Lurenet 2009 Fishing Articles

November

Solving Bass Fishing's Most Frustrating Situation

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By Lawrence Taylor It’s one of the most frustrating situations an angler faces, standing amidst schooling bass as they churn the water to a froth and not getting them to bite a thing. You rummage all the way through the bottom of the tackle box, but nothing you throw at them triggers a strike. I’ve been there, and you probably have, too. BASS Elite Pro Angler Matt Reed and I encountered that situation in late October on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville. We cruised up on the violent melee with confidence because we’d been catching schoolies on Heddon Spooks just a mile or two away from this new area. After an hour and plenty of cursing, we pulled up the trolling motor and left. “If that had been a tournament day, I’d have left a lot sooner,” Reed said. “You can sit on those spots and die if you can’t catch them. School fish look like the easiest prey there is, and sometimes they are, but when they do something like they did today they can be the most frustrating in the world.”

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YUM Pro Edwin Evers Wins Central Division Open Tourney

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Victory Bittersweet For Oklahoman YUM Pro Edwin Evers brought 14-pounds, 3-Ounces to the stage on Day 3 of the BASS Central Division Open event on the Atchafalaya Basin out of Morgan City, La. It was enough to jump him from third to a first-place tie with local angler Mark Smith and force a Day 4 Fish-Off. Smith used his local knowledge to lead the tournament from Day 1, but before the Fish-Off indicated that his spot was about to run out of fish, and let out that the day before he was forced to look outside his main area just to fill out his five-fish limit. Evers, meanwhile, was buttoning up the pattern in the vegetation he was fishing. With an action that often spells disaster for pro anglers, Evers said he abandoned his original spot just an hour after the tournament began on Day 1 and started searching. Evers used a spinnerbait for less than an hour each morning while the bass were still roaming the outside edge of the weeds, but went to a Texas rigged YUM Money Craw and Craw Papi to punch through the grass when the sun rose and pushed the fish back into the shade. He fished the Money Craw with a 1-ounce weight and the Craw Papi with a 3/16-ounce weight. He said his area was getting better and better, and that he had learned more about it each day.

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October

October Spooks! Topwater Fishing So Good It's Scary

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By Lawrence Taylor They wait hidden, ready to spring out and give you a fright. Your pulse and heart rate shoot through the roof. They’re not trick-or-treaters, they’re bass, and right now they’re waiting on a topwater bait to come sashaying by. When it does, they’re going to burst out of their hidey holes and destroy it – one of the most exciting moments in fishing. Fall is the best time to throw a big topwater bait. No matter the water you’re fishing this time of year, topwater should always be a top producer. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s probably the most exciting way to catch largemouth and smallmouth bass. Everything in a fish’s world is bigger this time of year, and with cooling water temperatures the fish are ready to eat. Bass have a natural instinct to pack on some pounds prior to winter’s harsh temperatures and a big topwater is exactly what they’re looking for – a big meal that looks easy to catch.

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Hooked!

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A sharp hook is a good thing as long as it’s in a fish’s lips. Unfortunately for me, they’re just as likely to be in my upholstery, jeans, cat or even my own flesh. Outdoor writer Darrell Taylor sent me some of his columns a while back and one was a humorous description of catching a pickerel, which in turn caught him back and sent him to the hospital to get the hooks removed. Personally I’ve lost count of the number of hooks I’ve stuck in myself. Locations include the always-popular hand, but I’ve also had them removed from my feet, arm, leg and back of the head. Yes, back of the head. Somehow I let the reel slip a little on the back cast and caught myself in the back of the head with a spoon while sitting on a pond bank way back in the day. I clipped the line and left it dangling while I finished my fishing day with a big chrome spoon hanging from the back of my head like a misplaced earring. I was ahead of my time in piercing fashion.

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Fall Swim'N Jig Fishing Tips From The Master

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By Lawrence Taylor I recently spent a couple days fishing with Mitch Looper, whose design influence created the BOOYAH Swim’N Jig and YUM Houdini Shad. I invited FLW Outdoors editor Jason Sealock down to Arkansas to join us. He’s been a friend of Looper’s for years and also enjoys spending time with the colorful big-bass expert. “When’s the best time to throw a Swim’N Jig?” Sealock asked Looper as we put the boat in a small city lake in west-central Arkansas. “April, May and early June are normally the best months,” Looper said. “But it’s a great big-bass bait anytime the fish are holding in shallow weeds. Conditions need to be right, but big bass will hit it anytime.”

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Money Hound Sniffs Out Guntersville Bass

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By Lawrence Taylor The following is a recount of three days on north Alabama’s Lake Guntersville. The event was a combination of writers and fishing professionals where there was a lot of fishing and a lot of working on this beautiful bass lake. Oct. 27, 2009Light rain pelted the window in the fuzzy morning darkness as I scrambled to turn off the alarm. Disappointment is the worst way to start the day, especially one in which you get to fish one of your favorite lakes. Then again, starting so low, there’s no place to go but up. Fortunately I was fishing with Jimmy Mason, who guides on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville, so regardless of the temperature (high 40s) and steady rain I was confident of working up a sweat catching fish. We put in at the Goose Pond and fished the north Sauty area of the lake. While I hunkered down to keep the rain from running down my neck Mason motored us to some weedbeds just off the main channel. Mason started with a Pip-Zqueek Buzzbait and a Money Frog and I rigged a Money Hound. The 5/0 hook fits the smaller sized Hound perfectly.

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September

Fall's 5 Best Lures

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Autumn is a time of power-eating for largemouth and smallmouth bass, as they pack on as much weight as possible in preparation for the coming winter. It’s also a beautiful time to be on the water. The trees are in full color and pleasure boat traffic is minimal. Add to that the fact that bass ought to be pretty cooperative and you’d better get out there before the snow flies. Five lures cover the bases for fall fishing. Starting off the day with these five, a big topwater, a shallow running crankbait, a big deep running crankbait, a spinnerbait and a jig, anglers can rest assured they hit every level of the water column to locate fish and identify a productive pattern. Here’s a quick guide on each of the lures and somewhat of a “script” for a good day on the water.

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Catching Up With Bass Pro Terry Butcher

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By Lawrence Taylor BASS Elite Pro Terry Butcher has been close before in his five years on the big tour, but this year he came in on the right side of the cut-off line. He slid into the 2010 Bassmaster Classic at 35th place, two places shy of the cut-off line that determines whether an angler’s butt will be in a stadium seat or a bass boat fishing for all the marbles in the Super Bowl of bass fishing. “Making the Bassmaster Classic has been a goal since I started,” the quiet Oklahoman said. “My first year I was close, then I went though a couple tough years and I just missed qualifying for the Classic through the Opens last year.”

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4 Great Lures For River Smallmouth

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By Lawrence Taylor John House knows the upper Mississippi River north of Minneapolis, Minn., like the back of his hand. The river may change year-to-year, but his years of experience tell him that this is simply a fact, and he adjusts. He knows the smallmouth are still there, just like they are at similar rivers across the nation.I asked House to name four baits he uses most on these big river smallies. Here are the four baits he named and a little about how to fish them. Check out the four best baits for river smallmouth straight from a guy who is catching them day after day.

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Smallmouth Bass and Muskies At The Headwaters Of The Big Muddy

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By Lawrence Taylor It’s not your Bubba’s Mississippi River. For most Southerners, the Mississippi River is a big, rolling, muddy, deep and dangerous river. That’s just the way it is. It’s like your second grade teacher – she was old and fat and quick to anger. She’ll always be that way to you. You’d never imagine that she once was a young and virile teenager. Every river has a starting point, even the most famous river in the country, but few folks down South think about that.

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Schooling White Bass Provide A Fun Distraction At Table Rock

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By Brad Wiegmann You could say that we heard opportunity knocking, or maybe, I should say schooling. The first cast into the group of schooling bass resulted in a keeper spotted bass. The next 100-plus casts resulted in white bass. An entire cove was alive with white bass smashing shad everywhere. The real purpose of the guide trip was to locate and catch quality largemouth, smallmouth or spotted bass on Table Rock Lake for photos. The morning had gone almost as planned with a number of bass cooperating, however, we were still in pursuit of that big bass to complete our day when the schooling fish appeared. Professional angler and Table Rock fishing guide Pete Wenners’ 20 years of experience on the lake told him exactly what species of bass was schooling so voraciously. “Can you believe how many there are coming up in this cove?” he said. “It’s unbelievable!” By this time the white bass had surrounded our boat, thrashing and busting shad everywhere. At that point we saw the mother load -- it looked like a school of piranhas thrashing the entire area of the cove. Within minutes there were four boats all clustered around, casting and catching white bass.

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Two New Rigs For Pressured Bass

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By Lawrence Taylor Legendary Lake Rayburn angler and fishing instructor Will Kirkpatrick has his corks out again. He was one of the first guys to land a double-digit bass on the YUM Fat Money Minnow (with a cork shoved in its tail). He’s always tinkering with lures to make them more appealing to bass, or more directly, to the situation he’s facing. Kirkpatrick is one of those guys who once he discovers and develops a pattern, is likely to tie on something else just to see if he can catch them a different way. Kirkpatrick phoned today to let me know what’s been working for him at Rayburn in the last few weeks. He’s fishing an area where a ditch comes up from 40 feet of water into a “bowl” of water 6 to 18 feet deep. The bowl features rocks and weeds.

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August

Expert Tips On Money Craws and Bass Fishing

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Jeff Knapp is a licensed fishing guide, outdoor writer and photographer from Kittanning, Pa. He recently tested some YUM Money Craws in his local waters and provided this report. "I've found the Yum Money Craw to be an effective alternative to a minnow-shaped soft swimbait when river smallmouths are in the mood for a moving bait. I rig it with a belly-weighted hook, just as I would a soft swimbait. Whereas the swimbait tends to be most effective with a steady retrieve, I prefer to use a bit of stop and go with the Money Craw, so the bait has a chance to fall vertically while those swimming pinchers do their thing. But I still keep it moving, not a hop and fall deal as with a jig.

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Zell Rules The Day (After)

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By Vic Attardo How’s this for irony: You’re a 16-time BASSMASTER Classic contender; You’re from Texas where you’re a bass fishing legend and high master of the sport; You didn’t exactly invent a famous topwater bait – the Rebel Pop R – but you modified it in such a way that the company created a totally new bait out of it and named it after you? Then, to continue the facts, you travel to a major B.A.S.S tournament in New York, in August, where the topwater smallmouth fishing is superb and your bait is expected to be a major player.

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Summer Shaky Head Fishing Tips

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Most anglers think of the Shaky Head as a springtime bait, but those who fish highland-type reservoirs or even deep, rocky areas of other types of bodies of water know that it works year-round. And don’t even consider river smallmouth. Never throw a Shaky Head in a clear-running stream (unless you want to battle hard-fighting brownie). Shaky Heads have plenty of applications past the postspawn. Here are a few. Highland ReservoirsHighland reservoirs such as Center Hill in Tennessee are deep and clear with plenty of bluffs and rocks. And best – it’s full of smallmouth bass.“Shaky Heads are great during the springtime,” said Billy Stanton, tournament angler and guide on Nashville area lakes. “But I’ve thrown them during the last eight jackpot tournaments and weighed in all of my fish on them, so they catch a lot of fish during summer, too.” Stanton said he’s been fishing points and focusing on the 30-foot

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Zell Pop, New Rattlin' Spook Account for Big Sacks At Oneida

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What a huge weekend for the anglers fishing the BASS Elite Series tournament at Oneida Lake in the final tournament of the season – an event that determined which anglers would fish the Bassmaster Classic and the inaugural two-tournament postseason. With as many storylines as there were participants, it might come as a surprise that it wasn’t an angler that made the big story, but a fishing technique – topwater fishing to be exact. And the winning baits? An XCalibur Zell Pop and the brand-spanking-new Heddon Rattlin’ Spook. Legendary topwater angler Zell Rowland didn’t make the cut to fish Saturday and Sunday, but his presence was felt in a big way when Oneida champion Chad Griffin used a Zell Pop to amass the winning sack. Griffin said he had a weird feeling when he arrived at the New York lake. “I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I just had a weird feeling,” he said. “The whole week was weird. I was staying at a cheap hotel and they didn’t have enough power to charge my batteries. Another competitor gave me a battery, but I think I fished the whole week on one battery charge.”

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Special Tournament Win For Feltons

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Ben Felton is a semi-professional bass fisherman out of Marshall, Mich., and competes in FLW tournaments among others, but it’s the one he yearly fishes with his wife, Hedy, that’s most important to him. It’s the Annual Wonderland Marine Open and for the past three years has competed with his wife as his partner, and it’s in honor of his youngest daughter. “I compete in a lot of events that may be larger and hold more significance within the industry, however, time in the boat with my wife is irreplaceable and my daughter’s birthday makes the whole week somewhat of a big celebration,” Ben said.

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5 Best Lures For Summer Bass Fishing

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An angler can drive himself crazy considering all of the lure options available for summertime bass fishing, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you’re sweating heavily on the front deck, make sure it’s from battling bass, not fighting with yourself over which bait to throw. Pare down your choices to five of the most successful summertime lures and you can focus on fishing instead of which lure to throw. Dredge Bottom With A Jig Whether it’s for pitching to wood cover, punching weedy mats or casting to rockpiles, the jig is a mainstay in the summertime bass angler’s tackle box. The jig is one of the most versatile lures because it catches fish in all seasons and under almost all conditions. It can be bounced, dragged, twitched – even retrieved at a constant speed just under the surface. It can be paired with any number of soft-plastic trailers to customize the sink rate and add visual appeal.

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Three Great Bass Fishing Tips

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Anchor Line Buoy Will Kirkpatrick won’t claim the “legendary angler” title, but anyone who fishes Texas’ Rayburn Reservoir would do well to listen to his advice. Kirkpatrick is a fishing school instructor and seminar speaker who has amassed a tremendous store of fishing knowledge. When it’s windy on his home lake, he often anchors his boat so he can work a productive area thoroughly, but discovered long ago that a big bass invariably wrap around the anchor line as he’s battling them to the boat. His fix is beautiful in its simplicity and effectiveness. He bought the largest marker buoy he could find and affixed a clip with a short line to it, which is attached to the loop in his anchor cord where it is thrown around his boat cleat. Then, when he realizes he has a big Rayburn bass hooked, he reaches down and lifts the anchor line off the cleat and throws it in the water. The wind carries his boat away from the anchor line, and the marker buoy allows him to return to the exact same spot after the bass is safely boated and released.

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Smallmouth Enthusiast Gives Special Seminar

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I have given many seminars at a variety of venues over the past ten years, but yesterday was a new one for me and I wanted to drop you a line and tell you about it. I’m fortunate to have permission to fish the Milwaukee River on the property of a private club. I catch a lot of smallmouth bass on the Teeny Wee Craw on that water. Some time ago the club manager asked me if I’d come out for an hour or two and do a fishing outing for the “Kids Camp” they were conducting.

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Carr Wins Toyota Tundra Tournament with YUM, BOOYAH Baits

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Captain Teddy Carr, owner of Outdoor Action with Teddy Carr, literally wrote the book on Virginia’s Lake Anna, and might decide to write the book on the Potomac River since he just won the Toyota Tundra Weekend Series Championship, North East Division, on the famed river. “This river has been fishing lights-out,” Carr said. “I had one day to practice and I headed up north to take advantage of the low tide for a longer period of time. Low water concentrates the fish and usually equals a good topwater bite, and I always like to at least get my limit on topwater early then have the rest of the time to cull.”

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July

More Hot-Weather Topwater Tips

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Summer is the perfect time to keep a topwater bait handy. While most surface action occurs in the early morning and late evening, a cloudy day may have bass at the top all day long, and schooling bass often provide intermittent action if you're in the right place at the right time. Most professional anglers, including the king of topwater fishing, Zell Rowland, say that experimentation is the best way to identify the right bait for your situation, but there are a few guidelines to follow that make the initial choice a little easier. If there is a little chop on the water, the bait will need to provide more water displacement and "noise" than a flat calm day. When you encounter a slick surface, more subtle bait like a Zell Pop or even the Spit-n Image excels. As a rule, the calmer the surface the slower you can work the bait. But these are just rules, which are meant to be broken.

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Topwater Fishing Tips From Alton Jones

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Professional bass angler and 2008 Bassmaster Classic winner Alton Jones is one of the most-consistent anglers on the tournament trail, currently sitting in third in the Angler of the Year race with only one tournament left in the Elite Series. To be successful on the trail, an angler must be versatile and proficient in all fishing techniques. He may not be known for topwater fishing, but rest assured that Jones knows how and when to get the most out of his Spooks and Zell Pops. “I almost always have a topwater rigged and ready,” said Jones. “Even if you’re deepwater fishing, sometimes you’ll see a fish or two blow up and if you’re fast enough you can get that fish on a Zell Pop or Spook. Summer is topwater time because the water temperature is such that the (bass’) metabolism is fast and they’ll be feeding heavily.”

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BOOYAH Presents Two New Spinnerbaits for 2010

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Small is big in new spinnerbaits from BOOYAH Bait Company, the official wire bait of Bassmasters. A petite new Micro Pond Magic Spinnerbait weighs in at only 1/8 ounce, but produces big results in all waters – not just ponds and streams. Anytime bass are feeding on smaller baitfish, the Micro Pond Magic will catch them. The diminutive spinnerbait features a tough wire (the same used on the wildly popular Vibra-FLX Spinnerbait) that retains its shape and produces more vibration that normal spinnerbaits. The 40-strand bioflex silicone skirt features all of the baitfish and insect patterns of the Pond Magic Series. The head features 3-D realistic eyes and a high-quality, black nickel round-bend hook.

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New Heddon Spooks Sound As Good As They Look!

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Here are a couple lures to look for at your favorite bait shop this fall. Heddon took its classic Zara Spook and updated it with sound, and while at it, made it a more effective lure. The classic Heddon Spook now sings two new songs. New for 2010 from Heddon are the Rattlin’ Spook and the One Knocker Spook, each with its own unique sound to draw strikes from big fish. The new Rattlin’ Spook features a new rattle chamber containing multiple tungsten BBs for loud panicked baitfish sounds.

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New for 2010! YUM Money Frog and Money Hound

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We are only halfway through 2009, but with the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades (ICAST) show, the world’s largest sportfishing trade show, starting Monday YUM Soft Plastics decided now is the time to announce two new baits for 2010. These baits are Money in more ways than one. The Money Frog will be the hottest new frog/toad-type bait for 2010, with big paddle feet that move so much water that it can take the place of a buzzbait, yet is weedless for working over the slop as well. At almost 4-inches in length the Money Frog is a substantial bite and with six color patterns with portions hand-painted by airbrush artists. Not only the topsides are hand painted, but the bellies are done with realistic dots and a smattering of red. Another belly feature is the hook slot that makes Texas-rigging easy with a 5/0 hook, making it weedless and perfect for working over the slop, around docks and in any type of wood cover. The new Money Frog casts like a bullet and is versatile enough to work in open water like a buzzbait or as a topwater frog in the weeds.

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Hot Water Fishing Tips

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By Lawrence Taylor “…and four more bags of ice,” BASS Elite Pro Matt Reed said as I headed to the back of the lakeside convenience store to stock up on Gatoraide, waters and ice. Outside in the Texas sunshine the thermometer pushed above the triple digits and only an occasional warm wind whispered through the droopy leaves. Two bags of ice were for our ice chest; the other two for the livewell to cool down any bass we caught while we held it for good photography light. Heat-Beating Tips Summertime fishing is tough on fish. Without the ice and special chemicals for the livewell we wouldn’t even have entertained the thought of holding a bass for an hour or two while the sun settled to good photo light. With a surface temperature of over 90 degrees, any bass thrown into the livewell must be treated with kid gloves to ensure it stays healthy. But the fish aren’t the only considerations when fishing in extreme heat. Anglers need to take precautions too.

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June

Five Questions For Elite Pro Matt Reed

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Years Pro: 7Boat: NitroTow Vehicle: Dodge ¾ ton dieselOther Sponsors: Tracker, Nitro, Bass Pro Shop, Mercury What was your most important tournament win or high placement?One of the kick-starts back when I was fishing regional is probably my most important. I won the Anglers Choice Regional in 1999 and that was another step in letting me know I could do it. There were a lot of touring pros fishing it – 15 or 20. It was at Lake Waco, a lovely little gar hole in central Texas. The next tournament that was a stepping stone for me was when I won a Bassmaster Open in Paducah on the Ohio River. What’s your go-to when nothing’s working?

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Five Questions For BASS Elite Pro Alton Jones

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Years Pro: 19Family: Wife Jimmye Sue, Little Alton, 17, Kristen, 14, Jamie, 11Boat: SkeeterTow Vehicle: Toyota SequoiaOther Sponsors: Skeeter, Yamaha, Ardent Reels, Kistler Rods, Costa Del MarDog’s name and breed: two Yellow labs, Sandy and Grace (Ephesians 2:8) What do you consider your biggest tournament win?

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Alton Jones On Falcon Lake

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By Lawrence Taylor I’m just back from Falcon Lake where I had the opportunity to fish with BASS Elite Pro and 2008 Bassmaster Classic Champion Alton Jones. Top thoughts: Falcon’s bass fight harder than any I’ve ever been privileged to tangle with; they’re big; Falcon is Alton’s favorite lake and I now understand why; and for the first time in my life, I’m tired of Mexican food. While Falcon Lake is officially 60-miles long, it’s radical and frequent water level fluctuations make it tough to give an accurate number of water acreage. While we were there June 16 and 17, it was nine feet low, which is more water than Jones had seen at this fantastic reservoir. There’s so much inundated wood cover in the form of mesquite, huisatch, horta and willows, as well as something Jones called cino bean bushes, that it’s amazing that anyone actually lands the giants Falcon is known for producing. We were spooled with 65-pound braid and a 35-pound fluorocarbon leader. “Falcon’s the only lake I’ve ever been to where fish have broken off 50-pound braid on a straight pull in open water,” Jones said. “They are flat out the toughest, meanest bass on the planet.”

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Five Questions For Tenn. Guide/Tournament Angler Billy Stanton

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Regular Job: Full time student at Middle Tennessee State University, studying elementary education K-6Boat: Triton 19X3 with Mercury 225XSTruck: Ford ExpeditionOther Sponsors: All Star, G. Loomis, PfluegerDog’s Name and Breed: no dog, a cat named Raisin (normally that’s minus 10 points, but Stanton insists that Raisin is a murderous soul that leaves dead rats and moles on the driver’s seat of his boat, so we’ll waive the penalty) Where should a first-time visitor to Center Hill start his search for smallies during summer? Start at the point in front of Edgar Evins Marina.

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Walleyes and the Mad Bomber

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By Capn Ted Peck My first real nice Mississippi River walleye started out as about an 8-pounder. She hit one of the original Bombers long-line trolled behind a little aluminum boat above a wingdam on Pool 13 way back in 1967. The old red-and-white Bomber was one of about six or eight lures in a rusty Old Pal tackle box. She really made the rod tip of my fiberglass rod thump, especially when chunking against the rocks. We didn’t catch and release big female walleyes back then. We didn’t have livewells, either. My treasured catch was impaled through the lips on a long cord stringer and dragged behind the boat as I used Dad’s 5 ½ horse green Johnson to maneuver along the upstream face of the wingdam looking for more fish. No further strikes were forthcoming, so my buddy and I decided to move. Something, either a great white shark or the sputtering green Johnson cut my prized walleye right in half! My buddy laughed until he cried. River rats don’t cry. I tried cursing but the words didn’t come out right. My buddy laughed even harder. This incident, of course, scarred me for life.

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How Dropping Water Level Affects Highland Lake Smallmouth

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After our trip to Center Hill Lake in Tennessee May 29-30, I posed this question to guide Billy Stanton: We’re familiar with accepted theory that fish head deeper during falling water. With the low and dropping water we experienced, did you find that to be the case? Say, during normal pool the bass were holding in 24 feet of water, but as they were pulling it down you were finding them at 34 feet, or something like that? Stanton: “No sir, I didn’t find that to be the case. If our trip had been during July or August, then I would believe that. Water temp was in the high 70s and we were a week before the June full moon, which is like a signal for those fish to feed as much as they can before the majority move to the bluffs.

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Night Fishing Tennessee's Center Hill Lake

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Highland lakes, those deep, clear and rocky beauties typically known as smallmouth bass havens, often see a lot of night fishing activity. For good reason, too. Darkness prompts the smallies to move shallower and feed heavily before the bright sun pushes them to deeper water. Friday May 29th a good friend and outdoor writer Mike Lambeth and I met fishing guide Billy Stanton at Edgar Evins State Park on Center Hill Lake east of Nashville, Tenn., for a pair of night-fishing ventures. We found that Center Hill’s dam is currently under construction and the water level has dropped considerably, and was in fact still dropping, leaving many boat ramps short of the water. I asked Stanton what affect the low and dropping water level was doing to the fish. “It’s getting tough,” he said. “The fish are still in the areas where I found them prior to the drop, but they’re getting more tight-lipped.” Highland lakes typically feature plenty of rocks, cliffs and ledges, and Stanton says the key to locating fishing hotspots is finding that “something different” that can be a series of shelves at prime depths that allow fish to quickly move up from deep water to feed, rare patches of weed growth, or in our case a submerged roadbed and one area about the size of a football field that simply didn’t look as if it belonged in a highland reservoir. That spot featured shallow water that rose to an island with 4- to 8-feet of water surrounding it in what constituted a flat.

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Five Questions For Tournament Angler/Guide Ben Parker

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Regular Job: Tournament fisherman/guide on Kentucky LakeFamily: Wife, ChristieBoat: TritonTruck: Chevy DuramaxOther Sponsors: All Pro rodsDog’s Name and Breed: no dog (that’s minus 5 points, for those of you scoring at home) What was your biggest tournament win and why?It’s got to be the first tournament I ever won. It was the Reelfoot Lake buddy bass tournament. It was one of the first I ever fished – just a small local pickup tournament held every year. It started the fire in me and I thought, “Ooooo I gotta have more of this.”

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Five Advanced Bass Tips From Kentucky Lake Guide Ben Parker

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Story and Photos by Lawrence Taylor I fished with tournament angler and Kentucky Lake guide Ben Parker on the first day of June and we had a huge day. Multiple doubles and even a triple or two, with fish ranging from dink to more than 5-pounds, despite fishing areas we knew wouldn’t infringe on the BASS Elite Pro’s fish. Over dinner that evening I asked Parker for five advanced fishing tips – not things like keeping hooks sharp or retying after a snag – but tips that haven’t been written about a million times in popular fishing magazines. Here are those tips from a man who knows how to boat a bass. 1Today when we were fishing crankbaits we had several instances when I hung big fish – I could tell when they hit they were at least four pounds – and they came unbuttoned. Now why did that happen and what did that tell us? A lot of times when that happens it doesn’t mean you should totally change baits, you should try changing colors on the same bait before you totally change lures or fishing styles. I was thowing a Black Pearl color pattern Fat Free Shad BD7. They hit it, I pulled my rod back and they’re on for about five seconds and they’re just gone. That’s not a hook that’s inside a mouth -- its on the outside -- maybe they hit it closed mouthed, I’m not sure. Instead of totally changing baits, I threw four other colors before I found what they were hitting. What they were eating was the Foxy Shad Fat Free Shad BD7. After that, I started catching keeper fish and they were eating the bait, and we were fishing the same spot as we were when I hung those bass that came unbuttoned. What a bass wants changes with the time of day, color of water and a bunch of other factors.

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Kentucky Lake's Four Must-Have Lures

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There are enough factors involved in catching big sacks in the Tennessee Triumph BASS Elite Series event currently underway at Kentucky Lake to flummox the weekend angler. Current, grassbeds, shallow bars, shallow fish, deeper fish holding off ledges, mussel shell beds, late spawn, postspawn and early summer patterns – auuuuggh! Some of the guys definitely found what they were looking for. That’s why they’re pros. This time of year, tournament angler and Kentucky Lake guide Ben Parker says that there are two essential lures anglers better have tied on all the time, and two more that should be in the on deck circle. “The best lures right now is a Bomber Fat Free Shad BD7 in Citrus or Foxy Shad, depending on water clarity,” he said. “And a ¾-ounce BOOYAH Pigskin jig in Molting Craw. There’s something about that green and brown combination here that really catches fish.” Parker goes with the Fat Free in Citrus when the water is on the murkier side and Foxy Shad when it’s a little clearer. On the Pigskin Jig, he uses a 5-inch Gonzo Grub in Smoke Salt & Pepper trailer. “Those colors (the brown-green jig and black with glitter trailer) don’t look like they should go together,” he said. But during our trip on the lake Monday June 1, the good numbers of bass that included a 5-pound-plus smallmouth proved that odd combinations of colors can be incredibly productive.

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Kentucky Lake Hot As Elite Anglers Begin

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With the BASS Elite competitors fishing now and the FLW guys there next week, Monday was a good day to visit the lake for some firsthand info. While Alton, Tim, Zell and the rest of the best fishermen in the world were stressing over what they were finding and the tourney, which starts today, outdoor writer Mike Lambeth, tournament fisherman/Kentucky Lake guide Ben Parker and I were stress-free and having one of the best fishing days we’ve had in years. Ben cautioned us that we wouldn’t be hitting spots he thought the tournament anglers would be fishing so we wouldn’t hamper their efforts. It didn’t matter. The three of us boated well over 100 (yes, 100!) bass in a day’s fishing, and managed to land one largemouth over 5 pounds and a smallmouth about the same size. Most of our fish, though, ranged from dink to a chunky 3 pounds. Frequent visitors to Lurenet.com know Ben Parker’s story. He chucked a white-collar job to give his dream a chance. He’s got two years to make it – “making it” meaning simply making a decent living fishing. But his dreams are much bigger than he lets on. Like most tournament anglers, he’s got the Bassmaster Classic in his sights.

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May

Walleye, Bass and Trout Love Limited Rogues

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The Limited Rogue possesses a unique action and top quality components that place it in an elite ‘limited’ category of fishing lures. The lure’s versatility separates it from other baits and makes it a “must-have” bait from early spring to late fall. Early spring finds Midwest anglers targeting brown trout and walleye. The 4½-inch Limited Rogue is a natural for long line trolling for both species. Spring means cold, clear water and slower fish metabolisms. With water temperatures still hovering in the 40s, keep trolling speeds down between .7 and 1.3 mph for walleye and brown trout. Even under extremely slow speeds, the Limited Rogue maintains an attractive swimming and rolling action. Since brown trout are notorious for being line shy and boat wary, trolling leads should be kept long at 100- to 250-feet, and trolling patterns should include occasional S-turns to speed up and slow down baits. The Limited Rogue’s ultra sharp Gamakatsu hooks means superior hooking percentages even with long leads and slow trolling speeds.

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5 Questions For Jimmy Mason

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Jimmy Mason is a fishing guide and tournament angler hailing from Rogersville, Ala. He fishes the Tennessee River chain of lakes that includes Wilson, Wheeler, Pickwick and Guntersville. Mason is an angler with an uncanny ability to locate bass no matter their depth, and is a great teacher for his clients. He answers his five questions here at lurenet.com.

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Catch Bass This Weekend No Matter Where You Go -- Fishing Reports From Around The Country

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Unless you’re fishing every other day, it’s tough to stay right on top of what the bass are doing and the best ways to catch them. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a starting place, a report from your area that gives you an idea of what to tie on first, and where to start? Here is a report from anglers in various parts of the country, all collected on Tuesday, May 19. These guys are guides or tournament fishermen who are out there every day and know their waters better than just about anyone, and I got them to give you exactly what they’re catching fish on right now, and to give you an idea of where to start your fishing day. This Memorial Day weekend, between catching bass and eating hamburgers and hot dogs, remember the reason for the holiday is to honor those who fought or gave their lives for the freedom we enjoy. Thank a veteran, or better yet, take one fishing.

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Christie's Tube, Wooly Hawg Craw Net Fourth in FLW Event

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By Brad WiegmannEditor's note: Brad Wiegmann is a Beaver Lake fishing guide and tournament angler reporting from Rogers, Ark., and the FLW Open Tournament Event on Beaver Lake. (photo courtesy FLW Outdoors)Oklahoma angler and YUM pro staff member Jason Christie pitched and flipped his way to fourth place at the FLW Open tournament on rain swollen Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas. Christie’s game plan coming into the tournament was to fish for largemouth in hard to reach places -- to go for broke and ignore the spotted and smallmouth bass. This strategy worked well for three days. Unfortunately it was a four day tournament, and he brought only three bass to the final day weigh-in.

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3 Best Lures For Weekend Anglers

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It’s a fact that many anglers simply aren’t able to fish as much as they want. Work and family keeps them from gathering all of the information needed to be right on top of what the bass are doing and what they’re biting. In an effort to help this situation, here are three lures every angler should have ready when he or she heads out for a day on the lake.

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FLW At Beaver -- Rising Water Helps Mabrey

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By Brad Wiegmann Editor’s note: Brad Wiegmann is a Beaver Lake fishing guide, tournament angler and outdoor writer who lives on the lake. His expertise on the lake and bass fishing expertise makes him perfect to file this report on the FLW Tour event held there over the next four days.For BOOYAH pro angler Kyle Mabrey, from McCalla, Ala., it seems like it's been a long time since he was on Beaver Lake, but another top 10 finish will make the wait seem worth it. He finished sixth in the last FLW Tour Event at Beaver and is looking for a similar performance this year. Find out about conditions on the lake and what Mabrey will be using on these northwest Arkansas bass.

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That Ain't the Way You're Supposed to Fish!

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I heard it from my father a million times. When I was using a screwdriver to pound in a finishing nail: “That ain’t the way you’re supposed to use that!” Using the claw on a hammer to dig dandelions: “That ain’t the way you’re supposed to use that!” Using an extension cord to pull a sled behind my truck: “That ain’t the way you’re supposed to use that!” I admit, that last one was stupid, but on the whole, each one of those tools worked, even though they “weren’t supposed to be used like that!” Bass fishing can go the same way. We often get stuck into thinking that there’s just one way to use a certain lure. Here are three ways to use lures in a manner you won't find on the packaging.

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What FLW Anglers Should Expect At Beaver

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Brad Wiegmann is a fishing guide on Arkansas’ Beaver Lake and provides this report on the conditions FLW anglers will face when they arrive for this week’s tournament. It may be deja vu all over again for anglers who fished this tournament last year as anglers will be fishing high, stained water -- an abnormality on this normally gin-clear reservoir. Plus, FLW tournament angler Kyle Mabrey, who is on the lake right now, gives us his take in this featured article.

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5 Questions for Kyle Maybrey

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Kyle Maybrey of McCalla, Ala., fishes the FLW tour among others and spends as much time on the water as he can. We spent a couple days with Kyle bass fishing an Alabama lake and asked him Lurenet's 5 Questions. He answers about his goals, his family and go-to fishing lures.

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Lake Guntersville After The Storms

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The Bassmaster Elite Series tournament schedule has the best fishermen in the world fishing Alabama’s Lake Guntersville May 7-10. I got to fish this fantastic body of water April 14-15, and here’s what happened. Bass in shallow water, a little coontail and milfoil here and there and some sparse shoreline weeds – you gotta love that. That’s what we encountered at Guntersville when I fished with Jimmy Mason and Kyle Maybrey, a couple of tournament anglers who know Guntersville like their own backyards.

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April

All About Lake Guntersville

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The Elite BASS pros will be visiting Alabama's Lake Guntersville for the Southern Challenge May 7-10, and rest assured that Alton Jones, Matt Reed, Terry Scroggins, Edwin Evers and Dave Wolak and the rest of the pros will pick that lake apart. But for the rest of us, Jimmy Mason, a bass guide on the lake who also fishes tournaments, lets you in on exactly how to catch Guntersville bass year-round. Mason tells about the lures and techniques for spring, summer and fall that produce for him and his clients.

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6 Lures For Shallow Water Bass

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Springtime means shallow bass. They can't help it -- they've got to get into skinny water to spawn, and that means you can catch them by simply beating the banks. But with the multitude of lures and techniques for catching big bass, what should you do? Here are 6 go-to lures and how to fish them that guarantees you'll tag a big bass this spring.

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Catching Bedded Bass

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Professional anglers know that bedded bass is where the money is. Certain lures perform this task better than others -- and there's more to it than just finding the bed and throwing a YUM Tube or Craw Papi in there. Here are a few tips on catching bedded bass.

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We Get Letters -- Pennsylvania Walleyes

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On occassion Lurenet.com will publish exceptional letters about great catches, exciting fishing trips or unbelievable events that occur while pursuing our favorite passtime. The letter writer will receive a small token of our thanks in return. In this case, William Miller receives a Rebel Cap and a few Rebel Minnows for sending us this fantastic story of winter walleyes in the Keystone State.

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March

Going Pro -- Two Years To Make It

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Most of us think about it, maybe even dream of it. You have a good day on the lake, or maybe you really do have it all figured out. You could do it. You oughta just chuck the blue or white collar and put on a tournament shirt. Ben Parker was an Investment Broker. White collar. Good job. But something was missing. Ben's got two years to make it or he removes the tournament shirt and wraps the white-collar noose back around his neck. We'll follow Ben's story here at Lurenet.com with frequent updates on not only his tournament experience, but all of the emotions and details that go into chucking it all to follow a dream.

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New Big-Bass Technique Ready To Bust Loose

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Be it known now that this is until now a secret, and you’ll read about it first right here. You’ll see it in magazines and on television in a few months, but this is your chance to be a step ahead of your competition from early spring to early summer.

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Consistent Jones Takes Second At Amistad

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BOOYAH/YUM pro Alton Jones hung out near the top of the leaderboard all four days of the Bassmaster Elite Series season opening tournament at Texas’ Lake Amistad by throwing 6-inch YUM Dingers to shallow water. His second-place finish is the result of a strong and consistent bite every day despite a cold front and super-high water.Jones finished the four days of fishing with a bag weighing 87 pounds, 15 ounces. All of his weighed fish bit Texas-rigged 6-inch YUM Dingers.

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Booyah and YUM sponsored pro anglers score high in 2009 Bassmaster Classic

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Edwin Evers topped the other Booyah and YUM sponsored pros with a fifth-place finish in the 2009 Bassmaster Classic held Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport, La. But the other guys aren't ashamed of strong finishes, and simply to be a competitor in the Classic -- with only 51 total fishermen -- is an honor in itself. Weather conditions, dropping water temperature and the pressure of playing in the biggest game were all factors in this contest, where one lost fish can be the difference between simply being proud to be there and hoisting a trophy over your head. To see how the five Booyah and YUM sponsored pros fared, and the lures they used to get there, click to view the complete article below.

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January

Classic Winner Prepares for Next Big Contest

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Alton Jones is looking to repeat his victory in the Bassmaster Classic this February in northern Louisiana. After getting a chance to scout the Red River, Jones is getting together his game plan for the tournament. "Out in the main channel, it's more like red mud than water," Jones says. "It's going to be won in shallow water, probably less than six or eight feet deep."Besides being the reigning champ, Jones may have an advantage on other anglers in the tournament - his home is only four hours from the Red River. The similarity to his local Texas lakes should make him comfortable in this year's tournament location.

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