Holy mackerel, Alabama record falls twice in 5 weeks | al.com

By Michael C. Bolton

Even hard-hearted people enjoy a heart-warming story now and then. In the world of Alabama outdoors, the pursuit of the state record king mackerel has provided a couple of goodies in recent months.

King mackerel make their runs off the Alabama Gulf Coast in spring and that ritual brings out hard-core fishermen. Old salts with decades on the water live for the moment. Talk of 40-pound-plus kings dominates their lives.

The 2012 king mackerel run began a couple of months ago with Mobile’s Michael J. Kirchler at the top of the record book. The 67-pound, 15-ounce king he caught in 2002 had withstood a decade of challengers. His record appeared untouchable.

Andrew Quinn’s presence didn’t strike fear in anyone. The small 8-year-old from Michigan was on the Alabama coast only to vacation with family and to play in the sand. The fishing trip with the male grown-ups was just gravy. It was his first deep sea fishing adventure ever.

The 68-pound, 3-ounce king mackerel the youngster landed on March 28 aboard the charter boat “Fish Trap” was the largest king mackerel ever caught in the state. The serious king mackerel fishermen could only shake their heads.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Holy mackerel, Alabama record falls twice in 5 weeks | al.com.

Get Your Spinning Reel Back In Shape Quickly

FRANKFORT, Ky. – A group of old friends of mine gets together every spring for a fishing trip in March or April, usually to Kentucky Lake. After our first day of fishing on our recent trip, one of the friends asked for help with a balky spinning reel.

The handle was “loosey-goosey,” along with a floppy rotor that holds the reel bail assembly. He considered retiring this reel for a new one, but a few minutes of work made the reel sing like new.

Spinning reel handles loosen with use, especially if you catch a lot of fish. The screw holding the handle in place backed off a little over time and made the handle wobbly. The screw lies opposite the side of the handle, under a threaded cap that keeps water and grime out of the handle assembly and reel. On some reels, especially Shimanos, the screw holding the handle in place is embedded in the threaded cap. Periodically tighten this screw or the threaded cap.

The loose rotor that holds the reel bail assembly took a few minutes to fix. The culprit was a loose nut on the bottom of the spool shaft. Loosen the drag on the front of the reel spool continually until the drag assembly comes off the spool shaft. Then, pull the spool off the shaft. The nut at the bottom of the spool shaft keeps the rotor tight. This nut often loosens, especially when playing large fish.

Use an open-end or crescent wrench to tighten this nut, although pliers will suffice in a pinch. Some reel models have a screw in the rotor to keep this nut in place, but the screw can loosen over time along with the nut. Make sure to lightly oil the spool shaft before replacing the spool.

Problems such as these often arise after the first couple fishing trips of the year. After a long winter, a spinning reel can sometimes feel like the Sandman used the reel last fall. It feels gritty and sluggish when you turn the reel handle. A catch can develop that ruins a rhythmic retrieve.

Reel grease and reel oil applied in the correct places will fix these problems. An old egg carton makes a great holder for reel parts removed for maintenance. Nothing is as frustrating as trying to find a tiny screw in berber carpet.

In the last decade or so, some new reel oils and greases entered the market that form a molecular bond with the metals they contact. I highly recommend these new high tech lubricants as they make on old reel feel like it just came from the box. However, they cost twice as much as traditional reel oil and grease. Don’t use cheap household oil as it thickens and hardens much quicker than reel oil.

The first thing to do is remove the spool. Clean the spool shaft and the inside bottom of the spool with a cotton rag or oiled ear swab. Apply a light coat of reel oil to the spool shaft. Some reels have a small bearing assembly on the bottom of the spool that goes around the spool shaft. Apply oil to this bearing.

Don’t forget to apply a few drops of oil to the roller bearing on the bail that lays line on the spool. Also lubricate where the bail arm meets the rotor housing.

Remove the handle to access the screws on the slide plate of the reel. Remove these small screws with gentle pressure as they easily strip. Make sure to note if the screws are of different length. Arrange them so you put the correct length screw in the correct hole when you reassemble the reel.

After I fixed the one reel for my friend recently, he asked me to oil another reel for him. I didn’t pay attention to the length of screws and put the longest screw in the wrong hole in the reel. The screw nearly poked out of the opposite side plate of the reel.

Some reels also have a decorative plate that covers part of the back of the reel. This plate is usually held in place with a tiny screw and usually covers one of the side plate screws. Be careful not to lose it. .

After removing the screws, gently pry the side plate from the reel and remove it. You will see the large main gear with a bearing assembly on top it. Remove this bearing and drop it in lighter fluid or rubbing alcohol to dissolve sludgy oil, grease and other gunk. Clean the main gear, the worm gear in the bottom of the reel and the drive gear in the front with an old tooth brush and hot soapy water. Allow to dry.

After drying, replace the bearing on top of the main gear and apply several drops of reel oil. Lightly grease the main gear, worm gear and drive gear. Don’t over grease these parts. Too much grease makes a reel sluggish and attracts sand, dirt and other particles. Remember to always oil bearings and grease gears.

Put the reel back together and place a few drops of oil on the handle shaft before replacing it.

Some people try to see how long they can use fishing line before they respool the reel. This isn’t a smart idea. Worn, sun-damaged, crinkly line will fail you when you need it most. Respool with fresh line several times a year and you’ll land the big fish when it strikes instead of breaking it off. This goes for monofilament and fluorocarbon lines. Braided lines last a long time.

Do these simple procedures and keep your old trusty reel working fine for many years.

Cabela’s® Announces Wanna Go Fishing for Millions? Promotion

Sidney, Neb. (PRWEB) April 19, 2012

Cabela’s Incorporated, the World’s Foremost Outfitter® of hunting, fishing and outdoor gear, announced today Wanna Go Fishing for Millions?, a contest giving anglers a shot at up to $2 million in cash and more than $225,000 in additional prizes by catching tagged fish in select lakes across the United States. The competition begins May 5.

Cabela’s, Outdoor Channel, Wanna Go Fishing TV and Geico are tagging fish in lakes across 19 states – Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin – and every tagged fish caught will be a winner.

The premise is simple: catch specially tagged fish, and win prizes ranging from Cabela’s gift cards to boats to $2 million. Wanna Go Fishing for Millions? debuted in 2011.

“Wanna Go Fishing for Millions? is a great catch for many reasons,” said Cabela’s Chief Executive Officer Tommy Millner. “The heart of the competition is to promote fishing on local waters and encourage families to spend time together – with a chance, of course, to hook great prizes.”

In 2011, 143 winning fish were caught in Wanna Go Fishing for Millions?

One of the tagged fish could be worth $1 million. The grand prize will be doubled to $2 million for participants who are current users of the Cabela’s Fish Recon app or who download the Cabela’s Fish Recon app to their smartphone, sponsored by Geico.

Other prizes include two Ranger 520Z Bass Series Comanche boats and trailers with Evinrude outboard motors, valued at $65,000 each, as well as more than $20,000 in gear from Costa sunglasses, Abu Garcia and Rapala.

All rules and requirements, as well as contest details and registration information, can be found at the contest website, http://www.cabelas.com/fishformillions. Registration begins April 19 and participants must pre-register before fishing. Cabela’s will release the list of lakes before the promotion begins to those who pre-register. Winners of specific prizes will be announced after the promotion ends July 8.

Species to be tagged this year include largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, white bass, striped bass, perch, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout, walleye, crappie, wiper, bluegill and channel catfish. Species will vary state-to-state.

About Cabela’s Incorporated

Cabela’s Incorporated, headquartered in Sidney, Nebraska, is a leading specialty retailer, and the world’s largest direct marketer, of hunting, fishing, camping and related outdoor merchandise. Since the Company’s founding in 1961, Cabela’s® has grown to become one of the most well-known outdoor recreation brands in the world, and has long been recognized as the World’s Foremost Outfitter®. Through Cabela’s growing number of retail stores and its well-established direct business, it offers a wide and distinctive selection of high-quality outdoor products at competitive prices while providing superior customer service. Cabela’s also issues the Cabela’s CLUB® Visa credit card, which serves as its primary customer loyalty rewards program. Cabela’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CAB”.

Bassmaster Magazine Crowns 100 Best Bass Fishing Lakes in U.S.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Bassmaster magazine, the official publication for members of B.A.S.S., announced Tuesday the 100 best bass fishing lakes in the U.S. The list was compiled in a months-long process that included research from state fisheries agencies, nominations from B.A.S.S. Federation Nation tournament organizers and a panel of widely traveled professional anglers, fishing writers and others.

Despite its reputation as a dangerous place to fish, Texas’ Falcon Lake ranked in first place. The 58-year-old impoundment straddles the Rio Grande and is shared by Texas and Mexico. The 83,000-acre reservoir has been in the news as much for drug cartel-related crime as for its enormous catches of largemouth bass.

Falcon produced the record winning catch for the Bassmaster Elite Series circuit when Paul Elias caught 132.5 pounds of bass during four days in 2008. Although the Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments have not returned to the lake since, it regularly gives up tournament-winning catches averaging more than 8 pounds per bass.

Texas tops the list of states with eight lakes or rivers in the Top 100, followed by Florida, which has seven fisheries on the list, including No. 2-ranked Lake Okeechobee. Rounding out the Top 10 are Lake Guntersville in Alabama, Lake Erie in Michigan/Ohio/New York/Pennsylvania, Lake Champlain in New York/Vermont, Lake Amistad in Texas, Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota, San Joaquin Delta in California, Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho and Clear Lake in California.

According to Bassmaster editor James Hall, the idea for ranking the best lakes emerged at a B.A.S.S. tournament during a lively discussion among outdoor writers with definite ideas about the nation’s top performing lakes. Hall decided the debate warranted a more in-depth investigation.

“Instead of just having opinions, we wanted to put science behind the opinion to rate the ’100 Best Bass Lakes,’” Hall said. “The method was as scientific as we could make it. The result is a list of outstanding fisheries. I think it will be fun for people to consider where their favorite lake stands compared to the best in another state.”
The 100 Best Bass Lakes list was ranked using a variety of qualifiers. Department of Natural Resource representatives provided the five most productive lakes in each state based on electroshock surveys and angler catch rates. B.A.S.S. Federation Nation presidents offered top lake recommendations based on tournament catches, while conservation directors supplied details on lake accessibility and best fish stocking practices.

A blue ribbon panel of outdoor writers, editors, Bassmaster Elite Series professional anglers and fishing industry veterans ranked the final list based on current fishability of each lake, considering its history, big fish and overall quantity potential and aesthetic surroundings of the area.

The list is slated to appear annually. For full details about each of the lakes ranked, as well as more details about each one, visit http://www.bassmaster.com/news/100-best-bass-lakes.

Bassmaster Magazine 2012 100 Best Bass Lakes in the U.S.

1. Falcon Lake, Texas
2. Lake Okeechobee, Florida
3. Lake Guntersville, Alabama
4. Lake Erie, Michigan/Ohio/New York/Pennsylvania
5. Lake Champlain, New York/Vermont
6. Lake Amistad, Texas
7. Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota
8. San Joaquin Delta, California
9. Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
10. Clear Lake, California
11. Rainy Lake, Minnesota
12. Pickwick Lake, Alabama/Mississippi/Tennessee
13. Lake St. Clair, Michigan
14. Oneida Lake, New York
15. Toledo Bend, Texas/Louisiana
16. Kentucky Lake/Barkley Lake, Kentucky/Tennessee
17. Grand Lake, Oklahoma
18. Kezar Lake, Maine
19. Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Texas
20. Columbia River, Washington/Oregon
21. Kissimmee Chain Of Lakes, Florida
22. Candlewood Lake, Connecticut
23. Santee Cooper lakes, South Carolina
24. Roosevelt Lake, Arizona
25. Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin
26. Lake Fork, Texas
27. Louisiana Delta, Louisiana
28. Lake Ouachita, Arkansas
29. Lake Konawa, Oklahoma
30. Lake Of The Ozarks, Missouri
31. Potomac River, Maryland/Virginia
32. Shasta Lake, California
33. Lake Havasu, Arizona
34. Lake Michigan, Wisconsin/Illinois/Indiana/Michigan
35. Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota
36. Florida Everglades, Florida
37. Lake Charlevoix, Michigan
38. Lake Mead, Nevada
39. Choke Canyon Lake, Texas
40. Lake Seminole, Georgia/Florida
41. Congamond Lakes, Massachusetts
42. Table Rock Lake, Missouri
43. Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire
44. Falls Lake, North Carolina
45. Umpqua River, Oregon
46. Okoboji Lake, Iowa
47. Red River, Louisiana
48. Pueblo Reservoir, Colorado
49. DeGray Lake, Arkansas
50. Trap Pond, Delaware
51. Bull Shoals Lake, Arkansas/Missouri
52. Spirit Lake, Iowa
53. St. Lawrence River, New York
54. Squam Lake, New Hampshire
55. High Rock Lake, North Carolina
56. Arbuckle Lake, Oklahoma
57. Lake Tarpon, Florida
58. Apache Lake, Arizona
59. Lake Powell, Utah/Arizona
60. Perry Reservoir, Kansas
61. Chickamauga Lake, Tennessee
62. Lake Wawasee, Indiana
63. Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia
64. Lake Conroe, Texas
65. Noxon Rapids, Montana
66. Diamond Valley Lake, California
67. Summit Reservoir, Nebraska
68. Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey
69. Rend Lake, Illinois
70. Lake Pleasant, Arizona
71. Lake Audubon, North Dakota
72. Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Wyoming
73. Harris Chain Of Lakes, Florida
74. Cobbosseecontee Lake, Maine
75. Ute Lake, New Mexico
76. Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania
77. Wilson Reservoir, Kansas
78. Elephant Butte Lake, New Mexico
79. Lake Oahe, South Dakota
80. Gull Lake, Minnesota
81. Kerr Reservoir/Buggs Island, N.C./Virginia
82. Dale Hollow Lake, Tennessee/Kentucky
83. Lake Gaston, North Carolina
84. Bullards Bar Reservoir, California
85. Dworshak Reservoir, Idaho
86. Tygart Lake, West Virginia
87. Keith Sebelius Reservoir, Kansas
88. O.H. Ivie, Texas
89. Lake Wallenpaupack, Pennsylvania
90. Lake Murray, South Carolina
91. Lake Sammamish, Washington
92. Lake Eufaula, Alabama/Georgia
93. Enid Reservoir, Mississippi
94. Old Hickory Lake, Tennessee
95. Fort Peck Reservoir, Montana
96. Manasquan Reservoir, New Jersey
97. Lake Mohave, Nevada
98. Lake Lanier, Georgia
99. Sebago Lake, Maine
100. McPhee Lake, Colorado

About B.A.S.S.
For more than 40 years, B.A.S.S. has served as the authority on bass fishing. The organization advances the sport through advocacy, outreach and an expansive tournament structure while connecting directly with the passionate community of bass anglers through its Bassmaster media vehicles.

The Bassmaster brand and its multimedia platforms are guided by a mission to serve all fishing fans. Through its industry-leading publications – Bassmaster Magazine and B.A.S.S. Times – comprehensive website Bassmaster.com and ESPN2 and Outdoor Channel television programming, Bassmaster provides rich, leading-edge content true to the lifestyle.

The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series, Cabela’s B.A.S.S. Federation Nation events and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Bassmaster Classic.

B.A.S.S. offers an array of services to its more than 500,000 members and remains focused on issues related to conservation and water access. The organization is headquartered in Birmingham, Ala.

The 35 Best Hunting and Fishing Towns in the US | Outdoor Life

by The Editors

Now in its fifth year, our annual “Best Towns for Sportsmen” feature is an OL institution. Readers love to argue the merits of their burgs based on our rankings; local newspapers crow about the inclusion of their town; and realtors call to ask for extra copies of the issue.This year we’re forgetting all the socio-economic data and focusing on what matters most: hunting and fishing. In the next few pages, you’ll find the 35 towns in the U.S. where we would live right now, based solely on the outdoor opportunities there. Some boast bass and deer, others elk and trout or ducks and redfish. Regardless, each of these towns is an outdoors mecca in its own right, and from sea to shining sea, they offer the best hunting and fishing in America.  Click link below to see who is number one!

via The 35 Best Hunting and Fishing Towns in the US | Outdoor Life.

New Alabama Bass Trail will lure tourists | al.com

By Michael C. Bolton

Let’s say you live in Missouri and you turn on one of those Saturday morning fishing shows. There’s Paul Elias wearing out the big bass on Lake Guntersville. You promise yourself that one day you’re going to go to Alabama and give that a try.

On another show that morning is a replay of David Walker catching big bass after big bass in winning the Dixie Duel on Wheeler Lake. The narrator mentions that Wheeler Lake is on the Tennessee River. Didn’t the narrator in the earlier show say that Lake Guntersville is also on the Tennessee River? How cool would it be to take a little vacation and go fish both lakes?

Sometimes it takes only a little prodding for someone to give a dream a try. You lay out the logistics and tell him exactly how it can be done and it’s as if you caught him with a treble hook. That’s why the new Alabama Bass Trail is going to be a really big deal.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via New Alabama Bass Trail will lure tourists | al.com.

Future of pro fishing bright | The News Star

Jimmy Watson/Gannett Louisisnaa

A new ownership group of three businessmen is poised to move the Bass Anglers Sportsmen’s Society forward over the next few years while battling a slowly improving economy.

Jerry McKinnis, Don Logan and Jim Copeland salvaged BASS in 2010 from ESPN, which had owned the 500,000-member organization since 2001. That change has been popular with many of the anglers who will be in Shreveport and Bossier City this week competing in the 42nd Bassmaster Classic.

The competition will take place Friday through Sunday on the Red River out of the Red River South Marina with weigh-ins at the CenturyLink Center and an expo at the Shreveport Convention Center.

“As for the future, I think we are starting the uphill climb again,” said Elite angler Ott DeFoe. “In my opinion we are moving forward again. There are some very exciting things that are going on in the sport that are taking it in the right directions.”

BASS owners have spent the past year listening to the anglers, securing sponsors, moving their headquarters and divesting itself of corporate giant ESPN.

The first order of business is to broaden the base of sponsors and people outside the fishing world.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Future of pro fishing bright | The News Star | thenewsstar.com.

Kentucky Afield Outdoors: New or improving fishing opportunities for 2012

FRANKFORT, Ky. – With Valentine’s Day upon us, only a few weeks remain on your current annual fishing license. The new license year begins March 1.

This coming year presents some new opportunities to catch rainbow trout, blue catfish, redear sunfish, also known as shellcrackers, and white crappie.

Black crappie now dominate the population in Taylorsville Lake, and a good spawn last year should lead to good fishing for blacks in the coming years. Also, three years of white crappie stockings should lead to great fishing this spring.

“The stocked white crappie are doing pretty good,” said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “They are growing to about 9 inches long in less than two years. We found a few white crappie over the 9-inch limit last year, so there should be more for anglers to catch this year.”

White crappie stockings will continue at Taylorsville Lake and Kentucky Lake this year as well as eastern Kentucky’s Carr Creek and Paintsville lakes.

Anglers report catching keeper black crappie by walking the bank near the Settler’s Trace access and casting Roadrunners and lime-green curly-tailed grubs at stickups and flooded timber.

The blue catfish at Taylorsville Lake are doing well. “An angler caught a 48 pounder out of Taylorsville last year,” Buynak said. “We started stocking them at Barren in 2010 and they are doing well there and also at Dewey Lake.”

Blue catfish fight hard and taste great. They like live or fresh dead bait. Cut bait made from gizzard shad or skipjack herring entices hungry blue catfish as do live shad.

“We’ve also stocked blue catfish in Wilgreen Lake since 2009 and they are doing pretty well,” Buynak said. The 169-acre lake provides excellent largemouth bass fishing and decent fishing for bluegill and redear sunfish.

“We’ve stocked redear sunfish in Yatesville and Fishtrap lakes and they should be coming on,” Buynak said. Both of these lakes offer excellent fishing for bluegill and should provide bountiful redear fishing as the stocked fish proliferate. Yatesville Lake has excellent bluegill numbers while Fishtrap Lake holds trophy bluegill in the 11- to 12-inch range.

Louisville area anglers will soon have new winter and early spring trout fishing with excellent public access at a stream close to town. The fisheries division plans to stock a total of 7,500 rainbow trout in March, April and October of this year in Floyd’s Fork of Salt River. Miles Park off U.S. 60 (Shelbyville Road) offers bank and wading access to Floyd’s Fork. Access will improve as the Parklands of Floyd’s Fork project continues over the next couple of years.

In-line spinners, small suspending jerkbaits in chrome, chartreuse or orange colors fished on 4-pound test with spinning gear score well on rainbows in early spring.

Kentucky anglers who want catch fish close to home need to visit one of the Fishing in Neighborhoods (FINs) lakes. Lakes in this program regularly receive stockings of trout and catfish. Fisheries personnel for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife monitor the largemouth bass and sunfish populations in these lakes and stock these species if needed to maintain consistent fishing. These lakes make ideal places to take family members, children and beginners fishing with an excellent chance of catching something.

Camp Ernst Lake in Boone County, Madisonville City Park Lake North in Hopkins County, Millennium Park Pond in Boyle County, Whitehall Park Lake in Madison County, Waymond Morris Park Lake in Daviess County along with Carlson and Dickerson lakes at Ft. Knox in Meade County are new additions to the FINs program for 2012. For more information on the FINs lakes, visit the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife homepage on the internet at fw.ky.gov or pick up a free copy of the 2012 Kentucky Fishing and Boating Guide, available wherever fishing licenses are sold. You may request a copy by calling the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Information Center at 1-800-858-1549.

Get out and wet a line this spring and enjoy these new fishing opportunities. Shirt sleeve weather is just around the corner, but don’t forget to purchase your 2012 Kentucky annual fishing license if you plan to fish after March 1.

Ohio power plant closing may help Lake Erie’s fish – CBS News

(AP) TOLEDO, Ohio — Environmentalists and charter fishing captains expect Lake Erie’s fish population to climb with the closing of coal-burning units at a Ohio power plant near the mouth of the lake’s biggest tributary.

The plant, which is being shut down by its operator because of new air pollution rules, sucks in billions of gallons of water each year and kills millions of fish near some of the lake’s most popular fishing spots.

Environmental groups have said for years that the fish kills have contributed to declining levels of both yellow perch and walleye, two prized fish that draw anglers from around the Midwest. The groups have tried to force the plant’s owner, Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp., to install costly changes that would stop millions of fish from being killed each year.

But last week, FirstEnergy announced it was shutting down six older, coal-fired power plants, including one that sits along the Maumee River near Toledo. The plant cools its machinery with water from the river, which also is a prime spot for spawning walleye.

Drawing out the water kills 46 million adult fish each year, many of which were less desirable fish, but would have gone into the lake’s food chain. The toll includes millions more fish eggs and tiny fish in their larval form. “Now those numbers will be way down,” said Sandy Bihn, who leads a group called the Western Lake Erie Waterkeeper Association.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Ohio power plant closing may help Lake Erie’s fish – CBS News.

Arctic Winds Bring Float And Fly Time

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The late Charlie Nuckols owned a tackle shop and lure company in east Tennessee, near South Holston Lake. Winter crappie anglers who fished small marabou jigs deep under bobbers complained to him about big smallmouth breaking off their rigs all of the time.

This got Nuckols thinking. He, along with his brother Eddie, began experimenting with suspending small jigs, eventually settling on those tied with craft hair or duck feathers. They fished these jigs 8-to12-feet deep, suspended under bobbers cast on long, soft spinning rods along bluffs and deep points on South Holston Lake. They began to regularly catch smallmouth bass over four pounds on this new system. Word began to spread to other smallmouth lakes in the region, notably Dale Hollow Lake.

I read and heard about the technique and tried it a few times without success, using makeshift equipment ill suited to the task and fishing it with little passion. I wanted to get back to swimming a small bucktail jig just above bottom or casting live shiners – my preferred winter baits. After some friends starting having good success with the float and fly, I relented and bought the correct equipment and determined I would fish it until I caught a smallmouth.

It didn’t take long. Within my first dozen casts of fishing the float and fly correctly, I caught a 19-inch smallmouth that weighed right at four pounds. I’ve been hooked since. Now that arctic winds chilled the air and water in Kentucky over the last week, it is time to try this effective technique. The colder the water, the better the float and fly works.

The float and fly imitates what happens to baitfish such as shad in reservoirs in mid-winter. “Once the water temperatures drop below 50 degrees, shad don’t feel too good,” said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “The cold water makes shad distressed and they flip around, twitch and swim in circles. The little jig imitates exactly what is happening to them.”

Smallmouth bass suspend under schools of baitfish and pick off the ones twitching as they fight to survive winter’s cold. Nature programmed smallmouth bass through the millennia to take advantage of easy feeding opportunities in winter. Female bass, especially, need winter nutrition to fuel egg development for spring spawning.

The next two months are the best time of year to employ the technique in the lower ends of Lake Cumberland, Dale Hollow Lake, Laurel River Lake, Green River Lake, Barren River Lake and the small mountain impoundments such as Cranks Creek (Herb Smith) Lake or Cannon Creek Lake.

When I got serious, I bought an 8 ½-foot rod from a top of the line manufacturer, attached a decent reel and bought a mixture of 1/16-ounce jigs made from duck feathers, craft hair or a mixture of both. I spooled on 4-pound test line and got busy. It isn’t necessary to spend a ton on the rod as manufacturers now offer affordable spinning rods from 8-to 11-feet long.

A 1/16-ounce craft hair fly in combinations of light blue, chartreuse, white, blue or silver work well. I drop down to 1/32-ounce flies on bright, shimmering days after a cold front.

Duck feather flies with stands of red or chartreuse craft tied into them produce best when the water temperatures fall below 47 degrees. Some anglers apply a petroleum jelly based scent called “dope” to their flies.

I trim my craft hair flies to match the bend of the hook and apply liberal amounts of dope. This gives the fly a slim profile and no action, which turns on lethargic smallmouths. If the water is a little stained, I apply dope only to the head of the fly to let the craft hair breathe and undulate so the smallmouths can find it easier. I only apply dope to the head of duck feather flies.

Set the bobber about 9 feet above the fly to start and adjust shallower or deeper as needed. Some anglers use a main line of 8-pound braided line running to a small brass three-way swivel with a leader of 4-pound fluorocarbon attached to one of the loops and clipping a small 7/8-inch pear-shaped plastic bobber to the other. Others simply tie a fly to a 4-pound main line of clear or green fluorocarbon or monofilament line and attach the bobber to the line as they are more comfortable with one knot than three. Both catch trophy smallmouths.

Cast the fly to main lake and secondary points or rock bluffs. Allow the bobber to ride up and down with the waves, letting nature impart action on the fly. After a time, reel in about five feet and repeat. In calm water, make the bobber wink at you by shaking the rod tip up and down to give the fly action.

Set your drag lightly. Watch the bobber intently. Big smallmouth bass often barely take the bobber under after they inhale the fly and don’t move. Trophy smallmouth bass coming from deeper water often engulf the fly and move shallower, causing the bobber to flop over on its side. Set the hook immediately if this happens.

Tackle shops around Lake Cumberland or Dale Hollow Lake carry the correct rods, flies, dope and other float and fly accessories. An internet search reveals dealers that carry this equipment as well.

Burn away the winter blues with a slipping drag from a huge smallmouth bass that just took your fly. The float and fly is similar to the bobber fishing you did as a kid, but instead of bluegill hitting, it is a 21-inch smallmouth.

Next Page »