Monthly Archives: August 2013

What Are the Best Places To Catch Crappie From the Bank?

Best Areas For Bank Crappie Fishing

by Ray Rudolph
from The Fishing Wire

You don’t need a boat to catch early fall crappies, just a good plan of action. It can be as relaxing or adventurous as you want it to be. Here are the three best areas to focus on to catch a stringer of crappies from the bank.

Way Up The Creek

This jig will catch crappie

The odd-looking “Watsit” soft plastic on a jighead makes an ideal late summer and early fall offering for crappies.

“I grew up walking creeks,” says crappie guide Barry Morrow. “I’m talking about the uppermost areas of creeks. Most have access within a short walking distance. Access will often be from a backroad or where a bridge crosses the creek. Some have parks or picnic areas that provide easy access. Public lands are best because you must have permission if you walk private land.”

He moves along in search of laydowns, old stumps or other cover where fish might hide. His weapon of choice is an 11-foot pole, 12-pound test Silver Thread line and a 1/4-ounce jighead with a Lindy Fat Watsit body. He agrees that most fishermen are more comfortable with a lighter-weight jighead, but that extra weight allows better sensitivity to feel the bottom, brush and bites.

“Start at the outside edges of brush or laydowns and work toward the inside,” says Morrow. “The best bite is usually in the heart of the cover, but you can pick off aggressive fish from the edges without disturbing those deep in the thick stuff. Every piece of cover has a sweet spot and you’ll soon learn a pattern where most of these are located.”

Barry Morrow will guide you to crappie like these

Guide Barry Morrow says whopper crappies like these can be dredged from brush in creeks with a long crappie pole.

His technique requires both hands. Hold the pole in one hand and the line in the other. Pull the jig up to the tip, push the bait where you want it and then drop the jig by slowly moving your free hand toward the pole. Keep dropping it until you feel bottom or reach the strike zone. Controlling the line with your free hand is very important to this style of fishing. Because the rod is often confined within the branches of a laydown tree or bush, use that free hand to set the hook, pull the crappie almost to the tip then back it out.

Spillways for Crappie and More

Spillways damming man-made reservoirs are crappie guide Todd Huckabee’s favorite spots for summertime shore fishing.

“Late summer is the perfect time,” he said. “The lake becomes a little stagnate in late summer with the thermocline, low oxygen levels and water temperature all being stressful on the fish. But in the spillway the water will be cooler and dissolved oxygen levels are great. The fish feel better and are more active.”

He says with fairly uniform oxygen levels throughout the water column of a spillway, crappie can be at any depth. Every spillway is different so there are no ‘cookie cutter’ spots that work everywhere. However, he says two important features, current and eddies, are present at all spillways.

Todd Huckabee likes this jig

Guide Todd Hucakbee likes a Yum F2 Wooly Beavertail jig in dam spillways in summer.

“Many fishermen use a cast and retrieve tactic, but their baits don’t stay in the strike zone long enough. I use a float like the Wobble Bobber to stay above the rocks and to find the eddies. Once a float gets in an eddy it will circle around, which is perfect because the eddy is where baitfish and predator fish are holding. The bite usually happens quickly.”

Equipment includes his signature series 10-foot spinning rod, a float and a YUM F2 Wooly Beavertail jig. He prefers using one jig but says a tandem jig rig is fine if you prefer.

“My best tip: Don’t overlook shallow water,” he said. “Since oxygen levels are the same everywhere, spillway crappie may be very shallow where it is easier for them to ambush food.

“Another great thing about a spillway is you might catch a pound crappie, and on the next cast a white bass, then a 3-pound walleye, a northern or one of the many other species there. Spillway fishing is a lot of fun.”

Surprising Docks

The float and jig is a good choice for crapipe

A float and a jig can be a good combo around docks, especially those with brush close by.

Boat docks are well known crappie magnets, but most boating crappie anglers hit the fronts and maybe halfway down the sides. During summer, especially early and late in the day, the bank-side of docks can be more productive.

“Fish can be at many different locations on a dock but the backside can have the right depths and cover for this time of year,” said Morrow. “Fishing from the bank will put you in the action.”

Morrow casts and pitches using 7- or 10-foot poles spooled with 6- or 8-pound test Silver Thread line. The shorter pole is good for casting and flipping while the 10-foot Huckabee spinning rod is good for vertical dipping, pitching and casting.

Rigs can vary based upon your favorite baits. Morrow says his choice easy.

“I use a Lindy Crappie Cork because I can fish any depth by adjusting it up or down and I can cast it for distance and accuracy. Under the float I like a 1/16-ounce Fuzzy Grub or 1/8-ounce Watsit jig in a natural color. Green pumpkin has always worked well for me in late summer. If the water is super-clear or the fish run on the small side, use a smaller jig.

“I target brushpiles and cover near the backsides of the docks. Sometimes you can see them but most of the time you’ll have to find them by retrieving your bait between the dock and bank. Keep raising the slip float to put the bait deeper until you find cover.”

Fishing In Alaska

I caught this salmon in Sitka not long before getting on the plane

I hate flying! Unfortunately, airplanes are by far the best way to get to Alaska. This small-town Georgia boy grew up reading outdoor magazines about the fantastic fishing and hunting in Alaska but could never really imagine experiencing it first-hand.

My wife Linda has a second career as a travel writer and I have been many places I could only imagine growing up. I have kneeled on the ice in Antarctica with penguins waddling by a few feet away, fished for piranha 700 miles up the Amazon River, snorkeled in Tahiti and spent the night in a five-star hotel in Marrakesh, Morocco. All those were beyond my wildest dreams as a kid in Dearing, Georgia!

Linda and I left July 26 three years ago and flew to Anchorage, Alaska. We spent a week driving up to Denali National Park, over to Valdez then back to Alaska. The vastness of Alaska is amazing. I drove 1150 miles during that week. At dinner back in Anchorage the placemat had a map of the state about the size of my palm. The area we covered in a week was about the size of my thumb tip placed on the very corner of my palm! The same distance here would have taken us all the way around the state – with some overlap!

On that drive we passed many beautiful mountain ranges and terrain varying from damp forest to tundra. Rivers that were hard to get to looked inviting but I didn’t get to fish until we got to Valdez. There we stood on the shore of the bay and hooked salmon after salmon, landing about ten each but losing twice that many each.

We flew to Juneau and got on a small cruise ship, the Mist Cove, and spent a week with 14 other passengers and 12 crew cruising the Inner Passage, anchoring each night in secluded bays. Each day we had the option of taking out kayaks, going on hikes on shore, or taking the skiffs to fish for halibut or to streams to catch salmon.

The limit on halibut is one per day and two in possession. We brought back 46 pounds of filets from the four we kept. The salmon we caught were already in the creeks and not good to eat, but were a ball to catch on light tackle.

On my 60th birthday I was standing in a stream in Alaska catching salmon. I landed my first salmon ever on a fly rod that day, hooking and landing four after landing nine on a spinning rod and losing about 15. The screaming runs across riffles and the way they jumped were just like in my dreams!

Wildlife was amazing. Eagles were everywhere. We watched one young eagle eat a salmon on a gravel bar about 100 feet from us. One day two couples were fishing the mouth of a stream and another couple had hiked up the stream to fly-fish. Each group had a guide. Ours had a 12 gauge shotgun loaded with slugs on his back and the other guide had a 30-06 on his.

The three that went up stream came walking back pretty fast and we heard the radio crackle. Their guide was calling for a skiff to pick us up immediately. About that time, less than 100 yards behind them, a brown bear stood up. The grass was about chest high on me in the area. It came up to her waist. Beside her a cub poked his head above the grass, too.

The grizzly had followed them back down the creek after they walked up on her. She disappeared then popped up a little closer to us. About that time the skiff picked us up and we left her to fish with her cubs all by themselves!

On the trip we saw moose, caribou, mountain goats and many other critters. It was exciting.

That Sunday we loaded on an Air Alaska 737 in Sitka to come home. The plane was packed, not an empty seat. And we were amazed at the number of boxes of fish loaded on it. The luggage belt would have five or six boxes of fish, then a suitcase. The cargo hold was full.

We started down the runway and just as I felt the plane get light, mostly from me holding it up by the arm rests, there was a loud “BANG,” the left side of the plane dropped a little and the whole thing shuddered and shook. The pilot got us stopped about 100 yards from the end of the runway where it dropped into the bay.

Is this the eagle that almost caused our plane to crash?

He came on the PA an said we had hit an eagle. It tore up the engine I was sitting over and just in front of. The co-pilot and flight attendants were looking out the windows at the engine, looking for smoke and flames, I guess. They said we had been running down the runway at 110 MPH, 10 MPH under lift off speed, when we sucked in the eagle. That is 160 feet per second, if my calculations are right. If the pilot had hesitated even for two seconds before slamming on brakes and reverse thrusters I don’t think we would have stopped in time.

Six hours later they got another plane to Sitka to take us to Seattle and we caught the red-eye to Atlanta, the only flight left that night. We landed in Atlanta as the sun came up. I am still shaking from the experience.

Did I mention I HATE TO FLY?

Linda has details of our trip on her web site at http://cruises.about.com

How Do I Choose the Right Deptfinder and GPS

Choosing the Right Sonar/GPS

Sound Advice on Finding the Best Fishfinder For Your Needs, From the Experts at The GPS Store, Inc.
from The Fishing Wire

Depthfinders have become very complicated

Sonar has become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, and choosing the right model for your type of fishing takes a bit of study–or some good advice from a dealer.

When it comes to echosounder technology, there are as many choices out there as there are fish in the sea. Echosounders, or fishfinders as they are commonly called, range from simple monochrome LCD machines to professional-grade, multi-frequency units with large color displays. Recently, side-scanning and structure-scanning technology has gained traction with more and more boaters, providing picture-like detail of the world around the boat.

At its heart, all sounder technology is designed to do the same thing – provide information about the depth of water, the composition and contour of the bottom, and indicate the presence of bait and/or gamefish in the water column. Marine electronics manufacturers have developed some exciting technologies to help fishermen understand what’s going on below the surface. But with so many options and products ranging from compact $199 fishfinders to combination sounder/navigation systems approaching five-figure price tags, how can boaters decide what best meet their needs?

Brass thru-hull transducers are the usual choice for big inboard boats, while thru-hull or transom mounts are more common in outboard boats.

Sounder Basics

Understanding how sounders work is a good first step in narrowing down what best fits your needs/budget. Like echolocation in the animal world, the unit’s “transceiver” emits a sonic pulse through a transducer (think speaker to a stereo) into the water, then “listens” for echoes that bounce off the bottom, structure or fish between the sea floor and the hull. The sounder displays these signals on the display, based on the strength of the return.

How Do You Fish Most?

“I begin the selection process by asking customers what type of fishing they do most,” said Brian Rock, an NMEA-Certified sales manager at The GPS Store. “A customer may sometimes fish in water up to 1,000 feet deep, but 95% of the time they’re in less than 100 feet. In this case, 600W output power will be sufficient the vast majority of the time. But it isn’t enough power for 1,000 feet of water. If the customer wants to have that power available anyways, then the price jump (which can be up to three times more) can be justified. A good dealer won’t try to push you into a more expensive, feature-packed unit if that’s isn’t what you need.”

What Type of Boat?

To a certain extent, the type and size of boat you have dictates what type of sounder system you can install, particularly when it comes to the type of transducer you can use. For example, while bronze through-hull transducers are a very popular option for fiberglass boats, they won’t work on aluminum boats. Electrolytic corrosion occurs when the two metals come in contact in a wet environment, so fishermen with “tin boats” must use stainless steel or plastic transducers. Transom-mounted transducers are an affordable, popular choice for trailerable outboard and I/O-powered fishing boats. However, inboard-powered boats can’t use these because of prop wash and aerated water. Go-fast offshore fishing boats are a good match for powerful sounders with in-hull transducers that shoot through the fiberglass, provided there is adequate room for installation of the transducer. Larger sportfishing vessels often use a bronze thru-hull transducer with a fairing block . Your dealer should ask about your vessel and let you know if there are restrictions that might limit your options.

Multi-Function Displays combine sonar, GPS and even radar in a single machine.

What Are You Looking For?

What you want to “see” on your fishfinder will help you decide on the best technology for your needs. If you’re primarily looking for change in bottom composition (from soft mud to shale, for example) bait and fish over the bottom or deep-water schools, a powerful straight-down sounder should fit the bill. If you spend a lot of time “searching” for structure and fish in waters less than 300 feet, some of the innovative side-scanning technology on the market could be ideal. For applications where you need to dial in specific frequencies to differentiate fish species and discriminate between closely spaced fish and bottom, the new Broadband Sounders and Chirp technology might be a worthwhile investment.

What Does This Mean/Do?

Sounder and transducer technology has rapidly evolved, offering boaters options that didn’t exist even a couple of years ago. For example, Chirp transducer technology constantly scans different frequencies (as opposed to traditional one- or two-frequency sounders), delivering excellent clarity and target separation in all depths. New Structure Scan wide-beam technology can save fuel and time searching for previously unexplored wrecks and reefs. A split screen with Structure Scan and traditional sounder side-by-side helps the boaters tell structure-hugging fish and structure itself. DownScan Sonar works similarly to structure scan, but with a much narrower beam.

MFD or Dedicated Sounder?

The answer depends on your perspective, and your needs. Excellent sounder performance is found in today’s advanced Multi-Function Display (MFD) systems, usually combining a sounder with a chartplotter and radar in one “box.” Still, many opt for stand-alone sounders, and for good reasons. Commercial fishermen, professional guides and serious tournament anglers, for example, know that without a sounder, they’re dead in the water. The downside of all-in-one is systems is that if it goes down, you lose everything. “I’ll recommend a stand-alone fishfinder, together with an MFD for customers with the space and the budget. Surprisingly, in many cases, a single 12-inch unit will cost more than twin smaller displays,” said Rock. “A stand-alone sounder means you’ll always have fishfinding, while the separate MFD makes sure you can navigate to waypoints – and provides a backup sounder.”

Need Pinpoint Position Accuracy?

Pinpoint boat positioning over structure is a compelling feature of today’s Multi-Function Systems. For example, the Trackback feature on Lowrance HDS system lets boaters zoom in on structure, mark four corners of the structure and overlay these points directly on the electronic chart. Positioning the boat between these points ensures accurate presentation of baits and lures over wrecks and reefs. This technology is far more accurate and repeatable than using a chartplotter’s Man Overboard (MOB) key.

“Today’s boaters have so many great choices when it comes to fishfinder technology,” said Rock, “it’s an exciting time to be an angler. The key is figuring out which features and functions will enhance your time on the water most and improve your individual style of fishing. Your dealer should help you do this – guiding you through these questions and others – until you narrow down the choices to those that best fit your needs, boat and overall electronics budget.”

This is precisely the type of assistance Rock and the other staff at The GPS Store provides consumers in its store, on the phone and through its website. Contact The GPS Store at (800) 477-2611 or visit www.TheGPSStore.com to learn more about sounder technology or ask any marine electronics questions.

Bass Baits To Use On The Red River for the FLW Cup

Texans’ Top Red River Lures For The FLW Cup

By Abe Smith
from The Fishing Wire

Matt Reed is a bass pro on the Red River

Matt Reed says shad and bluegill imitations are likely to score on the Red in summer–crawfish patterns are less effective in the hotter months.

ARE THESE PREDICTIONS PROVING TO BE RIGHT????
Ronnie

The 2013 Forrest Wood Cup blasts off Aug. 15 on the Red River out of Shreveport, La. While the Red River is a popular bass tournament destination, most of those events are held in early spring when temperatures range from the 30s to 60s instead of 90s and 100s. Does this mean the anglers will be throwing different lures and fishing different areas than during those late-winter/springtime tournaments?

We asked three professional anglers from Texas who have a lot of experience on the Red River what they thought about the winning tactics and the challenges the FLW competitors will face. Here’s what B.A.S.S. anglers Alton Jones and Matt Reed, and B.A.S.S./FLW angler Zell Rowland (who will be fishing the Cup) had to say about winning on the Red in the summertime.

BACKWATER BAITS

In previous tournaments, backwaters always came into play as perfect areas for flipping jigs, pitching Dingers or creature baits and casting spinnerbaits, however, in spring, water quality is good and bass are positioning in those backwaters for the spawn.

During the doldrums of summer, though, water quality and temperatures can be questionable in some backwater spots. According to the pros, the presence of some current in those backwaters will be one of the keys to victory.

Zell Rowland knows the Red River well.

Zell Rowland is one of the contenders for the FLW cup, which gets underway Aug 15 on the Red River out of Shreveport, La.
“If we don’t have rain north of the river to get it to rise before the Cup we won’t have much current, and that will take a chunk of the river out of play simply because water levels will prohibit access or the water will be stagnant,” said Rowland.

Rowland visited the river in July with the heat index at 105 degrees and river running slow. He found that he couldn’t get into some of the backwaters he’s fished in the past because of silting with mud and sand. Water levels and the always-changing topography of the river make it difficult to fish on history.

In the backwaters available to FLW Cup anglers, Rowland said the presence of vegetation also plays a big part in success. Aquatic vegetation improves the water quality and holds better bass than those sloughs and pockets that only have wood cover.

“The Booyah Pad Crasher and Poppin’ Pad Crasher will be good for those areas with vegetation,” he said. “For flipping, I’ll be throwing a YUM Wooly Bug or Mighty Craw.”

Reed agrees with Rowland on his choice of flippin’ baits and said that smaller plastics are best. He said that lure color is as important as bait style on the Red in summer.

“Shad and smaller bluegills are the main forage during summer,” said Reed. “The fish don’t seem to have much to do with crawfish this time of year. Chartreuse patterns have always done best.”

MAIN RIVER CRANKS

Alton Jones, with two Classics on the Red River, knows it well–but he won’t be fishing in the FLW championship. He says small oxbows could be key with enough water to allow access.

B.A.S.S. Elite pro Alton Jones has plenty of experience on the Red River, including two Bassmaster Classics, but never in August. He says it’s the presence of current on the main river that makes it more productive.

“The tournament could be won in either a backwater or on the main river,” he said. “The main channel is 20 to 30 feet deep in some places and dredged for barge traffic, but in the backwaters, 8-feet is as deep and you’ll find. Either way, it will be won shallow – less than 5-feet of water.”

On the main river, Jones says that the XCalibur Xcs100 or Bomber 2A are top picks. If an angler wins the Cup on the main river, Jones says that running those crankbaits along a milk run of wing dams will likely be the pattern. Reed likes to work Red River wing dams with cranks that run a little deeper, something like the Bomber 4A or a Fat Free Shad BD5F, which dives to about 9 feet compared to Jones’ Xcs100 that dives to just 3 feet.

The FLW anglers can fish three pools of the Red River, but running to the third pool will leave only about 3 hours of fishing time. All of these pools feature main-river wing dams, wood cover and rocks, and if the water level or stagnancy eliminates many of the backwaters, each of these pools will get “small” due to the number of anglers pounding them.

Reed scored a top-10 finish in a tournament on the Red back in the late 1990s by cranking rocks on the main river. He once made a big, slow run to a distant backwater he thought would put him away from the crowd, and the pocket had everything a bass fisherman would want – vegetation, wood and a little current flow.

“It took me a while to get there,” he said, “and when I finally got there I found 15 other boats already in this little area about the as wide as three boats. We destroyed each other.”

PREDICTIONS

The three Texans agree that bigger bass will come from the backwaters on a hollow body frog or by flippin’ small plastics, but a more-consistent bite will be cranking the main river. If an angler can locate the right backwater without many other anglers horning in on it, he stands a good shot of taking the Cup.

“Those ‘Hidey Holes’ can really pay off for you,” Jones said. “One of my best days on the Red was the final day of the 2009 Bassmaster Classic when I brought in 21 pounds. That was from a secret backwater area that was hard to find and hard to access, and I had it all to myself.

“I also had one of my worst days ever on the Red River when I tried to get into a backwater and couldn’t. I got stuck for two hours on a sand bar.”

Fishing Lake Lanier with Rob Jordan

Rob got these two nice spots when I fished with him.

I had an interesting trip to Lake Lanier a week ago Friday. I met Rob Jordan, a young fisherman that guides on the lake, to get information for a September Georgia Outdoor News Map of the Month article. He showed me some great spots to fish and we caught several nice spotted bass on topwater, crankbaits and drop shot.

Rob paints lures, too. His custom painted baits look great and that is what we caught fish on. It takes real skill with an airbrush to make a plug come alive like he does. He had a great teacher, his cousin Jim Murray, Jr., a professional bass fisherman from south Georgia that also has a custom lure painting business.

Lanier can be a tough lake to fish. The big spots there live out in open, deep water. It is not unusual to be sitting in 80 feet of water in your boat and casting to a hump 30 feet deep. But that is where you catch the big ones. They are fat and healthy from eating blueback herring.

Rob said he had about 1400 brush piles marked on his GPS. Many fishermen put out the brush piles on humps and points 20 to 30 feet deep to draw the spotted bass in. That is where they feed, and locating them is the best way to catch fish.

We put in at Van Pugh park near the dam and fished in a big circle up to Brown’s Bridge then back down the other side of the lake, marking spots and catching bass. Rob assures me September is a good month to fish the lake. I hope so. The Flint River Bass Club has a tournament scheduled there early in September.

You can see and order his baits at extremelurecreations.com and contact Rob for a guide trip at 770-873-7135.

I get to fish with some really good bass fishermen doing magazine articles. In the past few years I have fished with five of the 41 pros that were in the 2012 Bassmasters Classic, and have fished with some of the top pros in the FLW tournaments, too. And I go out with many local fishermen that do well in smaller tournaments.

I love tournament fishing and am always amazed at how many more bass, and bigger bass, they can catch than I can. And they fish the same way I do, with the same baits. It is either magic or they have some sixth sense for finding and catching bigger bass. What ever it is I wish I had it!

Someday maybe I will learn how to catch bigger bass while fishing with the pros.

FLW Cup On the Red River Starts This Week

Jacob Wheeler, winner of the 2012 FLW Cup

Forrest Wood Cup Kicks off on Red River This Week
from The Fishing Wire

World’s best anglers eye prestigious title, $500,000 top prize

SHREVEPORT, La. – The Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing, will visit the Red River and Shreveport/Bossier City, La., Aug. 15-18 to crown bass fishing’s top angler of 2013. Hosted by the Shreveport/Bossier Sports Commission and LouisianaTravel.com, the tournament will feature 46 of the world’s best bass pros and co-anglers casting for the sport’s biggest award – $500,000 cash in the pro division and $50,000 cash in the co-angler division.

“Any time that you can win a half a million dollars for catching 20 bass, it’s pretty exciting,” said Walmart pro Mark Rose of West Memphis, Ark., who will be competing in his eighth Forrest Wood Cup. “It’s even more exciting knowing that it’s going to be a real tough tournament. If a guy can get two or three big bites over the course of those four days, that can make all of the difference in the world. Anything can happen.”

Walmart team pro Mark Rose of West Memphis, Ark., shows off his catch.Rose said that this tournament will be very different than the last time the FLW Tour visited the Red River, when John Cox of Debary, Fla., used an aluminum boat to access a backwater area via a seemingly impassible culvert.

“The last time that we visited the Red River, we were just coming off of a shad spawn and the fish were keying on those shad in the backwaters and the oxbows,” Rose said. “Now they’ll be more into their summertime patterns. The bass will be seeking out any shade that they can find. You’re going to see a lot of flipping in the hyacinth, lily pads and all of the wood cover that is available.”

Rose said that most of the tournament anglers would either be flipping, throwing topwater baits or shallow-water cranking. Anglers will have no shortage of areas to fish. Although they will launch each day out of Pool 5, Pools 4 and 3 are also viable options for many competitors.

“I think that 50 percent of the field will stay in Pool 5,” Rose continued. “Quite a few will lock down to Pool 4, and a few guys that are living on the edge will lock down to Pool 3. This tournament can be won on any of the three pools, though. We’re going to see a lot of nice 7- to 9-pound averages, but the winner will be the guy that can get over the hump a few days and get into the 13- or 14-pound class.”

Rose predicts that the winning angler will need to bring 50 pounds to the scales throughout the four tournament days to claim the title of Forrest Wood Cup Champion. The defending champion, 22-year-old Jacob Wheeler of Indianapolis, Ind., agrees with him and says that the Red River will produce despite the heat in the dog days of summer.

“I think that the winner is going to bring in a monster 16- or 17-pound bag on the first day and then back it up with solid 10- to 12-pound limits to win the tournament,” Wheeler said. “It really is like a chess match out there. There are so many different decisions and scenarios with the different pools and locks. I think somebody is going to have to utilize multiple pools in order to win the tournament.”

Wheeler became the youngest Forrest Wood Cup champion in history when he won last year at Lake Lanier in Duluth, Ga. Wheeler said that he is excited for another opportunity to make fishing history.

“The most exciting thing for me is having an opportunity to be the first angler to ever win two (championships),” Wheeler said. “Winning last year was just unbelievable and changed my life. To be the first angler to ever win twice would be a dream come true.

“Shreveport is really an optimal tournament site and will be a perfect host for the Forrest Wood Cup,” Wheeler went on to say. “The facilities are amazing. The Red River South Marina is great. There is plenty of parking for all of the anglers and fans. I can’t wait to get down there. It’s going to make for an amazing show and an awesome Forrest Wood Cup.”

Anglers will take off from Red River South Marina located at 250 Red River South Marina Road in Bossier City, La., at 7 a.m. each morning. Weigh-ins will be held at the CenturyLink Center located at 2000 CenturyLink Center Drive in Bossier City, La., beginning at 5 p.m. daily.

Fans will be treated to the FLW Expo at the Shreveport Convention Center located at 400 Caddo St. in Shreveport, La., on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. prior to the weigh-ins. The Expo includes Ranger boat simulators, the opportunity to interact with professional anglers, enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors, and fans can learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities. All activities are free and open to the public. On Saturday and Sunday, 500 free rods and reels will be given away each day to the first 500 children 14 years and under who are accompanied by an adult. The rod and reel giveaways are courtesy of 1130 AM The Tiger. Also on Sunday, one lucky fishing fan will win a Ranger Z520C with a Mercury outboard. The Ranger boat giveaway is courtesy of KSLA News 12 and is free to enter, but the winner must be present at the conclusion of Sunday’s final weigh-in to win.

Coverage of the Forrest Wood Cup, which is presented by Walmart, will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC when “FLW” airs Sept. 29 from 2:30-3:30 p.m. ET. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWOutdoors.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.

About FLW

FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2013 over the course of 220 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the “Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water.” For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.

Fishing Lay Lake with Chris Jackson

Gotta love those white Costa Del Mar sunglasses!

One morning last week I got up at 3:00 AM and drove four hours to Lay Lake to meet Chris Jackson to get information for an Alabama Outdoor News article. Chris guides on all the Tennessee River and Coosa River chain lakes and knows them well. He is also a professional bass fisherman and does well in many tournaments.

We started out fishing shallow grass beds with swim jigs and swim baits. Chris quickly caught a largemouth that weighed close to four pounds, even though it was very skinny. That made me think we were going to have a great day, but catching fish was tough after that.

We fished a lot of patterns, working grass beds early with swim baits and swim jigs, then flipping grass beds with a jig and pig or punch bait. We also tried jig head worms and big crankbaits in deeper water. After the sun got bright Chris fished a floating frog on scum mats and missed one good fish on that pattern.

I got a keeper largemouth on a jig and pig out of some grass and Chris got a spot a little bigger on a jig head worm. After checking out ten spots that will be good in September, when the article will come out, Chris caught a nice spot on a crankbait just before we headed in.

Although the sun was miserable hot and there was almost no breeze, it was a fun day. I love fishing shallow grass. There is something much better about pitching a bait to grass than throwing a big crankbait or heavy worm rig into deep structure and cover. And Lay is a beautiful Coosa River lake.

Lay Lake is a little south and east of Birmingham. All those Coosa River lakes are known for their big spotted bass and those fish are just mean, They fight extremely hard for their size. Chris said he thought just putting your boat in the water made them mad.

Chris has an interesting web site at ChrisJacksonfishing.com. There are some good articles on fishing and pictures that make you want to try those lakes. You can also contact him for a guide trip on any of the lakes he fishes. It would be well worth the money to see his methods and the places he goes to find bass.

Chris and I talked a lot about fishing information on the internet and using social media to contact fishermen. He is active on facebook and other social media – check him out through his web site.

Who Is Lefty Kreh

Lefty Kreh at ICast. J.R. Absher photo.

Experiencing Bernard “Lefty” Kreh

from The Fishing Wire

From The Fishing Wire Editor’s Note: During ICAST, Etta Pettijohn, J.R. Absher and I received a rare treat: nearly 90 uninterrupted minutes of conversation with “Lefty” Kreh. While J.R. and I were fortunate enough to be interlopers, Etta’s telling of the story allows you to share the conversation as well. Enjoy!

Many Outdoor Wire readers know Bernard “Lefty” Kreh as the legendary man who changed the fly fishing world with his casting techniques, and as the man who taught countless anglers to fish for saltwater species on TV and through his newspaper and magazine articles and books.

He invented a saltwater fly called “Lefty’s Deceiver,” which is so famous that no saltwater fly box is without one, and the U.S. Postal Service has featured it on a stamp. He has been inducted into three fishing halls of fame.

Millions have developed a love of fly fishing reading his work and watching him, and when his book “Fly Fishing in Saltwater” appeared in 1974, he became a worldwide phenomenon. At least two books have been written about him, and he penned an autobiography, “My Life Was This Big: And Other True Fishing Tales.”

Kreh has fished with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Fidel Castro, baseball great Ted Williams, singer Huey Lewis, broadcaster Tom Brokaw, several presidents and many dignitaries, to name a few.

He is largely responsible for the development of modern light-tackle, big game fly fishing, and his name is revered among fly anglers across the globe. He has spent an impressive number of decades as a journalist for the St. Petersburg Times, Baltimore Sun, and other publications.

But there is much more to this unpretentious man with a perpetual smile and quick joke.

Humble Beginnings

The 88 year-old Kreh was born in Frederick, Md., during the Great Depression. His father died in 1932, leaving his mother with four children, him being the oldest at age six. Back then, said Kreh, there was no actual money involved, but “They (government) put us in public housing in the ghetto.”

“My mother was a proud woman,” said Kreh. “But she had no choice.” He said some childhood friends in the ghetto nicknamed him “Lefty” because he played sports left-handed.

“When I became a teenager my mother told me I could go to high school if I could find a way to make money for clothes and shoes,” said Kreh.

He found a way – fishing a nearby river, limb-lining for catfish.
“At night I’d push myself along the bushes on a makeshift pole boat, using a coal oil lantern for light. I sold catfish at the local market for 10 cents a pound, and I was a ‘fat cat,'” he laughed.

Kreh speaks proudly about his brothers and sister, who all went on to achieve remarkable success in their lives and careers.

Military Service

When WWII was underway he volunteered to serve at 17 years of age. He ended up as a forward observer in the Battle of the Bulge and was at the Elbe River in Germany where the Russian and Americans first joined together to drive back the Nazis. Along the way his unit, the U.S. Army’s 69th Artillery Division, earned the distinction of being tough, as he and his comrades liberated a concentration camp, fighting battles pivotal to the allied victory.

After returning to the U.S. he, in his own words, marked his greatest achievement, by marrying Evelyn, his wife and best friend for more than 60 years. They had two children together and Kreh said above all they were best friends. She passed away in 2011.

In 1948 Kreh worked at Fort Detrick, where the military kept biological weapons like Anthrax. When his biohazard suit leaked and he was hospitalized, Kreh spent a month in isolation for exposure to the deadly virus, and today there is a strain named for him, called BVK-1. In 2011, after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing about 3,000 people in one day, someone mailed the Anthrax virus to a newspaper publisher in Florida and others, proving fatal. At that time the New York Times wrote an article mentioning Kreh as the only person to have survived such exposure.

Kreh talks about how World War II drastically changed the U.S. culture.

“Millions of men came home with a guarantee of home ownership, and more money to spend on leisure activities, where before most people rented, and the disparity between rich and poor, and those with or without property, was greater. More people were fishing, hunting and traveling and reading about these.”

Hooked

He liked to fish, and secured a job as an outdoor columnist for his local newspaper, and a few years later was syndicated in almost a dozen newspapers. His marksmanship abilities led to a Remington Arms Company contract as a shooting showman, when he would routinely shoot an aspirin out of the air at events and promotions.

In 1947, Joe Brooks, the fishing editor for Outdoor Life, brought his fly rod to fish for bass with Kreh in a nearby fishery. Brooks pulled in as many bass as Kreh, who was using a plug-casting outfit, turning Lefty to fly fishing for good.

“I was hooked,” he admits.

The next decade he began experimenting with flies for striped bass in saltwater, and thus invented Lefty’s Deceiver, a big heavy lure for long casts. In addition, his reporting in magazine and newspapers, about saltwater fly fishing was turning millions of people onto the relatively new sport that was traditionally achieved with baitcasting equipment.

“I am always learning,” he said. “Adversity makes you think harder about what you are doing, and I love to solve problems. I try to share my knowledge of fishing and am deeply concerned whether or not I am making my advice clear and understandable.”

Indeed, his instructional writing and casting lessons are what have led many thousands to pick up their first fly rod, as he makes it less mysterious to the novice.

He’s been doing it for decades, but every minute of one-on-one instruction from Kreh makes you a better fisherman- and person. J.R. Absher photo.
In 1950, five days after the U.S. sanctioned Cuban government fell to revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro, Lefty said he went fishing with the Cuban leader.

“Ev (wife Evelyn) almost had a cardiac arrest,” he said. “(Cuban president) Batista left with all the money in the treasury,” said Kreh. “So Castro paid Joe (Brooks) to send outdoor writers to Cuba to advertise the good fishing there.”

Kreh, while fishing with Hemingway, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and author of The Old Man and the Sea, once asked him, “What is good writing?”

“Good writing cannot be edited,” Hemingway answered.

Kreh continues to travel, giving casting seminars and promoting water and fish species conservation. He represents many tackle companies and has equipment named after him.

Despite his advanced age, Kreh is always willing to stop and show someone at a trade show his casting technique, or share his life story with an admirer. And there always seems to be a long line of such admirers wherever you find Lefty. One can’t spend time with Kreh without laughing, listening and admiring the man.

Indeed his life looms large, like title of his autobiography, and if kindness, brilliance, attitude and achievement count, his life is tantamount to a world record.

Can I Catch Catfish In the Summer?

I hooked this big flathead at Lake Oconee in the summer

The summer is a good time to go fishing for cats. Within the past few days a new Georgia record flathead catfish was landed in the Altamaha River and a possible new world record blue catfish was landed in the Missouri River. These huge cats might make you want to head for your favorite fishing hole.

On July 20, 2010 Greg Bernal and Janet Momphard landed the 130 pound blue catfish while fishing at night in the Missouri River. It took a very short time to get the fish to the boat, only about 15 minutes, but another 30 minutes to get it into the boat.

The huge blue catfish was 57 inches long and 45 inches in girth. It hit a piece of Asian carp.

This catfish was certified as the new world record by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA), and replaced the old record that was a 124 pound catfish caught in the Mississippi River in 2005. That fish took 40 minutes to land. Then, on June 18, 2011 a 143-pound fish, caught in Kerr Dam Reservoir

Closer to my home Jim Dieveney landed an 83-pound flathead catfish in the Altamaha River in Wayne County on Sunday, July 11, 2010. This one also took only 15 to 20 minutes to land. It ties the state flathead catfish record caught in 2006 by Carl Sawyer, also out of the Altamaha River.

This flathead, also called Appaloosa cats, hit a live bream, one of the best baits for flatheads. Dieveney donated the big catfish to the state DNR and said it would have been quite a job to clean it, although big flatheads don’t get tough and muddy tasting like other big cats.

This Georgia flathead is not native to the state. They have been introduced into our rivers and have done extensive damage to native fish, especially redbreast bream. That is the reason no limit is placed on them – you can keep as many as you can catch.

Although it is big, this fish is no-where near the world record. According to the IGFA the world record flathead is a huge 123 pound fish caught in1998 in Kansas. Much bigger catfish, both blue and flathead, have been caught on trotlines and set hooks but they do not qualify for the IGFA record book since the fish has to be caught on rod and reel to be a record.

If you like catching catfish, plan a trip. Got to a pond to catch eating size channel cats or catch a big blue or flathead in our rivers and lakes. Now is the time to go.

How Should I Fish A Jig In the Summer?

Catch smallmouth like this on jigs in the summer

Summer Jig Fishing Not the Same as in Winter

from The Fishing Wire

Summer or winter, pro-angler Bill Lowen prefers a jig for deep water fishing.

Jigs have long been acknowledged as some of the most effective lures for winter bass fishing, but Yamaha Pro Bill Lowen considers them just as effective during the hot summer months, too. The only thing Lowen changes is how he presents the lure.

“I believe the presentation you use is actually more important than your jig choice,” explains Lowen, “and the reason is because in winter you’re going after lethargic, inactive bass, while in summer those same bass are far more active and willing to chase a jig. In winter, you’re usually hoping for a feeding-type response, but now in July and August, you can also generate totally different reflex-type strikes.”

Thus, while his primary jig presentation in winter is slowly dragging the lure along the bottom, Lowen’s summer presentation also includes a lot of hopping and even a technique known as “stroking.”

Use a jig and trailer like this in the summer

A football jig with a creature trailer does the job for most of his tournaments, says Lowen.

“Stroking is a faster, stronger hopping presentation in which you literally rip the jig off the bottom with a hard upward sweep of your rod,” the Yamaha Pro explains. “The sudden change of direction and speed in the jig’s movement just triggers an instinctive strike. I may drag the jig on the bottom for a few feet, stroke it once and let it fall, then immediately rip it off the bottom again. I can do this three or four times during a single cast, too. It really depends on how the bass do react to it.

“During the summer, at least 75% of my jig bites come from hopping or stroking the lure like this.”

Lowen’s summer jig is the same as his winter one, a ½ or ¾-ounce football head style, and his preferred depth of 15 to 20 feet is also the same for both seasons. He also looks for breaklines where shallow water drops quickly to this depth.

“The major change for me in summer jig fishing is that I really want to have current consistently washing into that structure,” continues Lowen. “In the winter, I don’t want any current whatsoever, but it’s important this time of year. That water will be slightly cooler, it will have more oxygen, and it will be moving both forage and nutrients downstream with it.

Largemouth will hit a jig in the summer too

Both largemouths and smallmouths like the “stroking” action that hops a jig off bottom in summer.

“The most productive places are often the outsides of channel bends, and frequently, these will also contain some type of logs and brush that current has washed in. In other lakes, rocks or shell beds may be present. If you can find anything different like this on that structure, that’s nearly always the spot that attracts bass.”

To find current, Lowen frequently motors to the upper end of a lake where more river-like conditions usually exist, or far up large tributary streams. Normally, however, he does not fish the actual tailrace waters immediately below dams, primarily because he doesn’t have to.

“Sometimes, if a lot of water is being released from an upstream dam, all you need to do is get behind an island or main lake point that breaks the main water flow and re-directs it, and you’ll be able to catch bass,” the Yamaha Pro adds.

“It’s always better to cast upstream and let the current wash your jig down naturally. As you guide the lure with your rod tip, you can add the hopping and stroking action you need. Current usually positions bass behind rocks, logs, and other obstructions, so it’s not difficult to determine just exactly where to guide your jig.

“The fun part of all this during the summer is that every place where the current does wash into the structure you can find one smaller spot along it that will be better than the rest. It might be an area just one or two feet long within the entire bend of the channel, or perhaps just a single stump along that bend, but whatever it is, more bass will be on that small spot than anywhere else.”

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