Monthly Archives: July 2013

Hot Summer Fishing On Lake Sinclair

Lake Sinclair bass caught on a jig head worm

Lake Sinclair bass caught on a jig head worm

When does it get too hot to go fishing? For me, last Thursday at noon! I had met Mike Reid at Lake Sinclair to get information for a Georgia Outdoor News article and it was pretty comfortable when we started at 5:30 AM. But by 9:00 the sun was getting hot and the bass were smarter than us – they had quit biting. We gave up and put his boat on the trailer just after noon.

It was still dark when we started so we hit some lighted boat docks. Mike quickly caught a nice two pound bass on a top water plug. As the sky started to lighten up we moved to some grass beds and caught several fish on top. Mike had seven or eight to my two but one of mine was by far the biggest, at 2.5 pounds. Most were just keeper size.

We fished some more grass beds and caught several more fish. I had another 2.5 pounder on a jig head worm and Mike caught a couple in that range on top. We both got several smaller keeper bass. Sinclair seems to be full of 12 and 13 inch bass.

At about 9:00 we moved out to the riprap on a bridge and both got two more keepers. Then we started running spots, marking them on a map for the GON article. On one Mike got the big fish of the day, a skinny 3.5 pound largemouth.

Mike is in the Air Force and is a very accomplished fisherman for his youth. He is just 24 but he won the Bassmasters Weekend Series tournament on Sincair this year and won one of those tournaments on Clark’s Hill last year. His job working on severely damaged aircraft keeps him on the move and he is out of the US a lot, so he does not get to fish as many tournaments as he would like.

Although the hot sun ran us off the lake early our best five bass weighed just under 12 pounds. If there had been any breeze to cool us we might have stayed longer, but with no air moving it was miserable.

Bass will hit in the heat and fishing early and late in the day is a good tactic for bass right now. Night fishing will get better over the next few weeks as it gets hotter, too. It will be much more comfortable fishing in the dark.

How Can Research and Planning Help Me Catch Bass?

Chris Zaldain likes a swimbait

Chris Zaldain likes a swimbait

Research, Pre-Planning Help This Pro Find Bass

For second-year Bassmaster® Elite tournament angler Chris Zaldain, finding bass on lakes he’s never fished before involves a lot more than casting his favorite lure and hoping it lands in front of a hungry fish. The Yamaha Pro actually starts “fishing” a new tournament lake with hours of Internet research and map study weeks before he ever arrives at the water’s edge.

In the process, Zaldain, 28, formulates not only a Plan A on how he intends to fish during the competition, but also a backup Plan B, and sometimes even a Plan C. It’s a system that works, too; the California native has notched two top 10 finishes and collected a check in five of the first six Elite events of the 2013 season.

“The prior planning is definitely a major part of my preparation, and it’s been part of my bass fishing for years, but I’ll be the first to admit I still sometimes feel intimidated when I first look at some of the lakes we fish and see how big they are,” laughs Zaldain. “In California, most of our lakes are much, much smaller than what we fish in the Elite Series, so I make myself do more research than I’ve ever done before.”

Among the types of information the Yamaha Pro looks for are the results from past tournaments. The weight and size of the fish from those tournaments helps him determine seasonal patterns, as well as learn what to expect during his own tournament. Low weights, for instance, often indicate potentially tough fishing conditions, which in turn help him make certain lure choices.

“From the basic seasonal pattern, I study a lake map and try to pick one particular area of the lake where I’ll concentrate,” continues Zaldain. “I choose an area that embraces maybe 25 miles of the lake, and I want it to have as many different structure and cover options for the bass as possible. I want it to have rocks, wood, weeds, boat docks, points, coves, channels, and dropoffs, for example.

“The more options this area has, the more likely I will find them in that area and not have to run up and down the lake looking for them. I will spend my three official tournament practice days learning as much about that single area as possible.”

Zaldain’s Plan A evolves out of this practice; his Plan B is usually totally different and often based on a possible weather change that may occur during the tournament. This is exactly what happened to the Yamaha Pro during the May Elite tournament on Georgia’s West Point Lake.

“I’d never been on West Point before, but from my research as well as from my practice, I thought a swim bait would work well there, and it did the first day,” explains Zaldain, “but heavy rain and high wind the next day killed that bite.

Several times during practice, however, I had seen a lot of fish following my swim bait, and I thought I could also catch them with an extremely slow presentation with a plastic worm and light line.

“That became my Plan B, and while it was completely different from my original fishing plan, it worked and I was able to finish sixth. I always try to anticipate a change in bass behavior during a tournament week, and changing lures, often to a worm or jig, is usually part of that alternate plan.”

Zaldain likes to begin his practice fishing with a soft plastic swim bait, which he prefers over a spinnerbait as a search bait. The lure has its strongest action with a fast retrieve that allows him to cover a lot of water quickly. He believes it also offers another advantage in that few tournament pros use swim baits to help them locate bass so the fish don’t see many of them.

“Swim baits are part of my confidence package,” smiles the Yamaha Pro, “so they’re also part of Plan A whenever I can make them fit.”

Fishing and Fun on The Augusta Canal

“Low bridge, everybody down, Low bridge, we’re a com-in to a town. You will always know your neighbor, you will always know your pal, if you have ever navigated on the” Augusta Canal???? In Dearing, Georgia while in grade school we used to sing the “Erie Canal” song written by Thomas Allen in 1905, but I had no idea the August Canal was only 30 miles away. It, too, is steeped in history.

As I got a little older I heard about the Augusta Canal and the fact that people caught fish in it got my attention. We would cross sections of it going into downtown Augusta but it still meant little to me. The bigger waters of nearby Clark’s Hill always attracted me more.

I knew there was a lock and dam near Augusta that allowed boats to come into the city and I assumed the canal was part of that system. But it is not. The lock and dam is downstream of Augusta and the dam for the canal is upstream. It raises the level of the Savannah River and forces the water into a canal that runs into downtown Augusta.

Constructed in 1845 and enlarged in 1875, the 8.5 mile canal is not for moving barges. It provides power for mills. Each mill along its length has a water intake and the falling water turns turbines that power machinery in the mill. The first mills build to take advantage of the canal were saw mills and grist mills, then textile mills for spinning thread from cotton and weaving it into cloth were built.

During the Civil War the canal and location of Augusta made the Confederacy build its powder works there. The Confederate State of America Powderworks complex made almost all the gunpowder used by the south in the war. The powder works buildings were the only buildings ever constructed by the CSA government and its 28 buildings stretched for two miles along the canal. It was torn down after the war and the only remaining sign of it is the tall chimney that sits just off the canal.

Augusta was not destroyed in the civil war as were so many towns and cities in Georgia by Sherman’s March to the Sea. After the war the city went through a boom, and the Enterprise, King and Sibley textile mills, the Lombard Ironworks and many others were built along the canal.

By 1892 Augusta was using the canal to turn electric generators and was the first southern city to have streetlights and street cars powered by water from the canal. For years Augusta boomed due to the canal but by the mid 1950s it had gone downhill. By the 1960s city officials considered closing the canal, draining it and making it into a highway.

The canal was preserved and is now a natural oasis within the city. People walk and ride bikes on the old towpaths along its banks. You can see many kinds of birds and even alligators there, and the fishing is good. Boats are limited to electric power only and many canoes and kayaks travel its waters.

The Enterprise Mill was restored and turned into an office and residential complex. It now houses the Augusta Canal National Heritage Interpretive Center. It houses exhibits and artifacts depicting canal construction and mill life. You can also catch a “Petersburg Boat” for a ride on the canal at the mill.

Petersburg was a city upstream of Augusta at the junction of the Savannah and Broad Rivers. Between 1800 and 1810 it was the third largest Georgia city, after Savannah and Augusta. Its location made it a trade center, especially for tobacco farmers. The remains of the old city now lie under the waters of Clark’s Hill Lake.

Petersburg boats are long, narrow boats built to use the canal. The ones available for tours are now electric powdered but they once were pulled by mules trudging along the towpaths along the canal. You get a good view of the canal, bridges and buildings along it as well as sighting some wildlife. The tour guides give a history of the canal and point out interesting sights. You are not allowed to fish from the boats!

There is a beautiful park at the headwaters of the canal at the dam and you can enjoy even catch smallmouth bass in the shoals near there. The gatekeeper’s house has been turned into a visitor’s center where you can get information about the area.

I can’t believe I grew up 30 miles from this historic area and never visited. Don’t make my mistake, plan a visit.

Fishing Lake Tobesofkee

Have you ever been to Lake Tobesofkee? Less than an hour from Griffin, Georgia, Tobesofkee is a 1750 acre lake owned by Bibb County. It is just west of Macon, about five miles from the I-475 and Georgia Highway 74 interchange, and there is good access although it is expensive to launch a boat.

I was there last week late one afternoon to get information for a Georgia Outdoor News article. I am always amazed at the number and size of bass this small lake can produce. In less than four hours Davey Montford and I landed six bass ranging from one to four pounds. And to make it more exciting, three of them hit topwater baits.

We started fishing at about 5:30 PM and stayed until dark. The fishing often gets even better after dark but we needed to head home. The lake is ringed with very nice houses and many of the docks along its banks have lights that attract baitfish and bass.

The lake is big enough to run a bass boat with no problems. The biggest problem there is the pleasure boat traffic. It is small enough that it is hard to fish during the day on nice weekends. But it shines early in the morning, late in the afternoon and at night.

Davey caught an 8.5 pound bass there last January in a club tournament and has weighed in five bass limits breaking the 20 pound mark several times. He marked ten spots to fish that will be on a map in the magazine in July. Some of them are deeper daytime holes but several are grass beds where we caught the bass on top.

Plan a trip to Tobesofkee one week day afternoon for some fun fishing. And there is an excellent restaurant right on the water if you want to eat dinner. Davey says they have good seafood and I agree!

Why Should I Use Planers To Get My Bait Down Deep?

Use a planer board to get a small bait down deep

Use a planer board to get a small bait down deep

Get Down With Planers

Trolling Deep Made Easy
From The Fishing Wire

On a recent trip to North Carolina, Yamaha caught up with the charter captain brothers Brant and Barrett McMullan, highly-ranked professional kingfish tournament anglers and Yamaha Pro Team members. The McMullan family owns and operates the Ocean Isle Fishing Center in Ocean Isle Beach, home to the Jolly Mon King Mackerel Tournament. The initial plan was to run offshore to fish for tuna and wahoo, but Mother Nature was not cooperating so the brothers took the heavy tackle off their Yamaha-powered 32′ Yellowfin center console and replaced it with some light gear to fish for Spanish mackerel, bonito and gray trout inshore.

During the switch, we noticed the McMullan’s had heavy outfits with large planers coming off the boat and light outfits equipped with little tiny planers going on. So we asked them, “Why do you guys always seem to have planers on the boat?”

“It doesn’t matter what kind of fishing we are doing, or whether it’s inshore or offshore,” said Capt. Brant. “You can be sure that there are a lot more fish holding down in the water column than there are feeding on the surface. Trolling planers are the easiest way I know to get a lure or rigged bait down there to catch those fish.”

For those unfamiliar with trolling planers, they are basically weighted, stainless steel wings with a ring and wire trip mechanism. When armed, the forward motion of the boat forces the planer to dive to a predetermined depth pulling whatever lure or bait is attached along with it. As demonstrated by the McMullan’s, trolling planers come in a wide variety of sizes for covering almost any trolling situation.

“We use the smallest planers (#1 and #2) for fish like Spanish mackerel and bonito inshore, and the larger sizes (#16 and above) offshore for fish like tuna and wahoo,” Capt. Brant explained. “In recent years, the hot setup for catching big bluefin tuna around here in the winter has been using the large planers to troll rigged ballyhoo 50-to-60 feet down and about a hundred yards behind the boat. With all the different sizes available, you can find a planer that will work in almost any fishing situation.”

Planers can be used a couple of different ways depending on the size and application. The small ones are attached directly to the end of the running line on a light trolling outfit. Then a long leader is run between the planer and the lure. That day, the McMullan’s used #1 planers on light trolling outfits with a 12-foot leader running back to a tiny Clark spoon that matched the size of the baitfish the Spanish mackerel were chasing. It would be impossible to get those nearly weightless spoons down at trolling speed any other way.

The planers pulled them along at 15-to-20 feet below the surface. When a fish strikes and gets hooked, the pressure trips the ring mechanism, which allows the wing to change from a diving angle to a flat position (see figure 2) This allows the angler to play the fish back to the boat.
Once the planer is reeled to the rod tip, simply pull the fish in by hand using the leader.

“Larger planers are rigged differently,” McMullan told us. “At speed, they create so much resistance that you would have to attach them to an extremely heavy outfit just to handle the pressure. When you hooked a fish, the outfit would be so heavy you would have to fight the fish with the rod still in the rod holder, and that’s not much fun. So we attach the big planers to the line from a downrigger, and the lures or baits are fished from a separate outfit using a simple release system made up of a double snap swivel and a rubber band to link it to the planer line.”

The downrigger is loaded with 250-lb. test braided line to handle the pressure the planer generates as it digs to run deep. It is attached to the downrigger line with a 400-lb. test snap swivel replacing the downrigger ball that would normally be there. When it’s time to deploy the planer, the boat should be in gear and at trolling speed. Drop the planer in the water armed so it will dive, and lower it under pressure from the drag on the downrigger to its maximum depth, then lock it up. Next grab the outfit you’re going to fish with and release the lure or rigged bait as far back behind the boat as you want it. For some gamefish like wahoo, running it 20 or 30 feet behind the planer is fine. The planer is shiny stainless steel and can actually help attract some fish to the hook bait. For others species that tend to shy away from boats, like bluefin tuna, you will want to get the bait way back behind the boat, 50-to-100 yards or more.

To link the bait line to the downrigger line so the planer can pull it down, wrap a #64 rubber band around the line (see figure 3) and attach it to one side of a double snap swivel. The other snap is closed around the braided line between the downrigger and the planer. With your thumb on the spool of the reel, slowly let line out. The pressure of the water at trolling speed will push the swivel release down the line to the top of the planer along with the line running to the bait behind the boat. Once it reaches the planer, tighten up the line a little to take as much belly out of the length between the rod tip and the rubber band release as possible. When a fish hits, the rubber band breaks releasing the line from its connection to the planer, and you can fight the fish free and clear.

If you don’t have downriggers, you can make a simple planer line that will accomplish the same goal. Use a 75-foot length of 200-lb. test monofilament line and crimp on a 400-lb. test swivel to the end you will use to attach to the planer. Tie a large loop that will fit over the stern clean of the boat to the other end. Clip it to the planer and let it out by hand. (see figure 4)
Figure 4. These skilled North Carolina captains never leave the docks without planers in a number of sizes on board.
Once the planer is at running depth, use the same rubber band release procedure as Capt. Brant described for the downrigger and you’ll be fishing deep for cheap! When you want to retrieve the planer, slow the boat to a stop and pull it up or pull the line hard and release it quickly to trip the mechanism.

If you’re going to be in the coastal area of North Carolina be sure to check out the McMullan’s new cable television show – OIFC No Limits Fishing, which will be broadcast daily on ATNC Cable’s local access channel with support from Yamaha Marine, Yellowfin® Boats and Pelagic® clothing. It will feature Captains Brant and Barrett providing fishing reports and forecasts, phone interviews with local captains, and an action segment with on-the-water tips and techniques to help you catch more fish. You can also access the show by going to www.oifc.com and clicking the link.

Have You Ever Got A Hook Stuck In You While Fishing?

Fact of life – if you fish much you will get hooks stuck in you. From little pin-pricks on fingertips to hooks buried in ears, arms and even bellies, hooks end up in all the wrong places. It will happen.

One experience was funny, to everyone except my Uncle Mayhue. Three of us were fishing from a 12 foot jon boat at Usury’s Pond in McDuffie County. That is a prescription for disaster, especially if one of the fishermen is only eight years old. Uncle Adron was in the middle of the boat and I was in the back. Uncle Mayhue was in the front sculling the boat along while all three of us cast plastic worms with three hooks in them.

I have no doubt both uncles were watching me and trying to make sure I didn’t do anything to cause a problem, but Uncle Adron should have been looking forward more. On one cast he somehow hooked Uncle Mayhue in the ear with his plastic worm – with all three hooks.

I tried not to laugh but it was funny. The red Crème worm outlined the ear while a few drops of blood trickled out. Not one to let such a small thing stop him from fishing, Uncle Mayhue just kept on casting, saying he would get it out later. Uncle Adron had to cut his line and rig up another bait.

When I was about 15 years old I was fishing at Clark’s Hill by myself in our big ski boat. It was a hot day and I had my shirt off. I cast a Little Cleo spoon toward the bank and got hung in a bush. When I snatched it to pull it out of the bush my plan worked too well. I suddenly felt a sting on my stomach, looked down and saw one of the hooks on the treble was out of sight with the other two pressed tight against my stomach.

I did not have a protective coating over my stomach back then like I do now, and I knew from my little memory of biology that there were some pretty important things not too far under the skin in that area. I cut the line off and drove the boat back to the dock.

My mom was fishing under the dock and when I tied the boat up and pointed to the spoon I almost passed out. It did not hit me till then. She took me to the emergency room and they cut the hook out and it took only two stitches to close the cut up. The doctor told me I was not really in any danger, the layer of muscle – back then, anyway – was much thicker than the hook was long.

That and other experiences taught me to get the hooks out of myself. One beautiful fall day while fishing at Lake Martin I was casting a big DBIII crankbait to shallow cover. When the lure bumped a log I thought I got a strike and set the hook. The plug came flying through the air and ended up hanging from my upper arm, just below my shirt sleeve.

It didn’t really hurt, just felt like someone had punched me in the arm. I told my partner to grab the visible hooks with a pair of pliers and jerk the hook out. I warned him to do it fast, to please not pull slowly because that hurt a lot more.

He took the pliers, looked at the plug and all the color drained from his face. He couldn’t do it. So I did. I took the pliers, jerked the lure loose and went back to casting it. It never bled or hurt. I have found that often works best. Just jerk the hook out quickly and get back to fishing.

If you are fishing saltwater on the Gulf of Mexico you had better be careful of any injury like that, though. Especially this time of year there is a bacterium that lives in the water that can be deadly. It is more common late in the summer and will enter your body through any hole like those made by hooks, fish fins and knife cuts. It can even get in through a scrape.

A few years ago a friend of mine, Kevin Dallmier, who was a fisheries biologist from north Georgia, got one of these infections. The bacterium, Vibrio vulnificus, can lead to amputations and even death. Kevin was in the hospital for several weeks recovering from his infection.

You are more likely to get an infection if your immune system is weak. But be careful anyway. There are about 40 confirmed cases each year on the US Gulf Coast, not many unless you happen to be one of them. A high percentage of confirmed cases, 35, require hospitalization and almost one third, or 12 per year, result in death.

Be careful when fishing. And if you get an injury from a hook or anything else, get medical attention if you start running a fever. Don’t wait to hope it will go away.

What Is Figuring Out A Bass Pattern?

You need to pattern bass to have a catch like this in a tournament

You need to pattern bass to have a catch like this in a tournament

Good bass fishermen can pattern bass. That means they can catch a few bass and figure out what the bass are doing at that time on a lake. They can then go catch other bass in similar places with similar baits. For example, if a good bass fisherman catches three bass off blowdown trees on three different points, he will start running from point to point casting only to blowdown trees, using the same bait the first three hit.

Several years ago Fritz, a friend from Des Moines, visited the last week of February for some fishing. We hit Sinclair twice, Jackson once and spent our last day on West Point. A pattern gradually emerged that worked on all four lakes and helped us put bass in the boat.

Fritz goes by the name “Learning To Fish At 40” on my internet site since he took up fishing when he turned 40. I call it his mid life crisis. He is very smart and has read a lot on fishing, and has taught me some things! He looks at fishing in a different way than I do, with a fresh perspective.

We started fishing “places” at Sinclair that February, places I remember catching bass at that time of year. We tried lots of places with a variety of baits including crankbaits, spinner baits, jig and pig and worms.

After about half the first day was gone Fritz said “Do you realize every bass we have caught hit a jig and pig on rocks near deep water. So we started concentrating on those types of places using a jig and pig and caught a good many bass the rest of that day and the next day on Sinclair. We tried some other stuff, like fishing into the coves behind the points, but the bass just were not there.

It had been unusually warm and by Monday it was almost like spring. We went to Jackson and started on the same pattern from the day before, and caught fish. Buy that afternoon we saw the water had warmed so we started fishing into the pockets behind the points, too, and catching a few bass off wood cover. That had not worked the day before or that morning.

We had a good day at Jackson and decided to go to West Point the next day. A hard cold front came through and temperatures were dropping fast. But the pattern held, and we hooked some nice bass on rocky points and the wood cover behind them. We ended the day with me catching a 7.5 pound largemouth on a jig and pig out of a blowdown and Fritz catching a four pound bass, his best to that point, out of another blowdown.

Last Saturday night at Jackson Niles Murray and I fished the Sportsman Club tournament. We started on my favorite point near the dam but all we got was a spot that was too short to keep. At about 6:45 we ran up to the mouth of Tussahaw Creek where Niles has caught some fish the weekend before and started working the area.

At 7:20 I landed a good two pound keeper spot on a main lake point with some rocks on it. It his a jig head worm. Niles caught a short bass and some bluegill on his crankbait. About an hour later we had worked up the bank to another point with some rocks on it and I got another keeper spot, then Niles got one on his crankbait.

It was almost dark so we kept fishing up the bank, fishing around the coves and working all the cover we came to. At about 9:10 we had worked out onto another main lake point with rocks and, guess what. I got another keeper spot! At that point we decided to concentrate on that pattern but did not catch any more fish.

I wish I had caught on to that pattern quicker. We wasted a lot of time fishing in coves and other places where there were no bass. If we had started jumping from point to point earlier I think we could have caught more fish. By full dark the fish had stopped hitting on points, it seems.

The bass may have started hitting on that pattern again later in the night but we stopped at 12:30 AM. I have seen this type pattern in the past, where bass hit pretty good from 6:00 PM until about 9:00 PM then a lull with no bites until after midnight. It seems to me the fish need to adjust to full dark before they start hitting again.

In the tournament 15 members and guests fished for seven hours to land 17 bass weighing about 24 pounds. It was a very tough night and no limits were caught. Six people did not have a keeper bass.

Tom Tanner won it all with two bass weighing 4.66 pounds and his 3.14 pound spot was big fish in the tournament. My three weighed 4.36 and gave me second place, third went to David Fryer with three keepers weighing 3.70 pounds and Brent Terry got one keeper weighing 2.64 pounds for fourth place.

A word or warning. If you go to Jackson late in the afternoon, use some good sense and stop skiing and tubing when the sun sets. And turn on your running lights. It is dangerous and illegal to be out there after sunset without your lights on. Last Saturday official sunset was at 8:14 PM and it gets earlier each day, and the game wardens know the exact minute each day. We saw several boats get tickets and they even warned us because we had covered the back running light with a cap to keep it from blinding us while fishing. You could still see it but it was not bright enough and the game wardens stopped and “talked” to us.

Follow the law or take a chance of getting a ticket.

Finesse Fishing for Summer Smalmouth

Jeff Kreit with a smallmouth caught finesse fishing

Jeff Kreit with a smallmouth caught finesse fishing

Finesse Tactics Often Best for Summer Smallmouths

Yamaha Pro Jeff Kriet shows a nice smallmouth that grabbed a drop-shot rig on South Dakota’s Lake Oahe. The finesse approach is just the ticket for clear water smallmouths.

On a recent trip to South Dakota’s Lake Oahe, often described as one of the nation’s premier smallmouth bass fisheries, Yamaha Pro Jeff Kriet left most of his fishing tackle in his truck. He didn’t forget it; he knew he wouldn’t need anything except two spinning rods and a box full of small soft plastic lures. By day’s end, he’d caught and released more than 30 smallmouths.

“For me, summertime smallmouth fishing in clear water means using finesse tactics, not heavy tackle,” explains Kriet, a veteran Bassmaster® Elite angler known for his expertise with light lines and small lures. “Once the water begins warming, the fish normally move a little deeper and for some reason also become a little more choosy about the lures they’ll hit.

“My own favorite presentation is a drop shot, in which the lure is located about a foot above the sinker, because it allows me to keep that lure in the strike zone as long as I want to, and it looks completely natural in the water.”

Among tournament pros like Kriet, the drop shot has become an extremely popular bass fishing technique because it also works in both shallow and deep water and brings strikes when other presentations fail. Kriet, in fact, admits he always has a drop shot outfit on his boat deck wherever he’s competing.

Slow is the way to go

Slow is the way to go

Kriet says that a slow retrieve with gentle movements usually works better for smallmouths in clear water.

“I start with six pound test fluorocarbon line on a medium action spinning reel,” explains the Yamaha Pro, “and generally tie either a 3/8 or 1/4 ounce sinker at the end of my line. Then, about 12 inches above the sinker, I tie a small No. 1 hook and thread on either a thin four inch plastic worm or some other lure that looks like a small shad.

“After I make a cast, I let the sinker reach bottom and then slowly drag it along until I reach some type of cover, like rocks, or logs. Then I just let it sit there and barely shake my rod to make the lure move. I really think the key to drop shotting is not over-working the lure with a lot of hops and jumps. The lure is not intrusive and the bass aren’t frightened by it the way they may be by larger, noisier lures.”

At times, summer smallmouth may also be suspended, and when Kriet sees them this way on his depthfinder, he usually fishes the drop shot vertically by simply dropping the lure straight down to them. Frequently, smallmouth either hit the lure as it falls, or they follow it to the bottom and then strike.

“One of the common misconceptions about a drop shot is that it is strictly a deep water technique,” Kriet continues, “but I frequently fish a drop shot in water less than five feet deep, and I know some pros who tie their hooks just three or four inches above the sinker and fish in water only a foot deep. Even rigging this way keeps the lure above the bottom, which allows bass to see it clearly.”

The drop shot rig uses a weight of 3/8 to 1/4 ounce about 12 inches below a number 1 hook, rigged with a 4-inch plastic worm or small plastic shad.

Another misconception about drop shotting, he adds, is that constantly shaking the lure will make it appear more natural to smallmouth, but in reality, just the opposite is true. In most instances, just barely moving the lure is more effective.

“I always shake my rod with a slack line so the sinker stays in place on the bottom and only the lure moves,” concludes the Yamaha Pro, “and I just barely twitch the rod instead of really shaking it like I sometimes do with a larger jig. The lure is going to be moving even when I’m not shaking the rod, due to water currents, and that’s the way a real minnow or shad behaves.

“When you fish a drop shot this way, just dragging the sinker slowly along the bottom and barely shaking your rod tip, it really becomes an easy way to fish for summer smallmouth, and best of all, it’s also one of the most effective ways to fish that I know.

“That’s why, when I see clear water in the summer, I know I can leave the rest of my tackle in the truck.”

What Can I Do If I Get A Spider In My Ear While Fishing?

Catching bullheads and cats at night can be dangerous!

Catching bullheads and cats at night can be dangerous!

Watching a hospital show on TV last week brought back bad memories for me. On this show a guy came into the emergency room complaining about something in his ear. When the nurse looked into his ear with a flashlight he was horrified. One of his nightmares, a spider, was in the guy’s ear.

When running bank hooks at night at Clark’s Hill we usually checked them a couple of times after dark. Willow trees overhanging the water were good places to tie hooks but presented some problems. Lots of critters liked to hang out in those trees.

One night Linda was holding the flashlight while I baited a hook. When I stood up my head brushed one of the higher branches and I felt something on my ear. I brushed at it and told Linda to shine the light to see what was there.

Big mistake. It was a spider. Spiders don’t like light, so it went into the nearest dark hole it could find – my ear! I could feel it scrabbling around down in there on my eardrum, as far in as it would go.

Somehow I managed to get back to the trailer at the boat club and went inside. Mom and dad and Linda all tried to help, shining a light in my ear to see if they could do something but that just made the spider try to get away from the light, going deeper into my ear. I was about to go crazy feeling that thing moving around in there.

Finally mom poured some baby oil into my ear and the spider, not wanting to drown, popped out. It fell on the table and I hit it so hard with my fist the table jumped and made everything on it turn over. But that spider didn’t get back into my ear!

Another night I had just checked a hook and baited it up. When I stood up I grabbed a limb to steady myself and caught a glimpse of something that made my heart stop. There was a huge wasp nest about two inches from my hand and a foot from my face.

Luckily, wasps don’t fly at night and none came off the nest. But it was one of the worst scares I had running hooks.

Once while frog gigging with two friends I had a close encounter of the snakey kind. Bobby was in the back of the boat paddling, I was in the middle with the spotlight and Harold was in the front with the gig. We spotted a big frog under a willow tree and eased in toward it. I stood up so I could get a good angle with the light while Harold lay in the front of the boat with the gig.

As the front of the boat eased under the tree I grabbed a limb to steady myself and something made me shine my light on the limb. A few inches from my hand a water snake was lying on the limb, probably asleep. I didn’t scream or anything, I just told Bobby to back us out – in a very squeaky voice.

Harold figured out what was going on and later said he was afraid to move, he was expecting something to fall on his back any second. We all had a good laugh about it but went to the truck, got a .410 and sent that snake to reptile heaven.

If you fish at night you will have some exciting memories – if you survive them!

What Is Electrofishing To Catch Fish for Study?

Biologists study fish caught electrofishing

Biologists study fish caught electrofishing

A “Shocking Way to View Fish”

Editor’s Note: The following is from The Florida Fish Busters Bulletin, a service of The Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission written monthly by Bob Wattendorf.

An electrifying way to study fish

Not everyone can step up to the bow of a boat, lean against the railing, step on a pedal and start netting fish as they float up to the surface. However, biologists use various styles of electrofishing boats or backpack shockers to collect fish for scientific analyses and to help manage the fishery.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) fishery biologists have college educations and special training to operate this equipment safely. For some professionals, it is one of the more enjoyable perquisites of the job. Just to be clear, it is illegal for any angler to fish with electricity. Only fishery biologists can use this method when conducting scientific sampling.

Electrofishing boats use a generator to create an electric current to shock fish in a way that temporarily stuns them. The current flows out in an electrical field between booms that hang off the front of the boat and the metal hull of the boat itself. The electric field does not kill the fish but can actually attract them toward the booms, before temporarily stunning those that swim within 6 to 8 feet. Biologists then scoop up the fish in knotless nets and place them in an aerated live well to recover.

The electricity’s effects on the fish are typically minimal. Several factors contribute to how long the fish remains stunned, including the size of the fish, the species, water temperature and conductivity, how close the fish is to the booms and how long the current is applied. In most cases, stunning occurs within a few seconds of the fish entering the electric field and lasts less than a couple minutes once the fish is removed from the electric field.

Biologists typically identify the fish by species, count and measure them, including their length and weight. Depending on the study, blood samples may be taken, stomach contents examined and tissue samples collected to determine mercury and pesticide levels, or the fish’s genetic makeup. Occasionally biologists transport some specimens to the lab or hatchery for further examination or for breeding purposes. Scientists may also harvest a few to examine their otoliths, or earbones, which, once cut and ground into thin slices, show growth rings that reveal their age.

In the field, biologists also collect data that can be used in conjunction with the fish data to evaluate the fishery and determine how best to manage the resource. For instance, they record water clarity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and temperature, along with other information about the type of plants, specific location and substrate (for example, mud, gravel or sand). This is useful to determine why certain fish may be present or absent and to compare samples from year to year or with different water bodies.

Electrofishing can be much less damaging than methods that entangle or trap fish, such as seines, gillnets, wire traps or trawls, which may injure or kill them. It is an urban myth that electrofishing harms the eggs of female fish. In fact, biologists use electrofishing to collect brood fish to take to hatcheries to use as parent fish.

Electrofishing is one of the main tools that Florida’s fish biologists use to determine how healthy the fish population is in a particular pond, lake, river or canal. They then use that information to try to ensure the fish and their habitats are taken care of and to make fishing more enjoyable. For instance, it can help determine if specific habitat restoration efforts, stocking programs or conservation measures were successful or if measures are needed to enhance angler enjoyment.

Information from electrofishing and other sampling methods, including angler creel surveys – where we talk to anglers to determine what they caught – provide much of the information that we use in writing our quarterly fishing sites and forecast reports. Those reports, along with interviews with fishing guides and annual predictions for anglers of top fishing destinations for bass, bream, striper and catfish, are available at MyFWC.com/Fishing; select “Freshwater Fishing” then “Sites & Forecasts.”

Students at the Florida Youth Conservation Network learning about electrofishing.
Fisheries biology is a fun possibility for a career, for those who like science, nature and the outdoors. As part of the FWC effort to create the Next Generation that cares and to help sustain fisheries resources for the public, the FWC has created the Florida Youth Conservation Center Network (FYCCN.org).

A major part of the FYCCN effort goes toward hosting fish camps each summer around the state. The goal of Fishing and Basic Boating Skills Camps is to create life-long anglers and stewards of aquatic and fisheries resources. Licensed anglers and hunters, who choose to donate for youth fishing and hunting education programs when they buy their licenses, help fund these camps. Over the past four years, these camps have expanded from two to 15 locations across the state with a potential to reach 900 children. Besides being fun and informative camps help teach kids angling and boating skills, and introduce them to conservation stewardship and the possibilities of a future career.

A recently produced video highlights for camp participants how scientists use electrofishing. It provides information about common freshwater fishes and angler recognition programs. To see the video yourself, check out “A shocking way to view fish” on the FWC video channel at YouTube.com (http://bit.ly/YT-shock).