Thought I could go...

Fishing that is. I have three days off: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I thought I would have some time to go fishing this week but today I didnt feel good and didnt want to get out in the cold. Tomorrow I got a whole list of things to do so fishing is Doubtful on Monday. Tuesday is questionable...but hey at least I can LOOK at the river twice tomorrow, once in Chattanooga and Scottsboro.

I cant wait till I get to wet a line, I have been practicing my long range targeting and pitching skills in the yard so it wont be like I am starting off from scratch, it has been almost a year and a half since I have fished.

Congrats to Skeet Reese on the Classic win...

Parasite Weights

If you are looking for a great way to save your plastics and get longer life out of them, then look no further. Parasite Weights have a great selection of products to fit your needs. There are several products that can help you and I will talk about them often.


I will be discussing the Original Parasite Clip and the Weight and Clip system in the future so stay tuned for those posts.




http://parasiteweights.com/index.html

The rattle bait...

This weekend was the conclusion of the FLW Chevy Open. As seen in my earlier post I covered the event for ultimate bass and the recurring theme was Rattling Bait or Lip less crank baits. They are many types of rattling baits out there, the classic Rat-L-Trap to the tear drop XR-50's. In between you have the Diamond Shads, Cotton Cordell Super Spots, Berkley's Aruku shads, Lucky Crafts and others. I think everyone makes a rattling bait nowadays. Heck If I had a lure company I would make one...

They are a great search bait and can be fished different ways.

Rippin the grass...

On Lake Guntersville the main technique is "rippin" the grass. With this technique you make long casts to hydrilla/milfoil beds and burn the lure across the bed. Once you snag some grass (and you will) you rip the rattling bait loose from the grass. The majority of the hits will come when the lure breaks free from the grass. I have caught some big pre spawn bass this way.

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Yo-Yoing...

The title says it all, this works as well as ripping or sometimes even better. I think it is the flutter of the bait when it comes back down. The only bad thing about Yo-Yoing is that you have to be good about setting the hook with slack line. A lot of times the strike will come on slack line. Some people have different techniques for yo-yoing but I prefer this method. Make a long cast and keep your rod at a 45 degree angle, that way you can set the hook even with slack line. While you are retrieving your lure stop and let the lure flutter down, don't move the rod instead make ten or so handle turns and repeat. That way when you stop reeling the lure will flutter down and come back up with the retrieve.

Both are great methods of fishing w ater with vegetation, if you know there is vegetation deeper down in the water column you can yo-yo and find the depth of the grass and rip it out on each retrieve. That way you can incorporate each tactic in one cast.

Open water search bait...

A rattle bait is a good open water search bait too. Burning a trap with fan casts in a open area is a good way to find fish.

One other thing I wanted to mention, One tip that I would offer is to keep a weightless super fluke or other shad imitator soft plastic on hand. If you ever have a day where the fish are short st ricking a rattle bait just throw that soft plastic presentation in the area you had your strike. A small soft plastic swim bait like the El Grande Lures 5" swim bait would be a good choice.

Good Read on the Chevy Open

http://www.ultimatebass.com/content/view/1101/1/



I attended the 2009 FLW Chevy Open on Lake Guntersville on Sunday. While there I covered the weigh in for Ultimate Bass. If you would like to read one of my articles on the even please click on the above link.



After you read the article check out the forums, this is the best bass fishing site on the 'net.

2009 Chevy Open at Lake Guntersville

Just got back from the final day weigh in and it was a blast. Got to talk to several anglers and had a front row seat for the weigh in. Will post some pics tomorrow, too tired tonight