Springtime
(Tidal Water)
Cranking on the Potomac River – Part III
By Chuck Bailey
Obviously Frank Karl and and his partner Mark Knapp don’t live on Baby 1 Minus’s and Rat-L-Traps alone. And Frank admits, “My 3rd favorite bait is the Cotton Cordell Big-O. Why? Because there some places out in the main channel, where you might be in 6 or 7 feet of water, with a rocky bottom. That’s when I want to get a bait down deeper to bounce it off those rocks.”
“I’ll also fish the Big-O in some of the same places I fish the Rat-L-Trap, especially if I’m in a creek channel, sitting in about 10 feet of water. And when I throw that Cotton Cordell Big-O, I will choose one of two colors; either the Smokey Joe, or anything with a chartreuse-lime pattern.”
Any one who studies Frank’s color selection notices his choices are very simple. He admittedly owes dozens of different colors, but on the Potomac he rarely uses them. “Of course, there are those days when I am throwing my confidence lures, and they're not panning out, so then I start going through my spectrums of colors, trying to dissect what’s going on.”
“I do know this; if it is a cloudy day, that chrome and blue Rat-L-Trap doesn’t seem to produce as well. That's when I will put on a...
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Springtime
(Tidal Water)
Cranking on the Potomac River – Part II
By Chuck Bailey
Naturally the theme of this article, (fishing with crankbaits in the springtime of the year), implies that a "transition" is taking place. In large reservoirs, bass that wintered in deeper water will migrate in the spring to shallower waters. In the Potomac River the transition isn’t about dramatic vertical-depth changes; it is primarily about a horizontal move to a change in habitat.
Before explaining the habitat transition Frank further explores the topic of depth. “Remember, deep water is all relative. True, the channel may get down to 30 or 40 feet, but that is where the water moves the swiftest, and most bass don’t like to be sitting in that fast current all winter long. So they may winter in 10 to 12 feet of water, which would be considered deep water for us on the Potomac.”
Grass Growth!
The key to the springtime transition centers around the grass fields, and it changes the locations and patterns when fishing for bass in the springtime. “In the spring,” says Frank, “once that grass starts growing those fish start moving up and go into pre-spawn. That key transition is when the...
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Springtime (Tidal Water) Cranking on the Potomac River – Part I
By Chuck Bailey
“If you were to die and enter through the pearly gates, you’d find St Peter there sitting on one of its piers – that’s how beautiful the Potomac River is.” So says Frank Karl, a bass tournament angler smitten by a tidal waterway.
A non-fisherman might look around and see the Potomac as a pleasant tidal river, but wonder why one would call it more beautiful than any other on the eastern coast. Clearly, it is what swims below its surface that excites Frank and draws him back year after year. He insists, “From an angler’s perspective it is an incredible fishery.”
This 383 mile long river is the 4th largest the along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. With Maryland and Washington DC on one bank, and Virginia and West Virginia on the other, its waters ultimately flow into the Chesapeake Bay.
And whereas it is possible to catch bass in the Potomac’s shallow waters all year long, in the springtime it becomes a gold mine for the crankbait enthusiast. But regular success comes only to the angler who has studied and mastered the secret to unlocking the river’s treasure, which is…
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The Bone-Jarring Muskies of Lake Chautauqua – Part II
By Chuck Bailey
Muskie are notorious bait followers, so it begs the question as to whether applying scents might help in eliciting a strike. After 30 years, our guide Mike Sperry concludes, “I have tried scents with baits while trolling in the past and I haven’t found any advantage to using it. It’s just an additional expense.”
“But,” Mike adds, “the question does bring up an interesting point, because muskie will follow a bait. And it makes you wonder how long a muskie will follow a trolled bait before it hits it. And… how many fish have followed that bait and just turned off.”
“That’s why the client and I won’t troll but a couple of hundred yards before imparting some action on the rod. We will do s-turns, trying to change the speed and direction of the bait, but we will also pick up the rod and pump it. (That’s only if the client can handle doing that, because some of these baits pull really hard). We’ll actually hold the rod and periodically start ripping it a little bit. And it’s amazing how many fish we have caught when we have done that.”
“Likewise we have caught a lot of muskie after I have put the boat in neutral and said, ‘Alright let’s crank these in, we’re going to go to another spot.’ We will pick up the rod, pumped it a couple of times… and ‘fish on’. That happens quite a bit.” An essential key to triggering strikes from followers is to...
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The Bone-Jarring Muskies of Lake Chautauqua – Part I
By Chuck Bailey
The same ancient glaciers that carved out the Great Lakes created New York’s beautiful Lake Chautauqua. A constant stream of out-of-town tourists visits its shores each year. Among them are a multitude of hopeful anglers who dare to seek out what have come to be called “The fish of 10,000 casts” – the mighty and mysterious Muskie.
These angling adventurers bring their dreams of hooking and landing a monster to Lake Chautauqua, (Cha-taw-qaw), for two good reasons. First, it is a historic muskie lake. Dating back to 1890, it is the home of the oldest muskie hatchery in the country. And secondly, that’s where “Mike the Muskie Man” has his guide service. Together, these two factors greatly increase an angler’s chances of hooking a massive bone-jarring muskellunge.
Why better odds? Because Mike Sperry knows Muskie! And… Mike Sperry knows Lake Chautauqua. He was raised on its shores and has been fishing for these elusive creatures for more than thirty years.
As a result, Mike thinks muskies are neither mysterious nor elusive...
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Cranking California Delta Stripers – Part II
By Chuck Bailey
Earlier, (in Part I), our guide Bobby Barrack inferred that if an angler wanted to target large stripers – topwaters were the most exciting way to get the job done. “My favorite topwater lure is a Lunker Punker. (Black Dog Baits Co). I like the 6 to 7 inch models if I am guiding, though when I am out alone I tend to throw the 9 inch.”
“And I will throw the wood one when the wind is blowing less than 10 miles an hour, and I will throw the plastic injected one that has rattles, when the wind is blowing over 10 because it provides more presence. But even in the wind, I refuse to work the topwater hard. Very seldom will I work my top water extremely aggressively.”
What makes these topwater baits so unique? “They way they move,” insist Bobby. “They’ve got a really nice natural swinging Z-action on the surface.” Bass fishermen are familiar with the “Walking-the-dog” technique, in which the angler causes the rod tip to jump during retrieval, causing the bait to leap first to the left, and then to the right, and back again. The erratic zig-zagging pattern is continued all the way back to the boat. In terms of cadence and speed, “I to walk-the-dog nice and steady.”
“The other bait I really like is...
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Cranking California Delta Stripers – Part I
By Chuck Bailey
An increasingly popular question at bass clubs is “Have you ever fished the California Delta”? After some amazing professional bass tournament results were televised in recent years – anglers began drooling over the idea of hooking into some of those monster largemouths they saw at the weigh-ins.
But only a few bass fishermen have connected the Delta to some top-notch striper fishing. Which is unfortunate, because according to pro-fisherman and expert guide Bobby Barrack, the jump from largemouth to striper fishing is a relatively easy transition to make for bass anglers.
“The beautiful thing about stripers is that it is such an easy transition for bass anglers,” says Bobby, who ought to know. This Oakley, CA touring pro has won two FLW events and finished in the top-ten 16 times.
“A lot of our bass fisherman in California are finally waking up to the fact that stripers are a good time; they’re an amazing gamefish. And the great thing is that largemouth anglers don’t have to go broke buying a lot of new tackle to chase stripers.”
It is highly probable that the average bass fisherman already has the rods, reels, and crankbaits necessary to experience some tremendously exciting striper fishing. What they may not have is...
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Casting Crankbaits in Rivers for Kings, Coho, and Steelhead
– Part II
By Chuck Bailey
Some fishermen have theorized that once salmon and steelhead start heading up stream they have their mind on spawning and nothing else. Therefore, if an angler's crankbait does get hit, it’s probably more a reaction or anger strike, meaning “Get the heck out of my way!” or “I’m crunching you just for getting in front of me! Not that I was really hungry.”
Does our guide, Tim Roller, actively engage in the hunger verses reaction debate? “No. In fact I could care less why they hit it. And we’ll never know because I’ve asked about a million of them that very question," he laughs, "and they haven’t answered me yet.”
"But it still goes back to their genetic response – I don’t think every time a salmon eats an alewife out in the lake they are doing it because they are hungry. I think they are genetically programmed - ‘Do not let that forage go by because that may be the last one you see.’”
“So it’s totally instinct - I don’t believe they think about it. It’s like you and I in terms of our breathing; we don’t think about the next breathe we take, and the fish don’t think about the next meal they are going to eat – if it’s there, they take it. I get asked all the time, ‘Are they hitting it because they are eating it or because they are mad at it?’ And the answer is...
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Casting Crankbaits in Rivers for Kings, Coho, and Steelhead
– Part I
By Chuck Bailey
When Michigan guide, Tim Roller, first started casting crankbaits for Kings, Coho, and Steelhead in the Manistee River, he got some strange looks from every angler he encountered. They’re not laughing at him now. (Especially after one of his clients, Tom Healy, just set a new world record in September of 2009 for brown trout – weighing in at 41 lbs. 7 oz – while casting crankbaits for Kings.)
Ironically, it is a common practice for charter boat captains and sports fishermen to fish for salmon in the Great Lakes and other large bodies of water by trolling crankbaits. But once the Kings, Coho, and Steelhead start running up the rivers, the crankbait disappears from most anglers’ arsenals to be replaced with more traditional presentations.
Here in the Northwest, (Washington and Oregon), river fishing might include the use of corkies with yarn or combined with a cluster of eggs. Perhaps at the mouth of rivers where the water is deeper and boats can still troll, plugs such as Quikfish or Storm Wiggle Warts are occasionally used, but not nearly as much as a herring trailing an in-line flasher.
Once in a while, an upstream angler may anchor their boat (or fish from the shore) and try “plunking”, that is, throwing out a heavy sinker into the current that has a dropper line with a plug attached. BUT… it’s safe to say that hardly anyone casts with crankbaits in an attempt to catch salmon...
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Cold-water Cranking with Kevin VanDam
by Steve Price
It’s a cold, overcast morning, and while everyone seems more concerned about choosing jig colors for the 43-degree water, Kevin VanDam is already tying on crankbaits. Three days later, the crankbaits have caught 43 ½ pounds of bass, more than all but two of the tournament competitors.
That particular event was the 2008 Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell, and although the event was won on a jig, VanDam’s performance underscored not only his own expertise as a crankbaiter but also the versatility of diving lures in cold water, a fact many bass anglers don’t realize.
“I love to fish a crankbait in cold water, mainly because there’s something about how the lure moves water that causes bass to react to it,” VanDam explained. “Bass will bite a crankbait when they won’t hit a spinnerbait, and even when it’s hard to catch them on a jig you can still get them on a crankbait.
“I don‘t know why. I just know crankbaits are probably my best search tools to find cold water bass...
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Trolling Crankbaits For Lake Erie Walleyes –
Part III
By Chuck Bailey
Favorite Crankbaits
Every charter captain has their confidence baits, and Captain Ken Nulph is no different. “When we are springtime walleye fishing, an angler wants Bagley Bang-O’s in size 4’s, Bagley Killer B2’s, and Reef Runner 800’s. Those are my favorite three.”
What crankbait preferences change as the fish move deeper during the summer? “We will run Reef Runner 800’s, Bomber 25A’s, and Storm Deep Thunder Sticks.”
Crankbait Profiles
Bass fisherman often wonder why fishing catalogs reveal some major differences in crankbait profiles between the “bass” pages, and the “walleye” pages. Most noticeable is the walleye preference for long banana-shaped crankbaits. Why does that unique shape appeal to walleye?
“In my opinion,” says Captain Ken, “it is based upon...
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Trolling Crankbaits For Lake Erie Walleyes – Part II
By Chuck Bailey
In Part I, Captain Ken Nulph explained that when current on Lake Erie is flowing down below, it is a mistake to turn the boat around and go back in the direction you just came from without first making some major adjustments. Add wind and waves to the mix and it begins to get even more complicated.
Wind and Wave Adjustments
Captain Ken explains some of the basics effects of wind and waves, “First, it is a lot easier to navigate a boat going with the waves. It’s also easier to run a large number of rods going with the waves - because you have a much smoother ride. If I turn around and go into the waves, the boat begins bouncing around a lot, and you’ve got to pay strict attention to keeping that boat straight, so everything stays lined up behind the boat.”
“And naturally the wind and waves coming against the bow of your boat is going to slow your boat down, so you have speed up. Let's say you were catching fish going with the wind at 2.4 miles per hour. When you turn around and go into the waves and you adjust your speed to again reach 2.4 miles per hour, you have to recognize that your crankbaits are probably going to be running deeper.”
Windy days that create waves require constant adjustments. “You’re either going to have to...
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Trolling Crankbaits For Lake Erie Walleyes – Part I
By Chuck Bailey
Most of a charter boat’s customers are looking for one thing at the end of the day – a cooler full of walleyes. They come to the Walleye Capital of the World to enjoy a great day on the water, have fun with their friends and family, and catch a few of the nearly 20 million walleyes estimated to swimming in Lake Erie in 2009.
The boat captain’s daily goal is to meet, and if possible, exceed those expectations; to both entertain the clients and put a limit of walleyes in the boat. When it all comes together, the process looks almost effortless. A few customer’s may be so naive as to assume it’s a relatively simple task in which the captain just runs around the water dragging crankbaits behind the boat, and catching fish. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Trolling is a thinking person’s game. Between giving fishing instructions and tips, telling amusing stories, and answering questions, the captain’s brain is constantly churning; analyzing light, wind, and wave conditions, measuring water temperatures, depths, and clarity, ...computing both boat and underwater current speeds...
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