Swimbait Sink Rates Explained

Does anyone else remember when swimbait fishing was simple? Not only were you the only guy on the lake throwing a swimbait but you only had 3 or 4 legitimate options when it came to choosing a bait. Now there are so many brands and models that it can get really confusing knowing what bait you need. Let’s say you finally made the decision to buy an 8″ Huddleston Deluxe and you even chose the color. You would think all the decision making would be over but its not! Now you have to choose between 4 different sink rates, also known as “rates of fall” or “ROF”.
Multiple people have been asking about these different sink rates as well as about the rigging options for each model. I hope this video sheds a little more light on the subject. My personal rule of thumb is to fish the lightest model available that still has a molded in jig hook protruding from the back.

Gary Dobyns: Passion wins tournaments

Over the next few weeks I plan to do a series on the mindset behind winners. It doesn’t matter if you’re out to win a tournament, catch a trophy bass, or just make it big amongst your friends. No matter what your goal, preparing your mind to win is a huge part of consistently coming out on top. In this video Gary Dobyns talks about his win at the 2009 US Open, the most prestigious tournament on the west coast.
What does it take to win the biggest tournament in the West? What makes one angler so much better than the rest of the field on a given day? Was it preparation, some secret spot no one else knows about, or is there something more? The first aspect of a “winning mindset” that we will discuss is PASSION.
Listen to what Gary has to say about the US Open but as you hear it listen to the underlying theme. Though Gary never used the word “passion”, it is woven through everything he says. After you’ve watched the video consider if you have that kind of passion. Would you be willing to do what it takes, whatever it takes, to win?

If you want to consistently win and don’t have passion you need to develop it before you take another step into the bass fishing arena. While passion is only one aspect of a successful angler it is incredibly important! Watch for a few more videos on this topic in the weeks to come.

Fall Swimbait Fishing

Since filming the post, “Which swimbait should you choose” I’ve had quite a few questions come in about how to fish the baits as the water cools. Throwing a swimbait in late fall and into winter is very different from the rest of the year. Its no longer about trying to attract big fish from a long distance or about getting them to react to the bait. Instead, your goal is to present a big, slow meal and do it in a way that appears very easy to eat. I’ll likely follow this post up with another that shows a simple modification that will allow your baits to kick at slower speeds so that you can more easily target cold water fish.
All of the questions about how to catch these fish inspired me to actually get out from behind the computer screen and head to the lake. Luckily the fish were right where I expected them to be and I was rewarded with a gorgeous Northern California bass. She weighed in at 8.85 lbs and as the video shows, was caught creeping a swimbait along the bottom in 30-35 feet of water. If you watch closely you see me bump into a rock and then she crushes the bait!

Take a kid fishing

I spent the last week scoping out water, talking to friends, watching the weather, and anything else I could think of so that my nephew would have a great time when we went fishing. Game day came and the weather was perfect, we practically had the lake to ourselves and there were fish all over the graph. As luck would have it, the bite had shut down. One nice smallmouth to the side of the boat was all we had to show for a full day on the water.

As you can imagine I was a little bummed out. That is, until I started listening to what he was saying. He didn’t care that we didn’t catch fish. He got to see an eagle, run around on shore (track mud all over the boat), and throw his brand new crankbait. Sure, catching fish would have been nice but it wasn’t what made or broke his day.
The point of this story is that you need to take a kid fishing. Don’t have kids? Me either! Ask a family member or friend if their kids would like to spend a day on the water. They don’t care if you’re on fish or not and a day away from the tv, computer, and classroom will do them some good!
There will always be good reasons not to go but before you know it those kids will be grown up and won’t share our love for the outdoors. Stop your busy schedule for a day and head to a lake, stream, or river near you so that the little ones can fall in love with this sport we all love so much.