Keith Combs' Crankbait Tips

Keith needs no introduction but for those Western anglers who may not follow professional angling as closely as they should, he's won the Texas Big Bass Classic on Lake Fork 3 times, fished the Bassmaster Classic 5 times, and set the record for the heaviest ever tournament weight with a 3-day total of 110 pounds! He's a legend with a crankbait, especially when it comes to Lake Fork, Texas. 

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to fish with Combs last month at the Shimano Content Creator's Conference on none other than the famed water he has made his name on. Watching Combs fish Lake Fork was very rewarding but watching him operate his Humminbird Onyx electronics was mindblowing! When we got back to our rooms we compared notes and were both agreed we were most impressed with how he fine-tuned his electronics, located fish, adapted his baits accordingly, and immediately put the fish on the screen onto the deck of the boat. 

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If you ever have an opportunity to fish with an "Elite" angler, you should take the opportunity. It was a very eye opening experience! 

Tim spent much of his time fishing with the Shimano Antares reel and was blown away by the performance! Its not for the faint of heart with a price tag of $599.99 but to our amazement, its worth the $$$ if you can afford it. However, for those that live within a budget, the Shimano Casitas at $119.99 held up extremely well, even when slinging a giant 10XD Crankbait all day. We'd both overlooked the Casitas in the past but will be taking a better look going forward. 

Combs on the other hand keeps his arsenal very simple. He preferred to use a Shimano Curado in 7:1 gear ratio, even when throwing a 6XD and 10XD. He explained that he can slow it down if need be but when he gets a big bass on he's able to power up that 7:1 reel and really keep control of the fish. 

How to Get the Most From a Baitcasting Reel

We received a request for a video on how to adjust a baitcasting reels to get the best performance. Neither Tim nor Matt are reel mechanics but Tacticalbassin is all about helping anglers improve their fishing. This week these two fishermen will show you exactly how we adjust our personal reels when its time to hit the water.

As always, Tim and Matt rarely agree so instead of pretending, we're showing you the reels we actually use on a daily basis. For Tim, that means a Revo STX Gen 3, and for Matt, that's a Shimano Curado.

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This video shows how we adjust both Shimano and Abu Garcia Reels without going into all the technical details. This isn't a reel breakdown by a reel technician, its a real world video of what each of us do to our personal equipment when we get a new reel and want it to perform at its best.

We hope this video helps! We know its not the video most expect to see, and I'm sure a reel tech or two will shake their heads but this is how the two of us fish our equipment year after year and it has stood the test of time.

How to Trailer Your Boat When Fishing Solo

A few months back we did a video on launching your boat by yourself. It was met with such great feedback that we decided to follow it up with a 2nd video showing how easy it can be to put your boat back on the trailer without help.

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There are some great products out there today to make your life easier when trailering the boat alone. The most useful is an aftermarket step like the EZ-Troll Tongue Step. In this video we show how to do it without a device like this but if you wanted added safety, a step is the sure way to go.

We hope this gives you some confidence to go out and hit the water alone this year! Don't let a friend who has to work or who sleeps through the alarm clock mess up your next day on the water. Good luck out there!

The First 5 Rods Every Bass Fisherman Needs

The truth is, not every angler needs to own dozens of rods. You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on combos, and you certainly don't need 5 of the same rod. In this industry, its easy to get caught up in the hype of fishing tackle.

From TV to magazines to websites (including Tactical Bassin) you're bombarded with anglers who own dozens upon dozens of high end fishing rod and reel combos. Its not hard to fall into the trap, believing you need all that equipment to be successful. The great news is, you don't.

If you don't plan to fish the elites this coming year you can probably get by with a lot less tackle than you'd like to believe. For the anglers just getting started, you need even less. Here are top 5 fishing rods that you need to become a well-rounded bass fisherman.

1) 7' Medium Light Spinning Rod: You can use this rod for dropshot, split shot, tubes, worms, even poppers and other very small hardbaits. This is going to be your most frequently used rod when you're getting started. Its also the rod that you'll still have in your rod locker as a back up 20 years later.

2) 7' Medium Heavy Spinning Rod: This rod will cover larger worms, senkos, light texas rigs, and even branch into medium topwaters, jerkbaits, etc.

3) 7' Medium Baitcaster: In no time this will become your go-to rod for everything from a crankbait, to a topwater, to texas rigs, worms, etc.

4) 7' Medium Heavy Baitcaster: You can use this rod for jigs, heavier texas rigs, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and other reaction baits.

5) 7'6" Medium Heavy to Heavy Baitcaster: If you even need a 5th rod, this will be the one. This rod is going to let you branch into frogs, small swimbaits, flipping and pitching.

Personally, we use Dobyns Rods for these applications. We recognize that every angler is different and needs vary but these are a great base line for you to make your decisions. In the beginning, consider the Fury or Savvy series then work your way into the higher product lines as you begin specializing at your favorite techniques.