It's better to be lucky than good
" Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he joins the HFFA and goes fishing "
then he buys a boat, gets an electric trolling motor, a trailer, a truck to pull his boat, fishing rods and reels, buys some crankbaits,
spinnerbaits, worms, jigs, then more rods and reels, more crankbaits, more spinnerbaits, more worms and more jigs and then a tackle bag, storage boxes, hats, sunglasses,
Misc tips
4 cool tips you aren't throwing
how to fish (lipless) a lipless crankbait - the rat-l-trap in different colors aka a vibrating lure
when & where to use a crankbait
These guys are a custom bait from Jaks Custom Baits
Reaction Innovations Little dipper is almost identical but is 3.5 inches to the 3.25 Jaks. I have only a slight preference to the Jaks baits but they don't last as long as the little dippers and they take longer to get. On both baits I supper glue the head to the jig head and they will last quite a bit longer.
They work best on an 1/8th oz darter head jig, I get the jig heads from Jaks Custom Baits as well but bass pro makes a decent 1/8th darter and so does Big Bite Baits (I think they use a 4/0 hook that I prefer but they are painted black which I don't). Another jig head that works well are are the strike king jig heads. Occasionally I will fish em on a heavier jig head to get extra distance but the 1/8th oz definitely gives the bait a better action. Big Bite Baits also makes a 3.5 inch cane thumper which actually seems to get more bites but they will only last 1 to 2 fish max before they are torn up too bad. The cane thumpers have a smaller profile than the Little Dipper and the Jaks Swimbait, and is probably more similar to the shad at Wilson, but I seem not to catch the same quality of fish on em.
Fish them on 6 or 8lb mono or flouro, I generally will use mono because I don't trust flourocarbon that is less than 10lbs but will use 8lb flouro in really clear water. You can also use 14 or 20lb braid and add a 3 or 4 ft leader I like to do this when I'm fishing them on a spinning rod more than on a casting rod. Fish em fast, fish em slow, it really doesn't matter, I always start out fast though and cover lots of water but I would probably fish them a little slower at Wilson since there isn't as much water to cover. They are probably at their best when fish are chasing bait or suspended which is why your post made me think of them. For nearly the past three months this is almost all I've thrown! Only bad thing about them is when rigged on a darter head they don't come through brush very well. On the strike king jig head they are a little better. Back before the bass started moving into the backs of the creeks here they were staging on the main lake and secondary points to the major creeks often times they were suspending/sitting 20 to 30ft deep and were coming up to smash them as i burned them at about 3ft beneath the surface.
12/8/12 8 slats showing at launch, was 2 last week. At boyscout"peninsula" the 60ft marker is just popping out of the water. but the fishing was good caught 2 on top waters right of the bat, oddly nuff both right up against a mud bank with no cover. then got on a school of bass staging below suspended shad and tore em up with a drop shot. caught 7 in 20 min. pays to read that graph when running! got slammed on spinnerbaits along some laydowns and finally got a nice 2lb tuc on a crankbait after he wrapped me in trees and pulled the rear treble out of the bait. got 15 bass and one tuc nothing big but several in the 2-3 lb class and a bunch of the 1.8lb variety. seems most of my patterns that have been producing for me lately have been after suspended fish, guess the dropping water is keeping em offshore. get it while you can though wont be long till its unlaunchable for trailers. oh ya on an intresting fish story note, that school of bass i found that i was drop shotting.
12/8/12 I noticed some tucs going airborne at Kemoo Island. Used some Mepps spinners and Panther Martins and buzzed them along the surface. We ended up catching 5 tucs out of the area, nothing grand, the biggest just shy of 2 pounds. Switched over to Shad Raps to see if we could pick up any suspending fish but no luck there. Continued on further north and some activity caught my eye along the mud bank. Peacocks were feeding right along the bank. Started out with the in-line spinners. (The in-line spinners are easier for the nephews to cast and see the fish strike). Had to change everyone over to crankbaits. That change did it. Picked up another 5 from right along the bare exposed bank. Off the 5, the largest went 5 pounds 1 ounce, the other 4 in the 2 to 3 pound range. After the bite, I beached us to explore the area to see what drew the peacocks right along the shoreline. The only thing I could see was the school of baby tilapia cruising back and forth tight along the shore.
Texas vs Carolina
I use braided wire almost exclusively and is my preference. I will use mono in clearer water as well as open water. In the heavy stuff I go braid. I use primarily use between a 1/8 to 5/16 oz bullet weigh. If starting out I would recommend a 1/4 oz to start. The rule of thumb is the lighter the weight the better cause it allows the bait to travel through the bite zone at a slower rate. You will want to increase your weight primarily on wind conditions... you want to be able to feel your bait to detect a strike. Wind blowing your line makes it hard to detect when you get a strike. If calm go lighter. Tungsten weights work best because they are more compact than lead weights. Starting out I would recommend the lead weights becuase they are cheaper but as you gain confidence then upgrade to tungsten.
The Texas rig is easier to master than the carolina rig. I fish the texas rig when I fish hard wood and grass. I fish the carolina when fishing points, ledges that does have a lot of debris and in a open deeper water. Once you get the feel for both rigs then you use them in any structure type environment. I caught most of my fish in TOC with a texas rig as did Tom and Chris. I used a 5/16 oz slip sinker the whole time with a 9" zoom ribbon tail worm in green pumkin. Tom used a 4" lime green french fry worm and Chris was using a 4" green pumkin rattlesnake ribbed worm (kinda like a senko style).
I fish both through out the day.
Texas rig: I have 2 rods rigged both 6.6' medium heavy. One with 40 lb. braided line which I use a 1/4 or 3/8 oz bullet weight. The other I use 12 -14 lb mono and use a 5/16 bullet weight. In open water I use the slip weight system. In heavy cover (lay downs) I use a pegged or screw type bullet weight. I fish 6-8" Zoom ribbon tail worms in either green pumpkin or junebug-red with a 1/0, 2/0/ or 3/0 depending on the size of worm I use. Generally with a 6", I use a 1/0 or 2/0 straight shank hook. I also use a craw from time to time especially on points or areas that have rocks or boulders.
Carolina rig: I have a 7 foot medium-heavy rod with 30 lb. braided line which I tie a 2 foot 14 lb. fluorocarbon leader. I use a 1 oz. egg shape weight a pink/red bead, swivel on the braided line then add the leader with a size 2/0 or 3/0 straight shank hook to the swivel. I primarily use 6-8" lizards or small craws 3-4 " on it. Same color as the worms.
I also use rattles when the water has a tint to it, scent and chartreuse spike-it on about 2" inches of the worm tail. These increase the chance for the bait to attract a strike.
I fish the carolina rig faster than most cause I want to cover as much water as I can. I don't raise and lower the rod tip but drag it to the side. The bite can be rapid taps or just a heavy weight. You just have to get use to it. When I detect a strike...I cross their eyeballs with the hook set. Got to get the fish heading towards you as fast as you can.
I fish the Texas rig a little slower but I use the side drag versus the raise and lower rod tip like most. This technique works best at Lake Wilson in my opinion. Watch your line from the time it hits the water. Movement to the side or a quick twitch indicates a fish has taken your bait and is swimming with it. It does take practice but believe it or not this system is easier that any other type of lure fishing. The reason I move it a little faster than I would in the mainland is the fish are competing for bait and they will take it if falls in front of them. No shaking or popping is required just work it steadily through the water letting it fall to the bottom before moving it again. When you come over cover let the bait fall till you get slack line. You can feel it when it gets to a tree limb at that point you have to raise the tip to get it to come over it but go back to the side pull once you clear it. Lake Wilson has deep drop offs just a few feet from the bank thus the reason for the heavier weights there. If it was shallower I would go with lighter weighs. Don't be afraid to go big with soft plastics. Everyone thinks small 2-4" sizes are best and at times that may be the case but if it is I just take off a couple inches and press on.
I fish soft plastics 95% of my time. No big ones but you will get you limit if you stay with it all day. The other 5% I use spinner baits, top water and /or rattle traps.
Hope this helps. It will take some time but once you get the hang of it you will start culling in no time!
I agree that you shoukd limit the number of rods/rigs. I have caught TUCs but only on a spinner bait. I always say fish your strenghts and what you have confidence in. I would definitely stay with the
1) jig & trailer rig
1) Texas rig setup with slip sinker for use with worms/craws/lizards,
1) Spinnerbait/chatter bait rig, ( Use 1/8 - 1/4 oz spinner and chatter baits and small swim baits, senko's, flukes and spoons on same rig )
1) crank bait rod
You can change the Texas rig to a carolina setup fairly easy but I would master the Texas rig before going carolina at Lake Wilson. I fish a jig just about anywhere I would fish a worm/craw or lizard rig. I would use a spinning rod for spinner bait and chatter bait use and if you get into schooling bass you can tie on a swim bait if needed. Crank bait rod would be my least used but always good to have one with you. Again fish the setup that got you to the dance. Practice the texas rig as much as possible before the TOC. Have a game plan and stay with it...keep in mind the fishing will be slow at times and just stay the course... Key is to get limit then work on getting that one big bite each day.
Swim jigs: (Marcus tip)
For the first bass i threw out to a bust and just retrieved it with medium speed, no twitching or jerking. the next bass was caught with a stop and go action. and others were on jerking retrieves at slow speeds. i think one of the key points was a good trailer. i think you need something that will provide great action with the slightest movements. oh ya and one more thing, when i fished the swim jig i was out in the open and no structure was around so i trimmed the weed guard, that helped with the hookups a bit. when i fish my swim jigs i work it towards busts in open water. i strongly recommend using braid. i snapped a jig off with my 8 pound mono. more of a finesse game till fishing gets better. I use a medium retrieve. Add a few jerks in the rod tip as well. As for colors, I use green pumpkin and silver shad. 1/4 ounce strike king swim jig. I get the heavy cover jigs and trim the weed guard. I like the heavy cover ones because the hooks are stronger than the regular ones.
Crankbaits:
Pretty soon it will be time to start throwing crankbaits and spinnerbaits at Wilson again. Once the bass start getting into shad mode you will probably get better numbers on spinnerbaits and cranks. Bass start loading up getting ready for winter and the shad usually start moving into shallow water into creeks and the bass follow. I've noticed in the fall at Wilson I've seen the shad start moving up to the north fork. Once I went all the way up and they huge schools right at the mouth of the stream.
In the fall the shad move into more shallow water and the bass follow. I can't remember why at the moment. I do know that shad are not cold tolerant so that probably plays a role. And I believe they usually spawn a couple weeks after the large mouth in the spring (winter in Hawaii).
Crankbaits work pretty good all year round but sometimes in the summers you can be on a really good crankbait bite for a couple of days then it will just stop, usually it's because the fish moved deeper. Although there are crankbaits that get down deep I've noticed that they don't have very good action and they also are really large. Those KVD 1.5 and 2.5 crankbaits are hands down the best crankbaits I've used. I bet the 1.5 in the sexy shad, gizzard shad and black and chartreuse, even the red ones for the tucs would do some damage at Wilson. They only dive to about 6 ft but I guarantee they would do some damage in the wood laydowns at Wilson. And they do go through wood really well.
I'm glad you gave the KVD crankbaits a try, they are one of my favorite baits! Were you using the 1.5 or the 2.5? One thing that will increase your hookup ratio with crankbaits is getting a actual crankbait rod. Allstar makes a nice one for less than 100 bucks. The 7'2" is model is a good all around crankbait rod as you can throw the shallow and the extra deep diving cranks on it. I actually have 3 crankbait rods. The allstar I was just talking about, a gloomis deep flex crankbait rod which I really only like for lipless cranks, and a jerkbait/shallow crankbait allstar ASR. Having a crankbait specific rod does a few things for you. Because they are softer and have a slow action the hooks are less likely to pull out when the fish pulls hard. Second they soft action lets the bass get the bait deeper in it's mouth so you get better hookups. The down side is you don't have as much sensitivity but you don't really need it with crankbaits.
I actually don't set the hook all that hard (well not as hard as I do with a worm or jig) with a crankbait but I make sure I have really sharp hooks. I do a kinda long sweeping sideways pull and I reel as fast as possible which helps drive the hooks in as well. if you can, try to get the fish up on the surface and ski him, in depending on fish size and what lb line I'm using I might just lift the fish into the boat. The less time the fish in in the water the better you chances of landing him are. Also always have my net out and accessible while fishing a tournament.
Using a 1/8oz darter head jig or a 1/8oz strike king shakey head & other tips
My bread and butter was about a 6'6" medium fast spinning rod with 14lb braid and about a 3 ft of 6 to 8lb mono or flouro leader. The small little jerkbiats where great for getting bites and the braid really helped cast farther. Check out the big bite bates 3.5 cane thumper swimbait or the reaction innovations little dipper. I also bet a 4 inche slider grub would tear them up! But rig it on a 1/8oz darter head jig or a 1/8oz strike king shakey head(not as goot as a darterhead just easier to come by)..just gotta rig them as straight as possible. The slider grub and big bite baits 3.5 cane thumper can be burned back in but the reaction innovations little dipper is best worked dead slow. I wish i had known about these baits when i was in hawaii...cuz it would have killed the tucs and bass there! Plus its something i guarantee they are not seeing. Which may be important from all the pressure it seems to be getting now. You would be able to cast these baits much further than a little stick bait. They're not great of fish tight to cover but you can burn them over the tops of laydowns and stickups and get bites.
You can fish them just about anyway you want. Ive been fishing them in open water for schooling fish and also around points and structure like drops and humps also around brush piles. The main drawback with the darterhead is they dont go through the middle of cover very well. But you can burn them over the top of cover and draw reaction strikes...i like to call it finesse power fishing. Its possibly one of the most natural presentations i have found. But its really versatile as well.
Those yozuri pin minnow will catch em but the hooks are horrible and ive had many tucs straighten them out. The rapalas have much better hooks and i didnt lose as many fish on them. One of the things ive really learned over the past year is if you want to win tournaments or place well on a regular basis you usually have to do two things. 1. Fish to win, and by that i mean dont worry about getting a lot of bites but focus on the bigger bites. You can achieve this i think in two ways. First you have to fish baits that regularly draw the bigger fish topwater, spinnerbaits and cranks. 2. Find something different than everyone else is fishing. Just because everyone is catching fish a certain way doesn't mean its the best way. Everyone there is so caught up with schoolers and small baits.
Topwaters i think are underfished at wilson. Those big tucs will blow them up. But throw full size topwater baits. Like the sammy 100 or 110. Generally the water is pretty stained there and a larger bait is more visible since it creates more commotion. There are a few important things to remember about topwater fishing. Long casts are critical to catching fish. Wilson is great for this, you can parallel the banks and cover a lot of water. Depth is not all that important because topwater will draw strikes from deep fish too. Have to use heavy mono, probably a minimum of 14lb up to about 20lb line or use braid. I prefer mono because it will tangle in the bait far less often. Use a soft rod and there is really no need for a hook set like when you are fishing worms or jigs. I just kinda wait until i dont see the bait anymore or feel the fish then do a slow sweeping pull. I recommend always having a topwater rigged on and ready to fish at all times. Its not hard to learn how to walk the dog either. And the tucs i found generally preferred a faster cadence. Plus the largemouth will eat em too. They will eat them all year too but with everything there will always be a time it is best. I found on days where its more cloudy were good and also when the water was a bit more stained. A small little finesse bait will sometimes go unnoticed in stained water but a topwater/buzzbait/frog create a disturbance that will make noise and vibration.
When i go to a spinning rod its based on the type of bait im throwing or the cover im throwing too, and sometimes wind(mainly when im trying to use a lighter bait.). Ive never liked throwing a crank on a spinning rod. Usually i will only throw jerkbaits, dropshot small swimbaits or softjerkbaits on spinning rods. And i will opt for a spinning rod when im using lighter line sometimes. Whenever i can i will use a baitcaster since my casts a much more accurate, i can get cast farther with them most of the time. I also can get fish in faster with them and they also handle fluorocarbon and heavier line much better than a spinning reel does.
The bass assasin spinning reel combo is a good one, especially at wilson since its pretty easy to skip those baits under the laydowns with it. But ive found a i need a rod with a stiff backbone and a soft tip to get good hooksets with them. I also usually use a 4/0 or 5/0 hook and that seems to help my hook ups too. Make sure to use braid though...even 2lbers will break you off pretty quick with mono or flouro doing this. Kelton does this a lot. I found that generally the tucs 3lbs or more will be in those laydowns and not schooling. Keep your distance too as they will spook easily, i didnt always do a great job of this when i fished wilson, if i had i guarantee i would have caught more quality tucs. Looking back now, all the really big tucs i caught were a result of a long cast where i didn't spook the fish. Also if they are schooling the bigger fish will usually be down beneath the fish busting on the surface. I had a fish break off a dd22 on 15lb line when i threw it past a school of tucs and had it running about 15ft down....the one that got away! I wish i could go there right now and try this finesse swimbait presentation i have been fishing lately! I know it would kill em! Its the best bait ive found for targetting schoolers when they're not actually up on the surface!
Im telling you...get some 1/8th oz darterhead jigs or some 1/8th strike king shakeyheads...rig them just like you would a curly tail grub with a reaction innovations little dipper for fishing it slow and deeper and a slider 4 bass grub or a 3.5 inch big bite baits cane thumper when they want it fast!! ( 2 different setups for slow and fast ) They will kill it! I know it! get some 14 to 20lb braid and add about 3ft of 6lb mono for a leader. You should be able to cast this set up really far on a spinning rod.
Another thing you can do is use the same baits but rig them on a 2/0 or 3/0 extra wide gap lightwire hook with a 1/8th oz bullet weight. Peg the weight so it doesnt slip or get the florida rid bullet weights that screw into the nose of the bait and you could fish that on straight braid in the laydowns...it will skip too if that weight is pegged. Man i wish i knew about this when i was there!! All white and a shad color are probably the only colors you would need, but if you wanted another color too i'd go with a green or sexy shad color, sometimes depending on water clearity and light a silver shad will look more like the color of the water than silver. Their silver scales are mirror like and underwater they will blend in.
Here's other tips from HFFA club members and others on fishing Lake Wilson.
Spinnerbait tips:
First thing to look at: sky condition & water clarity, cloudy, rainy & windy conditions will cut down on
the light penetration
How to determine water clarity – if can see spinnerbait:
2 ft of water – clear water
18” or less – stain water
06” or less – muddy water
Clear water - sunny
silver blades, use willow blades - reel fast – match natural baits, use heavier spinnerbait w/ smaller blades
Stain water
Silver & gold blades, solid colors, use Colorado or Indiana blades, use bigger blades to slow spinnerbait down
chartreuse & white – stain color
Muddy water
Gold blades, If real muddy & cloudy – use chartreuse blades, chartreuse, green &/or red in dirty water
Other spinnerbait tips
use a trailer hook, cut skirt into a rounder presentation
fish areas like submerged grass, standing timber, isolated cover, single stick, off shore structure – drop down to bottom – rip up let drop again
never retrieve with steady – change every 5 ft – twitch, jerk, flutter, vary speed look for reaction strike
position boat – work into wind – cast to upside of wind – fish where wind is blowing
use terrain on lake, wind blowing across points, valley, shallow areas, summer & early fall – slow rolling technique
best time for spinnerbait- rain, wind & clouds
Say I'm fishing a plastic worm..drop shot or texas rig or a jig it doesn't matter and for whatever reason I wanna change to a different bait or different color. What I've been doing is make a cast with what I have on let it get to the bottom, put my rod down and let the bait just sit there while I get whatever I plan on using next ready to go. Sometimes the bass will prefer a bait that has little no no action. But I don't have the patience to do this if I have the rod in my hand.
What made me think of this was how many time that I have caught a fish after I get done picking out a backlash or when I set my rod down to help my son do something when I pick it back up I have a fish on. If I get bit like this it tells me I need to slow down and do less with my lures, something I have a hard time doing unless I know it's going to work.
It also negates the wasted time while you are switching techniques because at least you have a bait in the water.
Equipment
6 ½’ M action rod, short butt 17lb mono-green – high speed reel 6.3-7.1 ratio
Developing a pattern/when to change:
For me I kinda just get a feeling when I need to change. I'm extremely confident with drop-shotting or pretty much any worm fishing so if I'm not catching fish with these techniques I assume that I am either not fishing in the right area or I'm not getting my bait to the correct depth. I usually try to stay away from worming unless I know the fishing is going to be tough. Sometimes I choose to worm when fishing new bodies of water so I can eliminate areas faster. This works because I feel like if there are bass in the area I can get them to eat a worm and if I'm not getting bit I need to move.
When I'm using any sort of moving baits I always start fast. Then if that's not working I gradually start slowing down and adding pauses. This works with just about any type of moving presentation i.e. crankbait, spinnerbait, topwater etc. I will also adjust colors in addition to slowing down. But I view changing colors as a less important factor. So I will make a more drastic change say from a shad color to chartreuse color. Remember when you fished with me in the rain, when we got to that tree at the end of kincaids I started with a blue and white crank to fish it. I caught one or two and they were both barely hooked on the back treble (I think one even came off as well). Then I made a switch to to a identical model but in black back chartreuse and they started eating deeper and if I remember correctly I caught 4 or 5 more after making the switch.
Another way I eliminate certain techniques is to fish an area a few different ways. I used to do this a lot at kincaids. I would start with a spinnerbait, and work my way down with that. If that wasn't producing well, i'd usually work my way back with a crank or a jerkbait. While doing this I would also start fast and slow down until I figured out what speed they wanted it. There are sooo many variables in fishing that having your own constants helps you key in on the variations.
I think I've mentioned it before and it kinda goes along with what kelton said about "junk" fishing, is to work each sort of cover with the presentation that best fits the situation. I prefer to fish grass with only a few types of lures like a spinnerbait, jig, or softplastic. I also prefer to fish it by flipping/pitching or paralleling it with my spinnerbait So when I'm working my way down the bank and I encounter grass I will hit it with at least one of these techniques. I use the same idea when fishing brush/wood/laydown or rocks. I have certain approaches to each type of cover.
Another thing I do is start shallow and work deep. I will start off beating the bank concentrating on about the first 5 feet starting at the bank. I will give this a shot for about an hour or two and if it's not producing I will gradually start working my way deeper. If I don't get bit doing this (I usually will go to about 20 or 25ft) then it tells me the fish are likely suspended (which can be the most difficult situation in my opinion) or in another location. If they are suspended you can target them with all sorts of lures but you have to keep your bait in their strike zone which can be difficult with certain baits.
I think having a starting place is important to dialing in a pattern. It's a lot like a puzzle, you have to gradually figure out how it goes back together. So I use a process of elimination to do this. One thing I always keep in mind while figuring out the conditions are seasonal patterns. Keeping seasonal patterns in mind helps me select a bait that is likely to produce during that time. If I know bass are likely to be chasing bait fish, I'm not going to start off throwing a worm at the bank. I will likely fish some sort of hard bait or a spinnerbait. But it is possible that I may end up throwing a worm at the bank if my initial idea/approach isn't working.
Another thing to keep in mind in mind is you can catch a bass on just about any lure at anytime. If you look at the top 10 results from the bassmasters or FLW tournaments, they are usually not all doing the same thing. Mostly they've found an area and fished it with a presentation that suited that area or an area that suits the way they fish. Or they've found a certain type of structure that is holding fish then replicated that approach in different spots. I remember one of the HFFA tourneys where someone had caught a few good fish throwing a buzzbait. I think I had thrown a buzzbait for two hours and I didn't catch anything. Could have been I had the wrong color, was moving it too fast or slow or just in the wrong place at the wrong time. While he was throwing a buzzbait I was still able to catch fish with a crank and spinnerbait, which goes to show that there isn't always a specific lure that is going to be better than another.
Basically I guess I'm trying to say is mix it up until you get something going, but do it in an organized manner (I like to start with my strengths and confidence areas because I feel that if I didn't catch fish with it I can eliminate that area or depth with more certainty). Once you get onto some fish don't to be afraid to continue to tweak you presentation. I think the little tweaks made to a presentation are what make the biggest difference. Here is an example of this. I was onto some fish at condo cliffs texas rigging a 6 inch finesse worm on a 1/8 oz sinker, but most were smaller fish. Rather than leaving the spot to find bigger fish, I switched to a sweet beaver (creature bait) on a 1/4 oz sinker and started catching better quality fish. Formulate some sort of elimination process. It doesn't need to be the same as mine but its a good way to keep what you've tried and haven't tried in order. Funny thing for me about this is I didn't come up with this approach fishing, I have to do this at work to do my job, and one day it clicked in my head to apply it to fishing and it's really helped.
Deep structure sites
The places with the deeper structure are the rocky area at the miki cove, mikimiki point has a really nice drop off but I think that A LOT of boats drive right over it and mess it up for fishing. I REALLY love condo cliffs, once you get to the rocky section about 100yds before the point. It is a really steep drop off and there is a lot of wood down there. I’ve caught fish as deep as 30ft in that area. It’s even really good on the other side until you get to about where Kemoo island. Once it starts getting shallower/less of a inclined bank it seems like tucs hang around there more. Oh and also that point at condo cliffs. I’ve caught quite a few there worming and throwing a crankbait.
Another good spot is the submerged point by the dam between Kemoo Island and the shore...I’m sure you've seen you know who fishing there a lot. I've caught a few in deeper water off of BBP but I think that place is really only good when there is bait in the area. Then Morgan’s point has a pretty awesome drop off. Down past the tree at Kincaid’s has some nice deeper cover. The thing I’ve noticed with deep structure fishing is you have to fish it pretty thoroughly but also not waste your time. Those kind of spots aren’t always holding fish. But when you find one that is you can usually get 5 or 6 fish off of them. Oh and I almost forgot the two points by BSI. Caught quite a few bass there worming and jigging in 10 to 15 ft of water.
Starting a pattern:
A lot of my method for figuring out what will catch fish is trial and error. I always start with a plan that is based off of traditional seasonal patterns but if my initial plan fails I resort to trial and error and the process of elimination. In the hot summer month’s bass will either be really shallow or deep. They generally are shallow when visibility is poor and tend to be deeper in clearer water. I also am always looking/observing for bass chasing bait. If there are fish chasing bait I will usually go with a shad/baitfish presentation. If I don't see signs of fish actively feeding I will usually throw worms and jigs as you can entice fish to eat due to their opportunistic (sp) nature. Also if there is little to no clouds it's likely that the fish will be deep or shallow in heavy cover that has shade. If they are up in the sticks jigs and creature baits flipped into the nooks and crannies works well. One thing I recently noticed was fishing the same areas with two different techniques can almost double the amount of fish caught from that area. A few weeks back I was fishing kvd squarebills in this area with a lot of sticks ups, with the kvd baits I was able to fish the areas edges and keep my boat away so I didn't spook the fish. Once I picked off the fish that were on the outer edged of the cover I went back and flipped the area with soft plastics and was able to catch about 5 more fish that I could cast to with a crankbait. If I had started flipping I would have more than likely spooked the fish on the edges of the cover.
Worms:
I wish I could physically show you how I work a plastic worm and how I set the hook, it would be SOOO much easier to explain. Being able to detect the bites and feel the structure is something that comes from practice and experience. I think the first year I started fishing for bass only I used a plastic worm about 85% of the time the only other lures I used were topwaters and softplastic jerkbaits! One thing I noticed on my last outing was I had way more feel with my worm using 10lb line than 6lb line, the six pound line was light and stretchy I couldn't feel anything, but anything over 12lb line will probably cost you sensitivity(not counting braid).
Jigs:
The January tournament I won I caught all those fish on jigs, even the tuc! The best jigs I found as far as weedlessness goes at Wilson was a asukara(sp) jigs and the booyah pigskin jigs those both come through the sticks really well but the asukara is a little better. One thing I didn't realize about jigs when I first started using them was they don't come out of the package ready to fish. The brush guards usually need to be trimmed as well as the skirt. I also spread the brush guard out so It's even more weedless...that is probably the most important thing. Another cool little tip is to super glue your trailer on, it really helps keep it from sliding down the hook. Getting out and fishing more than just the tournaments should really help a lot. I would always try to get out and fish at least once the week before the HFFA tourneys.
Suggested Tournament strategy Start:
I would recommend starting with the crankbait early, usually fish are more aggressive early and slow down later on. Then go to the jig when the bit normally slows, hopefully you can get your limit early and get a kicker on a jig later on. That's normally a good strategy but it's not %100. Sometimes there are schooling fish and I will have a crankbait rod already rigged up, that way when the fish aren't busting and go back down I can pick off a few more fish instead of just casting a surface lure aimlessly while the fish are deep regrouping.
In the winter there are a coupe techniques that work well. One is slow down A LOT and use small worms. Two, you can go super fast and try to get reaction bites and Three is jigging spoons or similar baits or even drop shots. This works because as the water get colder the shad start to die off and they bass will hang out under the schools of shad just waiting for they to die. The spoons look like a dying shad fluttering down to the bottom.
Fishing Big:
Going back if I was to re-fish all the HFFA tournaments I would not focus on getting a limit every tournament but I would focus on getting quality bites. Essentially I would fish big for the whole day. I'm saying this mainly because you only can weigh 3 fish. So say you fish big any you weigh in only 2 fish well, those two fish are probably going to be 3lbs or more. I would concentrate on a limit first then fish big too.
When I say fish big I'm not talking about throwing a 8 inch swimbait all day(but if you have a quality bag it may be something to consider
what I mean is instead of throwing a finesse worm throw a 10inch worm or a full size senko or while jig fishing use a full size trailer with a lot of bulk. Or instead of throwing a KVD 1.5 throw the 2.5 or use a big spinnerbait with big blades. One thing that I had decent succes doing was when I found a schoool of busting tucs I would throw a topwater or concentrate on the actual surface bust, rather I would throw a crankbait that ran about 10 or 12 ft and get the bigger fish that tend to hang out below the surface action waiting for an easy meal(injured/dying shad) to get to their level. Another thing that also produced bigger fish while they were busting was to use a spinnerbait. The 3lb plus fish seemed to be more willing to chase a spinnerbait than they were to chase a small kastmaster or jerkbait.. all of my largest tucs were caught on biggerbait. Caught one that was around 7lbs on a crankbait. Caught one that was an easy five on a 5 inch jerkbait and a few more
fives on spinnerbaits. Also caught some nice fish on frogs but the conditions have to be right for that. Usually right after the water rises I did well with frogs for bass. But anytime the water was warm it was good for tucs as well, especially if you could get them to run right next to a log parallel them so they are touching the side. Also I
caught some nice tucs with big topwaters that had a prop on the back. Right now ( January ) is the best time to catch big largemouths on jigs and creaturebaits at Wilson, Senkos should also be a good choice. I try to focus on fish that are holding a bit deeper. Probably somehwere between 5 and 20 ft. If I remember correctly this is about the time kincaids starting picking up and the condo cliffs area started to slow a little. Also the cove across from condo cliffs started to pick up. Of course these areas may not be as good as they were last year for whatever reason. But they were good for me last year anyways.
Tournament preparation:
In the past some of us left our boats at the caretakers house, some left it at the hatchery, but I store my boat at Wheeler AFB. Try to bring the most gear you can. Don't fish bare banks unless you know there's cover under it, fish visible cover like logs, branches and edge of grass lines. Don't stay in one spot to long not unless you caught one there, even if you catch one, most times its the only fish there so move along to next spot, the key is to find aggressive fish. The most important part of the tournament will not be on the water, it will be your preparation prior to it. Rig your rods and so forth two days before the tournament, and check everything, and perform mental images of what and when on your approach during the tournament. Preparation is the key to success, just like in every day life. That way you don't have to think about that part of it a day before the tournament. Your mind will be a lot more clearer. And make sure you get a good nights sleep, sleep early. Its difficult to make sound decisions when your tired, so sleep well. And drink lots of water the night before.
TOC tournament strategy:
Since you're gonna fish from your boat with no outboard I would suggest maybe having two batteries. Since you're not gonna be able to cover water quickly I think hitting the area just past the bridge is a good idea and just fish your way down. I've caught large mouth and and tucs on both sides of that stretch...actually had a largemouth about 6lbs jump at the boat and come off right in that area. I was flipping a sweet beaver. I think there is a little cove there as well that I have caught tucs and lgm from. I would also hit those two big point that are straight ahead of those areas as there are both productive as well as the grassy cove I think area might be called cows point or something (I hit that spot a lot when I'm not getting anything going on the main lake). And I do think that area gets less pressure.
I don't think fish will move because of fishing pressure but I do think that fish in areas less pressured are more likely to bite. One of the things I've learned about wilson is so much of the cover and areas are so similar that fish are often all over the place and it was normal to have multiple patterns going. Usually the areas with bait are gonna be most productive. My favorite areas are condo cliffs then kincaids..but those areas are likely to have been pressured by the time you get there. Last year from about Nov to February my largest fish were coming from condo cliffs. Then once that slowed down kincaids was the hot spot.
As far as a two day strategy I would try to find a secondary spot or two to concentrate on if your plan "A" falls apart. And always be ready to adapt. If what you were catching fish on before stops working why not try something else for a 20 or 30 minutes. One thing I did a lot at wilson was fish areas a certain way. Fish the certain types of structure with certain lures that are most effective for that cover. Like areas with steep drops and deeper water I would fish with worms and jigs. Areas with grass I would fish with spinnerbaits and flipping baits. Areas with large wood I would fish with cranks and jerkbaits and areas with thinner wood I fish with spinnerbaits. Soft jerkbaits are pretty much good for all structure I've found. With that being said...sometimes if a certain bait was working particularly well I would fish all the cover with that if possible. Hope this helps!
Swimbaits
I haven't used swim jigs much but I would imagine you might be able to get a few reaction bites with em at wilson...I would use one that kinda has an orange color to it or one like a bluegill. I can really only think of a few applications for wilson for em. My first thought would be to cast em way up inside the laydowns and burn em out kinda like a frog then once you get to the edge kill it and let it fall and if you could bump some logs on the way out that would be a plus. Second thought is kinda the same idea but i'd try to make cast paralel to the banks still bumping logs and killing it on occasion to see if that draws strikes, I would experiment with depth a little more with this retrieve and you might find a heavier jig more productive because it should allow you to burn it faster and keep it down. The other thing I might try would be to to all the same techniques but target the grass. I don't know how effective this technique could be but I would guess these would be the best way to start. I'm not sure there is enough of the right type of cover for swim jigs at wilson. From what I've seen swim jigs seem best in stick ups and emergant vegetation and wilson doesn't have either of those. But you never know until you try. I have caught a tuc on a jig before, I was flipping it to trees and jigging it up and down but not letting it go to the bottom kinda making it hover like it was a bluegill hanging out near the limbs. My guess is it could probably be used much like a spinnerbait but would be more subtle since it doesn't have all the flash. Probably would generate fewer bites but I'm guessing better quality bites. One thing I do when I'm fishing tournaments is say I catch a limit with a 6 inch finesse worm. Once I have a limit and need to upgrade I will throw a senko, work the same way but because it's a bigger bulkier bait they generally produce better quality fish. You could do the same thing with a jig. Once you get a limit put a larger trailer on. Since you've been having pretty good success with a jig this might be the best thing for you to try without getting away from what you've been successful with. Those rage tail craws are a good swimjig trailers too. I caught a few bass in texas, burning them back to the boat with the rage craws. Another thing is you can use a regular flipping jig as a swim jig too.
Stuff people use on the lake:
TUCS:
EWG 5/0 Unweighted. If you want to get your fluke down in the water a swivel works well you can vary the size of your swivel or you can add solder or those weight strips to your swivel. You might catch some barracudas on flukes down there.
Oh one other thing I forgot to mention about the flukes/softjerkbait is you really have to give them a chance to eat it before you set the hook. It's almost better to not watch your lure while you are working it. You want to feel them before you set just like a topwater bait.
The regular flukes size flukes are the best I think they are 5 inches, sometimes the fluke jr's are better just depends on the day. As far as color their pearl white is a good color. Sometimes their grey/shad color is best. Color is probably less important than the actual action you put on it and the cast placement. It's really a reaction so white is good so they can see it well. I've caught em with pretty much an soft jerkbait from slugos to bass assasins berkley jerk shads senkos rigged the same way. My favorite soft jerkbaits lately have been the strike king caffine shad. The have a better action when you kiill them the tail keeps wiggiling because of its shape. They don't hold up as well as the flukes though and they don't don't have as good of colors either but they do have a pearl white that would kill em at wilson. The have a 4.5 incher and a 6. The 6 has a better action but sometimes fish will just prefer a smaller bait.
I'm pretty sure he uses a spinning rod. I would also use a spinning rod with them so you can skip the bait under the limbs that overhang. Spool up with 10 or 15lbs braid and you may need to add a flouro leader of at least 12lbs. I would sometimes use a 20lb flouro leader but It took a long time to get the 20lb flouro and the thin braid spliced. Most of the time you don't even need the leader but on occasions the tucs would not commit and putting a leader on usually was the trick. A skip cast with a spinning rod and a fluke is actually pretty easy. I use a dropper loop knot to splice but most people use an albright knot.
When you're working them you want to snap your rod down and away fro your bait but you need to have a little slack in your line. I usually start with a cadence of snap snap pause snap pause then start over. the two snaps are really fast in quick succesion and I vary my pause time based on how the fish want it. Also you are reeling up the excess slight in your line while you are pausing. You don't want to "over work" your bait and by that I mean be dragging it.
You also want to snap the rod down in the direction that the handel of your reel is on so I have to move my body depending on which side of the boat I'm fishing out of and which direction I'm casting.
My standard snap snap pause is what I start with, sometimes they want something else like a snap pause snap snap pause it's not a science just kinda have fun with it..I've even done it to the rythym of a song I have stuck in my head. Jsut pay attention to what your were doing when the a fish eats. I do this with all techniques I usually try to "regroup" before I make my next cast after unhooking the fish. I take a mental note of how deep the fish was what type of structure he came off of, was it a sunny or shady spot, how the wind was affecting the area he bit. Pretty much anything that could possibly be a factor.
I know exactly what he uses to catch the tucs most of the time, he uses a zoom fluke rigged on a 5/0 ewg hook. That's not really the key though(well the 5/0 hook is) they keys is to cast it up as tight to the cover as you can and work it really fast. I used to do the same thing he did but I would use a hard jerkbait because I hooked more firsh...if I had been using a 5/0 like he does I probably would have hooked more as well. You do have to work it really fast and don't slow down if a tuc charges it because if you do 9/10 the will not eat it. One thing that I used to do a lot and it drove the tucs crazy was get the 3inch rapala jerkbaits cover them in fish attractant, cast to tucs I could see twitch it a few times and let it sit the suspended. they would come up to it sometimes try to push it away with water from their mouth..then all of the sudden I would twitch it as fast as I could and they would hammer it!
One thing that really is key for the jerkbaits is to cast over or right along the logs...I could make a cast to the same area multiple times but it wasn't until it hit the log the right way until I got bit. It took me about a year to really start dialing this it. One thing that is also key is you have to know exactly where your're going to cast before you make the cast. Blind casting to the laydowns will get you some fish here and there but if you want to catch em more regularly you need to make presice cast.
Hope this help...I'll draw up a little picture for you and email it so you get a visual picture of what I'm trying to explain
1/8 oz gold kastmasters
2 inch white senko
rat-l-traps 1/4 oz
I think when the water is warm tucs are much easier to catch, this type of year is the best too in my opinion my best lures were the small rapalas, the 2 inch to the 4 inch size. The small xraps would really well. The white (kinda translucent) was usually the best color but sometimes they would prefer the ones with the black back and gold sides/bottom or silver sides and bottom. Occassionally they would prefer the "rainbow trout" color and the fire tiger. But I almost always started with white. I would use a 5 1/2 ft and a 6ft spinning rod with 10lb braid and I would splice a about a 4ft leader of 10lb mono or flouro to the end. The braid casts the light lures so much better than mono or flouro. I would kinda pitch them into little nooks and crannies in the sticks and rip em out really fast. If you can get them to run parallel to a log while the lure is bumping into it as well the tucs go nuts for it. But always try to make your lure hit the sticks I think at least 80% of the tucs I caught went after my bait right after it hit a stick or a log. Same goes for the soft jerk baits and frogs which I'm gonna type about next. Jerk them really fast with little pauses while you take up the slack, I will keep my rod point down and snap it down then take up the slack and repeat. I usually have a little cadence of two quick snaps down and a little pause. Sometimes I do 3 or four then one. I kinda mix it up sometimes I will pause it longer if they aren't hitting with my usually pace. And if you see a tuc following it try not to stop. It hard to not stop sometimes so it if you do just twitch it as fast as you can. I don't know how many times I've stopped and the tuc will stop to and look at it then when I jerk it really fast away from them they blast it. I guess they think it's gonna get away. Oh and I prefer the suspending type as well. The regular floating type sometimes seems to work better but if they are down a little deeper or a little farther away from the bank the suspending is the way to go.
Another good type of lures are the soft jerkbaits like bass assassins or flukes. I actually think I get more tucs to hit these but I don't hook as many as with the hard jerkbaits. I usually work them the same as the hard jerkbaits too, but you can work them dead slow and the bass will eat them as well. You have to use 5/0 wide gap hooks though on the baits that are 5 inches or so otherwise you will have a hard time hooking the tucs.
(These are what you know who uses for the tucs...but you didn't hear that from me )
Another lure I found for tucs a little before I left were the zoom horny toad frogs, the tucs would BLAST them but actually hooking them was difficult. They have special hooks for these that I would imagine would help but you will have to order them if you want to try them. They have a screw in think on the front and two hooks on the back. Another thing for fishing frogs is use braid because it floats.
I actually have caught a bunch of tucs on rattle traps too, but I only go to those when they weren't hitting the jerkbaits. If they are schooling but only sporadically they work really well. I have caught a bunch on rattle traps on the point on the side of mikimiki flats going into the cove. The thing I like about the lipless cranks are they catch bass and tucs pretty equally. I usually let them sink to the bottom and reel them really slow or I sweep my rod back keeping it kinda parallel to the water then let it sink back down. I also prefer the strike king red eye shad lipless cranks, the have a tighter wobble and they aren't as loud as other types, and they have a really good selection of colors and they best ones I found for wilson are the sexy shad the gold sexy shad and the chrome sexy shad.
I only like the kastmaster for schooling fish, and I always did better with the small 1/8th oz silver ones. I don't know how many spinning rods you have but when I use to just go after tucs I would have 2 rigged with little jerkbaits of different colors and one with a kastmaster. I remember one of the first tournaments I fished in the HFFA I found a school of tucs busting and I hooked up and landed one about 2lbs with a jerkbait, then before I even unhooked it I grabbed my other jerkbait rod and landed another 2lber and before I unhooked that one I grabbed the kastmaster rod and hooked and landed another all on consecutive casts. I found if you don't cast to a bust within about 3 seconds you usually don't catch a fish. And the jerkbaits will out-fish the kastmasters when they are schooling 9 times out of 10.
BASS:
baby brush hogs
Booyah & Terminator spinner baits - white/chartreuse 3/8 & 1/2 oz
Gary Yamamoto soft baits
crank baits - all kinds - steady retrieve clear water, irregular in stained water
swim baits - fish in deep water, look for structure along weed line - slow retrieve
spinner baits - just under surface of water - gold blades dingy. silver for clear waters
TD jig -rock piles, grass - bounce off rocks - slow jerk motion to make jig jump up and down
RT jig - flip in grass 12-14 ft -let jig hit bottom - pull line let jig fall flip up and down use trailer
money jig - use w/ spinner - can use trailer - work weed edge - quick snap then let drop
finesse jig -3/16 open water 5/16 in heavy cover, grass - drag jig slowly on bottom
Color choices:
remove all paint from crank baits - clear body rigs for Tucs
clear waters - natural colors, shad color, silver spinner baldes
dingy waters - bright colored, chartreuse, gold spinner blades
bait scent on crank baits
Type of Day:
Sunny - fish down
Cloudy - fish up
fish windy side as opposed to calm side
above 80 degrees - Tucs more active
my stuff
My Tournament Rigs: ( work in progress - reduce to 5-7 rigs )
1 B 6 1/2 casting reel - worm rod w/ #8 mono or #10 fluorocarbon - Texas & Carolina rigs / swim baits
prodigy x-fast 1/4-3/4 MH 10-17 lb
2 B 7 casting reel - jig rod w/ #14 fluorocarbon - flipping - prodigy fast 1/2-1 1/2 H 10-20
3 B 7 casting reel - med/deep crankbait rod w/ #12 fluorocarbon / rat-l-trap / one knockers ugly stick
4 B 7 casting reel - med/shallow crankbait rod w/ #8 mono / rat-l-trap ugly stick
5 B 6 1/2 casting reel - spinnerbait/buzzbaits rod w/ #10 fluorocarbon - new reel ) MF 1/4-1 MH 10-17 lb
topwater, soft jerk baits, spooks,
6 B/T 6 spinner reel - spoons, flukes, swim baits, drop-shot/shaky head w/ #8 mono - finese ugly stick
optional
7 casting reel - one knockers, rat-l-trap w/ #10 fluorocarbon MF 1/4-1 MH 10-17 lb ( don't have now )
8 B/T 5 1/2 spinner reel - small spoons, drop-shot, shaky head, small cranks/spinnerbaits w/ #6
9 B/T 5 spinner reel - swimbaits 7' glass rod BG15
More tips:
Tournament Fishing