Inhaltsverzeichnis für January - February 2014 in Bassmaster

January 1 New Year’s Day. The new year starts with a new moon. 15 Full moon. Howl at the moon if you can’t go fishing. 31 Chinese New Year. Year of the Horse (around here, it’s always Year of the Bass) February 2 Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow 98 times in 127 years. 14 Valentine’s Day. Candy + flowers = more fishing 17 Washington’s Birthday. The first commercial fisherman president 21-23 GEICO Bassmaster Classic. Sweet home Alabama “I’ve gone fishing thousands of times in my life, and I have never once felt unlucky or poorly paid for those hours on the water.” – William Tapply…

Cover Yo Face Bass anglers know the pain of cold, rainy boat rides. These masks can eliminate the need for dangerous amounts of face lotion and lip balm. Save Phace Simply Sick Series Lightweight and constructed from ABS plastic. The interchangeable polycarbonate lenses have an anti-fog coating. It fits on your face with a foam gasket and adjustable strap. Don’t forget the wicked graphics. (www.save phace.com; $69.99) Simms Windstopper Facemask Beanie A stretchy four-point face shield is connected to a warm beanie. The polyester fleece around the ears provides a quieter and more comfortable boat ride. Comes in steel gray/ black. (www.simms fishing.com; $34.99) Lucha Libre mask Not designed specifically for fishing, but can protect the face in a pinch. Sure to confuse and frighten tournament opponents.…

This place is the gateway to the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest active river delta on the continent that provides outstanding bass fishing in a complex of cypress- and tupelo-lined bayous, sloughs, canals, swamps and lakes. The basin was the site of a rare fish-off to decide a 2009 Central Open tournament. 7 Feet above sea level at Morgan City The Atchafalaya Basin is one of defending Bassmaster Classic champ Cliff Pace’s favorite fisheries. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries recently removed a 14-inch minimum-length limit on the basin that had been in place since Hurricane Andrew. 45/62 Average low/high temperatures during January and February…

Some Like It Hot A thermos of hot coffee has salvaged more than one cold day on the lake, but there’s an art to maintaining your coffee’s heat level throughout a long, cold day of fishing. 1. Use a quality, vacuum-sealed bottle. 2. Before brewing the coffee, begin to boil enough water to fill the bottle. 3. Start brewing the coffee. 4. Carefully fill the bottle with boiling water, secure the lid, and let it sit 10 to 15 minutes. 5. Pour the hot water out of the bottle and fill it with freshly brewed coffee. The hot container will maintain heat longer and keep coffee piping hot for hours, even in the coldest weather.…

YEARNING FOR THE 100-yard cast? Yeah, me, too. But I’m not holding my breath. There are times, though, when if you could only reach out a few more yards ... According to a lot of great anglers, extending your range 10 to 15 yards is very doable for most of us. Casts out to 50, 55 or even 60 yards are in the ballpark if we gear up and get the mechanics of the cast just right, these pros tell us. Your actual average casting distance may surprise you; most of us overestimate our range. Walk out in the backyard right now with your favorite rig and lure — odds are you’ll find that 45 measured yards is a long cast for you. So if you’re an “average” caster, you…

“I target the first half of creeks or pockets, and I fish shallow water that’s close to deeper water, say 3 to 6 feet [deep], that’s within a couple of casts of a creek channel.” HECK YEAH, IT gets cold in Louisiana in January! Maybe not cold like in Minnesota. You can still drive a boat in water instead of a truck on ice. But it’s frigid nevertheless, and bass get lethargic, and if you’re going fishing for them, you’d better zip up your parka to your nose and wear a warm pair of gloves. But don’t let the cold stop you from going, urges Cliff Crochet. This Elite Series pro from Pierre Part, La., says, “Bass fishing can be real good in January, maybe not for numbers but for…

BACK WHEN DUSTIN Hoffman and I were young, he starred in the Academy Award-winning film The Graduate, which contained one of the more memorable bits of dialogue in movie history. Hoffman starred as Benjamin, an aimless college graduate wandering into real life. Remember this exchange during a cocktail party to celebrate his graduation? Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Benjamin: Yes, sir. Mr. McGuire: Are you listening? Benjamin: Yes, I am. Mr. McGuire: Plastics. Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean? Mr. McGuire: There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it? Mr. McGuire could just as well have been talking to Nick Creme as the young tire company machinist was searching for a material to replicate nightcrawlers. Working…

“Snail’s pace” is an exaggerated term in referencing our speed. We might have actaully started moving backward. “THE TOPWATER BITE is on! You’ll forget about the 14-hour drive from Buffalo when your Spook is getting crushed by spotted bass,” I promised Evan Roth, my girlfriend’s brother. “Do I need to bring anything?” he replied. “Salve for your sure-to-be bloody thumbs,” I returned. I know, being cocky about a for-sure bite usually means you are for-sure jinxing your day on the water. That said, the fishing had been very consistent on Alabama’s Smith Lake and recent reports were stellar. I also invited Paul Moody, my neighbor, because he is typically a jinx on the boat, as well. I figured the two jinxes would cancel each other out. That is what I…

Ann Arbor, Mich., residents were presented a unique choice during November city council elections when a write-in campaign was launched for a candidate identifying itself as “Twenty Pound Carp.” According to the Ann Arbor News, signs began appearing on lawns last fall, and an anonymous writer began a social media campaign on Twitter. “Elevated Discourse from a Bottom Feeder is the name of the game, my fellow citizens,” @TwentyPoundCarp tweeted Oct. 28. The piscine politician targeted Ann Arbor’s 4th Ward, where otherwise unopposed Democrat Jack Eaton won in a landslide.…

Without a doubt, January is one of the slowest months on the lake. Where lakes are frozen, ice huts are up and perch are on the menu. Where they’re not, it’s downright cold. But, the flip side of the cold weather is that the fish are ganged up and easy pickings if you can find them. Take Bassmaster Elite Series pro Kotaro Kiriyama’s advice for heating up a chilly winter day. “I like to fish in January because in clear water, they go deeper, and I love to catch deep fish,” he says. “The bass are also really spooky because the water is cold. Anything that moves too much and too quickly is going to spook them. The whole deal is to be patient and work your lures really slow.”…

THE SOFT PLASTIC worm turns 65 this year — retirement age for some, but not for the bait type that keeps reinventing itself. It caught the first bass in Ray Scott’s first tournament and is almost certainly responsible for more bass catches than any other lure type in history. If you add soft plastic lizards, grubs, stickworms and jerkbaits, you remove all doubt. And if you factor in the trailers on jigs, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, spoons, spinners and the like, it’s all but certain that the plastic worm and its progeny have been the downfall of more bass than all other bait types combined. And it all started in a kitchen in Akron, Ohio. But before we get to the kitchen, before we get to the man who made it happen,…

6-2 Saginaw Bay, Mich. ◆ Coffee tube (golden shiner) ◆ Water: murky ◆ Depth: 4 feet Weather: overcast, windy 17-0 Kaweah Lake, Calif. 5-inch Senko (watermelon/black/red) 10-14 Toledo Bend Reservoir, La. Zoom Ole Monster (watermelon red) 11-4 Concord River, Mass. 3/4-ounce Booyah spinner-bait (white) 10-12 Lake Austin, Texas 6-inch Luck-E-Strike worm 6-6 inland lake, Mich. Rapala X-Rap Pop (moss back shiner) 11-13 Gibson County Lake, Tenn. 5-inch Strike King Sexy Spoon (sexy shad) 10-6 private pond, Ga. 3/8-ounce Peanut Butter Pig & Jig with crawdad trailer 12-2 Lake Reedy, Fla. 5-inch Wise Guys Shaking Shad (bubble gum) 10-11 Auburn University Fisheries, 3/4-ounce Booyah Boogee 10-1 Santee-Cooper, S.C. Strike King Craw (white) 10-6 Zimapan, Mexico Texas rigged Cabezona Lizard 7-0 Lake Erie, Penn. Rapala Husky Jerk (glass minnow) 6-2 Mille Lacs…

Neglecting boat trailer maintenance will leave you stranded on the side of the road, swatting mosquitoes. MOST ANGLERS KNOW that you can’t neglect your boat and motor or bad things happen at the most inopportune time. But what about that thing that gets the boat to and from the lake? Have you shown it the same kind of love? Boat trailers take every bit as much abuse but seemingly get overshadowed in our eagerness to get onto the water. And take it from someone who has experienced it, nothing is more frustrating than being broken down alongside the road because you didn’t pay attention to the gremlins at work beneath the hull. Some 30 years ago, my wife and son and I had just spent a summer evening catching bass…

Terry Scroggins Birthday: Nov. 18, 1968 Hometown: San Mateo, Fla. How’d you get the nickname “Big Show”? I fished with Preston Clark a lot, and we’d win a tournament and have a party. There was a boat mechanic that always came, and one day I went to the boat shop, and this mechanic was there talking about who was going to win a tournament the next weekend. This guy finally got tired of listening to the other guys and said, “You S.O.B.s aren’t gonna win anything. Big Show here is gonna win it.” Well, my buddy that was with me thought it was funny and started calling me Big Show. Do you like the nickname? It can be a good one or a bad one. If you’re not doing well,…

Fishermen in the Philippines have improvised in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated parts of the island nation in November. In an attempt to get back to work as commercial anglers and feed their families, some anglers in Tanauan turned refrigerators into boats. According to Reuters, fishermen sorted through the rubble and found refrigerators were a workable, if not entirely stable, solution to their problems. Fisherman Jimmy Obaldo, 52, got the idea to make the boat out of a fridge from his children. “They just asked me if we could use it as a boat, then we tried to do it and tested it,” he said. Obaldo said steering the makeshift boat is not an easy task. He has to make sure the sea is calm, and he has…

New Year’s Resolutions Eat healthier/get fit: What’s that got to do with fishing? Just ask Aaron Martens, last year’s Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year. Eliminate the stench: Even though you are in a hurry to get a nap after a tough tournament, take the time to remove the PowerWorms from your pants pockets. Your wife will appreciate her favorite blouse not smelling like fish bait when it comes out of the dryer. Take a trip: Plan a bass fishing getaway with friends to one of Bassmaster’s 100 Best Bass Lakes. Multitask: While oiling your favorite reel in preparation for the upcoming season, hit those squeaky hinges on the pantry door you’ve been promising to fix. Volunteer: Take part in a river or lake cleanup, or help with a kids’…

1. Line up the tow vehicle and trailer in a straight line (the trailer should appear in the inside third of both side mirrors). 2. Find a point of reference, such as a sign next to a boat ramp or a tree next to your driveway. 3. Place your hand at the 6 o’clock position on the steering wheel. 4. Place the tow vehicle in reverse and slowly release the brake. 5. If the trailer starts to turn to the right (appearing more in the right mirror), slowly move your steering hand to the left. The trailer will start to move back to the left, as well. 6. If the trailer starts to turn to the left (appearing more in the left mirror), slowly move your steering hand to the…

The rest of the country may be suffering through a chilly winter, but not you. You’re weathering the toughest season in sunny Florida and targeting its special largemouth bass subspecies, hoping for a few giants in the mix. The weather’s beyond pleasant: air temps near 70 and water temperatures in the low 60s. It’s late January or early February, and you’re just a day or two away from the new moon. Like most Florida waters, the lake you’re fishing is natural, shallow and vegetation-filled. It’s a 5,000-acre salad bowl of hydrilla, hyacinths, eelgrass, pennywort, Kissimmee grass and too many other aquatic plants to list. It’s also got plenty of bass, panfish, golden shiners and the like. It’s maximum depth is 15 feet. To help you unravel this Sunshine State scenario,…

SKEETER F X 20 Skeeter has added a host of innovations to their popular FX Series. Introduced in 2009, the FX 20 and FX 21 were the first bass boats designed for optimum performance specifically with Yamaha’s four-stroke VMAX SHO 200 horsepower; 225- and 250-hp outboards. Elite Series pro Alton Jones favors the shorter Skeeter FX 20 because it is easier to maneuver in bass waters that have standing timber and other challenging cover. “With a VMAX SHO 250 my FX 20 is fast and well mannered,” Jones said. “You just have to steer it, even at top speed.” One of the new standard features that Jones dotes on is the Forced Air Ventilation System. An electric fan under the deck circulates outside air throughout the boat to reduce moisture…

IT’S BEEN A cold winter, and the water temperature on Lake Douglas, not far from Ott DeFoe’s home near Knoxville, Tenn., sits at 42 degrees. Water that chilly discourages many bass fishermen, but DeFoe loves it. He knows he’ll catch bass, and he’ll catch them in water less than 4 feet deep with reaction strikes on a crankbait. If this sounds a little far-fetched, it’s not. DeFoe uses a technique known as “finesse cranking,” and the Bassmaster Elite Series pro’s own tournament record, including fifth- and 11th-place finishes in the past two Bassmaster Classics (during February on the Red River and Grand Lake), should convince you it works. He’s not targeting prespawn fish staging in shallow water, nor does he concentrate on thick vegetation that often holds some bass year-round.…