Crankenstein!

from BB-Lures.com

There are a lot of different styles of lures that can be categorized as a crankbait. Today I am only going to talk about "regular" billed crankbaits.
   The regular billed crankbaits are very popular, and their are many different brands and styles.
   Manufacturers of crankbaits make sure that there are many colors available. Actually, too many colors, and while some people may like all those choices, other people shutter at the daunting task of trying to choose one or two that they could afford. We'll take a look at what you can do to try to narrow the choices down.
   In order to determine what different colors of crankbait you will need, you will have to consider what water you are going to be fishing. The clearer the water is, then the more realistic or natural the color needs to look. I am planning on getting a couple more custom painted crankbaits this year due to the fact that I have some lakes that I fish that are very clear. There are a number of places on the internet that you can find that will custom paint your crankbaits for a fee. I have seen prices anywhere from $15 to $50 just to paint them, if you provide the lure. If you don't have the money for custom painted baits, then search for over the counter lures that are natural looking. There are some very good ones out there, so don't settle for something that you won't be able to use. The more stained or muddy the water is, the darker the lure should be, but sometimes you need to try bright baits,  like chartreuse. One lake that i have fished quite a number of times, I have a special color of worm I use, it is very stained, and I like a watermelon green and lemon laminated senko to do the trick on this lake. I like to call this my color for that lake, and I even hide it from my bass buddies from this lake.
   Most manufactures of lures offer choices in depths, from shallow wake baits to crankbaits that fish all the way to twenty feet plus. There are several things that you can do to the lures to make them fish differently. The line you use can change the depth that the lure will run. Thinner line will run deeper, so if you wanted a crankbait to go deeper you need to use smaller pound test of fluorocarbon to accomplish that. Likewise, if you want the lure to run more shallow, I would use monofilament and heavier line. How you hold your pole will also affect how deep a crankbait will run. Lower to help the lure run deeper, and higher will help to run more shallow. I have seen guys point their pole into the water to get it deeper. I have held my pole as high as twelve o'clock to keep it shallow enough to miss, or barely skim over a particular piece of cover.
Have you ever wondered why the pros can catch fish, while you continue to struggle to catch fish? Even though you thought you bought the same lure that they are using? Many times you may be using the same baits, but they know a few little tricks to help them catch more fish. I am going to talk about some of the modifications you can do to your crankbaits.
    There are several things you can do with the bill of a crankbait to try to improve your chances of getting more bites on your lure. You can heat up the bill with steam and adjust the bill with needle nose pliers. This will take trial and error, and can really affect the depth your crankbait will go. It is best to have a pool handy to test them so you know how the changes you made affect the bait. If you are new to fishing, or if you are not very much into do it yourself kind of thing, you may want to pass on this modification because you can really mess up the action of bait if you do not do it right. One of the next things you can do to improve the action and to improve success is to file the bill. If you want the bait to have a tighter wiggle, then you want to make the bill thinner, or more sharp on the edges to make the bait perform this way. This will really improve the bite in the spring and the fall. These are the times when you want a tighter wiggle. In the summer you want a wider type of wobble.
You may also add weight to your lure to make it run deeper. I have a crankbait that I have added a tungsten weight to the front hook keeper to make it go deeper. You could add weighted tape to you lure to make it go deeper. You must keep in mind that anything you do to modify a lure may affect the action of the lure, so you want to test it out in practice.
You may want to change the hooks on your crankbaits. Some manufactures have a reputation for using good hooks, others do not. If you buy cheap crankbaits you will want to change the hooks to a more dependable and sharper brand. You may want to change the size of the hooks, again be careful about changing the action of the lure when you do this. You also have to be careful of putting hooks that are too big they may tangle alot during the cast.
   Once you have modified the crankbait, you need to test it, to see if it still has the action you want it to have. Then the true test will be to try it out in the lake or river.
   There is nothing that can replace time in the water, so get out there and fish!
Joe Minor
Inside Bass Fishing Pro Staff

ARMYBASSANGLERS HAVE A MUCH BETTER OUTING ON AMISTAD THE SECOND TIME AROUND—HOOAH!

March 12 - The third South Region Bass Champs tournament of the year and the second on Lake Amistad and the fish were much more cooperative this time around.  Beautiful weather all week and warming water temperatures had fish following their very predictable spring patterns and many teams were getting them figured out, including the ArmyBassAnglers.

For the ArmyBassAngler team of Chuck Guthrie and Chad Nelson, the game plan was to fish ledges adjacent to spawning areas in hopes of catching some big females as they migrated towards the banks.  It was a good plan…..the first keeper was well over six pounds that came on a Victory Tackle ¾ oz spinner bait.  The marker bouy was thrown and the big engine never fired until it was time to head to weigh in.  They circled that mark all day throwing a variety of baits, but most would come on Texas rigged and shaky head Lake Fork Trophy Lures Hyper Sticks that required a dead-sticking technique.  It was crucial to have the sensitivity of the Dobyns Rods as the bite was extremely subtle.  They caught several keeper fish, but the best five weighed in at 23.65 pounds, good enough for 15^th in a field of 210 teams. 

For the ArmyBassAngler President and founder, Cody Roberson, his day was a little more lonely.  His partner, Don Bailey, was attending some military training at the University of Pennsylvania, forcing Cody to navigate the huge lake on his own.  He concentrated a little shallower, in 5-7 feet, and relentlessly pounded the clear water with a Fury Lures square-bill crankbait.  He found success twice bringing in two fish that would be close to six pounds, but opted to not weigh-in to support the Bass Champs conservation efforts.  The circuit asks anglers that are not close to the money cut line to release their fish in the lake instead of putting them through the stress of coming to the scales.  For their efforts, all anglers not weighing in are entered into a $500 drawing, referred to as the “zero bonus” program.  What a great way to avoid stressing more fish than necessary.

Rodney Thompson, the newest addition to the ProStaff team also made an appearance at the Southern Region event.   Notorious for throwing shaky heads, he did not disappoint those that know him.  In addition, he found spinner baits and split shot rigs would work as well.  He would catch fish all day long, but the large bass many other teams were finding would elude him, but he was pleased to have almost 14 pounds in his livewell by day’s end.  Rodney is the first Air Force Veteran to be added to the ProStaff roster and the rest of the ArmyBassAnglers are aiming just a little higher in the name of friendly competition among professionals.

It was another great turnout among the Coalition ProStaff members.  Efrem Dicochea also fished by himself and weighed in over 18 pounds for a 45th place finish.  Mario Valenzuela and Wes Higgins opted to try to win the $500 zero bonus as they were just short of competing for a check.

210 Teams would compete with $56,750.00 paid out. Total number of fish brought to the scales was 582 with an avg weight of 3.54lbs. 114 Teams brought a limit to the scales. For individual standings visit http://www.basschamps.com/basschamps/results.cfm?tournament_id=124&type=team&yearSelected=2011

HOOAH!

SUPPORT.DEFEND.FISH.

Lure design - KISS ! It's about CONTRASTS ! Think about it.

I was sitting at my work bench making a few soft plastic lures, thinking about why certain lures catch fish. Is it color, size, action, texture (softness, fine appendages or grain), scent, natural appearence, vibration or a combination of all or any of them? If so, WHY?

Then it occurred to me that of the hundreds of plastics I've bought or made that have worked at one time or other have something that fish notice, become curious about and eventually decide to eat. You can see what I'm talking about on YouTube from the many underwater videos using AquaView.

First of all, artificial baits rarely have to be a detailed copy of the real thing to catch fish. For example Mad Man Craws never out produce a skirted jig and trailer , and they are exact copies of crawfish!

Scent is 50/50 as a factor. I know that after one fish hits a live worm, others soon come around. Is it the bait or something about the turned-on fish that infects other nearby fish to higher aggression levels, regardless of species? A YouTube video demonstrated one perch going after a salted minnow and soon half a dozen others joined in. Some may insist the salt is a factor, but I've disproven that time after time using salted and unsalted plastics.

That leaves the other things - size, action, appearence (color), texture and vibration.
When a company markets a new lure, the hype is usually about how natural the bait is or what it represents to a fish. If fish could speak English, I doubt we could understand it or come away satisfied with why fish hit artificials. Nature is somewhat random and generalities are all we have to go by, therefore, I chose to go with CONTRAST as the most applicable generalization of why all fish bite lures.

Fish feel a lures presence with it's lateral line and can locate prey with it in the dark or in muddy water.A proven FACT! The lateral line indicates size, speed, direction and action of whatever swims within range, similar to SONAR, but more advanced. Sight does not produce 3D images, but one eye and the lateral line do so combined. The closer in proximity a fish is to a lure, the more both work together to feel it and evaluate it as a food source.

Active fish aren't chossy (most of the time), so why would a food-bloated or semi active fish eat a lure? .... LURE CONTRAST and the fish's nature combined.
BY: Gordon Holman

Pro Video's Talking about Berkley HAVOC baits

A TOUGH TRAVIS—HOOAH!

th 2011 found ArmyBassAnglers

Pros Randy Sitz and Ron Seevers on Lake

Travis fishing the 1

st Central Bass Champs

tournament of the year. Randy and Ron

had a decent practice two weeks before

and were excited that the weather

forecast for the tournament was nearly

the same during practice. The team had

a 30 min run down to the main lake,

where they had success during practice,

in their

Returning Heroes Home

wrapped

excited not see any other competitors in

the area. As they eased into their fishing

area they noticed a lot of bait fish surface activity, even a few blow ups now and

then. They were both throwing a

Skeeter ZX250. Both wereVictory Tackle (Thumper) vibrating jig with a

Lake Fork Tackle Live Magic shad

technique was loading the boat 2 weeks earlier. The 733 is an awesome all

around rod for spinner baits and vibrating jigs; sensitive with a fast tip but meaty

backbone. They would only catch one two pounder in two hours in this area.

They decided to switch to spinner baits (Travis special) and picked up another 2

pounder. Both fish came out of 4 to 6 feet of water with deeper water very nearby.

After another couple of hours, they went to a deep rocky point and Randy

caught a nice two and half pounder on a drop shot rig with a

Hyper finesse worm

has,” stated Randy. The team spent the rest of their time trying to put two more

bass in the boat but ran out of time. They would end up with a little over six and

½ lbs on a very tough Lake Travis. “The fish didn’t respond today like they did 2

weeks ago. The sun never really came out today and I think that really hurt our

as a trailer on a 733 Dobyns Rods. ThisLake Fork Tackle. “You can’t beat the action that the hyper finesse worms

bite,” stated Ron. The team had great time fishing and spreading the

Support.Defend.Fish mission statement for ArmyBassAnglers.

185 Teams would compete with $48,100.00 paid out. Total number of fish

brought to the scales was 486 with an avg weight of 2.18 lbs. 55 Team would

bring in a limit with 54 teams competing for the conservation bonus. For

individual standings visit

http://www.blogger.com/goog_1499124118

=team&yearSelected=2011

HOOAH!

Jan 29

Punching Mats

Over the last few years punch skirts have come into the bass fishing world with a vengeance.  The punch skirt is designed so you can cast into the heavy cover bass like to hide in during the summer months.  The punch skirt has swept across America from California where they are used to punch through the heavy mats on the California Delta.

The Anatomy of a punch rig

The punch skirt is really part of a punch rig.  The rig starts with a bobber stopper or weight peg.  Then comes a large bullet weight, the weight is usually 1 once or more, followed by your punch skirt, then a flipping hook.  Beaver style bait is usually Texas rigged.  I use an Atomic Tackle Company punch bomb which comes with your bullet weight and skirt.  I use a Trokar flipping hook.  The hook has a keeper barb at the top which helps keep the plastic in place and saves you plastics.  The surgically sharpened hook gives me better hook ups with less force.  I top it off with a Biffle Bug.

Gear

When using a punch skirt rig you want a strong rod.  One problem anglers find is that there flipping rod does not work effectively for punching heavy mats.  The Bub's Punch Rod by iRod is made for punching mats.  The rod has a fast tip but the straight of a flipping stick.  I use a Quantum Code Baitcaster with a 7:1 gear ratio.  I like the 7:1 it helps me get the fish out of the heavy cover quickly.  Some guys like a lower gear ratio, but I stick with the 7:1 for the quick line retrieve.  I use 65 pound Vicious braid.  Braid has no stretch so when you set the hook you have no worries of damaging the line plus braided line will help cut thru those thick mats.

How it works

Punch skirts are designed to make any soft plastic a jig.  The punch skirt gives a Texas rigged soft plastic more bulk.  The punch skirt being separate from the hook makes the action different from a jig in the fact that the hook, weight and skirt are separate.  When the bait falls you get more action from your soft plastic because it can move side to side unlike a jig.  Also because you can Texas rig your soft plastic it makes the rig weed less so you can put the rig in any kind of grass mats.   

How to fish it

When fishing the Atomic Tackle Company punch bomb I flip or better yet toss the bait into the air.  The idea behind the rig is that you toss it up and when it comes down it punches thru the matted grass you are fishing.  So I flip the bait into the grass mats.  You want to let the punch bomb fall on a controlled slack line.  This way you can feel if a bass picks it up on the fall.  If this happens you want to reel down and set the hook.  If you do not get a bite on the fall let the bait hit the bottom.  Hope the bait once or twice.  Because the rig is weed less you can work it back thru the grass, hopping it as you come or you can work it like you a pitching your bait.  If you work the bait as if you are pitching it pull the bait from the grass and make another cast.

Where to fish

When look for a place to start on a lake with a large amount of matted grass one came feel over whelmed.  I start by first looking for points or inside turns (which is opposite of a point) in the grass.  You want to look for irregular features within the grass beds.  Another productive spot to look for is where to different types of grass meet.  Some of the best grass beds are close to deep water.  Matted grass produces bass more during the middle of the day.  Wear as the weed edge produces bass better early and late in the day.

Other Options

The punch rig also makes a great follow up bait when fishing a hollow belly frog over matted grass of lily pads.  If you get a short strike on a frog, quickly reel in the frog and pitch the punch rig to the spot of the blow up and let the punch rig sink.  A lot of times a bass will try and stun or kill a frog and circle back to eat its prey as it sinks to the bottom.  The Punch rig gives you a big profile like your hollow belly frog.  If you get to the bottom with no strike, hope the punch rig once or twice.  If there is still no bite reel in the punch rig and continue throwing the frog.

So the next time you are out fishing think about fishing that matted grass.  With the right tackle and gear you might just be able to pull a hog from that stuff.  Remember the tips I have shared with you and you should have a hog in no time.

Mental successis the road to being the best!

When we experience the results we desire, we feel happy and good about ourselves. However, the tendency becomes that we fail to replicate that success when we set our next goal. The reason for this is due to inconsistency in that the same power and drive to achieve the first goal is not present in the second goal. This signifies a lack of mastery.

Therefore, in order to achieve the best every time, we need to put the same amount of resources into the goal, in terms of intention and the correct way of "doing and acting". This will make winning not a one time event, but an all time event and occurrence. Below you will find some guidelines that will help you to become a champion in whatever you do, to thus stand above everyone as a genius:

1. The reason why we fail to replicate our mental success, is because we are not sure of the factors that have created that success in the first place.

Therefore, we must educate ourselves as to what creates mental success. When we are not sure, we live in uncertainty and can never have maximum faith. When we are sure, we simply need to follow the correct sequence and success is therefore guaranteed.

2. You must learn from all of your successes and all of your failures.

When you look back at what you did right or wrong in a situation, you will know what works and what doesn't. From here, you can begin to replace your old habits with habits which are in tune with the successful way of doing things. So you need to learn to cut down the elements of an event and see what was right and what was wrong in it, and learn from those elements.

3. You need to set the intention that you will realise that the best is already within you.

The best that you can be is the best. In relation to other people, this will be the best in the world. And this realisation will become apparent to you, when you have acquired the knowledge of why you are the best with exact magnitude. You can achieve anything you want, but you first must be open minded to that possibility. Simply being open-minded to this thinking will put your life in a completely different trajectory which will allow your dreams to come true.

4. A genius intends to win in every situation.

You must therefore intend to be a winner that wins everytime. As you intend, so shall it become. So keep that intention up. Eventually, you will know every factor that creates or holds back success and be able to use them with elegance and ease. This will allow you to create a win simply on your intention, and it is indicative of true mental mastery

5. You will become what you intend.

What you intend, is what you have planted on firm soil through the power of intention. (see Using The Power of Intention)

6. You need to believe that you already have it.

Having is receiving. Achieving mastery is not about chasing after the goal and trying to reach it, as this will lead to failure. It is not you who is in charge of your life. It is the unconscious mind which sets the foundation for your life. You need to allow It to come through and give you what you want, and this is through believing that you already have it.

7. When you believe that you are the best that you can be, you think and create the best.

We simply need to access it by connecting with its nature. The unconscious mind holds the key to all mental powers you need and is the best, and therefore you must believe that you are the best as well, because you have an unconscious mind within you too. This will allow us to connect with the unconscious mind and use its power. The result will be that you will be able to think and create the best.

What To Expect

When you are on the road to mastery, you will have a greater impression and realisation of what these secrets truly mean. Until them, simply acting and doing things in the way above will pave the road to allow you to properly understand it. Only then can you begin to truly refine your mindset towards mastery. Apply these steps now and reap the rewards in your life.

If your goal is to become the greatest Bass Angler in the World, it is only attainable threw these tried and true steps of unleashing your subconscious mind and doing so we must understand in the realm world of the linguistics that is rapidly accelerating in Pro sports of any kind and especially Bass Angling we must not rely on one scenario of Bass angling but have a solid foundation and the skills to fall back on if such one scenario fails and without a solid foundation of these skills one is dead in the water!... So think of these step day in and day out and with the burning desire to win and become one of the best there ever was within your Sport of Bass Angling! I know i am!....So Tight Lines, Bent Rods, and Ripping Drags and See You on the water!

P.S. You won't ever catch me when i have my game on, Dock Talking...It only shows lack of confidence and abilities of
my coveted goal, of becoming one of the best there ever was!

BY: Gordon Holman