How to Find and Catch Bass on a New Lake

Fishing new lakes can be very intimidating. The key is to quickly identify prey species and structure that should hold fish. Of course you also have to balance time of year, water temp, clarity, depth, weather, boat pressure, fishing pressure, etc... No big deal, right? 

With preparation, its really not a big deal. In this week's video Matt takes you out on the water as he breaks down a brand new lake. From first impressions, to finally locating and sticking a bunch of bass, you'll see the steps and the mindsight behind developing patterns and catching fish on a new body of water. 

As you'll see in the video the key is to keep your methods simple while still keeping an open mind. Start with reaction and cover water. Stick to your game plan until the lake leads you in a different direction. If you find active fish, repeat the pattern around the lake for the remainder of the day. remember you aren't try to catch every bass in the lake, you can begin fine tuning patterns and locations on subsequent trips. 

On this Lake Matt found his best success with a 3 pronged approach to active fish. When the fish were most active he was able to get bit on a River2Sea Rover topwater. Once the fish began moving out he was able to catch them on a crankbait. He used both a Norman Deep Lil N and a Strike King 5XD. Lastly, he downsized to a small Keitech Fat Swing Impact to catch the remaining aggressive fish as the day warmed up. This bait selection let him continue to catch reaction fish long after the reaction bite had slowed. 

We hope you're able to take these tips and tricks to a lake near you and quickly develop patterns to catch fish as you break down the lake. Don't let new lakes intimidate you! Make a plan, put it to action, and follow through until you begin catching bass. 

Thank you for your support of Tacticalbassin, we appreciate it!

Best Baits to Target Bluegill Eaters

We focus a lot on trout and shad imitators out West but we all know that bass love to eat bluegill. When the water begins to warm the bluegill becomes a major forage base for bass and you shouldn't overlook them. This week Matt breaks down his Top 5 Baits to best imitate a bluegill so you can begin to catch those big summer bass. 

The key to successfully imitating bluegill is to find baits that not only get bites but are also slim enough to have a high hookup ratio. There's nothing worse than getting giant bites and not hooking the bass! Below you'll find a breakdown of Matt's favorite bluegill imitating baits and the reasons he chooses them. 

The first category is the Squarebill crankbait. Bluegill eaters spend most of their time shallow and around heavy cover so the squarebill is a great option to coax a bite. Matt's favorite all around bluegill imitating squarebill is the River2Sea biggie. You might remember our squarebill debate from THIS VIDEO. 

The second category is the swim jig. When imitating a bluegill I love to use a keitech fat swing impact as a trailer on my California Swim Jig. This combination creates a wide thumping action that imitates a bluegill's tail really well. Quick tip: a chartreuse/blue keitech paired with a very natural looking jig adds a little chartreuse flash and really looks nice in the water! ...see picture below.

The third category is the soft swimbait. The two most widely available baits that best fit this category are the Mattlures Bluegill and the All American Sunfish. Both baits have a very natural profile and are great around cover. Quick Tip: The All American Sunfish needs to be rigged on a swimbait hook of some kind. My preferred hook for this bait is the 5/0 trokar. 

The fourth category is topwater. My favorite large bluegill topwater is the MS Slammer. Its not perfect, but its good enough to get those monster bites and that's what counts! Another great option is the Jackall Gantarel. If smaller baits are your preference, you can't beat the popper. Personally, I'd throw the yellow magic though there are many other great options out on the market. 

The fifth and final category is the Senko. I hate to say it but the senko works incredibly well on bluegill eaters! They're ambush predators and the slow fall of the senko , especially when wacky rigged, really lures them out. Color comes down to personal preference but something with a bit of a chartreuse tail should get the job done. 

I hope you find these tips helpful! As always, we love hearing from you so feel free to leave a comment with your own experiences or even a topic idea for a video you'd like to see us do. Thank you for your continued support of tacticalbassin!

River2Sea Whopper Plopper

The latest craze in bass fishing is the Whopper Plopper by River2Sea. If you fish in the West odds are you know exactly what it is, how to fish it, and how deadly it can be. If you fish East of the rockies, you're probably just hearing about how deadly this "new" topwater bait really is.

To the surprise of many, the Whopper Plopper isn't a new bait. Its been catching giant bass and winning tournaments on trophy bass fisheries like Clearlake and the California Delta for years!

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When the buzzbait, spook, and frog, stop producing the Whopper Plopper just keeps on catching! Like the Basstrix and A-rig's before it, the "plopper"  is taking the industry by storm and changing the way that many anglers think bass can be caught.

Now garnering national attention with recent tournament wins, anglers everywhere are recognizing the fish catching potential of this unique bait.

In this video Tim explains the different sizes that are available, popular colors like "Loon" and "Monkey Butt", and the gear you'll need to fish them. See the bait in the water and how to retrieve it as well!

Whether you're chasing smallmouth and spotted bass with the 90 size or chasing GIANT largemouth in the South with the big 190, the Whopper Plopper is a topwater bait that every angler should add to their arsenal.

Giants Eating Frogs: Full Video

When River2Sea approached us about their new and improved frog called a Bully Wa 2 we weren't sure what to expect. The Spittin' Wa is such an amazing frog how could it possibly get any better? (If you haven't seen the Spittin' Wa Video, see it here) Well much to our surprise, it got better!

The Bully Wa 2 is a fast-walking frog with a tall body that pushes a tremendous amount of water with ease. The hook comes with a unique bend that is ready to fish out of the package resulting in a great hookup ratio. Open the packaging, trim the legs to your desired length, and you're ready to fish!

For us, there were 3 colors that stood out the most. The first is called "Little Allen" and yes that name came from Tim (Little) and Matt (Allen). We were so excited when they decided to include this color scheme in their lineup because day in and day out, its both of our favorite! The other two are "Ghost" and "Yellow Head".

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This frog fishes great in slop but its specialty is open water. Walk it along docks, over cover, or even for suspended fish, and you're going to love the result! You can see by the video that the bass had no problem coming up from the depths to explode in the open. The days of only throwing a frog around cheese or pads are over!

Do yourself a favor and check out the River2Sea Bully Wa 2!

Note: If the video won't play its because you need to watch it from a desktop. Unfortunately its not mobile-friendly.