RESENTATION
Bottom rigs work with dead bait and cutbait. Use a free line for live
baitfish.
Any live-baitfish tactic, including bobbers, free lines, and
bottom rigs.
Using a long pole, dip the Aberdeen hook and minnow
combo in pools.
Any bait fishing tactic that involves frisky
live bait.
Fish shiners under a bobber or on a
free line.
Y THE
After you’ve made the effort to catch fresh live bait (or buy it from a gas-station vending machine), having it constantly fall off the hook can lead to a short, aggravating day of fishing. Be sure to rig your bait on the correct-style hook.
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GAIN SOME WEIGHT
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The weight you choose to rig a soft-plastic bait can make that lure a killer—or a dud. Compared with yesterday’s sinkers, today’s models are more sophisticated and specialized than ever, so it pays to invest in a variety of them. Here are six types you need in your tackle box so you can always sink to the bass’s level.
1. BULLET WEIGHT Environmentally friendly tungsten bullet weights are smaller than equally heavy lead and louder when your Texas-rigged bait bumps cover.
2. INTERNAL TUBE WEIGHT Compared witha bullet weight, this sinker gives tubes a more natural appearance and a smaller profile. When you’re angling for skiish bass, both advantages can pay off nicely for you.
3. SPLIT SHOT Split-shot rigs are deadly for lure-shy bass. Bullet Weights Egg Shot slides over cover more easily than round split shot, reducing snags.
4. WEIGHTED HOOK A weighted hook lets you alter a bait’s action.
5. CAROLINASINKER Noisy Carolina rigsusually work beer. On Lindy’s Carolina Mag Weight, magnetized steel balls separate and collide with theslightest movement to draw more bass. The weight comes preassembled.
6. DROP-SHOT WEIGHT Drop-shoing excels for finessing clear-water bass. They’re denser than lead and help you “feel” what’s on the boom. The narrow, line-gripping eye eliminates the need for a knot.
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Rig a slip
Bobber
Rigging a slip bobber is a breeze. First, fasten a bobber stop on your line. Some commercial ones are on string that comes pre-knotted around a tube. Thread your line through the tube and then slide the knot off the tube and tighten. Or try what I like best: a bit of rubber tubing so small that it impedes casting very little when wound on a reel. If your slip bobber has a large hole at the top, add a small plastic bead on your line to keep the stop from sticking inside the bobber. Thread on the bobber after the bead and then tie a hook to the end of your line with two or three small split-shot sinkers spaced a few inches apart, a foot or so above the hook.
This versatile terminal knot is excellent
for securing your line to a hook, lure,
or swivel; it’s perhaps most commonly
used to fasten the leader to a fly.
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Pass several inches of line through the hook or lure eye (). Next, loosely wrap the tag end around the loop you’ve made (). Wind the leader several times around the loop, then pass it through the opening just below the hook (). Pass the leader through the far end of the loop (), and then tighten down and trim as necessary (). The hook itself will hang from the middle of the knot.
SLIP BOBBER
BOBBER STOP
SLIP SHOT
TIE A
CLINCH KNOT
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Properly Sharpen
a Fishhook
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Make it
Snappy
Have you sharpened any lure hooks lately? Has a fish pulled a split ring open on you in the last few years? If not, it’s probably because razor-edge hooks and superstrong split rings have become standard on many new lures. You do more harm than good by attempting to improve the new generation of chemically sharpened hooks, but less expensive versions normally need touch-ups. Here’s how to do it right.
STEP 1 Hold the hook you want to sharpen by the shank between your thumb and forefinger so the bend faces inward and the point is away from you. Grasp a metal file in your other hand.
DUOLOCK SNAP Available in a wide variety of sizes, duolock snaps open wide to easily slip through the eye of any lure. Just make sure you use one strong enough for the size fish you’re targeting, because they can pull open if over-stressed.
COASTLOCKSNAP Typically made of heavier gauge wire than duolock snaps, Coastlocks are staples in the saltwater world when tuna, marlin, and other big-game species are involved. Their design makes them very hard for a hard-fighting fish to pull open.
CROSS-LOK SNAP Slightly stronger than duolocks because of their design, cross-loks—even smaller models—can handle a lot of pressure. These snaps are oen found on pre-made wire leaders for bluefish ormuskies.
Snaps that hold lures are as important as the lures themselves.
STEP 2 Brush the left side of the point away from you and down the file in one long stroke. Give it another stroke if you desire, but file any further and you’ll weaken the point.
STEP 3 Repeat the first two steps for the right side and the outside of the point.
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Use the Best Trout
Flyfor the Job
No one fly catches all the fish all the time. Fish, ever whimsical, sometimes refuse to eat on Friday the fly they ate on Tuesday. Fishermen, ever inventive, constantly create new paerns. Tested by time, water, and fish, these are the reliable flies you need.
ZONKER A formed lead-foil underbody acts as a keel, which serves to keep this sexy streamer upright when
stripped and twitched.
BEADHEAD PRINCE NYMPH
Fish this generic nymph under an indicator in fast riffles and
eddies. And hang on!
EGG FLY Not a fly so much as a ball of yarn,