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It was like Christmas. I had looked forward to the Bass Pro Spring Classic for weeks! I had a great time there last year, and knew that it would be just as good this year. I also had a plan to sneak off in the middle of this event and hit the Patuxent. I was desparate to get out and on the water again after a long winter.
I started the day with hitting the big sales. Snagged some good fly stuff - reel, rod, etc based on good advice from a number of you. As soon as I had all that locked in, I headed over to the Patuxent to check out the Howard Mill section. It's only about a 30 minute drive from Bass Pro in Arundel Mills. I figured I could get over there, try out the fly gear I bought with the Starter Set and then return for the afternoon Bass seminars that I wanted to attend.
I'll discuss my impressions of the starter set in a different post - bottom line was that it sucked. Hitting the river really got me fired up and I headed back to Bass Pro fully refreshed after a quick few hours on some water. Of course, that motivated me to buy a few more things...
The first seminar I attended was Steve Chaconas's one on "Cold Water Fishing Patterns and Techniques". I liked his pitch last year and this year was just as good. The key points were:
- Slow down
- Start slow and slow down
- Slow down
... hmm... even I got the message
- Use lighter weight line to get the lure down deep
- Fish will not react to light line as much as heavier line since they do not feel it as much when they hit the lure
- Fish deep
- When using a spinning rod, never close the bail using the crank - always close it with your hand to avoid adding twists/loops to the line
- If you get a loop in the reel, always pull it out using the drag, do not open the bail
- Let your line run out behind your boat so it can fully untwist
- Blade baits are the most effective to use deep - but you have to put them right on the bottom and twitch them along
and risk hangups
- Drop shotting is a good cold weather technique - put the weight 18" from the lure if the water is clear
- Flourocarbon line is more sensitive and you will pick up the light winter hits easier on it
- He likes Jack's Juice as an attractant. Steve made the point that all an attractant will do is get the fish to hold the lure longer so you can set the hook - it won't really attract the fish.
- Key point: Every fish you catch should tell you something about depth, speed, color, movement, etc.
- Red hooks work great on top water baits and you should replace your middle bottom treble with one
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Steve Chaconas giving us the skinny on cold water fishing
The next seminar I attended was Woo Davis's on "More and Bigger Bass". Unfortunately, he had to cut the seminar short and did not really get into any of the good details that Steve did. He did discuss drop shotting and the proper rigging of the lure for that. A good point he made was that you have to be patient and leave the lure near structure long enough for the bass to find it. Everything is not a reaction strike - be patient, throw it out there and let it sit for a while.
He was also a fan of rigging worms upside down. Put the hook in the tail and a slug of lead in the head. Fish it on the bottom - letting it sit and twitch. The final point he made is that you should not fish crankbaits by just hauling them in at a constant speed. Instead, vary things by changing the position of your rod, the speed, the angle. Make it skip up to the surface on the retrieve at times.
I attended a part of Bill Ladley's pitch on 'Build your Bass Fishing Arsenal'. He had an amazing demo of the YUM LPT lures. He threw one of them in the big fish tank and the bass would not let go of it. In short, the bass really thought it was something to eat!
Key points he made included not using swivels or snaps and the need to learn how to skip lures like a rock across the water to really get back up under docks and other structure.
Probably the coolest thing I did all day was visit the Sage Fly Rod guy. He had a machine that would measure your fly cast and then compare it to a profile built from 90 experts. It would diagnose any number of problems in speed, angle, stopping and your pause. The machine gives you a two page printout that describes everything you need to do. This was really neat - my backcast is looking good - I've got to work on my forecast.
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