Some of my fishing done in part by watching TV

by: Win Stevens
Lake of the Ozarks, MO
www.winprofishing.com

The Weather Channel is on a lot of the time. I use the computer to check the weather for the area where I’m going to fish. I definitely keep an eye on the weather. That’s because the weather, arguably more than any other single factor, determines when and how well fish will bite. Like every fisherman, I have my favorite conditions.

I like a light breeze with it a little cloudy and with the water temperature in the high 60s or low 70s, those conditions might exist a dozen days a year. An angler has to adapt if he’s going to survive on the tournament trail.

My theory on the effect of barometric pressure, that meteorological phenomenon that can send fish into a feeding frenzy or give them lockjaw.

When you have a high bluebird day and high pressure, like you get when a (cold) front passes through, those are days when it can be really tough to catch fish. Fish aren’t going to move much, and they’re going to be tight to cover.”

I found fishing so difficult in these conditions that I learned to use a flipping stick and added it to my arsenal. Flipping a jig with a Rage Craw can be a s-l-o-w technique, and when the barometric pressure is high and the sky clear and bright, s-l-o-w can spell s-u-c-c-e-s-s.

That’s why I started fishing a flipping jig with Rage Craw, the Space Monkey and the Smok’n Rooster, when you have those conditions, I don’t think fish are going to chase bait. It’s like a guy sticking a finger in your face. If he sticks it there 12 or 13 times, you’re finally going to get tired of it and slap it out of the way. If you keep putting a bait in front of a bass going to hit it.

“I think the reason that a lot of guys don’t catch fish in those conditions is that they fish too fast.”

These include bright sunshine, heavy and prolonged rain and wide temperature fluctuations.
I don’t mind fishing in the rain and not opposed to being on the water in the face of a fast-moving high-pressure front that starts a day warm and drizzly and ends it cool, windy and dry.

What I do mind is being unprepared to fish the condition correctly..

You can find more information on this topic and participate in the discussion here: http://www.ragetail.com/ragetalk/index.php?topic=1981.0

Down Sizing with Rage Tail When It Counts

by: Brent Callicott
Union City, Tennessee
( find me on facebook )

As a flipper / pitcher myself most of the time, I hope this tip will help you the next time you have a hard time getting one of those finicky bass to bite.

In my book, there are basically four ( 4 ) types of the Craw….the Rage Lobster, the Rage Craw, the Rage Chunk and the Rage Baby Craw.

You can use each one of these as a jig trailer, on a Carolina rig, for Texas rigging or simply without a weight ( weightless ).

I have found using all 4 with the Texas style rig very productive.  Yes, that’s right, using the Rage Jig Chunk as a Texas rig style bait works.  What I do, is when I use the Rage Tail Lobster, I use anywhere from a 3/0 hook to a 5/0 hook.  I then move down to the Rage Craw using 3/0 to 4/0 hook.   You can also  use a 2/0 hook as well.

Then when it comes to the Rage Chunk, use a 1/0 to 2/0 hook.  This works good for me.  This is where I am a little different.  It produces something smaller when the bass tend to be a tough bite.

Also on the Baby Rage Craw, the 2/0 and 3/0 hooks do well for Texas rigs.

As for weights, this is up to you to determine.  I personally like a somewhat slow fall year round which means I go on the lighter side with weight..

These methods also work well dragging across the bottom like a football jig using at least a 1/2 Tungsten weight.

I hope this will enhance your fishing the next time you decide to try something different.  That is what I like to do is fish differently than anyone else most of the time.

Good Luck,

Brent

You can find more information on this topic and participate in the discussion here: http://www.ragetail.com/ragetalk/index.php?topic=1912.0

Brent also writes a weekly column for a local newspaper which can be viewed online. Stay up to date and check out his weekly Fishing reports on Reelfoot & Ky Lakes here: http://www.wildsideweekly.com/

Bigger is not always better when talking about soft plastic bass baits. The new Baby Rage Craw might be smaller but, it packs quite a punch for anglers seeking something smaller for a finesse approach.

Click Image To Enlarge

Coming in at just 3 inches, the Baby Rage Craw has already proven to be a superior solution for small jigs and/or Texas rigs in finesse applications for proffesional anglers and everyday fisherman. For those of you fishing ultra-clear or hi-pressured lakes; the Baby Craw may be just what the fish doctor ordered.

It can be rigged on a standup jig head, used as a finesse jig trailer, rigged alone on a light line T/rig or drop shot rig and can even be used as a smaller Carolina rigged bait. Available in 9 fish-catching colors for the 2009-2010 season, the Baby Rage Craw is sure to be a great addition to the bass anglers arsenal.

Checkout the RageTalk area of the website for more information and to add your comments or ask questions concerning this great new soft plastic bait from Rage Tail.

Well, well, well……………..it’s gettin’ hot out there and RAGE TAIL is Bringin’ the HEAT with their new line of soft plastic bass baits to be released at ICAST 2009.

The cat has slipped out of the bag and it’s time for a quick glimpse of a few of our new line shown below. Seeing as everyone seems to be hearing about these great new baits, you may as well get it here, from the horse’s mouth.

We would like to introduce a few of our soon to be released baits available fall 2009.

The NEW Rage Thumper worm is 10″ long and has an incredible action for a cut/curl tail type worm. Designed to have increased “flickr” action as it falls to help entice the big fish to eat. The unique Rage Tail Flange design is incorporated into the tail to give this monster of a worm it’s unique action, and that’s not all. The Tail incorporates a score line that can be cut to turn the Thumper worm into a true cut tail worm if you are looking for something a bit different.

The NEW Smokin’ Rooster has been designed to be flipped, pitched, Texas rigged and Carolina rigged offering more than just an everyday creature bait. This is an aggressive creature bait with oversized swimming arms and more action that you can shake a stick at.

And introducing the newest addition to the Craw family, the “Baby Rage Craw”.  This mini-craw has already been proven effective as a tournament favorite among the Strike King Pros. Paul Noles has already set the Big Bass mark way up there using this little craw and is now workin’ on others. I think Paul could catch a biggun on a Q-Tip

We hope you enjoyed a little taste of what Rage Tail has in store for bass anglers this year.
We have plenty more to get excited about but, we can’t give you too much to think about all at once. Find out more about the new Rage Tail line of soft plastics after ICAST.

Happy Fishing!

James Niggemeyer Wins Toledo Bend Bassmaster Central Open

Strike King Elite Series Pro James Niggemeyer pulled off win #1 of the 2009 season for Team Strike King in high fashion by winning a sudden death overtime fish-off on Toledo Bend on Sunday. James won the Central Open tie breaker by weighing in a 5 fish limit during the 3-1/2 hour fish off.

James caught his fish using the KVD Perfect Plastic Ocho and the soon to be released “Baby” Rage Craw in Watermelon Red colors.

“I threw the kitchen sink at them all week to get to this position and during the fish-off the Ocho and the Baby Rage Craw really proved to be the real winners.” “The fish had moved somewhat due to the cloud cover and I felt really blessed to find them in a short amount of time and to catch them like I did.” James said when contacted by cell phone while he was on his way to the 1st Elite series stop at Lake Amistad in Del Rio, Texas.

This win was James’s 3rd BASS win and he now leads the Central Open points race.

Congratulations James and good luck at Amistad!

Read more at Bassmaster.com

Question: What trailer are you putting on the football-head jig?

VanDam: I’m either using a Rage Chunk or a Rage Craw. I personally like to fish the Rage Craw on the football-head jig. The Rage Craw is a little longer than the Rage Chunk. I like the Rage Craw because when it comes over a rock, that crawfish-looking trailer on the back appears to jump over the rock just like a crawfish will.

Those pincers have great action. When you combine that action with the fish-catching ability of the Rage Craw on the back side of big bass bait like the football-head jig, you have the most potential for catching the biggest bass you can catch in a Part of fishing. I’m not trying to catch 100 fish a Part when I’m fishing the football-head jig with a Rage Craw trailer. I just want to catch a quality stringer of bigger bass.

Question: Denny, why do you like the Rage Craw?

Brauer: To catch more bass, I’ll fish a non-traditional lure in a place that calls for fishing a traditional lure. The Rage Craw is a classic example. If the water where I normally fish a tube has too much tube pressure on it, I’ll fish a Rage Craw there. Or, if I’ve already fished a tube, I’ll return to that spot and fish a Rage Craw, giving the fish a similar type of bait that looks really different. Bass are finicky. They have moods. The tube is a subtle presentation that resembles a dying shad, which you can present to very-docile bass. When the bass are in that same type of mood, they’ll take the bait.

If the bass are very active, you can catch more bass quicker with active baits like the Rage Craw. The pincers on the Rage Craw have an unbelievable action –displacing large amounts of water. So, when the Rage Craw hits the bottom, it sits on the bottom like a crawfish in a defensive position with its pincers up. The Rage Craw also is an excellent flipping bait to fish in heavy cover. If the bass are accustomed to seeing a tube or a jig in heavy cover, and I flip a Rage Craw into that same cover, I drastically can increase my odds for getting the bass to bite.

Question: What are your favorite colors of Rage Craws?

Brauer: Most of the time I like darker colors. Black-and-blue is my choice for most waters I fish, because it adds a little something extra to the bait. If the water’s clear, I prefer green pumpkin. The same rules of selecting colors for the Rage Craw apply to selecting colors for any other lure – match the color of the lure to the color of the water. I try not to have favorite colors. When I get to the lake I’m fishing, I look at the color of the water and the sky. If I have a sunny day with relatively-clear water, I’ll use more-natural color lures. If I have cloud cover, I’ll use darker colors. I carry every color Strike King makes in my tackle box.

Question: What pound-test line do you fish?

Brauer: That depends on water clarity. If the water’s muddy, or if I’m fishing matted grass, I’ll probably use 60- to 80-pound-test braided line. If the water’s clear, I may use fluorocarbon line. If I’m flipping and pitching, I may use line as light as 20-pound-test fluorocarbon line. If the water clarity is average, I’ll probably use 25-pound-test line.

Strike King Pro Greg Hackney, nicknamed ‘Hack Attack’, set a new 3-day total with a whopping 109 lb. 6 oz. weigh-in at the FLW East-West Fishoff at Falcon Lake in Zapata, TX in November. His weapon of choice was the RageTail 10″ Anaconda worm in Bama Bug and Red Bug colors.

When he spotted bass under the boat, he cast out past the school. Instead of turning on his trolling motor, he let the wind push the boat and drag the Anaconda right into the school. He never turned the first bass that took his bait. The big bass took the Anaconda and kept going, finally breaking the line. It was a monster. He sat down in his boat, and tied-on a new Anaconda. On the next three casts, he caught three 7-pounders in back-to-back casts – one weighing 7-pounds 14-ounces, another 7-pounds 11-ounces, and yet another 7-pounds 8-ounces. On the first day, he ended up with 32 pounds of bass, and was in 4th place.

On the second day, Greg caught two bass on the Plum 10″ Anaconda. He also used the new RageTail Lobster with his new Hack Attack Jig to show the bass a different lure. He used a green-pumpkin-colored jig with a perch-colored skirt and a watermelon-red Rage Lobster on the back. He put the Rage Lobster, which is a really-big craw, on the back of that light jig to slow-down the fall of this jig. The bass wanted a bait with a big profile that fell really slowly. He would drag the lure through the brush very slowly to get the fish to bite.

The last day Greg caught four bass on the Anaconda and one bass on the Hack Attack jig. He weighed in 15 bass in the tournament and 12 of those were caught on the Anaconda, while three were caught on the Hack Attack jig. This was the first time he had fished the Anaconda in a tournament. He said the 7-pounders he caught during practice built his confidence in the bait. The Anaconda is a big worm but also has a really-big tail. About 2/3 of the worm’s body is tail with a unique swimming action and a big profile that really turns-on the big bass. Hackney quoted, “I’ve decided the Anaconda will be the only worm I fish. I caught nearly 110 pounds of bass using the Anaconda.”

October 13, 2007, Mark Rose of Marion, Arkansas, a longtime Strike King pro, won $125,000 for fishing in the 4-day Wal-Mart FLW BP Eastern Division Tournament held on Pickwick Lake in northwest Alabama. This is Rose’s first, 1st-place finish in his 9-year career as a tournament pro. This week, Rose will tell us how he won, what lures he won with, and what techniques gave him this career-high check.

Part 1: Having Good Feelings

When asked why he thought he had a good chance to win at Pickwick, Mark Rose commented:

“My goal for the tournament was to finish in the top 30. I was about 48th in the points to qualify for the FLW Series East/West Championship. On this circuit, I didn’t have enough points to fish my year-end tournament. I knew I had to come in at least in the top 30 in the Pickwick tournament to finish in the top 30 on the circuit and have a chance to fish the end-of-the-season championship between the East and the West. I went to Pickwick Lake before the lake was made off-limits to get in some extra practice.

I fished Strike King’s new Tour Grade Football Jig with the new Rage Tail Craw and tried to drag it along the bottom as much as I could to learn what was on the bottom in different locations. I found four good schools of fish holding on mussel beds, realizing the Tennessee River was known for having sandbars and mussel beds. The main river ledges seemed to hold the bass most of the time. But I knew in the fall of the year, the bass would start moving toward the pockets and the coves, and would tend to move up on more-shallow bars, sometimes only 14- to 20-feet deep.”

On the subject of catching smallmouth vs largemouth bass he said:

“Primarily largemouth bass. But during the tournament, I weighed in two smallmouths. I felt really good about what I’d found before the cut-off date, and that I could place where I needed to place. Now, I never tell my wife how I think I’ll do in a tournament. But when I left home to fish at Pickwick, I just casually mentioned, “Well, I guess I’ll go win Pickwick this weekend,” as a kind of a joke. I didn’t know that I would win, but I felt I’d have a really-strong tournament.”

Rose added what he had learned in practice:

“I learned what depth the fish were holding in, and that the fish were holding on certain little sweet spots on about four mussel bars. I found that the mussel bars that had a lot of mussels on them were much-more productive than the mussel bars that didn’t have as many mussels on them. I learned where there were boulders that could serve as ambush points on the mussel bars and lined-up my boat with those boulders as waypoints on my GPS receiver. Then I’d get visual targets on the bank so that when I got my boat in position, I could cast at one particular tree on the bank, a bush or a stump. I knew the way my jig should come across the bottom to come through that sweet spot where the fish were feeding.”

Part 2: The First Day of the Tournament

Mark described the first morning:

“I learned that there were two times the bass would bite on the spots I was fishing –at first light and whenever current was being pulled through the lake. For the first 30 minutes of daylight, I’d cast a 1-ounce chrome spoon, run it just under the surface and get a top-water bite. Then after the sun came up, or if the lake quit running current, I’d use the Football Jig with a Rage Tail Craw.

After the early-morning bite ended, the bass would pull off the mussel bars and move out to the edges and the ends of the bars. That’s when the Rage Craw really would pay off for me. The first morning of the tournament, I caught six bass on top of the bar using the spoon. I had two, 4 pounders and three other keepers.

When the sun came up, and the current stopped coming through the lake, I moved out to the edges and the ends of the bars and fished the Football Jig with the Rage Tail Craw. I was able to cull three of the bass I’d caught that morning. I was using a 7-foot, heavy-action rod with 15-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon line with a 3/4-ounce green-pumpkin Strike King Football Jig with a green-pumpkin Rage Tail Craw.

The water was so clear I wanted my baits to be really compact. So, I bit off about 1 inch of the craw and trimmed-up the skirt. Then I sprayed the tips of the craw with chartreuse Spike-It dye. I used the Spike-It dyes to give that crawfish a little bit of flash. Also, I knew that chartreuse attracted smallmouth, and I’d hoped to catch some of them, too.”

I was dragging the Football Jig with the Rage Craw slowly on the bottom over the mussel beds. I didn’t hop the jig at all. I kept it in contact with the bottom throughout the entire retrieve. I wanted it to look like a crawfish easing along those mussel beds. Because the crawfish were feeding on the mussel beds, the bass expected to see them there. If that Rage Tail Craw came by a big boulder, more than likely there would be a fish hiding behind that boulder, and it would come out and eat the bait.

On the first day, I had six bass in the first 30 minutes of the tournament. I caught all six on the spoon, and then using the Football Jig with the Rage Tail Craw, I culled the three smallest fish and weighed in 18 pounds and 15 ounces for five bass for the day. At the weigh-in, I was in first place, and Terry Bolton was 3 pounds behind me with 16 pounds. I was feeling pretty good about the first day of the tournament.”

Part 3: The Second Day of the Tournament

About his strategy on the second day of the tournament, he said:

“I wasn’t going to change anything on the second day after doing so well the first day. I really had the fish dialed-in, and I was leading the tournament with the pattern I had. So, there was no reason to change. As soon as I pulled up on my first spot, I caught four bass on the spoon, which gave me about 12 pounds. When the spoon-bite quit, I went back to fishing the Football Jig. The first two days of the tournament, this area had current early, up until about 8:00 am. I’d have 15 to 30 minutes those first two days of good early-morning fishing, while the bass were on top of the mussel bars. When the current stopped running, the fish would move to the sides and the ends of the bars, and I still could catch them on the Football Jig.

Also, on the first and the second day, Pickwick Lake had clouds and wind. With clouds, wind and current, the bass usually will bite really well, as they did for me the first 2 days. I had so much confidence in the Football Jig and the Rage Tail Craw that I started fishing them before the current was turned off on the second day.

The first four fish weighed about 12-pounds total. I finally caught my fifth fish on the Football Jig, and then I caught six or seven more fish, which let me cull one more fish. Then I went to the weigh-in site early. I was pulling these fish out of deep water and I was afraid I might have a problem with the fish dying. So, I came in to the weigh-in early. Right next to the ramp, before I weighed in, I caught a 3-1/2-pound smallmouth and was able to cull one more time. I had 15 pounds, 15 ounces, and I was still in first place. I had a 6-pound lead going into the third day of the tournament.”

The Third Day of the Tournament

Mark decribed what happened on the third day of the tournament:

“The world changed. We didn’t have overcast skies. Instead it was a bluebird day. We had no wind, and the water was slick and calm. I still threw the spoon first thing in the morning and caught one, 2-1/2-pound bass. I caught the rest of the bass on the Football Jig with the Rage Tail Craw and the Spike-It-dyed pincers. I had to work all four of my hot spots to get a limit. I was really struggling. I’d spend 1 hour on each one of my four mussel beds and then let it rest and go to the next mussel bed. I was rotating between all four sites.

About his decision to use a green-pumpkin Rage Tail Craw, he said:

“Green-pumpkin is a clear-water color and it matches the crawfish. I’ve seen crawfish that color in bass’s mouths, and I’ve seen pincers that color on the bottom of my live well after I’ve put bass in it. At this time of year, green-pumpkin is the color of a crawfish, so I stuck with it. I put the Spike-It dye on that bait because when you’re fishing that deep, the dye glows. The Spike It dye adds a bright color the fish can see easier, and it encourages the bass to bite better.”

The Last Day of the Tournament

Mark described the last day of the tournament below:

“We had the same kind of weather we’d had the previous day. The sun was out, and we had no wind and no current. I’d had so much success throwing the spoon early in the morning on the other days that I had to try it. I didn’t get a strike for the first 15 minutes. I was about to put the spoon down when I got a hit and set the hook. I had a mushy feeling on the end of the hook. The fish had missed the spoon the first time, and I’ve learned over the years, that many times if a fish missed the spoon on the first strike, you could let it fall back, and the bass would take the spoon again. So, I let the spoon fall back, and when I felt the fish, I set the hook. But I had a really-spongy feeling like I was dragging a water-soaked sponge. The fish wasn’t moving, and when it did move, it moved really sluggishly. I said to myself, “Mark, you’ve got yourself a Friday-night, fish-fry catfish.” But when I got the fish to the surface, it was a 4-pound largemouth. The spoon had hooked the fish on the side of the gill. I put it in the boat. I was feeling really good because that was the kicker fish I knew I needed. I hadn’t caught a fish that big the previous day. I really felt I could catch a limit with my Strike King Football Jig.

On my first two casts with the Football Jig, using the Rage Tail Craw with the Spike-It dye, I caught two bass that weighed about 2-1/2-pounds each, which gave me about 9 pounds for three bass. I was beginning to think I might have a chance to win. Two more half-way good fish and I might be able to pull this tournament out of the fire. I finally caught four or five more keepers, which gave me 13 pounds, 11 ounces going to the weigh-in stand. Riding back to the weigh-in stand, I didn’t know whether I’d won or not, but I thought I’d given myself a chance to win, if the second and third place contestants had had bad days. I didn’t really think I’d won it, although I felt I’d fished as good as I could possibly fish, taken advantage of every opportunity I had and put myself in a position to have a chance to win. I knew the second-place contestant had to have 14-1/2-pounds to beat me.

Since I was the leader, I was on the hot seat. They weighed-in in descending order with the 10th place guy weighing-in first. I still had a good lead on the 10th, the ninth and the eighth place, but I didn’t know how much weight the rest of the contestants had. I was going to be the last person to weigh-in.

The third-place contestant, Jim Moynagh, weighed-in and I had a 2-pound lead over him before he weighed. I knew he had to have more than 15 pounds to beat me. When he weighed in, he had 14 pounds and some change. So I thought to myself, “Well, I got second place for sure.”

I was guessing I had about 12 pounds. But Terry Bolton from Kentucky, who was in second place, had caught 17 pounds the previous day. He grew up guiding on the Tennessee River and was an excellent Tennessee River fisherman. I felt he’d win it. But just before he weighed in, Tom Mann, Jr. came over, leaned in close to me, and whispered, “It looks like you’re going to win this thing, Mark.” I said, “No, Terry’s probably going to win. He weighs-in next.” Tom Mann said, “No, he’s only got two fish.” Then my heart skipped a beat, because I knew I’d beaten the guy who had just weighed-in, and if the only man who could beat me only had two fish, I could really win this tournament. I was really hoping that Tom Mann, Jr. wasn’t playing a joke on me. When Terry Bolton only weighed-in two fish, I couldn’t believe it. I felt I pretty much had won.”

He summed up the $125,000 purse as follows:

“It’s going to give me a little peace of mind and some breathing room. Tournament fishermen spend a lot of money trying to make a little, and finances are pretty tight for most of us. But this win will help pay some bills and make fishing tournaments a little easier for the next year or two. It will take some of the pressure off my fishing. I feel really grateful and want to say thank you to my family and my sponsors for sticking with me through the hard times. This win was for y’all.”