Three simple tips for catching largemouth bass in Kentucky
July 28, 2009 by admin · 2 Comments
Larry Williams of Murray, Kentucky used a Carolina-rigged watermelon with red flake straight 5-inch worm to catch this largemouth bass in early summer on Kentucky Lake. Williams uses a Carolina rig to fish both shallow heavy cover such as a brush covered flat or weedbed, but also to fish deep humps and ledges.
Terms such as “Texas-rigged worm,” “Carolina-rigged lizard” or “wacky rig” are part of a bass angler’s everyday lexicon. But to a beginner, the experienced anglers might as well be speaking Chinese.
The Texas rig is probably the most popular fish-catching innovation in the evolution of bass fishing. The term stems from Nick Crème and Crème Manufacturing, the company given credit for inventing the plastic fishing worm. Crème created a double-hooked plastic worm with a straight tail. He tied the hooks to a leader, and then added a couple of red beads and a propeller out front. People called it the “tourist rig” because it was so easy to catch bass with it.
The rig worked great in open water, but snagged logs easily. Crème introduced an improved version of this rig in 1964. He replaced the propeller with a slip sinker and a bead, and the double hook with one large hook. Crème imbedded the hook point into the worm to make it weedless. He called this the Texas rig.
The basic design hasn’t changed much since.
The Texas rig shines for bass around stumps, submerged trees and in weeds, because the hook is nearly snagless and the sinker punches through the cover. A medium to medium-heavy rod with a stiff tip is needed to drive the hook point through the worm and get the fish out of heavy cover.
A Carolina rig is an evolution of the Texas rig. It employs a ½- to 1-ounce egg or bullet-shaped slip sinker slid onto the main line from the reel, followed by two red glass beads. Brass is the preferred material for the weight. Brass makes a better clicking sound than lead when it contacts the glass on the retrieve.
The main line is tied to a barrel swivel. An 18- to 36-inch leader of monofilament or fluorocarbon line goes on the other loop of the swivel. The leader material is usually a lighter pound test than the main line, such as a 17-pound test main line with a 12-pound leader. A wide-gap offset worm hook goes on the business end.
This rig is versatile because it presents soft plastic worms, jerkbaits, lizards, creature baits and even live bait to hungry bass. The heavy weight of the rig allows the angler to follow contours of the bottom while covering water quickly. The Carolina rig is highly effective for fishing large mud flats, channel drops, ledges, sandbars and submerged humps. It is the go-to bait for many bass anglers fishing deep water, especially in summer and early fall.
You can also toss a Carolina rig onto a brush-covered flat or in the middle of a large weedbed. The heavy sinker on the front of the rig punches through the weeds and brush down to the bottom with the soft plastic bait hovering just above it. This method works wonders for bass on Kentucky Lake.
The wacky rig is a departure from both the Texas and Carolina rig. Several theories abound on the origin of the wacky rig, but one of the most often cited involves two novice anglers bass fishing one of the large reservoirs in Texas. They didn’t know how to thread a plastic worm onto a hook properly, so they impaled the middle of their Crème Scoundrel worms and let the ends dangle. The worms hung on the hook like a clown’s frown.
The pair threw their worms over weedbeds and caught large bass after large bass. When they returned to the dock, a couple of onlookers asked how they did. The two anglers opened their livewells and showed off some huge bass. The onlookers asked what they caught them on and the anglers held up their funny-looking worm rigs.
After some mighty guffaws, one of the onlookers exclaimed that it was the wackiest looking rig they’d ever seen. This was the birth of the wacky rig.
The wacky rig is great for fishing docks and up and under overhanging or flooded trees because you can skip it across the water. The undulating action of the worm drives a bass hanging under a dock or in a flooded tree crazy.
Soft plastic jerkbaits such as the Senko work great for this technique. They also draw strikes fished over weedbeds or stumps by pulling the worm up and allowing it to flutter back down.
Don’t let terminology stand in the way of learning to fish for bass. Get out this summer and toss one of these rigs in a lake near your home. You’ll soon become addicted.
—Story and photo by Lee.McClellan
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This time of year in Kentucky, fish deep points for success
July 18, 2009 by admin · Comments Off
The meeting of the land and the water often points out the fish for us.
This was, it seems to say, its earthen or rocky digit extended from shore outward, “Out here.”
Rodney Hairgrove knows that straight bank is never quite as attractive to bass as one with a wrinkle on it. The irregular shape of a point, a protrusion of the shore toward the deeper recesses of the water, is a double dose of fishing fortune: On one hand, it attracts and congregates the bass; on the other, it constitutes an often glaring feature that should flag the attention of the angler and usher him to where the fish wait.
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Teenager yanks 10+ pound largemouth from Tom Wallace Lake
May 3, 2009 by admin · Comments Off
Dana Tindall says her teenage son, who is home schooled, fishes nearly every day after school. You can bet he never before had a day like last Saturday.
courier-journal.com | Gary Garth blog | The Courier-Journal.
March is the Month for Big Bass
March 18, 2009 by admin · Comments Off
Frankfort, Ky. – Several decades ago, March brought out crusty, tough men who impaled several night crawlers on a large hook and dropped the bait around any stump, tree top, log or surface debris along the shoreline of a lake or pond for big bass. These anglers used a scull paddle to move their wooden boats quietly around the water, and fished stout cane poles with heavy black nylon line to haul their catch away from the cover. This fishing technique became known as jigging.
Although Herrington Lake receives credit as the birthplace of jigging, anglers discovered the same technique also worked well in other lakes for enormous female largemouth bass.
“They would drop the night crawlers right in front of the bass and haul them out of that cover,” said “Kentucky Afield” television Host Tim Farmer. “I was once a creel clerk on Elmer Davis Lake in Owen County and I would see some really big bass come from there at this time of year by jigging.”
While most anglers nowadays have switched to artificial lures and modern baitcasting rods, the basic technique still works at this time of year because the big female largemouth bass need to eat.
“They are spawning next month and feeding up to put nutrients in them they’ll need for spawning,” said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “The best way to do that is to get up in the warm shallow water and feed as much as they can. This is the final push to get ready for the spawn.”
Questions and answers with: Dave Stewart, Bass Buster Guide Service
January 1, 2009 by admin · Comments Off
Dave Stewart of Bass Buster Guide Service in Benton, Ky.Years guiding: 6. Contact number: 270-354-5039. Email: dave@kentuckylakeguide.com
Kentuckyfishing.com: How did you get started as a guide and why?
Dave Stewart: Actualy, I got started after I retired from the military in 1995. I moved to Kentucky Lake and I was living at a resort. People at the resort asked me if I could take some people out who weren’t catching fish. I helped them catch fish and this eventually became a business.
Kentuckyfishing.com: What do you like about the job?
Dave Stewart: I like he people. Outdoors people, especially anglers, have got to be some of the best people to be around. For me, watching clients catch fish has become more fun than catching the fish myself.
Kentuckyfishing.com: What do you not like so much about the job?
Dave Stewart: Winter. I hate the off season. I get bored.
Kentuckyfishing.com: What is your favorite tactic?
Dave Stewart: I primarily guide for bass; it makes up probably 95 percent of my business. For smallmouth, I love to fish crankbaits and jerkbaits in teh spring. In the summer I fish for largemouth and I love to use Carolina rigs. Kentucky and Balrkley are good Carolina rig lakes. I love to fish tubes, too. That’s kind of a trademark of mine, tube fishing.
Kentuckyfishing.com: Why do you like to fish for bass over other species?
Dave Stewart: I started ot fishing fo bass in clubs and tournaments. It just seems to be the most challenging of the fish here to catch. I enjoy taking people out, especially those who are having trouble finiding fish. I started out guiding as much crappie as I did bass. But I turned to bass. That’s where my reputation is. Ninety-five percent of my business is tournament preparation.
Kentuckyfishing.com: Are tournament anglers tougher to deal with? Are they more difficult to deal with?
Dave Stewart: Not really. You ahve to take each client as they come. Probably my most favorite clients are children — fathers and sons. But tournament types are not that hard to work with.
Kentuckyfishing.com: Do your clients have special tactics they want to try?
Dave Stewart: I find that for the majority of them, since I do a lot of tournament preparation, most people will leave it up to me. They realize one tactic is not a catch-all. But I do have a lot of people who want to try Carolina rigging.
Kentuckyfishing.com: What is your favorite lure?
Dave Stewart: As a go-to lure I’d have to say a tube. I’ve been fishing them for years and years and years. They’ve just become popular down here in the last few years. I’m not sure I’m happy about that. (laughs) My favorite lure to throw, though, is probably a Carolina rig or a crankbait. But a tube is definitely the go-to lure. When nothing else will work a tube will get you some fish.
Kentuckyfishing.com: When do you most like to fish?
Dave Stewart: I love spring. I love the early smallmouth and the pre-spawn largemouth. It’s got to be the most productive and the most fun fishing there is. Those are the days of the big numbers and the big fish.
Kentuckyfishing.com: What kind of cover or areas do you like to fish the most?
Dave Stewart: The obvious would be stumps. Old stump fields are the most productive. I also like brush piles. If you find those brush piles you can score fish. But fish like to cruise open water. So it changes all year long.
First published in The Kentucky Fishing Journal, February 2003
Finding lazy summer bass in Kentucky
August 22, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
Along with warm temperatures and long days, summer brings topwater action to bass anglers. Now is one of the best times of the year to catch fish on surface presentations.
“When fish are more active because of warmer temperatures this time of year, they are more likely to feed on the surface,” said Dave Dreves, a fisheries research biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “A lot of people think when it’s hot, the fish don’t feed as much. Well, their metabolisms are higher, so they have to eat.”
Tips for keeping heat-stressed bass alive during summertime tournaments
August 20, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
Bass tournaments are an exciting and popular activity on Kentucky’s lakes. However, tournaments held during the heat of summer place a great deal of stress on fish.
“We don’t promote summertime tournaments because of the potential for increases in mortality of fish,” said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources’ fisheries division. “We recommend that tournaments not be held when water temperatures are over 80 degrees.”
Higher temperatures mean less oxygen in the water and more stress to fish held in a boat’s livewell. If anglers don’t take measures to cool the water, maximize aeration, maintain a healthy salt balance and flush ammonia from the livewell, fish can die either during the tournament or after they are released.
“If anglers cannot move their tournaments to cooler time periods, they need to learn the best techniques for taking care of fish in warm water,” said Buynak. “If you are going to have a summertime tournament, maintain aeration and use ice and salt in the livewell.”
Anglers should first fill their livewells in the morning when the lake water is cooler. Switch the livewell to recirculate so it is not taking on warm lake water, and keep it running continually throughout the tournament day. Add two 1/2-gallon frozen bottles of water to the livewell and about 1/3 cup of untreated salt for every 5 gallons of livewell water.
