Bass Fishing Tip of the Week Official Post.

[TonkaBass]

Do you guys ever rig these baits upside down? I have heard of people doing this, but have never tried it myself.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Yep, but I more often will rig them on their side... you get more of a tube glide out of it then.

[Cecil]

Week 2 Tip(s)

I had a hard time deciding between two tips and, since I did not sign anything that said I could only do one, I went with the Daily Double!

Tip 1 Superline and Hooks

The more you use super line you may notice the line occasionally slipping through the gap in the eye of the hook where the eye loop closes. There is a pretty simple solution to this and it will cost you nothing. The solution is to grab a piece of monofilament line ( no need to use quality or heavy line) and tie a Palomar knot onto the hook you are going to be using. Now just clip both ends of the knot and you will be left with just the knot. Slide that knot down to the side of the hook eye where the end of the loop meets the hook. This will act as a stopper from the braided line sliding down through the gap made in the hook.

Tip 2 Slipping plastics?

Many of you use straight shank hooks when rigging plastics and more often than not, the plastics do not stay on the hooks all that well. If you go to your local hardware store you can buy a package of small shrink wrap for about $1. Cut these into about 1-1.5 inch pieces making sure to angle the cut to make a point in the shrink wrap. Now you can slide the shrink wrap onto the hook up to where you want the plastic to be held with the point facing up and to the outside of the hook. Take your trusty lighter out (can use boiling water as well, but I don’t have a stove in my boat) and heat up the shrink wrap until it shrinks to the size of the hook. Before it cools take your finger and pull that point out a little bit so it’s away from the hook. I usually dip it into the water after this is done just to make sure everything is cooled off. The shrink wrap is pliable enough that the plastics will go over it, but also strong enough to hold the plastic on. You may need to replace this after a day of good fishing or heat up the shrink every now and then, but it can be a real headache saver.

I can take and send some pics of the finished products if you would like.

[EBass]

Cecil - got any pics of tip #2? I didn't know tip 1 either -Thanks!

[bassNspear]

Awesome tips Cecil.

Your tips are awesome. Photos on #2 would be great!

[Cecil]

Yes, I can make up one of each and take some pics tonight or tomorrow.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Awesome tips Cecil!

[TonkaBass]

Very good tips, I will definetly try them!

[Cecil]

I am trying to add pics from my site and they do not show up when I submit post. Any ideas?

[Deitz Dittrich]

b-man, I looked on your web page and cant find them.. e-mail them to me? Or e-mail me the addy to the picts might be easiest.

[Cecil]

they are on the tournament blog. Just kind of threw them up there.

[Deitz Dittrich]

[Deitz Dittrich]

tah dah!!!!!!

[Cecil]

What did I do wrong?

Or, what did you do right?

[delmuts]

Interesting! Thanks for the tip!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Brent, I will e-mail you in the morning... If I tell you on here the code will over ride what I type, so I will just e-mail you brother.

[Ray Esboldt]

Tip of the week for February 16th, 2009

I think I'm supposed to provide the tip for this week, so here goes. I actually had a faily tough time with coming up with something that was not common knowledge, or giving out something that is not currently. RK gives away most of my stuff. So, I'm going to give one out that I stole from someone else through observation.

I fish rivers a fair amount, big and small rivers, dirty and clear rivers, I like rivers. Fish in current are an odd duck. When they're on they do anything but hide. They get out in the current and eat. But, when they're off, they seem to end up in places that are very difficult to fish and they get real fussy about bait size. One of those difficult places are log jams. It's not hard to pitch a weedless jig in there and you might get bit, but I contend that you can get more bites on an 1/8th oz. exposed hook jig holding a small grub or 4" ring worm. There's no way to cast that bait into the cover, so what do you do. Pull up right next to it and drop the bait straight down. Suspend that bait in all the little V's and Y's in the cover - almost like a dropshot without the drop.

A couple things that are required to make this work. Plenty of current is one. I think that deadens some the sound of the bumping and banging you're going to do. Two, you don't mind your boat rubbing up against stuff. It works even better if you have two guys and one can grab a branch and anchor the boat.

I will admit that it's really a fire drill when you hook a fish. You need braid so you can pull the fish to the top immediately, but the braid has to light enough to present the bait well (10/2 Power Pro works). And, about the only way you can land the fish is with a long handled net.

So, that's my "stolen" tip of the week. Special thanks go out to the guys who unknowingly demoed it for me.

[bassNspear]

Great tip Ray. I have fished some on the river as well, and will have to try this tip out on the river. Thanks again!

[Deitz Dittrich]

THis is a new one to me... fun stuff!

[RiverBassGuy]

very interesting post! I'll give that a try.

[RK]

Hiya -

Ray, yer killin' me. What you should do is write down ALL your secrets, and mail it to me, so I know what not to cough up

The 4" ringworm deal is really cool. I think little curly tail worms like that are great minnow imitations. Sure never fished them like you describe though. Sounds like a riot... Combat bassin'

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[CarlWBL]

Great tip. My first tournament is on the river early spring when the current moves pretty good. I'll have to give it a try.

[Central Bassman]

Great tip Ray!!

[TonkaBass]

Agreed, nice tip. I have also noticed that sometimes in the river you have to drop you lure right into the thickest of the logjams. I have only tried this with texas rigs and stuff, I will definetly give this finesse log jam technique a try! Tips like this just get me pumped for the spring river bite!!!

[Cecil]

I'm in the same boat! I don't think being at the sport show in Duluth this weekend will help at all! Unless they have some new baits there.

Deitz, Catch 22?