Hot Tip Of the Week?

[Deitz Dittrich]

So we have done this in years past, and in my opinion its been quite a bit of fun and quite informative. For those who are new to HSO and the bass page. People volunteer to write a mini article on a subject they are willing to share. Doenst have to be big, a paragraph will do fine.

So... Who's in?

I'll do the first one and post it next monday.

1-25 Deitz

2-1 Cecil

2-8 mnfishinguy

2-15 TonkaBass

2-22 RK

3-1 Larson15

3-8 Ray Esboldt

3-15 Olski

3-22 mattrd

3-29 TR21HP

4-5 Ikeslayer

4-12 st.crioxfishin

4-19 JConrad

4-26

[ikeslayer]

i will take 4-5 just to book end it with deitz

[Cecil]

I can do whenever...

[JohnMickish]

I have a good tacke tip, pick a week for me DD.

[TonkaBass]

count me in...

[RK]

I'll do one - someone remind me if I breeze out and forget though I have the memory of a fruit fly...

[Larson15]

I will do 3-1

[Ray Esboldt]

Throw me in for one.

[olski]

HEY DEITZ, I can do one if you still need someone.

[delmuts]

Hey DD. I don't really have much info , but i do have a couple of little tricks i use to refurbish some of my lures to share.

One is on jigs that have the bronze hooks. When these start to rust, and you want to save them. Try buffing them with a brass wire brush( I use a old golf brush that is nylon on one side and brass on the other!)to remove rust and junk. Then apply a very LIGHT coat of clear finger nail polish. This will protect the hook but not affect the preformance. Another thing i do when the paint on jig heads get beat up is to give them several coats of a nail polish,(I was using black this morning!) to get more life out of them. Also on blades,or spoons that have gotten dull ( Such as a silver minnow!). Use either rubbing compound or fine steel wool to bring the shine back and give them a coat of clear polish! ( Yes i have found nail polish to be very usefull! )

[mattrd]

Hey Deitz,

I can do 3-22 if you would like.

Matt

[Deitz Dittrich]

you in Matt

[TR21HP]

Deitz,

If you haven't filled 3-29 yet I'm in.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Thanks TR.. added you and made more space for others who want to help out.

[st.crioxfishin]

I can do one Deitz

[JConrad]

Hey Deitz, Sign me up for 4/19.

I hope all is well! Joel

[Cecil]

Tip 2.1.10

Pay Attention!!

There are a few ways you can pay attention on the water and as easy as it sounds, it's not always easy to remember to do.

1. Picture exactly what your lure is doing under water. I see a lot of guys move their Texas rigged worm or a jig like 4’ at a time. They move their rod tip from 3:00 to 12:00 and think that it only moved a little bit. Well, if you have a 7’ rod and you move it that much, you are potentially moving your bait right out if the strike zone. Remember you are trying to imitate something. I have never seen a crawfish move 6' in one motion. Granted, there are times when the fish might want a vertical lure moved a lot, but it's safe to assume that's not normally the case.

2. Watch your surroundings. I always look at the shoreline contour as I’m fishing a break line. If the shore line gets steeper, the odds are good that the break will too. If it changes from sand to rocky, odds are the lake bottom will too. Fish relate to these changes and will often sit right on those transitions.

3. Know where you are casting. If you are catching fish on a weed line and you look out in front of your boat and you can see the break from weeds to deeper water, why cast 10’ into the weeds? I know sometimes the fish are in the weeds, but assume you are catching them good on the break, why waste that time way back in the weeds rather than maximizing your time with a lure in that zone you are catching fish.

4. Why did each fish bite and where were they? I would say this is the #1 mistake a lot of fishermen make (me included). You catch a fish and you are so excited, you don’t stop for a second and process what just happened. What retrieve were you making? What cast angle did you make? Did the lure come off a weed when the fish hit? Did the fish have the bait all the way in it’s mouth or just on the edge suggesting you have the right bait, but might want to switch colors slightly? Did the fish grab the bait and run off possibly suggesting there are other fish nearby?

There are a lot of other things that get overlooked by most anglers and it can be very daunting to think of all of them all the time, and sometimes they can just be coincidence, but if you put them all together I promise it will reveal the keys to finding fish the rest of the trip.

[TonkaBass]

Nice! I like it Cecil! I know I have had the problem of not thinking about what I am doing on the water and worried about something completely off topic sometimes!

[NTW]

Good points Cecil. Thanks for sharing!

[cjac]

Good reminders and points!

I fished this summer in a boat flanked by two very experienced anglers. I was amazed at the fact they noticed EVERYTHING! From the smallest riple on the water, a weed moved, wind shifted, etc. they were like a dog on point. I now call them "swivelheads"......

[JConrad]

Nice tip Cecil. Staying focused and figuring out patterns that work is really key to consistently catching good number of fish. I like your thoughts. Thanks for sharing!

[TR21HP]

Great info Cecil, I can't tell you how many times, with the excitement and all that you forget toremember where you were or didn't hit the waypoint, especially in big wind, or just losing your mind over a big fish.

[Cecil]

Its very easy to just keep fishing. But I'm trying to start taking a moment after each fish and run through what just happened. Great time to do it is if you have to re-tie or re-rig a plastic...

[JohnMickish]

Great info and I am for sure guilty of all above. This info not only applies to bass but to all species.

[Juan Grande]

Great tip Cecil, I'll try that.