How To Pitch Plastics for Walleye

How To Pitch Plastics … Like A Plumber?

By Jim Edlund
from the Fishing Wire

Big walleye caught pitching plastics

Although obsessed with big walleyes, Minnesota guide Josh Wetzstein is pretty humble about statistics. “I haven’t measured a fish in years. Walleyes or muskies. Hold ’em up, snap a photo and put ’em back in the water,” says Wetzstein.

Like the sag-bellied monster (in the cell phone image below), caught this past weekend on Pool 4 of the Mississippi River, that Wetzstein “guesstimates” the fish to be in the neighborhood of 12 pounds. “They had just opened the roller (gates) and it started snowing when I caught that fish. The water came up quick and fish started scrambling. Came together just right and she bit,” laughs Wetzstein.

He was pitching a chartreuse B FISH N Moxi on a 3/16-ounce white H20 Precision Jig Head. “I like H20 Precision Jig Heads but when you burn through as many jigs as I do, well, you make your own, too. I probably have 50 or 60 Do-It molds.”

But more on that later.

Though humble, Wetzstein is also opinionated. “I don’t waste time floating the river with Dubuque rigs to catch eaters. Doesn’t interest me in the slightest. My thing is targeting big fish. And in my river experience, 90-percent of the big fish are caught in 10 feet or less.”

Fat walleye caught pitching plastics

His program? Pitching shallow water with plastics.

“You’ve gotta get out of the fast current. The big fish aren’t there. Find a point, a rock pile. Get down current. That’s where the big fish are. I jump around using my bowmount, jogging up and down, pitching riprap, wood, current seams, whatever. Electronic anchoring is key.”

And electronics? “The big thing is knowing where you can motor, where you can’t. Otherwise, it’s about reading the river, looking for current seams, inside and outside bends, eddies, and working riprap.”

Some days yield big fish, while others don’t. Not a big deal to Wetzstein, whose other passion is muskie fishing, although he catches his share of respectable mid-sized walleyes, too. “Besides the big fish this weekend, we caught probably thirty fish between 18 and 26 inches. And lots of milking males,” says Wetzstein.

But it’s the anticipation that the next cast could connect with a 30-incher that keeps him swinging when most anglers are vertical jigging or pulling three-way rigs. And right now – from water temps of 40 degrees through 50 degrees – he’s pitching a B FISH N Tackle Ringworm to find fish, then sizing up to a Moxi. “Beefier profile plastics like the Moxi just do better on big fish this time of year.”

Pitching Pointers

“I usually pitch upstream and let the flow sweep my bait down past the boat,” Wetzstein says.

Walleye showing jig it hit

The best tip, he adds, is to remember the exact location of your pitch just before the bite occurs. “You might catch a fish as your jig and plastic moves right in the front of the boat, but don’t cast back to where you got bit. Pitch right back to the exact spot where the jig hit the water before you got bit. That’s where I see guys messing up.”

And cadence?

“It kind of depends on the day, but I usually just cast upstream and give small twitches and little pops off bottom as the current works the bait. Sometimes a really slow retrieve will work, too.”

And if he finds fish, he’ll move on after 20 or 30 minutes. “I don’t like to beat up on the fish too much. Some guys will sit on ’em all day, but I like to move on to a fresh spot, let the spot refill and come back later.”

Like a Plumber

“Thing is, you’ve gotta bring the motherlode with you when you go fish the river. Think of it this way, it’d be like a plumber showing up to fix your sink with nothing but a Channellock pliers. Sure, you might be able to fix it, but you can do a better job by bringing all your tools.”

For Wetzstein, a ‘better job’ equates to a dozen rods or more – 6’8″ to 7′ St. Croix Legend Elite and G Loomis NRX with extra fast actions – all rigged with different line types in different diameters and test. He also totes vast variations in jig head styles and weights, and myriad profile and color plastics. Plus, a few more sticks are rigged with various size blade baits and hair jigs.

During early-season, Wetzstein typically pitches jigs tied direct to 10 – 15 lb. PowerPro braid so he can free baits from snags without wasting time re-tying. But when it’s really cold and the water clears he’ll turn to 10 lb. NanoFil and a 15-lb. fluoro leader. And for super-finesse situations he opts for 6 or 8 lb. Berkley Sensation thin-diameter monofilament in high-visibility orange.

Wetzstein fine-tunes his presentation not only with jig size, but also line diameter and bait profile. “You might have to go from a lighter line to a heavier braid – or vice versa – to get the right rate of fall to trigger bites, which changes from day to day. Same goes for soft plastic baits. Cut off an inch or two – or size up. Again, there are a lot of factors at play. Don’t assume the fish aren’t biting if you don’t catch them on one bait. I see guys run around fishing a ¼-ounce jighead and the same color plastic, but don’t catch fish and go home. When you fish the river you have to experiment with jig weight, plastic profile, color, line; a whole bunch of different factors.”

Along the same lines, he’s believes too many river anglers play it safe. “Don’t be scared to cast into the wood and sticks. Walleyes feel safe there; they’ll even spawn in there. Boggles my mind that you have guys in $50,000 boats who cringe at losing a bait. Burn through jigs if you have to.”

Given the conditions on Pool 4 right now, Wetzstein says 3/16 oz. jig heads are about right for pitching, but there’s always a fine line between getting bit and getting snagged.

“Think of it this way, if you can’t fish a 3/16 oz. jig right now, you’re probably in the wrong spot. But when the water drops back down I’ll switch to an 1/8-ounce.”

And for the really snaggy spots, he recommends jigs like a B FISH N Tackle Draggin’ Jig. “If the wood is really gnarly, these jigs do the job. I’m always surprised how many big fish I catch way back in wood.”

And when to comes to his favorite Moxis, he sticks to fluorescents and the occasional dark pattern for dirty water, and natural colors like ‘oystershell’ for clear water.

Besides brighter colors during high, muddy water, Wetzstein recommends fishing more aggressively. “Vibration is the deal during low visibility, so give the bait a couple good rips, then a couple pops and let it sit. It you can figure out the little details in the cadence it’s huge. But don’t be afraid to grab a blade bait or hair jig, too.”

Lightning Thunder and Fishing

When the crashing thunder woke me Thursday night I smiled – thinking how glad I was to be at home and not on the lake. Lightning thunder and fishing do not go together for me! While I was growing up lightning terrified me no matter where I was. That came from spending the night on our screened in porch when I was about eight years old during a huge thunderstorm.

After that night lightning and thunder scared me. As I got older I learned that I could be safe, even outside, but I still will not be out in open water when a thunderstorm is near.

I was supposed to go to the Alabama River near Montgomery for an Alabama Outdoor News article early Thursday morning. On Wednesday night I talked with the fisherman taking me and we agreed to postpone it till this week due to the weather. Both of us agreed we don’t mind rain but do not want to be on the water during a light show!

That was the right decision. There was a BASS Open tournament on Smith Lake north of Birmingham starting Thursday. BASS sent out a text at 4:00 AM Thursday morning to the 350 fishermen entered in it that the first tournament day was canceled and it would be a two day rather than a three day tournament. They don’t do that except in dangerous circumstances.

Over the 42 years I have had a bass boat I have spent some scary hours in one on lakes during a thunderstorm. One of the first was in the early 1970s in late June on Bartletts Ferry just north of Columbus. Bob Pierce and I had gone down and camped before a tournament to practice.

Back then we always put in at the dam. Bob and I decided to run way up the Chattahoochee River one day. It is still dangerous but now there are channel markers to keep you off the mud flats. There were none back then.

We slowly worked our way up the river in my 1974 Arrowglass bass boat with a 70 HP motor, finding our way around the dangerous shallows. About 3:00 PM, without warning, lightning started popping all around us. We had not heard anything up until that time so did not have time to try to get back down the river. It was raining too hard to see even if the lightning had not bothered us.

I eased into a small creek where I felt safe with big overhanging trees on the bank, thinking if lightning hit one of the trees we would be ok in the boat. I had to keep using the trolling motor to hold us in the creek. The wind kept trying to blow us back out onto the river and open water.

After about an hour of this I realized the boat was no longer moving. It was so full of water it was sitting on the bottom, with the motor stuck in the mud. I turned on the bilge pump and it ran constantly for the next three hours.

As it started getting dark at about 8:00 the storm broke and we managed to get back to the campground. That was a miserable afternoon of sitting and not fishing.

A few years later on a hot August afternoon I went to Jackson to practice for a night tournament the following weekend. I had been fishing up Tussahaw Creek and catching a few fish but as it got dark I rode to the dam, in the same Arrowglass boat, and started fishing near it.

Again, suddenly and without any warning, the wind started howling over the dam and lightning started cracking around me. It was one of those storms so close you hear a crack, boom and thunder so close to gather it is almost one sound.

Back then there was no drum line keeping boats away from the dam. I pulled my boat right in the corner of it where it hit he rocks and put my trolling motor down between two rocks to hold me in place. The dam rose about 20 feet over me and had a metal railing that I thought would work as a lightning rod.

When I looked up the rain blew over the top of the dam sideways the wind was so strong. I sat down in the drivers seat and put my head on my arms on the steering wheel. I could still see the flashes of lightning. It was so bad my dog Merlin crawled under the console to hide.

After sitting like that for two hours the storm passed and I ran to Kersey’s, put the boat on the trailer and came home!

In a Top Six tournament at Lanier in the early 1990s I was in the first group of boats to go out. There were 91 boats in my flight and all were sitting in a group out from the ramp at Laurel Park waiting on the signal to start taking off.

We heard some thunder off in the distance then suddenly it was right on top of us. I told my partner I was not going to sit in open water and we idled over and got under a dock. The other 90 boats sat there and ignored the lightning.

I was boat number 89 of the 91 and when the others were let go the storm had moved on. I waited a few minutes then took off. Fortunately that was the last storm of the day!

We have lots of thunderstorms this time of year. Be safe, stay out of open water when fishing if one is near!

How To Catch Spring River Walleyes

A Double-Barreled Approach for Spring River Walleyes

Dr. Jason Halfen
www.technologicalangler.com

Dubuque Rig

The versatile, double-barreled Dubuque Rig targets river walleye and sauger in the lowest portions of the water column.

River anglers are renowned for developing unique rigs and bait presentation methods to help them tackle their ever-changing, current-driven environment. Many of these rigs have unique names that refer to their developer or place of origin, like the venerable “Wolf River Rig” that has put so many walleyes and white bass in anglers’ nets over the decades. One of my favorite river rigs for both early- and late-season walleye fishing, when the water is generally running high, fast and dirty, is one that simultaneously offers two opportunities to catch walleyes and sauger within the lowest portions of the water column. That exceptionally versatile, double-barreled rig for targeting river whitetips is the Dubuque Rig.

Dressed Dubuque Rig

The Dubuque Rig can be dressed with a wide variety of live and artificial baits, although soft plastic offerings from B-Fish-N tackle are mainstays in most instances.

The Dubuque Rig is designed for trolling, generally upstream (although downstream is possible when flows are low), and is centered around a standard 3-way swivel. Attach your main line to one of the swivel eyes. To a second and third eyes, attach mono leaders with two different lengths: a “short” leader that is about a foot in length, and a “long” leader that is 24-30″ in length. We will use these mono leaders to connect two baits to the rig. I tie a heavy jig (1/2-3/4 oz) to the long leader, and dress that jig with a bulky soft plastic like a 4″ ringworm or a Pulse-R Paddletail from B-Fish-N Tackle. I prefer to tie a light jig (1/16 oz) to the short leader, and dress that jig with a low-profile soft plastic like a shortened ringworm or a small fluke-style bait. These two baits, presented at two different depths, provide the angler with the opportunity to target walleyes feeding close to the bottom, as well as those that might be tempted to rise several feet off the bottom to strike.

The Dubuque Rig is designed to be presented from a moving boat. Position your boat downstream of your intended fishing area, and start moving upstream at a speed of 0.5-0.8 mph. I rely on my Minn Kota Ulterra 112 to provide me with quiet, consistent power throughout a long day of targeting spring walleye in heavy current. With the boat moving, lower the rig into the water, allowing the heavier jig to contact the bottom. Present the rig with a series of lifts and drops, releasing enough line to allow the heavy jig to remain in contact with the bottom during the drop. It is important, however, to resist the temptation to simply drag the lower jig across the bottom, as this is a sure-fire way to donate tackle to the river gods. In high-flow areas, you will likely notice that most of your bites occur on the bottom jig, while the top bait, fluttering off the bottom, will be a key producer under low-flow conditions and in cleaner water. As such, this double-barreled approach excels under a wide variety of river flow and clarity conditions that anglers encounter throughout the year.

St. Croix Avid X

Introduced just last year, St. Croix Avid X series has become a mainstay for river walleye enthusiasts.

The Dubuque Rig is quite versatile. Common modifications include using a much longer leader for the “upper” bait, and connecting that leader to a long-shank live bait hook dressed with a minnow, leech, or the front half of a nightcrawler. In some parts of the walleye belt, a trolling fly will take the place of the bare hook. Another variation is to attach a small floating crankbait to this elongated leader, allowing the heavy jig and the bottom of the rig to pull this crankbait down to depth. Likewise, some anglers will cast a Dubuque Rig to fish the front faces of wingdams from fixed position, maintained by using the Spot Lock feature of the Minn-Kota i-Pilot Link system. Day in and day out, however, I use the Dubuque Rig as described above, with two jigs each dressed with a soft plastic, presented from a moving boat.

Big Walleye

When you fish the Dubuque Rig, you’ll be presenting relatively heavy baits in moving water, and as such, this is no place for a wimpy walleye rod. Two rods are particularly well-suited for presenting the Dubuque Rig. On the spinning side of the family, I like a St. Croix 6’8″ MXF rod, which you can find in series ranging from the Eyecon all the way to the Legend Xtreme. I like the same length and action in the Avid X casting series; look for the AXC68MXF to find a rod that can pull double duty for chasing walleyes and summer bass. When paired with a casting reel that features a flippin’ switch, presenting the Dubuque Rig with casting gear can be accomplished with a minimum of angler effort. When fishing either rod style, spool up with 20 lb test braid, and you’re ready to hit the river.

Where To Fish In Georgia Each Month of 2016

Georgia Fishing Calendar

January
Species: Hybrids
What To Expect
Two years ago over 500,000 hybrids were stocked at Hartwell. Those fish will weigh up to three pounds now and there are much bigger hybrids in Hartwell from previous years stocking.
How To
Feeding schools of hybrids can often be found by watching for gulls or terns diving on them. The lower lake is the best place to find them schooling, usually near humps and long points in sight of the dam. Cast white half-ounce bucktails or silver spoons to fish hitting on top.
If you don’t see surface activity, ride humps and points on the main lake watching for baitfish with bigger fish under them. Drop a live blueback herring to the depth the bigger fish are holding. Those fish will also hit a spoon or bucktail jigged at the depth they are holding. Also try crankbaits and bucktails trolled at the depth they are holding.
Big largemouth bass move to spawning areas on Seminole in January. Fish rattle baits on the flats just off the river channels around grass. Rainbow trout are stocked below the Lake Lanier dam in the Chattahoochee River and can be caught on small spinners and nymphs in eddies.

February
Species: Largemouth Bass
What To Expect
Jackson Lake produces some big largemouth every winter and February is one of the best months to catch a wall hanger there. You may not get many bites from largemouth but may land your biggest ever.
How To
On sunny days fish pockets on the north bank that get sun all day, and concentrate on seawalls, sandy bottoms and wood cover. A shad colored crankbait in clearer water or a chartreuse bait in stained water, fished slowly around structure and cover, is a good choice.
Also try a brown jig and pig in clear water or a black and blue bait in stained water around the same cover. Fish very slowly to interest the sluggish fish. Bump every limb in a blowdown or brush pile to excite big bass.
Large numbers of keeper size spotted bass can be caught on rocky points and humps at Lake Allatoona on jig head worms during February. To fill your freezer with yellow perch, fish a small minnow or jig below the Thurmond Dam, letting it drift with the current into eddies.

March
Species: Crappie
What To Expect
Big crappie move toward the spawning areas at Walter George this month. You can easily get you limit and fill your freezer with fileting size keepers.
How To
Tie up under a bridge on one of the lower lake creeks or drift over standing timber in the mouths of creeks like Bustahatchee Creek with live minnows or Hal Fly jigs suspended at different depths. Change depths and color of jigs until you start catching fish.
You can also troll small jigs in the creeks, following the channel, to find schools of fish. When you catch a crappie circle back over the same area since they are often moving in big schools.
White bass are running up the rivers at Lake Allatoona and can be caught on small spinners and jigs from a boat or the bank in the channels. Catfish on Lake Thurmond move shallow in March to feed and spawn and will hit live bream and shad on hard bottoms near channels.

April
Species: Largemouth Bass
What To Expect
Largemouths are up shallow spawning and feeding on the shad and herring spawn at Lake Thurmond this month. The herring spawn offers some of the fastest and best fishing for big bass of the year.
How To
Fish blowthroughs, shallow gaps between islands or between an island and the bank, in the Georgia Little River arm of Thurmond. Have a big topwater walking bait like a Zara Spook ready to cast to surface feeding fish. Also fish a big spinnerbait or crankbait over the gravel bottoms of these areas.
Fishing is best at first light when the herring spawn but you can catch fish in the deeper water off the sides of the blowthroughs on Carolina rigged lizards after the sun gets up. Drag the lizard in eight to ten feet of water.
You can choose from several ponds at McDuffie PFA to catch bluegills on earthworms or crickets this month, and fishing piers and clean banks offer the non-boat fishermen good places to catch fish. Sight fish for Trippletail holding on the surface off the Jekyll Island beaches with live shrimp.

May

Species: Flounder
What To Expect
Flounder are feeding in the sounds and inlets on the coast this month. These excellent tasting fish can be caught from the shore or from a boat.
How To
An outgoing tide pulls food from the marshes and flounder wait on it anywhere a small creek comes out of the grass. Anchor your boat off to the side of the current coming out of the creek and cast a small mud minnow or jig to the edges of the current.
You can get to some of these small creek and inlets from the bank on Jekyll Island. A good one is near the fishing pier on the north tip of the island and you can park and walk to it and fish from the shore.
Redbreast are plentiful in the Ogeechee River and have come back from the bad fish kill a few years ago. Catch them on earthworms or crickets in eddy areas out of the current. Lake Lanier is a quality spotted bass fishery and they are feeding on blueback herring on top in May. You can catch many three and four pound spots on topwater plugs this month.
June

Species: Catfish
What To Expect
The catfish population at Lake Oconee is excellent and you can catch blues, channel and flatheads, with some quality bragging size fish available.
How To
Anchor your boat on humps or shallow points and let the current take cut shad or bream out from the boat. Put out several rods to cover the area better. Current makes the catfish bite better but you can catch them when the current is not strong, too. The current will move both ways, depending on generation or pumpback at the dam.
During the summer stick with main lake points and humps or those in the bigger creeks. Shallow water near deep water is best, so a long shallow point with the channel bending off one side is an excellent place to set up.
Shark move into Georgia waters to spawn in the early summer and can be caught from piers on both Jekyll and St. Simons Islands. To beat the heat tie up under a bridge on West Point at night and catch crappie on minnows and jigs.

July

Species: Tarpon
What To Expect
Tarpon move into the coastal sounds and river mouths in the summer. These huge fish, some weighing 150 pounds, can be seen rolling and feeding on top in hot weather.
How To:
Cast a live menhaden to tarpon feeding on top in the Altamaha River Sound or drift near oyster beds with live menhaden free-lined in the current. An outgoing tide is usually best. You can also troll a big crankbait or cast a crankbait or spoon to the fish you see on top.
Anywhere the current breaks will attract feeding tarpon. Shell beds are good but so are ditch and creek mouths. Current coming out of the marsh grass pulls baitfish out where the tarpon feed on them.
Fish a spoon or spinner over grass in the lake at Hamburg State Park to catch Chain Pickerel, a cousin of the Northern Pike. Fish live bream in holes on outside bends of the Altamaha River for big Flathead Catfish.
August
Species: Blue Catfish
What To Expect
The state record blue cat, an 80 pound, 4 ounce monster, was caught in the upper end of Lake Andrews, below the Walter George dam, in the summer. There are many big catfish in the area.
How To
Fish live bream or cut shad in the current below the Walter George dam. When current is strong from power generation the bite will be better. Use a heavy sinker to get your bait to the bottom and keep it there in the current.
Fishing from a boat is best but you can catch fish from the fishing pier there, too. You need heavy tackle and line to land a big catfish. Smaller eating size cats are also common in these waters.
You can have a blast catching carp from a boat or the bank at Thurmond by baiting up a hole on a flat near deep water with sinking catfish food. The fishing pier at Amity Park is a good place to do this. Fish small shrimp from the Tybee island beeches in designated fishing areas to catch good eating whiting.

September

Species: Shoal Bass
What To Expect
Shoal bass fight hard and remind fishermen of smallmouth. Native to the Flint River, they inhabit the shoals all along the river from near Atlanta all the way to Lake Seminole.
How To
Access the river at any bridge and wade nearby shoals, fishing eddies and current with small crankbaits, spinners and Texas rigged worms. Fish your baits with the current, casting upstream as you wade.
You can also put a jon boat or canoe in and drift down to the next bridge to take out. Plan your trip for a section of the river that will match the time you have to fish. Stop and tie up at shoals and wade fish them, too.
Go up the river at Lake Harding and find gar in back-outs. Cast a spoon with a six inch frayed white nylon cord on the hook to them for fun and good eating. Cast a small topwater popper or spoon to surface feeding hybrids near the Highway 109 Causeway on West Point.
October

Species: Walleyes
What To Expect
Although walleyes are not abundant in Lake Raburn, you can catch decent numbers of two to four pound fish. The Walleye is claimed to be the best eating freshwater fish so catch some at Raburn in October to find out.
How To
At night, fish small minnows and earthworms on shallow points on the main lake. During the day fish nighcrawlers in 20 feet of water on channel edges near the points. Fish the nightcrawlers on the bottom with a small split shot
Light line is important to increase the number of bites you get as well as letting the walleyes fight more. Use six or eight pound line on a light to medium spinning outfit for the best action.
Bull Red Drum move into the shallows around St. Simons Island this month to feed and you can catch 30 pound fish on live shrimp from the beach. Fish earthworms ten feet deep around standing timber at Big Lazer PFA for big shellcracker.

November

Species: Rainbow Trout
What To Expect
The Toccoa River below Lake Blue Ridge dam produces consistent catches of eating size rainbow trout with the chance of a big fish. Several nine to ten pound rainbows have been collected during shocking sampling by the DNR.
How To
Wading the river in November can be cold but productive. Floating between access points in a canoe will keep you dry and give you access to less heavily fished spots.
You can use live bait like earthworms but no live minnows on the Toccoa River. Artificials for fly fishermen like nymphs, wet flies and streamers are best in November. Small spinners and minnow baits are good for spinning fishing.
Blue, channel and flathead catfish are common in the Coosa River, with blues up to 50 pounds caught each year. Fish wood cover with live bream. Good size crappie are caught at High Falls Lake by trolling minnows and small jigs in open water this month.

December

Species: Striped Bass
What To Expect
Ten to fifteen pound stripers are common on Lake Thurmond but 40 pounders are landed every December. The big fish will often be in very shallow water in the winter, chasing baitfish.
How To
Freeline live herring around main lake points and humps. Planer boards will help you get them up close to the bank, big stripers may be in very close and shallow. Also try going up the bigger creeks like Fishing and Soap Creek and Little River and fish the backs of the channels.
Baitfish are the key. Find the schools of bait and stripers will be nearby. Baitfish move up the creeks and back in coves in December and may be all the way in the back and the stripers, even very big ones, will be there, too. Big baits like an eight inch herring is usually best for big stripers, but if they are feeding on smaller herring or shad try smaller baits.
Lake Blue Ridge is the only lake in Georgia with a decent population of smallmouth bass. Fish main lake rocky points with small crankbaits and jig head worms to catch one. Good catches of big largemouth bass at Walter George are caught on the ledges on big crankbaits this time of year.

What Is Pro Angler Jimmy Houston Doing Now?

Catching up with pro angler Jimmy Houston

Editor’s Note: Today’s feature comes to us from Kevin Kelly at the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources
from The Fishing Wire

Jimmy Houston

The growth of outdoor television and an expanding library of videos available online means anglers no longer have to wait until weekend mornings to get their fill of fishing shows.

Viewers would tune in each week to ESPN, TBS and The Nashville Network to watch the likes of Jimmy Houston, Bill Dance, Roland Martin, Hank Parker, Jerry McKinnis and others catch big fish, and lots of them. As entertaining as it was, there was educational value. The shows introduced generations of anglers to new equipment and new lures, but also taught them new ways to fish.

“There is some satisfaction in the fact that you’ve been a part of the sport growing to what it is today,” Houston said.

Now in his early 70s, the pro bass angler from Oklahoma, known for his shaggy platinum blond hair, infectious giggle and penchant for planting kisses on fish, remains one of the sport’s best-known ambassadors. He continues to keep a busy schedule fishing selected tournaments, filming his television show and making personal appearances. Last summer, one of those appearances brought him to Kentucky.

Houston is no stranger to the state and raves about the quality of the fishing on Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake.

“Bass fishing is better right now than it’s ever been in the United States,” he said. “You have a lake right here close by, Kentucky Lake, and its sister lake, Lake Barkley, those are some of the greatest places to fish in the country.”

While in the state for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway – he drove the pace car – Houston filmed a segment fishing with Fox NASCAR in-race analyst Larry McReynolds at one of the ponds on the track’s property. McReynolds had never caught a fish before, Houston said.

“We caught eight or 10 bass and Larry caught two,” he said. “The first one he caught was about 12 inches long and his first question was, ‘Would that win a fishing tournament?’ I told him it depended on the tournament and how big they needed to be. But, no, that probably wouldn’t win any tournament. We still had a lot of fun.”

For anybody trying to teach a new angler to fish, one of the keys to success is keeping it fun and simple.

“Where so many of the dads make the mistake, particularly those who love to bass fish, is they want their kid bass fishing,” Houston said. “They go out there and throw a plastic worm around for two or three hours and don’t get a bite and think they’re going to get a bite on the next cast. A kid does it for about 20 minutes and says, ‘Dad, this isn’t fun.'”

Farm ponds, small lakes and any of the Fishing in Neighborhoods program lakes across the state are great places to take a new angler. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources stocks FINs lakes with rainbow trout and channel catfish. Some also receive stockings of hybrid sunfish.

“Start them out on something where they can catch fish,” Houston said. “Depending on where you are, that might be a lot of different species. It might simply be bluegill in a farm pond.

“A kid will have just as much fun catching bluegill because they can catch them. They don’t really have very long attention spans, so if they go very long without catching a fish they’re going to get bored with it.”

Houston’s daughter used to accompany her parents in the boat while they pre-fished before a tournament. When she got tired of fishing, she always had something else to keep her occupied.

“We’d let her bring all her toys and stuff,” Houston said. “She’d get down on the floor of the boat and make her a little tent by the console. She’d play with her toys, get up and fish for a little bit, and then she’d go back to playing.”

Many of the anglers who grew up watching fishing shows on weekend mornings are finding the roles reversed now. Teaching a new angler to fish helps ensure the future of the sport.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s NASCAR or baseball or football or anything. They’re the future,” Houston said. “So it’s an honor to get to take kids fishing. It really is.”

Author Kevin Kelly is a staff writer for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Get the latest from Kevin and the entire Kentucky Afield staff by following them on Twitter: @kyafield.

Why Make A Fishing Plan?

Sometimes sticking with a plan works in the long run, even when its a fishing plan. While getting tackle ready for the Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament last Sunday I had a feeling that if I fished some specific places in specific ways I would catch fish.

Pro fishermen sometimes tell me that they often get this feeling. Peter Thliverlos, a pro fisherman usually called Peter T, is known for his saying “if you think it, do it.” I usually get it a couple of times a year. I think that “sixth sense” is what separates the weekend warriors like me and the upper levels of fishermen.

Some of that “sixth sense” comes from spending a lot of time on the water. The more experience you have in anything the better you will do. I compare it to playing baseball or the piano. Anybody can learn to play baseball but no matter how much you practice and play very few will ever make it to the major leagues. Anybody can learn to play the piano, but no matter how much most folks practice only a tiny percentage will ever play at Carnegie Hall. They need that sixth sense.

I fish a lot, to the extent of fishing 443 days in a row a few years ago. I am in a bass boat at least five days a month, usually much more, fishing for bass. And I have been fishing for bass for over 55 years and competing in club tournaments for 42 years next month. But I will never be able to compete consistently in bigger tournament trails.

I love it when I get that feeling, it gives me confidence. But last Sunday I almost gave up on my plan after almost two hours without catching a keeper bass.

In the Sportsman Club tournament 16 members and guests fished for 8.5 hours at Bartletts Ferry. The windy, cool day made it tough to fish some places but 10 of the fishermen had limits. Only one fisherman didn’t catch a keeper.

I won with five weighing 13.04 pounds and Russell Prevatt placed second with five at 12.87. His 5.11 pound largemouth beat my 5.05 pounder for big fish. Larry Cook was third with 10.58 pounds and Jay Gerson had five at 9.05 for fourth.

There is a place near the ramp at Bartletts Ferry where I like to start first thing in the morning, especially if we start when it is fairly dark. At 7:30 it was pretty dark Sunday so I stopped there. I have often caught a keeper in the first few minutes of a tournament to start my day.

Plus, I wanted to go to the other side of the river. There is a mud ridge running right down the middle of the river so it is safer to go around it when it is good light. Logs often float down the river and stick on the edge of it, making it dangerous to run until you can see them.

On one of my first few casts with a spinnerbait I felt a thump but did not hook anything. I figured it was a bream or a small spotted bass so it didn’t worry me too much. But then I felt a hit and when I set the hook a two pound bass came to the surface and came off, not the way I wanted to start.

By now it was light enough to see so I ran to a small creek on the other side of the river. I just knew I could catch something there but after fishing it for thirty minutes I had not had a bite. Then a fish made a fool of me while I was fishing a jig and pig.

I felt a light tap and tried to get my line tight to set the hook. When I thought it was tight I reared back and my line zinged under the boat, the fish had come off the bank and run under the boat 25 feet away in the couple of seconds while it tried to tighten up my line. It came off.

A few minutes later I came to a small brush top at the mouth a little ditch in that creek. I cast my spinnerbait to both sides of it but no bite. I felt like there was a fish there, it was the perfect set-up, and I remembered a trip with pro fisherman Boyd Duckett. The first place we stopped that morning was a ditch with a small brush top in it and he cast to it repeatedly, saying he just knew a bass was there. After about a dozen casts to the same place he caught one.

I kept casting to the little brush top and on about my seventh cast, when I stopped the spinnerbait and let it fall, I saw my second biggest bass of the day come up and hit it. I managed to land it and felt a little better.

About an hour later I was in another small creek and cast a Carolina rigged lizard near a boat dock walkway. When I started to move it, it felt mushy. I thought I had picked up a leaf on my lead but then I realized my line had move out under the dock and something started pulling. I didn’t have time to set the hook, I just started reeling.

I managed to net the 5.05 pound largemouth as the hook fell out of its mouth. That was a fish that was just meant to get caught, one I should have lost. That made me feel much better about missing the earlier fish.

The rest of the day I fished a jig and pig and caught four more keepers and culled a small spot. Then with less than 30 minutes to fish I did something dumb and lost a three pounder. The wind was blowing me down the bank and I felt a thump on the jig. My line started moving out toward the back of the boat and, rather than turn and get good hook set I tried to set it over my left shoulder kinda backwards. The three pounder came to the top and came off.

I hated losing that fish but all in all following my plan worked pretty well!

Where Is Tarpon Central?

Tarpon Central

The amazing silver king fishery at Boca Grande

By Frank Sargeant
from The Fishing Wire

Boca Grande Lighthouse

The historic Boca Grande Lighthouse marks the pass of the same name, where the world’s greatest tarpon fishery occurs from April through June each year. (Frank Sargeant photo)

There are many places to catch tarpon in Florida and throughout Central America, but there is no place where the silver king is so synonymous with the location as Boca Grande, the massive pass at the southern tip of Gasparilla Island.

For years anglers made wild estimates of how many tarpon swarm into this pass each spring, roughly between April 1 and the end of June, but nobody knew for sure until the state’s Fish & Wildlife Research Institute put counting devices on the bottom a decade or so back and came up with a reasonably accurate number.

The count was 10,000 fish–at one time! And the biologists who did the counting note that tarpon are coming and going throughout the season, so this number does not represent all the fish that visit the pass, only those that were there during the counting period.

It’s no wonder that the pass draws anglers from all over the nation–and from worldwide locations–to sample the action. There simply is no place on Earth where your odds are better, in one four-hour trip, of hooking up with one of these silver giants, which are typically about the length of a tall man and weigh 100 pounds or more. They are not only powerful, but they are given to aerial acrobatics that leave first-timers speechless–leaps near 10 feet into the air are not uncommon.

Mature tarpon

Mature tarpon typically weigh 100 pounds and up, with fish over 150 pounds caught with some frequency. Nearly all are released since the species is not considered edible. (Frank Sargeant photo)

Boca Grande has the added attraction of allowing anglers to see the fish before they catch them on most days–pods of 10, 20, even 50 at a time come rolling to the surface like schools of silvery porpoises, sometimes almost close enough to touch.

The fish apparently swarm here to feed prior to spawning–the pass is loaded with crabs and baitfish at this time of year, giving them a place to bulk up easily before making the journey offshore, as much as a hundred miles, to drop their eggs in the open sea.

Not surprisingly, a resource this amazing draws a crowd–it’s common for 50 boats or more to float through the pass in a loose fleet. When they reach the bottom of a drift, they return to the top and try again. Some anglers fish with jigs, easing close to concentrations they see on sonar screens and dropping into their midst.

Both live bait and artificials are successful, though the latter are less so since a device known as the break-away jig was banned a few years back. Either way, your chances fishing with a guide here are probably better than almost anywhere else–it’s common for a single boat to fight three or four fish in a four-hour charter.

WHERE TO STAY

The grand old lady of the island is the Gasparilla Inn, which has been housing anglers, captains of industry and movie stars for more than 100 years as they come to pay homage at the shrine of tarpon fishing, the blue-green pass that’s just around the corner from the harbor.

The Gasparilla Inn has been welcoming tarpon fisherman to the island and Boca Grande Pass for more than 100 years. (Photo Credit Gasparilla Inn)

The Victorian-style inn maintains the historic character of the early 1900’s, but it has been steadily upgraded and improved over the decades into a world class resort destination. An 18-hole golf course on the bayside, where you can occasionally see snook and reds swimming along the seawalls, welcomes a respite from the tarpon wars. And the inn is one of the few locations in the nation where there are still croquet courts–the Mallet Club–where the greens are as meticulously maintained at those on the golf course. There’s a beach side tennis club, and of course a marina for the anglers, and the whimsical Pink Elephant Restaurant, just across the street from the docks, where anglers gather to share tall tales–and where wild 3-foot-long iguanas occasionally peek out of the hedges. They’re an invasive species, but still very interesting to see at close range.

The town itself is still much like it has always been–tight zoning laws plus the astronomical value of the land here has kept the development that has ravaged much of mainland Florida at bay, and the toll bridge at the north end of the island is also a factor, forming a sort of mote that helps maintain the laid back tenor of the village and the island. It’s a place that welcomes walking and biking tours–there’s an island-length biking/jogging trail, and plenty of bikes for rent. It’s predictably pricey, both for accommodations and food, but for a weekend or a vacation splurge, it’s one place in Florida everyone just has to visit at least once.

For details on the Gasparilla Inn, visit www.the-gasparilla-inn.com.

Why I Will Never Buy Walmart Batteries Again

For many years i have run Walmart Batteries in my bass boat, using from one to four depending on the boat. They were relatively inexpensive, you could trade them almost anywhere if you had problems, and I could get from two to two and one half years service from them.

My current boat, a Skeeter ZX 225, has a cranking battery, a batter for accessories like deptfinders and aerators, and two trolling motor batteries for the 24 volt Motor Guide trolling motor. I started using a different battery for accessories a few years ago when my boqt would not crank, the aerators had been running all day and I had stayed in one creek all day. I vowed that would never happen again.

In November my two Walmart Batteries were drained the first day of a Top Six tournament on a very windy day. That night a windstorm blew a tree down on the power lines going to my campsite so my batteries didn’t get fully charged. I was dead in the water by 9:00 the next morning. Since the batteries were about 30 months old, and I usually got from 24 to 30 months from Walmart batteries, I replaced them and the third battery too.

By the first tournament this year, only 13 months later, those two batteries would not hold a charge for more than half an eight hour tournament day. I took them in but they tested ok. They would hold a charge but were useless for a trolling motor used all day.

Even worse, last fall, less than a year after putting a new Walmart battery in for accessories, it started falling after about six hours. It was running an HDS 8 unit up front and an HDS 10 on the console and most of the day the console unit was on standby. Both aerators were also running. Again I took it in and it tested ok – and it will hold enough of a charge to use as a cranking battery in my Ford 1510 tractor.

I knew better but got another Walmart Battery for the accessories in November. In February it would not hold a charge for an eight hour tournament day running just two depthfinders and two areators. i had to use jumper cables to keep aerators running until the end of the day. Early in March I would fish all day in the wind at Eufaula. When I came in the two Exide Batteries I put in this January would be down to 90 percent charge. After a couple of hours they would be at 100 percent and still be at 100 percent the next morning.

The five month old Walmart battery would be down around 50 percent when I came in, the point where the depthfinders started failing. It would charge back to 100 percent overnight with my three bank on board charger and a stand alone charger hooked to it. But an hour later, after taking the stand alone charger off, it would drop to only 80 percent.

I put another Excide battery in today for accories! I will never buy another Walmart Battery.

How To Catch Spring Walleyes

‘Eyes of Spring

by Chip Leer

Spring Walleye

Catch the early season river bite for spring walleyes

Winter’s demise signals the beginning of an annual rite of spring, as schools of prespawn walleyes surge upstream into rivers across the Walleye Belt.

Although the water is cool and fish location often changes day by day—even hour by hour—savvy anglers can enjoy some of the year’s best fishing.

My favorite scenarios are rivers that flow into larger bodies of water, such as the Rainy River at Lake of the Woods or Detroit River at western Lake Erie. In these situations, walleyes from the main lake gather at the river mouth in late winter, then move upstream toward spawning areas as the ice recedes, boosting the river’s walleye population to its highest point of the year.

I typically start my search at the river mouth and work my way upstream, checking channel edges and a variety of current breaks. Main-channel holes are among my favorite stops, because they attract waves of migrating fish and often “recharge” several times during a day of fishing.

Current seams and shoreline eddies also hold fish, but don’t overlook anything that blocks the current or offers winter-weary walleyes a chance to rest and feed.

Top tactics include vertical jigging, either from an anchored position or while slipping your boat downstream with the trolling motor, keeping your line as vertical as possible.

Long-shank leadheads like Northland Fishing Tackle’s Slurp! Jig and round-headed RZ Jig are hard to beat because they hold live and artificial tippings well, while yielding solid hooksets. Northland’s new Swivel-Head Jig is another great choice, because the rotating hook gives plastics and live bait extra action you don’t get with fixed-position hooks.

Tip jigs with a 3- to 5-inch scented soft plastic trailer, which gives walleyes a target in the turbid, relatively dark waters common in spring river fishing. A variety of softbaits attract fish and trigger strikes, including Northland’s Impulse Paddle Minnows, Ringworms, Smelt Minnows and even old-school creature designs. Sweeten the presentation with extra scent and flavor by skull-hooking a shiner or fathead minnow on top of the plastic piggy-back style.

Since the water is still very cool, keep jig strokes to a minimum. Often, a slow and methodical lift-drop cadence within a few inches of bottom is all it takes, but sometimes simply holding the jig as still as possible an inch or two off bottom is the best approach.

As the water warms, walleyes often shift into shallower water near shoreline spawning areas. Pitch the same style jigs and tippings toward the bank and swim, drag and pendulum them back to the boat, keeping the jig close to bottom on the retrieve.

Based in Walker, Minnesota, noted fishing authority and outdoor communicator Chip Leer, www.chipleer.com, operates Fishing the WildSide, which offers a full suite of promotional, product development and consultation services. For more information, call (218) 547-4714 or email Chip@fishingthewildside.net.

Farm Ponds and Small Lakes Offer Excellent Fishing

Farm ponds and small lakes offer excellent fishing earlier than other waters

Editor’s Note: Today’s feature comes to us from Lee McClellan of the Kentucky DFWR, but the advice applies to farm ponds and small lakes everywhere this spring.

Farm Pond Bass

FRANKFORT, Ky. – When air temperatures crest the 70-degree mark for the first time in March, anglers swarm reservoirs and state-owned lakes to fish. The warm weather stirs up high expectations, but these anglers often return home frustrated after a fishless day.

These big waters still retain their winter cold and a few days of shirt-sleeve weather doesn’t warm them up enough to get largemouth bass, bluegill or catfish active. They still feel the lethargy of winter.

Farm ponds and small lakes less than 10 acres are the perfect antidote for this situation. Their small size and relatively shallow waters warm up quicker in spring than large reservoirs sprawling over thousands of acres or state-owned lakes several hundred acres in size.

The extended warm front forecasted for this week is the ideal situation to catch the biggest largemouth bass of the year. “A lot of those largemouth bass are moving up into shallow water with these warm temperatures,” said Jeff Crosby, Central Fisheries District biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “If we get a nice warm rain coming up this week, the water temperatures will jump and it will be ‘katy bar the door’. The big gals are moving up right now. It is going to get hot.”

Three days or more of air temperatures warmer than 70 degrees bring largemouth bass into water two feet deep or less, especially after March rains color the water. They nudge their noses right up on the bank and hide in shoreline cover, small cuts in the bank or even among clumps of shoreline grass that extend out into the lake.

Largemouth bass use objects such as stumps, rocks, grass clumps or fallen tree tops as reference points in muddy water, much as humans use objects to navigate a dark room.

Parallel the bank with a brown and orange shallow-running, square-billed crankbait and retrieve it as slowly as the lure allows. A 4-inch green pumpkin-colored lizard rigged weightless with a 3/0-worm hook and crawled slowly along the bottom is deadly in this situation.

A 1/8- or 3/16-ounce black jig paired with a black and blue trailer also excels as does a 4-inch boot-tailed grub in the pumpkin pepper color. These lures work well in both murky and clear water.

Banks that fall off quickly into deeper water are best for fishing a parallel retrieve for largemouth, with the dam face being the paramount choice on small lakes.

March rains that cloud the water also pull largemouth into shallow waters in coves on small lakes and the upper end of farm ponds. Any isolated cover on the shallow flats should be probed with the jig and trailer combination, the lizard or the grub. Cast on the bank and gently pull the lure into the water to avoid spooking fish.

Stealth is vitally important to fooling largemouth bass in water a foot deep. Walk softly, keep low and wear drab colors, even if the water is muddy. Careless anglers who stomp around the shoreline may notice V-shaped wakes heading off toward deeper water formed by largemouth bass spooked from their shallow lairs. These fish won’t bite again for hours.

Bluegill anglers can find great sport in early spring on farm ponds or small lakes. Water clarity dictates how and where to fish.

Murky to muddy water means anglers should fish small in-line spinners or 1-inch white or yellow curly tailed grubs near any available cover. Many farm ponds are simply gouged out bowls in the ground and have little to no fish holding cover. Simply cover water with these lures until a bluegill strikes.

In clear water, fish redworms near cover either on the bottom or suspended under a bobber, threaded on a No. 6 Aberdeen hook. Bottom fishing works best on bright days.

The new soft baits designed for panfish that broadcast scent work extremely well fished on the bottom or to tip a 1/32-ounce yellow feather jig fished near cover and suspended under a bobber.

Prolific breeders, keeping and eating bluegill benefits the pond or small lake and provides a tasty, nutritious meal as well.

Channel catfish move toward the shallow flats of the upper end of a farm pond or small coves in the section farthest from the dam in a small lake during a March warm front. Rains that tint the water with runoff draw huge numbers of catfish into these spots, gorging on worms flushed into the pond or lake.

Nightcrawlers threaded onto a 4/0 circle hook and bottom fished in these areas can lead to some of the fastest catfish action of the year. Dead minnows, chicken livers or commercial prepared stink baits all work for channels in small lakes and farm ponds in murky water or clear.

The warm winds of March are here. Forgo the big lake and hit a small lake or farm pond instead. Remember, the new fishing license year began March 1 and you must now purchase a new one before fishing in 2016.

By Lee McClellan, Kentucky DFWR, www.fw.ky.gov.

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