Breaking Down Shallow Cover

Imagine if you will...

You are out on a quick late afternoon fishing trip; pull into a good looking cove that is loaded with shallow water cover.

Big question... how do you breakdown the different types of cover to increase your efficiency and start catching bass quickly?

Take a moment a watch as bass pro Patrick Walters explains his approach when fishing an area rich in shallow water cover...

Looking for cover elements that are unique such as points & cuts, isolated weed patches, bushes, stumps; docks with other types of cover all makes sense and great things to keep in mind during your next trip!

Different Frogs for Different Conditions

Just about every bass angler loves the thrill they get when seeing a bass rise from the depths and explode on a hollow bellied frog being worked over and through grass and pad fields. 

Although the thought of picking up the frog rod is instantaneous when fishing vegetation, there are other situations where hollow bodied frogs will work as well.

Many lure manufacturer's have developed a variety of hollow bodied frog styles to optimize success depending on the conditions encountered throughout a day on the water.

The folks from American Baitworks have created and enhanced their Scum Frog line-up to meet the needs of frog fishing enthusiasts everywhere as they explain in the following video:

The Scum Frog line-up has some pretty interesting choices including kicking frogs, specialized colored frogs and even weight-enhanced frogs for extra casting distance.

Want to see more?

Click on the following link to see the different hollow body bait options available in the Scum Frog line-up:

Scum Frog Choices

Drop-Shotting for Post Spawn Bass

A favorite bass fishing tip for post spawn bass is to use a rig many anglers overlook, drop-shotting soft plastics along edge of drop-offs. 

Drop-shot rigs are far more versatile than many bass fishermen believe but drop-shotting the shallow to deep water transition edges will produce quality post spawn females looking for an easy meal.

In the following video, Angling Edge’s Al Lindner describes just how and where to use this style of presentation when searching for a post spawn sow …

Heat Shrink Tubing Wacky Rig Hack

There is little doubt that wacky rigs are one of the more popular presentations for soft stickbaits like the Yamamoto Senko in the recent past. Typically when setting up the wacky rig, the hook is placed through bait around the mid-point of the worm such that it is perpendicular to its length.

One problem with rigging the hook directly through the bait; the hook and line (since the bait tends to ride up the line on the hook set) tears through the bait when reeling the fish in. Far to often this means we only catch one or two fish per bait which can get costly on a good day of catching!

Over the years, several hacks have been developed to help extend the life of the bait when wacky rigging including the use of o-rings and silicone tubing in the area of the bait where the hook penetrates.

Recently I found an interesting wacky rig hack by bass pro Jacob Wall where he uses heat shrink tubing to catch more fish/bait in a rather unique way which he describes in the following video...

Looks interesting and it might be time to check out these kits at my local Harbor Freight store 😎

If interested you can check the kit out via the following link:

Harbor Freight Heat Shrink Tubing Kit Link

Have fun and good luck!

Waking Up Bass

Did you ever encounter a day on the water and you felt like it was time to "wake up" the bass? 

Now I don't mean those days when it seems the bass need an alarm clock to get them going but situations where the bass are holding in submerged cover (grass, brush, etc.) and show signs of surface activity!

Though there are a number of different topwaters that may work, retrieving a wake bait with its wide wobbling motion and clicking of internal and external hardware is often the key to drawing bass up from their submerged haunts to explode on the bait...

Want to learn more about drawing bass to the surface to slam a wake bait? 

Take a moment to watch this short tutorial video on fishing wake baits over shallow, submerged cover:

In the previous video they demonstrate wake baiting using a fat-body crankbait style of lure. 

In addition, there are several different body styles available to bass anglers today including one of oldest, the Arbogast Jitterbug, shad shaped wake baits like the 6th Sense Speed Wake and rat-shaped versions like the Bull Shad Bull Rat!

Check out these and other wake bait options by clicking on the link if interested in seeing more!

Wake Bait Selection