea how I tripped over this:

 

> Designed by a top water lure expert with over 35 years of experience, the 22-Five is the GOLD standard in fishing & outdoors sports!

College bassin’ action figure?
Lookit this pic real quick:
Kinda random but…see it??
News

 

Like most of us it started because of a cute gal, then some other dude was after her and then it was ON man! Okay not really — here’s MDJ learnin’ on the Cali Delta:

 

> …Wayne Antoine. What he would do was ease his boat into the mats and then wait 5 or 10 minutes to let the area settle down. Then he would stick his rod tip and bait down into the mat and release the thumb bar on his reel to lower his bait. Then he’d shake the rod and you would get some of the hardest thumps you had ever felt.

 

> Wayne was the one who showed it to me, but he would never take credit for it. He had seen Delta legend Bobby Barrack doing this….

 

Makes sense but waiting 5 or 10 minutes sounds like torture — and I’d like to see MDJ do that in the MLF format lol!

 

2. Alton Jones Jr gets Geecrack.

 

Believe it’s the first pro this Japanese company has ever sponsored? They don’t have many baits on TW but what they do have is good.

 

Can we say that Al Jr is ON Geecrack?

 

3. Russ Lane likes to punish spotted bass.

 

I can hear him going “bwahahahahaaaaaaa:”

Lol from a Bassin’Fan post ^ on how Russ fishes seawalls in the winter.

 

4. Mark Menendez says sometimes speed up when it’s cold.

 

Crankin’ and teeth-chatterin’. Sounds like his back is doin’ a lot better.

 

5. Does Randall Tharp have enough crankbaits??

I was like, “Can I get one of those man?” And he was all: “No.”

 

6. Jesse Wiggins likes glass because it helps the fish??

 

Sorta: 

 

> “For baits with open hooks or trebles, glass gives the fish a little bit of leverage, and you want that.”

 

Says he not only uses glass for cranks and chatters, he also uses ’em for spinnerbaits. He likes the St Croix Legend Glass rods.

 

7. Michael Neal outed a must-have frowg.

 

Love it — if anyone finds ’em pls lmk:

 

2020 Ranger 521L with new (zero hours) 2021 Mercury Pro XS 250, all Garmin incljuding Force and LiveScope.

 

9. Who did FLWer Spencer Shuffield see on Cumberland?

 

Can’t tell if it’s KVD or Andy Morgan, but the way it ran out to defend that spot I’m thinkin’ Kevin (heehee!):

 

11. Chris Lane’s son Cal will fish the FLWs next year.

 

12. Win some fish time with Zona (contest).

 

It says “Mark Zona” but it means Zona.

 

13. Chuck Yeager was at a Bassmaster Classic??

 

Sounds like about 30 years ago, so not sure exactly which one but:

 

> He was there as a representative of a boat battery manufacturing company.

 

What a fearless man he was. You probly heard he recently passed on.

 

14. OK: Multiple bass rule changes proposed.

 

See ’em here (pdf), kind of harda navigate. State looking for comments.

 

15. VA: Fishermen want new James River ramp in Enon.

 

Because the Dutch Gap ramp is closed for at least 15 years and maybe for good.

 

16. ND takes a percentage of tourney entry fees??

 

Didn’t know this — any other states do it?

 

> Since 1984 10% of fishing tournament entry fees has been required to be dedicated to a conservation project, such as boat ramps or docks, up to a maximum of $5,000. However, an administrative rule change enacted recently by Game and Fish removed the $5,000 cap….

 

> While the rule change will not affect most…it will have a big impact on national-type events that provide thousands of dollars of economic impact to host sites. The news has already caused one national circuit to pull a scheduled tournament out of North Dakota.

 

Fish chief Greg Power said:

 

> “It’s an issue of balance and fairness.”

 

4 camera angles.

 

> …4 720p underwater lenses into a single all-seeing camera module…view 4 directions at once — forward, backward, left and right — leaving no fish unseen….

 

I’m embarrassed to say I have an AquaVu unit and always forget it’s in my boat, which might be one reason Jeff Gustafson uses a mount. I’m thinking about doing it….

 

My neighbor bought one and loves it.

 

18. Gammy has 2 new hooks for making jigs.

 

60- and 90-degree hook eye bends.

 

19. Moody’s raised Pure Fishing’s financial rating.

 

All good but Moody’s got this wrong in my 2c:

 

> …a prolonged period of high unemployment or weak economic conditions will negatively impact its operating results.

 

But then they said:

 

> …demand for its products has been very strong year-to-date as consumers are spending more on outdoor activities…because of the Coronavirus…. 

 

In a past life I got to see what supposed category experts on Wall St actually knew. Fwiw they wouldn’t do the work to find out real info, and didn’t want to say anything that wasn’t positive. Not saying that’s the case here, just fyi mang!

 

20. Coasties released 2018 boating survey results.

 

Skimmed it fast, not sure how much sense it made (to me) like:

Okay but then:

 

> Contrary to what has sometimes been assumed, boats in southern states are not, in general, operated more days, on average, than boats in northern states.

 

How ’bout this doozie — maybe I’m missing something? — about risk analysis:

 

> In the case of recreational boating, the exposed population is the persons that go out on the water on recreational boats.

 

21. DC: Houses passes funding for anti-Asian carp project.

 

> …voted Tuesday to authorize the Brandon Road Lock & Dam project in IL as part of the final Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA)….

 

> …increases the federal portion of the estimated $778 mil project cost from 65% to 80%, a move that reduces the percentage that states would be asked to pay.

 

Dang that’s a lotta coin for just ONE pathway to keeping the carp out.

 

22. TN: Watch the Asian Carp Committee meeting on YT.

 

Here’s how many major bassin’ lakes are affected in just 1 state:

Little talk in there about measures that won’t be 90+% effective…not sure what good they’d do then cuz the carps are a plague?

 

23. TN spent $184 mil on state parks this year.

 

Sounds like a lot but maybe not?

 

> One of those projects included an $11.7 mil renovation at Pickwick Landing State Park, which would include 183 jobs…economic impact…is estimated at $28.1 mil….

 

24. AL: Mobile River Basin gradually being lost?

 

Talkin’ ’bout the wildlife diversity part:

 

> …nearly half of all extinctions in the continental United States since the 1800s have occurred among creatures that lived in the Mobile River Basin….

 

25. Here’s what Zebco is selling in Europe.

 

Kinda belly-boatish, might be a thing here for smaller waters with no gators?

 

@bassterdphotgraphy caught it — said it was 12″ x 14″ (not sure if more round than long) and 2.2 lbs:

On BassBlaster.rocks right now… 

 

Note: The TackleWarehouse links in this email are affiliate links, meaning if you go through them to make a purchase I might earn a commission…at no cost to you. Click here if you want to learn a little more about links in the BB.

Tip of the Day

 

From a Bassin’masters post back before Greg had a beard — written by Legend “the Louie” #Stout. Gonna start with my fave line from the deal:

 

> “When the fish are deeper, all you have to do is drag your jig in front of them and they’ll bite it.”

 

Well that’s all she wrote then, thanks a bunch Hack…lol! Some more:

 

> “Some of my best jig days have come from Dec through Feb and on cloudy, nasty days, especially when a front is passing. That’s when the fish tend to cling to the bottom during the winter. They often suspend when it’s sunny that time of year….”

 

> …water doesn’t have to be deep, but he prefers fishing where there is a steep, deep drop nearby. “It can be a creek channel or a bluff bank. The key is that the fish have easy access to move up and down….”Hackney likes to sit over deep water and pitch to the shallow side.

 

> …throws black/blue [3/8-1/2 oz] jigs almost exclusively during winter because: “It’s a confidence thing, and I think dark colors work best when the fish are slowed down by the weather.”

 

> For trailers, he will use the Rage Craw when the water temp is 49-55 degrees…it helps slow the fall of the jig. When the water is colder, he opts for a [chunk] which has less action.

 

> “Work every piece of cover thoroughly. The bigger fish have seen a lot of lures, so they are reluctant to jump on the first thing that comes by.”

 

So it’s not just draggin’ your jig by ’em?? Lol good stuff from the ol’ Hack Attack!

Quote of the Day
“…put God first, then your family and then fishing.”

 

– 2020 Elite rookie Destin DeMarion talkin’ truth! That post also has some “maybe don’t risk it all” advice for up ‘n comin’ fishermen. Also said:

 

> Earning a spot in the Elite Series is just the beginning. Don’t rest on your laurels because the sponsor game is just as competitive, and it is as important as catching bass is in this era.

 

I’ve said over the years and still feel it’s true — if you wanna be a pro:

 

1. Winning is the most important thing. Period. Win at whatever level you compete.

2. Now generating/posting your own media is real important. Don’t be bad at it!

3. Both of those will get you sponsor interest but those relationships have to be invested in, just like all relationships.

 

Probly obvious, just my 2c from being in this world a while.

 

Even though Destin is serious in that post, he’s a funny dude!

Shot of the Day
Zaldaingerous “Chris” Zaldain got a real nice 2-spot…on a Megabass Vision 110+2 (which does not = 112):
Ya got me!
Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best and funniest (sometimes worst) stuff in bassin’, picked by me — Jay Kumar. I started BassFan.com, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a bunch more in bassin’. The Blaster is the #2 daily read on any given day in the wide world o’ bass so thanks for readin’!

 

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