How to Choose the Right Buzzbait

With summer in full swing we're continuing the topwater theme. This week's topic is buzzbaits. While many anglers use buzzbaits, few have the confidence to know without a doubt they're throwing the best color, style, etc... for the given conditions. Weight, metal blades, plastic blades, clackers, dual blades, and length all play in to what makes a buzzbait work. Every brand seems to have some variation that they believe works better than all the others.

Instead of telling you which one you should buy we threw a variety of buzzbaits and ran them in front of the camera. We've brought the results to you so the next time you decide to pick up a buzzbait you'll know exactly what its going to look and sound like before it hits the water.

Of course, I have my favorites and I give those tips away as well but the goal of this video is to leave you confident, knowing that when you make a purchase, you're getting the right baits for where you're fishing.

Now you know what my favorite buzzbaits are, what are some of yours? Have you found that one style is more productive than the others?

Frog Modifications to Land More Bass

The water is warm, the grass is growing, and the bass are shallow, the time has come. If you aren't throwing a frog by now you're missing opportunities for some heart-pounding explosions that you'll never forget! The frog is a key presentation during the summer months that every angler should at least have a familiarity with. Whether you're popping a frog in the shade of docks, walking it along a rocky shoreline, or dragging it on a cheese mat, its a fun way to lure BIG bass out of the depths.

The frog has a reputation for giant bass. Unfortunately it also has a reputation for missed fish and broken hearts. This video is going to cover some of the simple changes you can make to your frogs that will eliminate the heartache and put those big fish in the boat.

This shows the length comparison between the stock leg and a leg that has been cut down to eliminate short strikes and missed bites

The key to consistent success comes down to two simple changes. In my opinion, every frog should have the legs trimmed and the hook position altered before the bait is ever thrown in the water. There are dozens of other changes that you hear about from time to time but these two are easy and have a huge impact on your success.

When trimming the legs I cut the rubber with scissors until there is approximately 1.5 to 2 inches of material left. This increases the odds that the bass will target the main body of the bait rather than clamping down on just the legs. An added benefit of the trimmed legs is that its also easier to walk a frog once the legs have been cut shorter.

Here you can see a properly modified frog. Both the short legs and increased hook gap are visible

When modifying the hooks I bend them both out and up, away from the body. By doing this I am able to create a larger hook gap. When bass eat the bait with a modified hook they no longer need to fully crush the body of the frog to expose the hook. Doing this makes it much easier to hook the bass, even when an angler has a softer hookset. 

Depending on brand, bending the hooks can take a great deal of force. I generally have to bend the hooks farther than I want, as the steel will spring back part way as soon as the pressure is removed.  Use a stout pair of pliers and exercise caution.  its very easy to slip and end up on the wrong end of a strong hook. If you take your time, you shouldn't have any issues.

We hope you'll take these tips and apply them to your fishing. Once you do, come back and share your experiences. We'd love to hear about the bass you're putting in the boat!

Monster Double Digit Bass Destroys a Swimbait!

If I had to choose just one way to target giant bass day in and day out, it would be the swimbait. Every year a variety of techniques put big bass in the boat but the most consistent option for the giants is the large swimbait.

On this day I had the pleasure of fishing with a close friend. We had put in a few hours already, catching just a few small bass on reaction baits in shallow water around grass. We had the choice of continuing to target those smaller fish or moving out to deeper water to try and get a big bass. We made the decision to move out and target the big females that were lurking on the ledges searching for easy meals.

On this particular day I used a Huddleston Deluxe 8" ROF 12 swimbait in Rainbow trout (there are no trout present in this lake but the bass don't care) and fished it with the stock jig hook. This allows me to work the bait through rocks without getting snagged on every cast.

On just the 3rd cast, the giant bit. It just goes to show that throwing a big swimbait doesn't mean you're going to have to throw it for hours, waiting for the bite. When big bass are feeding, big baits work. In many circumstances they work BETTER than their smaller counterparts.

This particular fish was sitting on the top of a rocky ledge that transitioned from 6 to 17 feet of water. I set the boat in the shallows and cast off the ledge into the deep water. Wanting to avoid nicking the line in the rocks, I began retrieving the swimbait before it hit the bottom. As the bait came close to the top of the ledge the bass came up out of the rocks and intercepted it, resulting in a very aggressive bite. As you can see, the rest played out very quickly.

Choosing the Right Equipment for Frog Fishing

There may be nothing in bass fishing more exciting than watching a giant bass erupt through the grass mat to inhale a frog! There is something about the silence being shattered by flying grass and water that changes a fisherman forever. However, for many anglers the passion for frog fishing is outweighed by a great deal of frustration.

Why can't I get bit, Why don't they hook up, and am I doing something wrong, are all common questions. There are some simple adjustments you can make to your equipment and bait choices that will help you put more frog fish in the boat, starting tomorrow.

What has your experience been with a frog? Have you found these colors work for you? Have you found another rod that works great for how you fish a frog? We're always open to discussion. Share your experiences with the group in the comments section.

Senko Trick to catch more fish

The Yamamoto Senko is one of those baits that just flat out catches fish. Whether you're flipping heavy cover, skipping under docks, or fluttering the bait down bluff walls, it has a place in every well-rounded angler's arsenal. Have you ever wondered what it is that makes the Senko so deadly?

There is something unique about how a senko moves, but why does it work so much better than other stick baits? Well, we believe its all about the slight variation in shape that is specific to the Yamamoto Senko. Unlike other stick baits it is not truly round. When you take that difference in shape and rig it correctly, the bait becomes even more deadly than before.

The trick is to turn the bait until you find the flatter side with a slight arc to it. Rig the bait (Texas or Wacky) with the flatter side down. When the bait falls on a slack line you will have significantly more flutter and movement than if you had rigged it any other way. There truly is a right way to rig a senko.

Give it a try and let us know what you experience!

Catching Big Bass on the S-Waver 200

Several years ago the glide bait market exploded. Almost over night it became common place to see single-jointed, hard swimbaits on the decks of virtually every boat on the West Coast. It developed in to a craze with a cult-like following of anglers that believe glide baits will help them catch the biggest bass of their life. Frankly, they may be right. 

Before the craze though, there were only a few glide baits widely available to anglers. The most common of which was the S-Waver 168 by River2Sea. When they reached out to us last year about an upcoming project for a larger 200 mm version of their already popular glide bait we were all ears. 

It was an honor to get our hands on the baits before they hit the market. As impressive as the baits themselves were, we were equally impressed when we found out the pricing. In a world of 100-500 dollar glides the S-Waver came in at $34.99! The rest as they say, is history.

This video is about CATCHING fish and showing the power of glide baits, it really isn't about HOW we go about doing those things. Expect a follow up video explaining the details of equipment, a variety of baits worth looking in to, and the retrieves that will help you put glide baits to work for you as you pursue that giant bass.