I haven’t posted in a while so I figured I should ramble on about something.

I fished the BASS Federation Nation qualifier last weekend and finished 11th with a small sack. I thought I was on fish but there was virtually no wind during practice and of course the wind starts to howl the day of the tournament.

It never occurred to me while I was practicing but all of my spots were on a west bank and the screaming east winds were making 3 footers on the grass lines I planned on fishing. Needless to say, it was pretty hard to catch fish flippin in 3 footers. After a short stab at it, I abandoned all the areas that I found in practice and covered new water.

If I would’ve just gone to a calm shore to fish, I’m sure I would’ve cashed a check but that’s fishin.

I at least qualified for the state tournament scheduled for November 6 & 7 on the St. Johns River in Palatka. The only problem is that it’s the same day as the Bassmaster Weekend Series National Championship.

I guess the BASS state qualifier will be a back up tournament in case I don’t end up qualifying for the Bassmaster Weekend Series National Championship on Lake Guntersville where the winner gets $205,000. I think it’s an easy choice if I end up qualifying for both. After all, I missed winning by only 2 ounces last year.

The heat is absolutely oppressive right now in Florida. You seriously feel light headed if you don’t drink enough water and I’m used to the heat.

I’ve been working on getting sponsors to help fund my fishing career but you gotta get used to hearing “no” all the time. I know it’s tough to convince a company to pay for all your entry fees, traveling expenses, and provide some spending money, but there’s less money out there up for grabs and most companies are cutting back.

I don’t even know if I’m qualified for such a job, but you don’t know until you ask.

The more I think about it, it’s the only way I can seriously make an attempt at fishing for a living. I just may have to contact every company out there until I hear a “yes”. There’s always the possibility of never getting a sponsor, but you gotta keep trying if you want it bad enough.

I have no doubt in my mind that I can qualify for the Elites or FLW if I give myself enough opportunities. If there’s any skills I lack, I can make them up with denial.

It’s really a matter of finances.

I hope this statement doesn’t make me sound cocky, but people that are successful at anything have confidence in their abilities and never complacent about their skill level. I realize I don’t know everything and always searching out ways to improve my fishing.

At this point, I’m thinking I need a really good finish at the BASS Open on Lake Seminole or win the Bassmaster Weekend Series National Championship to have enough money to keep pursuing my dream fishing full time alive in 2011.

I realize I’m asking for a lot, but it can happen. I gotta work on the belief that the harder I work, the luckier I get philosophy.

My map of Lake Seminole is starting to look like a pre-schooler went crazy on it and I haven’t even seen the place yet. Failure is not an option.

I need to find spots and plan for wind, changing water levels, and spraying. I doubt we’re gonna have to worry about a cold front, but it may actually improve the bite kicking in the fall pattern. It normally doesn’t start cooling down until late October but I’m tired of making excuses and will try to plan for any changes due to weather.

We hardly ever get to throw them in Florida with all the vegetation, but they can be deadly in late summer/early fall. They’re awesome around laydowns and even around kissimmee grass.

For some reason, I always gotta buy a balsa crankbait if I see one. I’ve got lots of the old Bagleys, Rapala DT Fat, and Bombers but they’re nothing like the handmade variety.

I noticed this post on the W2F blog and it’s got me lusting after some more of these hand crafted jewels made by Ed Chambers of Zoom Bait Company. Each one is hand signed and they really are works of art.

I own the W.E.C. E1 and the Sweet P and I always say a little prayer to keep those jackfish away before I throw them because they’re so doggone expensive. You can definitely notice a difference as soon as you start crankin those babies in. There’s something about wooden baits that I’m drawn to.

They can be the only bait a bass will hit, even in Florida. Ben Matsubu won a Bassmasters event on Lake Eustis crankin grass in November not too long ago. Crankbaits do work in Florida. They also work well around pads during the spawn. You just gotta be pretty accurate.

If money was no object, I’d get every model that was available. Especially the “Tapp” model which accounted for wins by David Fritts and Jeff Coble. It’s the type of crankbait I can’t find a use for in Florida, but you never know when you’ll need it.

You can take a look at the different models at Pepper’s Baits.

It seems like the big fish are on the jig bite on the Kissimmee Chain lately and I’ve been having some issues with hooks bending straight with my jigs. A 8 ft flippin stick and 65 braid can do some damage to a normal hook.

I thought it would be great if someone built a jig around the Bad Mother Flippin hook or the Paychex Flippin hook, and then I stumbled across the Hack Attack Jig by Strike King.

The best I can tell, the jig comes with the Bad Mother Flippin hook made by Gamakatsu. I love the fact that it comes in Okeechobee Craw. It might as well be Kissimmee Craw or Toho Craw because it works just as well around these parts. It also comes in the go anywhere, do everything black and blue color.

The 40 degree line tie seems to work better around grass than my other favorite jigs, the Denny Brauer Pro Model and the Rattleback Jig.

I also like the fact that it doesn’t come with rattles. For some reason, I believe rattles are a detriment around the spawn and having a silent jig option is great when the fish are a bit spooky.

I like these jigs so much that I’ve began experimenting with a heavier 1 ounce version to get into even thicker cover. I’ll probably try a 3/4 ounce version as well some time soon.

For those of us who flip jigs with extra heavy rods and 65 braid, practically everyone who flips in Florida, the Hack Attack Jig seems to be the jig made for us.

This book is totally awesome…. totally.

It answers a ton of questions I had about what happens to bass with different conditions…. at least what KVD thinks. It’s like you’re calling the guy up and asking for his advice.

I learned that there’s an old adage that bass bite better with a rising barometer and if it’s above 30. Like all adages, they don’t hold true a lot of times but it can be used effectively as a guage sometimes. I didn’t know about this since I go fishing every chance I get regardless of weather.

If the bass are feeding on crawfish and shore minnows, then they’ll be shallow most of the time. If they’re eating perch, then they’ll be deeper and could be anywhere if they’re eating shad.

Bass prefer milfoil over everything, even hydrilla.

Bass are finicky eaters in Spring and Fall, so it’s critical to match the size and color of your bait during this period.

The baitfish are at their largest size during the pre-spawn and KVD uses big baits during this period. This is probably common knowledge but admit I didn’t know this.

During pre-spawn in a reservoir, KVD says to concentrate on deep structure areas like creek channel drops, ledges/drop offs near large spawning bays and flats. Look for deep water adjacent to areas less than 10 ft deep.

In a river, bass like slack water areas in all stages of spawn. Key on main river banks during summer. In winter, look for the deepest slack water area like a marina.

In tidal water during pre and post spawn, look for deep water out of current but close to the river and adjacent to a spawning flat.

The book also covers cold fronts. KVD believes river fish are the least prone to cold fronts. He says to look for moving water areas in backs of creeks or upper end of the lake in a reservoir.

During the fall, a cold front can be beneficial by activating the fall pattern of shad moving to the backs of creeks. In late fall, the bass will move to a winter pattern where KVD loves channel banks and bluff walls.

He also believes clear water bass roam more and more apt to move upwards to eat. They’re also easier to catch in cold water so he’ll move towards the dam where the water is typically the clearest.

Conversely, muddy water bass tend to stick tight to cover, prefer shallow water and hard objects. He suggests making multiple casts to an objects and use spinnerbaits and buzzbaits when the shad are active and jigs and plastics when they’re inactive.

Muddy water also can activate the shad and move them towards the influx of freshwater typically found in the backs of creeks. This exactly what happened at the 2009 Bassmaster Weekend Series National Championship on Lake Dardanelle during the Fall.

Supposedly, bass always migrate with rising and falling water except in the winter when they stay deep. They also become more inactive as water falls and more active as water rises. I noticed this during the BASS Open as Smith Lake. The fish were outright spooky the more they dropped the water.

If I had this book, I would’ve known that the fish I was catching in the flooded bushes moved to the flooded bushes on secondary points in the same creek arm or if it fell a lot, then they were on the main lake points. I would’ve looked for the same depth they were holding in before the water fell in those areas. If they were on grass, then I would’ve known that the inside edge would’ve been key early on in the drawdown.

Supposedly, this is where you’ve got to be careful not move ahead of the fish and the migration associated with water level doesn’t happen immediately.

Conversely, if that tournament was on a river I would’ve known that bass move quickly with water fluctuations and moved to deeper slack water areas such as the mouth of sloughs and deep marinas.

A few other tips I picked up was to lean more towards crankbaits in stained water and jigs/spinnerbaits in muddy water.

KVD also thinks that 2 or 3 hits is enough to assess an area during practice.

There’s obviously tons more knowledge in the book, but these are some of the points that stuck out to me.

Anyway, the book is worth every penny and already a better fisherman because of it.

They’re the ideal guide for a frog rod or flippin stick but suitable for any rod where you do not want the line to wrap around the guides.

I’ve had this dilemma with every type of line out there so it’s a better product no matter what line you use.

I envision a day where all my rods have these guides and the days of line wrap being over.

Here’s a little demonstration of how these guides work. They show a full size version on the vid but I like them in the Micro version.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In case of emergencies, I have some baits that I know will catch fish.

The first bait in my panic box is the trick worm. This thing on a 1/4 oz weight, 20 lb Seaguar, and 7′ Heavy Kistler LTX in kissimmee grass, an 1/8 weight, 15 lb Seaguar, and 7′ medium heavy Kistler Magnesium TS in shallow water, and 1/8 oz shaky head or 1/32 wacky jig head on 8 lb Seaguar around docks will catch fish all day every day. The colors I gravitate to the most are junebug blue tail, bama bug, and watermelon red. These 3 colors work in just about every water clarity in Florida but if I believe there’s spawners around, I’ll go with watermelon red with a red bullet weight.

The Super Fluke catches fish all year long, but it can be deadly around the spawn. If the water’s clear, I’ll go with watermelon red. If it’s more stained, then I’ll go with Okeechobee Craw. I’ll fish it weightless most of the time on my 6’9″ medium heavy Kistler Helium LTA with 15. lb Seaguar, but sometimes you can get away with a 1/32 screw in weight or a small split shot a foot up from the bait. Any time there’s eel grass or hydrilla, this thing will catch fish all day every day.

Another bait that I know catches fish all the time is a weightless senko in watermelon red or junebug. It really excels in shallow clear water texas rigged or wacky rigged, but can be fished deeper with a screw in bullet weight or nail weight and can be flipped in grass or timber.

Now I’ve caught plenty of big fish with all these baits, but they catch numbers more than anything else. When I have to hit the panic button and fill out a limit, I’ll be throwing one of these baits if I’m fishing in Florida.

The most important info that I’ve found has nothing to do with a fishing spot or lure to use. According to Georgia Outdoor News, they’ve been spraying the hydrilla from Spring Creek to the Hooch. Since I had planned on fishing hydrilla, my plans have changed drastically without me ever stepping foot on this Seminole place.

I hope I can find hydrilla somewhere else, but if I can’t find it then I’ll probably have to resort to crankin and maybe a swim jig.

I’ve also spoken with a few friends who have tournament experience out there and I’ve pretty much got it narrowed down to an area. Hopefully it’ll be good and I can dial it in even more. My buddy Mike Lott’s been a lot of help with map study and shared what he’s figured out at numerous tournaments and guide trips out there. It’s worth a beer at the very least.

I’m ready to go to Lake Seminole right now and start checking out places, but I’ve got to nail down a place to stay which is unglamorous side of fishing out of town.

Stay tuned.

It’s hot as hell outside and been droppin it on ledges to catch fish lately.

A shaky head is probably better suited for 90 degree water temperature but they’re eatin it right now so why question it.

I’ve been using a 1/8 mojo weight and Gamakatsu drop shot hook with a Zoom Finesse Worm. There’s a lot of shad where I’m fishing at the moment and the small fluke also seems to work well.

It’s pretty cool catching fish that you see on your graph. I’m from the Far East, so I guess I have a natural affinity for computers, cameras, and of course finesse fishing.

The only problem I’m having is that so many of the fish I’m catching are small. I’m thinkin I’ll have to upsize to a trick worm or super fluke to catch decent size fish but won’t know until I try it.

According to this video by drop shot guru, Mike Folkstead, you can use worms up to 8″ long. I’ll have to try some of the Roboworms and shaker worms they use out west.

Anyway, the drop shot has been around a while but I haven’t experimented with it too much until recently. It’s definitely a limit catcher but I’d sure like to hook a 7 or 8 pounder with this 8 lb test I’m throwing.

I’m still not quite sure what to do when you fish bridge pilings that are 100 feet deep like on Smith Lake. Do you let it fall all the way to the bottom? Do you suspend it? Do they just hit it on the fall? If someone has an answer to this, please make a comment.

In any case, the drop shot is one cool technique that I’m trying to figure out a time and place to use it effectively in tournaments.

This video will give you all the basics to get started but I would love to learn more about this technique.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There has not been any big tournaments as of late, so I’ve had some time to reflect on my year so far. There’s no great finishes to speak of besides some small local tournaments.

It’s my first year fishing the BASS Opens and I think I just blew it on the first two. I should’ve been punching matt the majority of the time in Okeechobee and didn’t fish the conditions…. although if it warmed up a little quicker, I’m sure I would’ve caught them. At Smith Lake, I should’ve moved out as they pulled water out but did not adjust to the falling water like I should have.

The one thing I’m learning this year is adjusting. When you find a group of fish, they don’t go very far. They’re somewhere nearby and I need to learn to figure out where they go. I need to look for places where fish might go if conditions change. Usually I’m so worried about finding a stack of fish that I’m not worried about where they might go but I’m thinkin you gotta keep that in mind the entire time.

The last Open is on Lake Seminole in October, and I’m already researching spots and patterns. There’s been so many big tournaments here that there’s a lot of stuff to decipher, but I think I’ve zeroed in what to do. I like to flip and will probably focus on flippin and possibly froggin in the hydrilla. I like to go in with an open mind but it’s one big place and you can’t cover everything. It’ll take a lot of time just figuring out how to run the place without killing yourself.

This is going out on a limb, but I think I’ve had enough learning this year and due for a good finish at Seminole. We’ll see if my premonition is right. As long as it doesn’t rain for a week straight prior to the tournament, I believe I know what the fish are going to be doing.

The best part about the knot is that it’s real simple and you’re not worrying about whether or not you tied a good knot when money’s on the line.