51BestKept Secrets

51
Best Kept
Secrets
Bait modifications
Knots
Patterns
Boat Maintenance
Tackle Organization
Bassmaster
| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Table of Contents
2
3
Remove scuffs from your boat
3
Expand your wacky rigging
3
Trick out your spinnerbait
4
Organize via Tic Tac 5
Powdercoat a jighead
5
Approach a bedding bass
6
Carolina jig
6
Replace the weedguard
7
Add flash to your swim jig
7
Hot rod your drop shot rig
8
Give more action to small swimbaits 8
Repair your trolling motor rope
9
Double up on your drop shots
9
Build a “Bungee Jumper Rig”
10
Protect your knots
11
Keep your filler spools in line
11
Stop the bleeding
11
Guard your trebles
12
Make your own double toad hook
13
Keel your toad with lead
13
Build your own wooden lures
14
Snell a hook
16
Enjoy hands-free shiner fishing
16
Add flash to your worm
17
Change the action of your ChatterBait 17
Editor’s Letter
Replace old frog legs
Zip-tie skirts
File the bill
Add a little weight
Carolina rig it
Organize Carolina rigs
Break less light line
Tie the Eugene bend knot
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21
Anchor your kayak or canoe in
shallow water
Save your plastics
Double the life of your braid
Reverse your Texas rig
Skip a lure
Pack your rods
Hold your trailer in place
Practice catch and release
Bling your buzzer
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27
Make a trolling motor mount for
your kayak
Blade a frog
Attach a reel to a Tennessee rod
Make a culling beam on a budget
Increase hookups with a tube bait
Connect line to a reel spool
Remove a swallowed hook
Slow down your kayak Make and use the Petey rig
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Bassmaster
| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Angling For Solutions
Bass anglers are forever tinkering with gear. That’s the
nature of an angler’s spirit — always find a better way
to catch fish. If you buy a crankbait that is supposed to
run 15 feet, you can make it run 5 feet deeper if you file
the bill and use lighter line. If you have a plastic lizard
with one tail, welding a second tail to its body may
make it more desirable to fish in dingy water. You simply have to tinker a bit to find out.
Well, Bassmaster readers have been making modifications to baits and coming up with creative improvements to assist in fishing endeavors for more than 40
years now! Whether you own a fiberglass boat that
needs cleaning, a kayak that needs power, a rod that
needs revamping or a bait that needs improvement, it is
likely a bass angler out there somewhere has already arrived at a solution.
In this book, we offer 51 such solutions to some of the
most common problems anglers face. What’s more,
many of these tips are gleaned from Bassmaster Elite
Series pros, so you know they are well tested. Absorb the
information within these pages and put it to good use
on the water. Chances are, you will stumble upon a solution of your own, and you will be the one sharing information on how to catch more bass.
Tip
2
Tip
1
Zip-tie skirts
Rubber skirts on spinnerbaits and jigs do not last
forever. Eventually, the rubber
band holding the strands in
place will give up the ghost,
leaving you with a naked lure.
Instead of replacing the skirt
with another rubber band that
will eventually fail, consider
using a tiny zip tie. These are
easier to negotiate than rubber bands and will last longer
than the skirt material.
Expand your
wacky rigging
Wacky rigging is a great way to
catch highly pressured bass.
However, it is tedious in deep water
and tears up a lot of worms. Lake
Fork Trophy Tackle’s new Ring
Weights solve both of these problems (www.lftlures.com). Simply
slide a worm (Lake Fork Hyper
Whack’n Worm shown) into the
Ring Weight and you can fish at a
greater depth with one worm for
much longer. They are available in
three sizes (1/16, 3/32 and 1/8
ounce) as well as two diameters
(one for larger Senko-style baits and
a smaller size for traditional wackystyle worms). Weightless black plastic rings also are available.
Tip
3Remove scuffs from
your boat
If you have a fiberglass
boat, the gelcoat can get
scuffed by black-soled
shoes, tackleboxes, etc.
Grab a Mr. Clean Magic
Eraser to help with the chore
of ridding your boat of these
blemishes. For some reason, this
cleaning product works wonders on
fiberglass.
2
Photos by Laurie Tisdale
Illustrations by Lenny McPherson
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Bassmaster
| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Tip
Tip
4
5Powdercoat a jighead
Trick out your spinnerbait
Bassmaster reader Virgil Kleinhelter isn’t afraid to buy a $1 spinnerbait,
mainly because he will turn the econo-blade into a tricked-out bass catcher. Follow his tips to put the bling on a blade bait of your own:
1. Use a red permanent marker to add a bleeding effect to the skirt
and edge of the blade.
2. Use a small cable tie to replace the ineffective rubber band skirt
holder.
3. Add a small piece of clear plastic tubing to the eye if you like to use
snaps — this keeps the snap from sliding down the wire.
4. Use 1/8-inch screen spline (used for replacing damaged window
screens) to hold the rattle in place and 3/16-inch spline for your
trailer hook keeper.
This is a very cool way to make a standard leadhead jig look like high-dollar, premium terminal tackle. First, grab a jar of Pro-Tec powder
paint (www.csipaint.com). That was the hardest part of this deal. From here, just heat your
jighead with a lighter for five to 10 seconds
depending on size, and quickly swish the
head into the powder. Knock off the excess
and you are done! Very cool to watch. If you
want a coating 15 times stronger, bake the
heads at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
1
2
3
4
Tip
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6
1
Organize via Tic Tac
Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens angler
Miles Burghoff is fanatical about tackle organization. “I hate having weights rattle around
in my storage boxes! Plus, when I want a
specific weight, I don’t want to have to pick
through several sizes to find what I need.”
To remedy this, Burghoff eats a lot of Tic
Tacs.
“The Tic Tac containers are perfect for
tungsten bullet weights up to 3/8 ounce.
You can lay them on their side in a Plano
3700, slap a label on there and you never
have to wonder what size weight you are
using.”
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Bassmaster
| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Fish a jig like Kevin Short
Elite Series angler Kevin Short is a master with a jig rod in his hand. Although he
uses traditional jig-and-pig techniques, there are a couple of secret tactics he’s used
for years. Until now, he has been successful at hiding these tactics (by keeping the
rigs out of view of Bassmaster writers). However, the cat’s now out of the bag. The
Bassmaster staff saw one of these rigs on the deck of his boat, and he had to confess.
Try these modifications and you might find a few more bass willing to eat your jig.
Tip
7
Carolina jig
“I’ve been doing this little trick for a while now, but found that
it has been much more effective since the Jewel Heavy Cover
football jig was developed because of the line-tie direction and
placement,” Short explains. “Instead of using a regular weight
on a Carolina rig, I’ll slide my main line through the eye of the
Jewel jig, followed by a bead, a brass clacker, and then a swivel.” Once he has the jig in place, he’ll attach a 3- to 5-foot leader and a soft plastic bait.
“The fact that the line tie is perpendicular to the hook
makes this an effective setup. The jig walks across the bottom
and presents the soft plastic behind it in a unique way, making
it more appealing to bass.”
Tip
8
Replace the weedguard
“Stiff weedguards can both cost you bites and make setting the
hook difficult,” relates Short. “So, I kill two birds with one stone by
using my jig trailer to make a jig weedless.” Here’s how Short replaces the traditional weedguard with a soft plastic bait:
1
Cut off the weedguard
that comes standard on
the jig.
3
Tip
9
Approach a bedding bass
The spawn brings on a different sort of fishing than any other time of the year: sight
fishing. So, you need to alter your approach accordingly. We’ve consulted with sight
fishing guru Bobby Lane and compiled this list of how to best approach bedding bass.
• Always approach a bed with your back
to the sun so the fish can’t see you as
well.
• If a bass scoots off the bed in a hurry
and doesn’t return within five minutes,
you probably won’t catch it. Move on.
• If a bass’ back is darker than the backs
of the other fish you’ve been seeing,
6
that means it’s been in the sun for a
few hours and is comfortable on the
bed. In other words, you can probably
catch it.
• Add color to your bait if it’s not getting
any attention in factory form. Lane
likes to dip his Berkley Chigger Craws
in chartreuse J.J.’s Magic.
Attach your soft plastic
trailer of choice.
Tip
10
2
Steal a screw-lock from a
soft plastics hook, and
attach it to the eye of the jig.
4
Tex-pose the jig hook
in the soft plastic,
making it weedless.
Add flash to your swim jig
If you swim jigs through grass, you most certainly
like to add a trailer for a little more action. Many anglers prefer a curled-tail grub because of the increased
vibrations the tail creates when spiraling through the water. To keep the grub in place, and to add a bit of flash to
your presentation, consider using a cut-out section from
a juice pouch. For a little flash, use a hole-punch to create your trailer keeper. For significant flash, cut a longer
sliver.
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| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Tip
Tip
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13
Hot rod your
drop shot rig
Try this trick to make your drop
shot rigs hang up less and offer
more fish appeal. First, cut a barrel
swivel into two pieces so the line
ties are separate. The tiny diameter
of the pieces will really cut back on
the number of snags you get.
Second, tie on your hook with an
appropriate length of leader. Third,
slide a bullet weight on with the
pointed end up, followed by a bead.
Finish by tying half of the swivel on.
This rig will not only hang
up less, it’ll give you a bit of
sound and a movable
weight system.
Tip
12
1
This rig may not be allowed in some tournaments,
but it has the potential to double your catches
when there’s a pile of fish on submerged structure.
Tie a hook onto your line like normal, but leave an
extra-long tag end. On this long tag end, tie another hook like you did the first one and see if you
don’t get two fish on your next drop.
2
3
4
Give more action to small
swimbaits
Swim tubes and small swimbaits are quite the rage on prolevel tournament trails. And since the introduction of the
wildly successful Basstrix swim tube, scads of knockoffs have appeared. If you’d like to give your swimbait or swim tube a bit more action than your fishing partner’s, consider adding a split ring to the
eye of your hook. This little alteration changes a
wobble into a wide, side-swimming action that
may just give you an edge.
8
Double up on your
drop shots
Tip
14
Repair your trolling motor
rope
After enough stowing and deploying, the plastic handle on your
trolling motor will wear out. (This usually happens midstow, very
nearly sending you overboard.) You could plunk down some cash to
get a new plastic handle that will end up wearing out in a year or
two, or you might try this handy trick.
Cut off a section about 8
inches long of old garden
hose.
Slip the section of hose over
the trolling motor cord. Tie
the cord to itself (try a rolling
hitch knot, www.animatedknots.com),
leaving about 2 inches of rope visible on
each side.
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Bassmaster
| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Tip
15
Build a “Bungee Jumper
Rig”
Jeff Coble (Weekend Series champion) stated recently,
“Before, I had the desire but not the means. And now, I
have the means but not the desire,” when asked why he
wouldn’t go pro.
As much as I dream of standing on the Bassmaster
Classic stage someday, I am realistic enough to know that
the chances are so remote that I have a better chance of
breaking Mr. Perry’s record.
So, I send you this letter revealing my real and only
claim to fame. Only two people in this world have seen me
use this rig (both family members who would not let the
secret out).
I call it the “Bungee Jumper Rig,” and it produced a fifthplace finish for me in the Federation Nation State Qualifier
in March 2007 on the Kissimmee Chain, besting a couple of
Lanes if my memory serves me correctly.
The rig works best with Zoom Trick Worms, as I’ve
tried everything under the sun.
Tip
16
Carolina rigs get dragged through some of the nastiest bottom on the
lake. Shell, chunk rock and trees all take their toll on the rig’s components, especially the knots. Protecting your knots is easy and inexpensive. For
$3.29, you can get 14 Sinker Bumpers from Team Catfish (yes, catfish). Slide a
bumper between your knot and beads for worry-free rigging. Using two bumpers will give added protection, as one surrounds the knot and the other dissipates the force of casting and hook sets. (www.teamcatfish.com)
Tip
18
Tip
1
Take a crappie ball
head jig, in 1/8- or
1/4-ounce weights, and
snip the bend of the hook
off (pearl white with
black eyes works best,
and make sure to snip the
line-tie eye off as well).
10
2
Cut the tip of the
worm head off about
1/8 inch.
3
Slide the shaft of the
ball head jig all the way
into the worm head until it
is flush to the jighead.
4
Holding the worm by
its midsection and
with the weight hanging
down, thread a 4/0
Owner offset hook from
the tail end, downward
toward the head. When
you’re done, the tail will
be up, and the jighead
will be hanging down.
Protect your knots
17
Keep your
filler spools
in line
Rather than scrounge
around your boat for filler
spools of line, keep them
“bolted” together with a
3/8-inch threaded bolt and
nut (or wing nut) for easy
retrieval. The yellow band is
a Shark Tooth (www.kevin
vandam.com/store), which
makes dispensing line and
cutting leaders a breeze.
Stop the
bleeding
Sometimes no matter how quickly you
set the hook after a
bite, a bass has engulfed your bait to
the point where extraction is difficult.
Once a deeply embedded hook is removed, the fish
­oftentimes will begin
to bleed. Here’s a tip
that might just save
that fish. Keep on board
your boat a soft drink that contains
citric acid (Mountain Dew, Sprite,
Mellow Yellow, 7UP). Once a fish
begins to bleed from the gills or gullet, pour the soft drink on the affected area. The acid in the beverage
will make the capillaries shrink, reducing and perhaps eliminating the
hemorrhage.
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| 51 Best Kept Secrets
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Tip
Tip
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1
Guard your trebles
When fishing treble-hooked lures, it sometimes seems
that the only thing that doesn’t get caught on the bait is
a fish. This is especially true when the bait is “securely”
fastened to a rod’s lure keeper. The triple threat of
points and barbs seems magnetically drawn to carpet,
clothing and upholstery when being stowed or transported. In an effort to save your favorite fishing shirt
from holes and your truck’s back seat from rips, consider making these handy little crank covers:
1. Find an old tarp (or purchase an inexpensive one),
and cut a 6-inch square. This covers the biggest
cranks we could find, while not slipping down
with smaller baits.
2. Cut 6-inch strips of adhesive-backed Velcro and at-
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Make your own
double toad hook
1. Tie your line to a sewing needle.
Starting at the nose, push the needle
through the toad lengthwise.
2. Clip one hook off of a No. 4 treble
hook.
3. Cut the line off the needle and tie the
treble onto it.
4. Pull the line tight through the toad,
cinching the hook up to it. You can
alter the degree of weedlessness by
placing the hooks higher or lower in
relation to the toad’s back.
3
4
tach to opposite sides of the tarp square.
3. Because the adhesive may fail in very hot weather or
after multiple uses, sew the top of the Velcro strips to
the tarp. Heavy thread or fishing line will work.
4. Sandwich your crank with the simple cover, and
stow your rod worry-free.
2
3
4
Tip
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12
Keel your toad
with lead
Lead nails are useful tools to have on the water. They can alter the fall of plastics, weight
hollow-bodied frogs and keel toads and swimbaits. Simply slide half a lead nail into each
side of your toad to keep it on the right path.
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| 51 Best Kept Secrets
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Build your own wooden lures
Making your own lures can be both rewarding and economical.
Catching a fish on something you concocted (or copied) offers a
high degree of satisfaction. Similar to buying many products in
bulk, when you create plugs in bulk they become individually
cheaper. Creating your own lures is easier than ever with Webbased resources such as www.lurepartsonline.com. At this site, we
found everything needed to make a classic topwater wobbler (like a
Jitterbug) that’s all our own.
Wooden pine blank (1)
Jitterbug bibs (5-pack)
Plug hardware pack
(includes split rings, hook eyes
and more, 50 pieces total)
Mustad treble hooks (10-pack)
Seal-Coat (optional)
$1.98
$6.80
$3.95
$3.00
$4.49
1. Before you paint your plug, use a flexible ruler to draw
a line that bisects the plug lengthwise. This will ensure
your hooks and bib will be on straight.
2. Mark with a pencil where the bib and hook screws go
and use a small drill to make starter holes.
3. Paint your plug and allow it to dry.
4. Once it’s dry to the touch, add a coat of CS Coatings
Seal-Coat to waterproof and protect your plug.
5. Attach the hardware and touch up the body with SealCoat if necessary.
If your wobbler doesn’t run properly, tune it by bending the
bib in different directions. We had to tune ours by bending it
in. Now it sputters, walks, hunts … and catches bass!
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1
5
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Tip
23
Snell a hook
If you like to flip with a straight-shank hook, snelling it is the
best way to secure it to braided line. This slip-free knot is easy
to learn and a valuable tool in any flipper’s toolbox.
Tip
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1
Pass the tag end
through the eye of the
hook twice.
2
Hold the tag end of the
line to the shank. Wrap
the loop around the shank
and tag end several times.
Tip
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3
Lubricate the knot and
pull both ends to cinch
it tight. Trim.
Enjoy hands-free shiner
fishing
Shiner fishing gives you the chance to catch the bass of a lifetime
but can be hard to manage if you’ve got several rods in the water. To
get organized, try this rod holder that fits any boat with a lean post
or chair. What’s more, you don’t have to drill holes in your boat.
What you’ll need:
• One 1 1/2-inch PVC
cross
• Two 1 1/2-inch,
45-degree PVC
elbows
• Two 1-foot sections of
1 1/2-inch PVC
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1. Slide the PVC cross over
the bottom of your lean
post.
2. Put the 45-degree elbows into the open
holes of the cross.
3. Put 1-foot sections of
PVC into the elbows
to create the rod
holders.
Replace
old frog legs
If the legs on your frog get ripped
up, they can be substituted with
the skirt from a tube and look
even better (and taste saltier)
than before. Just cut the head end
off the tube and use Gorilla Glue
to attach the tentacles to the frog
body. Make sure the holes are
sealed so your bait doesn’t get
waterlogged.
Add flash to
your worm
If you fish highly pressured lakes, the bass you
are angling have seen a
Texas rigged worm a million times. When the bass
get wise, your options are
to go to a finesse presentation, which everyone else
likely will do, or change
the look of your preferred
plastic offering. If you find
yourself in this situation,
try adding a small willowleaf blade to your hook.
You can attach a split ring
with a blade either to the
eye (more flash) or to the
hook shank beneath the
bait (less flash).
Tip
27
Change the action
of your ChatterBait
ChatterBaits have become a popular substitute
for spinnerbaits. They have a similar profile, are
just as weedless and can be retrieved in much
the same fashion. However, this bait might just
be more versatile than you think. Creative anglers are removing the split-tail trailer that
comes in the package and adding soft jerkbaits,
6-inch worms, stickbaits and even creature
baits. If you are feeling extra froggy (pun intended), remove the skirt from your
ChatterBait, add your favorite fake amphibian
and buzz it across the water’s surface. The action is killer!
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Bassmaster
| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Superdeep crank like Kelly Jordon
If you know the fish are deeper than you can get with your stock crankbaits, a minor
modification may be all that is needed to reach these deep fish. Elite Series pro Kelly
Jordon has a few tricks to get out-of-the-box crankbaits deeper. These gems prove that
a little ingenuity goes a long way.
Tip
28
File the bill
One trick to get more depth out of
a stock crankbait is to thin the
diving bill with a file. Using a Dremel
Tool, Jordon begins taking off plastic
from the bottom of the bill. He
warns that taking too much off
can weaken the plastic, potentially causing it to break when
fighting a big fish, so he advises taking off no more
than 10 percent of the
plastic.
Tip
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Tip
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18
Add a little
weight
Putting BBs in a crankbait
will add more sound to it as
well as sink rate. Start out
with about 10, then depending on how deep you need
to be, add or subtract from
there,” Jordon says. Jordon
drills a hole in the front of
the bait slightly bigger than
a BB and then adds several
BBs. Once satisfied, he seals
the hole with epoxy and
smoothes it out. Jordon suggests that you add BBs in
the front of the bait in case
there are two chambers in
it, so the nose gets filled,
not the rear of the bait.
Adding too many BBs to the
back of a crank makes it fall
unnaturally and kills the
action.
Carolina rig it
If Carolina rigs get plastics deep, why
not crankbaits? While he has used this
technique successfully before, Jordon
warns that too much weight can kill the
built-in action of the lure. “This is a
great way to get your bait deeper if
you’re in a pinch,” Jordon says.
Depending on how deep he needs to
get, Jordon starts with a 1-ounce sinker
on his main line.
Attach main line to a swivel, then tie
on a 2-foot or longer leader section.
Jordon says to use the longest you can
successfully cast.
An optional step: You can remove the
front treble hook to prevent it from getting snagged on the leader, but Jordon
says this also can be overcome by slowing the rig down on the fall during the
cast.
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Bassmaster
| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Tip
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Break less light line
Aaron Martens’ methodical approach to light-line
fishing has made him an authority on the topic. He’s found
that the weak link in using light fluorocarbon (8-pound test
and less) is that it can break when tied to the tiny split rings
found on finesse baits. These small rings can “cut” into the
fragile line under pressure. He found that attaching a NoKnot Fas-Snap to the eye of the bait on
light line is as close to insurance as
you can get. The Fas-Snap is more
like a regular hook, which has
larger wire.
What’s more, Fas-Snaps allow for
quick bait changes. They can be found
in the fly fishing section of your tackle store. Several sizes
are available, and a 30-pack will set you back roughly $9.
Tip
32
Organize
Carolina rigs
Most anglers don’t pre-tie C-rigs before a day on the water because there is
no way to manage the lengthy leaders. If
you think there’s a chance that you will be
slinging the old “ball-and-chain,” try using a
foam swimming “noodle” to help organize
your rigs. Simply cut off a 10- to 12-inch section of the foam tube, tie your swivel and hook
to the length of leader you like to use, and wrap it
around the foam, securing the hook point through
the eye of the swivel. This will save valuable time on
the water — all you have to do to re-rig is add a weight and
bead to your main line, tie it to the swivel, and start slinging
again. You even can label the hook size and leader strength to
match your pre-rigged tackle to the conditions you face.
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Tip
33
Tie the Eugene bend knot
Knots are the link
between you and
the fish; like baits,
different knots
are better for different situations.
Gary Klein believes there is no
better knot for
fluorocarbon than
the Eugene slipknot (better
known as the
Eugene bend
knot). He learned
it from Shaw
Grigsby after he
admitted to
Grigsby he frequently broke
Palomar knots
when using
fluoro­carbon.
Since Klein has
used the Eugene
bend knot, he has
had zero knot failures. Here’s how
it’s done:
1
Put the tag end through the hook eye,
then double back along the main line,
forming an elongated loop.
2
Wrap the loop around the main line
three times. Bring the tag end back up
through the loop.
3
Pull the tag end through, moisten, and
cinch snug, not tight.
4
Keeping the knot and line moist, cinch
the knot down against the hook eye. If
done properly, you will hear a slight “pop”
or click.
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| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Anchor your kayak or
canoe in shallow water
Anchors can destroy aquatic plant
life and spook fish, especially in
shallow water. Canoers and kayakers alike can benefit from a quiet
anchor system. A length of PVC is
all you need to stay put in the
shallows.
1. Make a diagonal cut at one
end of an 8-foot length of
PVC. The pointed end will dig
into a sandy bottom better. If
you never see water that
deep, cut the PVC shorter.
2. Drill holes every foot or so.
These will accommodate the
4-foot length of rope that will
keep your kayak connected to
the anchor.
3. Tie an overhand knot in the
rope on each side of the PVC
to keep the rope from coming
loose.
4. When you need to anchor,
jam the pointed end into the
pond or lake bottom, then tie
the tag end of the rope to a
cleat on your kayak.
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Tip
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1
Double the life of your braid
If you use green braided line (which most freshwater-specific
braid is), it will turn hazy and fray as it ages. Each loose strand
diminishes the advertised strength of the line and increases your
chances of losing a fish. Often, it’s the first 10 to 20 yards of line that
see the most abuse, so there’s no need to trash the whole spool once
the first part of the line starts to fade.
Cut off the most damaged length of line, then take another reel
that needs some braid and begin spooling it up directly from the
spool that has the used line on it. Once the donor spool is empty,
the other one will have fresh braid on top.
2
Tip
36 Save your plastics
3
Flipping into heavy cover can pull your bait
down the hook’s shank and out of position.
A barb remedies this problem, but not all
hooks have barbs. You can give any hook a
barb by getting heat shrink tube from a
hardware store for about 10 cents per foot.
1. Find a diameter that just slips over the
eye of the hook and cut a 45-degree
angle off one end of a 1/2-inch
section.
2. Slide the shrink tube up to just below
the eye.
3. Use a lighter to shrink it on.
4. While it is still hot and pliable, pull the
top end away from the shank of the
hook to create a barb.
1
2
3
4
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38
Tip
37
A reversed Texas rig is a little-­publicized
fish-catcher that has been around for a
number of years. The advantage of flopping your rig is that the compact package slides through cover more easily and
presents the hook in the ideal position
for a positive hook set. Plus, the weight
doesn’t have to slip through the bass’
mouth to set the hook.
The original incarnation — the
Sasuteki rig — came from Japan. It consisted of a Jackall Sasuteki Craw, a 5/0
twist-lock hook and a technique-specific tungsten weight made by Zappu. The
folks at Sizmic baits (www.unclejosh.
com) call this an Okeechobee Rig, and
they built their Jungle Toad just for the
presentation using their Warhead
weight that was designed for the technique. However, you can make one with
tackle you already have in your boat: a
screw-lock, bullet-style weight; an
­extra-wide gap hook; and your favorite
craw.
1
Thread (or screw-lock)
the craw on the hook
from the end with pincers.
2
Reverse your
Texas rig
Texpose the hook for
weedlessness.
Skip a lure
Many anglers don’t take the time to learn how to skip a bait, leaving plenty
of unharassed bass for the taking underneath docks, overhanging branches and
low bridges. Here’s an easy way to learn the technique. Position yourself quartering
toward your target. With 8 to 10 inches of line separating the rod tip from your
bait, aggressively backcast, completely loading the rod. (Use a spinning rod; skipping with a baitcaster can be left to the Elite Series pros.) You want to keep your
bait very near the water’s surface throughout the cast. When your lure is in the
proper position for an accurate delivery, release the line, keeping your rod tip
pointed at the water. You want your bait to hit the surface several inches in front of
the obstruction and skip several times before sinking. Try this with several different lure types until you are skillful with each.
Tip
39 Pack your rods
If you have ever flown commercial, you know that
baggage handlers have a knack for being incredibly
abusive to luggage. This is a disturbing thought as
you hand your rod tube containing $1,500 worth of
bass sticks to a guy who shot puts Samsonite during
his lunch hour. Here’s a little trick to help make sure all
your rod tips are where they belong once they arrive at
your final destination.
1. Divide in half the number of rods
3
24
Screw the weight in the
tail section of the craw.
4
Make sure the plastic is
perfectly straight for
ultimate grass-punching
potential.
you are packing.
2. Flip half the rods upside down,
making sure to have the cork handles extend at least an inch past
the rod tips on each end.
3. Wrap a rubber band around the
grouping of rods at three points
(one at each end and one in the
middle), using a rod guide as an
anchor.
4. Once you’ve consolidated the
rods, double check the ends to
make sure that no rod tips extend
beyond the cork handles.
5. Insert wadded newspaper in the
end of the rod tube, followed by the
grouping of rods, followed by another wadded piece of newspaper.
6. Slide the cap on the end of your rod
tube, and travel with peace of
mind.
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| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Practice catch and release
If it hasn’t happened to you yet, just wait. You will get hooked.
Whether you are self-impaled or a victim of a fishing buddy’s errant
cast, there will be a time in your angling life when you will need to know
how to remove a hook from a part of your body. If the barb is protruding
through the skin, simply snip it off with wire cutters and back the hook
out. If the barb is stuck beneath the skin, use the following technique.
Practice on an apple just to get the hang of it.
1. Remove the lure from the hook.
2. Using a piece of 50-pound braid (line should be heavy), double the
line and loop it around the hook.
3. Hold onto both ends of the doubled line, wrapping them around
your fingers for a solid grip.
4. With your other hand, press down and back on the eye of the hook.
5. With the line parallel to the surface of your skin, quickly yank the
string away from the hook’s eye.
6. The hook should painlessly pop out.
Tip
41
Hold your trailer in place
Adding a trailer hook to a spinnerbait,
ChatterBait or buzzbait is always a
good idea. You’ll nab short-strikers and enjoy
twice the holding power when both hooks
sink in. Keeping a trailer hook in tow
can prove problematic, however.
Rubber bands and surgical
tubing will rot, and discs made
from coffee can lids are too rigid
and don’t allow the trailer hook to
swing freely. As an alternative,
reader Yukari Nakamura suggests buying a pack of earring backs. At craft stores, a pack of 170
costs less than $3. Simply cut off the bulk of the back and
thread the disc-shaped bit above the trailer hook.
26
Tip
42 Bling your buzzer
To add just a bit of flair to your buzzbait, try this easy trick.
1
Most buzzers have a bent
tag end of wire that extends past the grommet holding the buzz blade in place.
With needlenose pliers, bend
this tag end until it nearly
touches the grommet.
2
Slide a split ring swivel
on the wire, and then
continue bending until the
loop closes.
3
Now, pick a blade to add
to the other end of the
swivel depending on the
conditions you face. For
muddy water, add a big
blade for more attraction.
For clear water, add a small
blade for just a hair of flash.
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Tip
43
Make a trolling motor mount
for your kayak
Despite all their advantages, kayaks do have drawbacks.
Perhaps the biggest limiting factor is range. You can only go
as far as your arms will allow, and it’s nearly impossible to
cast or work a bait while dealing with a paddle. Add wind into
the equation and you’re in for a frustrating day. So, consider
adding an electric motor to your kayak. Here, we utilize the
built-in rod holders of a sit-on-top fishing ’yak. Although the
directions are not included here, you can easily modify the
PVC supports to again hold rods if you
miss the storage.
What you’ll need:
If you don’t have a spare trolling motor,
Two 2-foot sections of
look at MotorGuide’s VariMax Digital
1-inch-diameter PVC
Kayak unit. It’s a purpose-built electric
(extra-thick walled)
motor with an extra-short shaft, which
One 4-foot-long presmakes it a perfect fit for kayakers who
sure-treated two-byneed some power.
four
Two 5-inch-long,
3/8-inch-diameter
bolts
Four 3/8-inch washers
Two 3/8-inch wing
nuts
28
2
Place the PVC sections in the
rear rod holders and lay the
two-by-four flush to the PVC
across the top of the kayak.
Extend the two-by-four out from
one side of the kayak far enough
so the prop of the trolling motor
won’t hit the hull from any
direction.
Once the two-by-four is in place,
mark a drill point on the PVC uprights where you will attach the
two-by-four. Remove the PVC, drill
the holes, and then place them back
in the rod holders. Place the two-byfour in position, and through the
drilled holes of the PVC, mark the
drill points on the two-by-four.
3
4
Drill through your marks on the
two-by-four.
Now you’re ready to assemble.
With a washer on one end, slide
a bolt through the two-by-four and
through the PVC, top with another
washer, then tighten the wing nut.
Repeat on the other side.
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| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Blade a frog
Once the rubber legs on your favorite floating frog become worn, or
are chewed off by bass, don’t trash the amphibian. Here’s how to
give an old frog new flash … and a look not many bass have seen!
1. Tie a small piece of 40-pound braid to a 1/32-ounce tungsten
bullet weight (a lead weight is too thick to squeeze through
the hole in the frog’s leg).
2. Using a punch or small screwdriver, push the weight through
the hole in the leg of the frog.
3. After pulling the rear blade off an old spinnerbait (including
swivel and split ring), tie the blade to the tag end of the braid.
Repeat on the other side.
4. Pull the lead weight snug to the inside of the frog, and drop
Super Glue down the hole of the frog leg to seal the chamber.
5. Experiment with the size and style of blade, depending on the
conditions you face.
1
3
30
2
4
Tip
45
Attach a reel to a Tennessee rod
Tennessee rods offer a lighter, more adaptable option for spinning gear fanatics. Tennessee rods let the angler create a combo that is perfectly balanced by letting him place the reel in the optimal position on the handle. A balanced rod is more comfortable
during all-day outings. The most popular (and best) way to attach a
reel to a Tennessee rod is with electrical tape. It holds the reel firmly
in place and offers a good grip.
1. First, determine where your reel best balances the combo. A rod is bal-
anced when it doesn’t fall one way or the other when balanced on an outstretched finger. Move the front of the reel seat 1/4 inch behind your finger
and secure it with a few wraps of tape.
2. Once you’re satisfied with your rod’s balance, check that the reel stem is
perfectly in line with the rod guides.
3. Starting at the middle of the reel seat, begin wrapping tape from one end
to the other. You should use one continuous piece of tape.
4. When you’re finished, the tape
should completely
cover the reel seat. It
should also extend
far enough up and
down the handle that
your hand, in a casting grip, touches
only tape.
5. If you’d like more grip
and cushion, rod
handle wraps are
available, but tennis
racket tape also
works.
1
3
4
5
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46
What you’ll need:
Tools
Drill and drill bits
Hacksaw
Pliers
Lighter
Materials
18- to 20-inch section of
aluminum
Clips (shower curtain
hangers or golf bag clips)
or heavy-duty plastic
clothespins
Thin-diameter rope
Electrical tape
32
Make a culling
beam on a budget
Bassmaster reader Scott Ellman said, “Here
is a simple culling scale I made in about 10
minutes for a cost of about $3.50. Now all I
need to do is read more Bassmaster to learn
how to catch six keepers during a tournament to put this to use!”
1. Measure and cut the aluminum to an
even numbered length (12, 14 or 16
inches). Cut another (shorter) length
to serve as a handle.
2. Mark and drill three holes: one for the
rope and two for clips. Make sure the
holes are equidistant from each other
and from the ends. Drill a hole in the
center of the smaller aluminum section (handle).
3. Run the rope through the center hole
in the large aluminum piece and the
small aluminum piece, and tie it off
with a single overhand knot. Scorch
the excess with your lighter.
4. Slide the clips through the outer holes
in the larger aluminum piece. If you’re
using clothespins, drill a hole near the
top of one side of each and hang them
on the beam using binder rings.
5. Cover any sharp edges of aluminum
with electrical tape. Make sure your
beam is perfectly balanced without
fish before putting it to use. You can
add lead tape to one side if the beam
needs to be fine-tuned.
Increase hookups
with a tube bait
When Texas rigged, tube baits have a tendency to ball up on hook sets, especially
when fished through heavy cover.
Bassmaster Elite Series pro Clark Reehm
has a trick that he says increases his hookups by nearly 100 percent.
“When flipping and pitching tubes, there
is so much plastic to deal with that the tube
balls up on the hook a lot of the time, meaning you lose the fish,” he says. “Cutting the
tube down one side removes a lot of plastic
the hook has to go through; I rarely miss
fish on tubes when I do this.”
Here’s how Reehm doctors up his tubes
for a better hookup ratio.
Tip
48
Connect line to
a reel spool
There are many ways to attach line
to a spool, but here is the way most
pros do it. It’s called the Arbor
Knot:
1
1
2
2
Thread the tube on
your hook to the bend
like you normally would
when Texas rigging.
Using a pair of scissors, slice down the
back side of the tube (the
side you don’t bury the
hook in) from the base up
to 1/4 inch away from
where the hook comes out.
Pass line
around reel
spool (arbor).
Tie an overhand knot
around the standing line. Then tie
a second overhand knot in the
tag end.
3
Texas rig like normal.
When you set the
hook, the hook will only
need to clear half the
amount of plastic to get
into the fish.
3
Pull tight and
snip off excess. Snug down
first overhand
knot on the reel
arbor.
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| 51 Best Kept Secrets
Remove a swallowed hook
Practicing catch-and-release is a tough duty if the bass you have
landed has completely swallowed your worm hook. Capt. Jamie
Jackson, owner of Freelancer Guide Service (www.orlandobass.com) on
Florida’s Lake Toho, has developed a foolproof method to keep deeply
hooked bass alive to bite again another day. Here’s his trick:
1
Notice which side of
the mouth the hook
shank is nearest.
2
Reach through the gill
plate on that side of
the bass, pulling the shank
out through the gills.
Tip
50
Slow down your
kayak
Going downriver in a kayak can be tricky, especially if you are attempting to fish while
also negotiating trees, rocks and shoals.
Sometimes the best holes are adjacent to
swift current, making them easy to blow by. Anchoring in swift
current can be dangerous and tricky. In order to fish swift current more
effectively, we recommend building a drag chain. All you need is a 2- to 3-foot
length of heavy chain, a dog leash and a couple of rolls of electrical tape.
1
If you have a heavy kayak
or fish swift streams or rivers, go with 3 feet of chain. If
you fish lazy streams or want
to slowly drift a weedline on a
windy day, 2 feet should suffice.
2
Wrap two full rolls of electrical tape around the
length of chain, except for one
link. The tape will deaden the
sound of a chain clanking
along a rocky bottom, as well
as reduce hang-ups.
3
3
If the hook doesn’t pop
out, reach into the
fish’s mouth and grab the
bend of the hook with a
pair of pliers. Carefully pull
the hook toward you.
34
4
After working the barb
out carefully, return the
healthy fish back to the water so it can be caught
again another day.
Latch the leash to the untaped link, and attach to
your kayak via a cleat. It’s a
good idea to keep a sharp knife
or box cutter handy in case it
does get snagged so you can
free yourself quickly and avoid
being swamped.
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51
Do-It-Yourself
Fishing
Tips
Bassmaster
Kept
Secrets
| 51 Best
Tip
51
Make and use the
Petey rig
A number of years ago, famed Carolina rigger
Peter Thliveros found himself on Sam Rayburn
in shallow water and needed a presentation that
was more subtle than a Texas rig or Carolina rig,
but still had some weight to it. After some quick
thinking, the Petey rig was born.
“All I did was pull the sinker up 8 or 10 inches
and peg it with Tru-Tungsten’s Smart Peg. I had
a Zoom Z-Nail on there and then switched to a
Zoom Fluke, which works better,” he said. “It’s
killer on fish that are cruising around.”
The Petey rig is composed of a 1/16- to
3/8-ounce Tru-Tungsten weight pegged 8 to 10
inches above a 2/0 or 3/0 Youvella OWG (offset
wide gap) hook tied on 10- to 15-pound-test
­f luorocarbon line. He’ll use the stouter components if he’s around heavy cover.
Thliveros uses the rig as a search tool, but he
says it excels when the bite is tough.
“It is a finesse presentation, and it gets bit everywhere I’ve thrown it,” he said. “I’ll use it mainly in
shallow water, around brush, grasslines and other
cover, but I’ve caught fish 25 feet deep with it, too.”
1
3
4
1. Slide your main line through the loop of
the Smart Peg line. Make sure the top of
the Smart Peg will be facing the right direction once you slide the piece of rubber
on your line.
2. Slide the Smart Peg on your main line,
and position it 12 to 18 inches from the
terminal end.
3. Add a tungsten weight and push the stopper into the line hole, securing the weight
at the desired location on your line.
4. Tie on a Youvella offset wide gap hook.
5. Thread a Zoom Fluke on the hook, and
get to fishin’.
36
5
CM-210-0215