2004 Lurenet Fishing Articles

December

Tips for Muddy Water Bass

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Don’t stay home just because a winter storm has turned your favorite lake into mud hole. Adjust your approach and use the dirty water to your advantage. While it’s true that many tactics don’t work well when rivers and lakes muddy up...

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South of the Border Bass

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"GRANDE!" That's what every bass fisherman wants to hear his guide exclaim on a trip to Mexico. Grande' means "big" in Spanish, and bigger the bass, the more emphatic the yell. My grande bass on my first trip to Mexico weighed in at 10 pounds. It annihilated a...

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7 ways and techniques to fish a YUM Dinger soft plastic stick bait

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YUM Dingers stormed onto the bass scene a year and a half ago when Alton Jones won a BASSMASTER Tour event at California’s Clear Lake using the then-brand-new Dingers. It wasn’t long before the broader fishing community discovered YUM Dingers and anglers began using them to catch virtually everything that swims. Versatility is one of the great benefits of a YUM Dinger. Here’s a sampling of rigs and techniques that will produce fish for you.

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Catch Winter Concentrations of Bass

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North Carolina bass pro Mike Goodman relies on a Heddon Sonar to catch smallmouths and other gamefish that pile up beneath ledges throughout the cool months. Learn how. When Mike Goodman finds baitfish at the bottom of a ledge and the water temperature has fallen...

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Speckled Trout: Top To Bottom

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Specks serve up big fun once saltwater anglers locate the schools and figure out the kinds of lures the trout want to hit. Some days speckled trout will hit big topwater lures with the vigor of an angry redfish. Other days, the best way to attract a strike is to...

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Winter “Hotspots”

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The warm-water discharges nuclear plants and steam plants serve up fast fishing action for many kinds of gamefish throughout the winter. Baitfish schools typically are incredibly thick, and everything that eats shad or herring shows up for the feast. Fish may feed aggressively, but not haphazardly. With so much food available...

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November

Understanding Spotted Bass

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While spotted bass look quite a bit like their large-mouthed cousins, any angler who has spent much time targeting spots knows that these black bass are a breed of their own. Spotted bass, which abound in much of the South and the West, are unlike...

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Big Arkansas Stripers

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Cool weather brings huge thrills to Arkansas’ Lake Ouachita in the form of heavyweight striped bass. The big stripers move shallow and feed aggressively this time of year, creating tremendous excitement. When the fish move up late in the fall, some of the best action will occur on the surface. Schooling activity becomes common, especially early and late in the day and on...

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Sizzling Central Florida Bass Fishing

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Year after year, Florida’s Kissimmee lakes produce some of the finest fishing in the nation, and some of the hottest largemouth action occurs during the coolest months of the year. As winter’s chill digs its grip into much of the nation, bass fishing in Kissimmee...

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High-Pressure Bassin'

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Bass fishermen who spend their days bass fishing highly popular waterways must learn how to set themselves apart from the pack. Let's look at how long-time professional angler Wes Thomas contends with crowded conditions.

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Hotspots for Cold-Weather Fishing

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Hotspots for Cold-Weather Fishing Don’t hang up your fishing tackle just because winter has arrived. Instead, add a couple layers of clothes, consider conditions at hand and plan your approach accordingly. In truth, winter provides unique advantages. Unlike spring and fall, when the living is easy and fish can go virtually anywhere, harsh conditions make your quarry’s locations and behavior far more predictable. Gamefish pile up wherever food can be found and gravitate to areas that provide thermal refuge. With that in mind, we’ll examine several types of areas

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7 Tips for Late-Season Trout

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Don't let dropping temperatures discourage you. Late fall and early winter offer terrific trout fishing through much of the country for anglers who adjust for changing conditions. Follow these suggestions to catch more trout...

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Pro Picks for Flippin’

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Alabama tournament fisherman Kyle Mabrey uses a broad arsenal of YUM soft-plastic offerings when he picks up a flippin’ stick. When an entire field of top pros is flippin’ and pitchin’ into the same kinds of spots, Mabrey wants to find...

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Big Chill Walleyes

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Steve Dezurik doesn’t mind the cold. Late-fall conditions push big walleyes into a major feeding mode on the Mississippi River, creating some of the most exciting fishing of the year.

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Dead-Stick Bassin’

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As far as Ohio pro Frank Scalish is concerned, less really can be more at times – and one of those time is when he picks up a rod that’s rigged with a YUM Houdini Shad. Scalish, who won a recent BASS Open on Lake Erie and who earned rookie of the year honors his first year on the Pro Tour, prefers to allow the Houdini Shad do all the work.

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Tennessee River Bronze

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If you want to catch your biggest smallmouth ever, fall is a fabulous time for drifting the swift waters of the Wheeler and Wilson dam tailwaters in North Alabama in search of super-sized smallmouth bass.

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Ups & Downs of Tidal Bass Fishing

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Bass fishermen must vary their techniques for largemouth bass on tidal rivers, according to whether the water level is rising or falling. Hotspots change continually, as do food sources and the behavior of the bass. However, anglers who learn how the tides affect the fish...

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October

Catching Second-Chance Bass

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When bass miss lures or turn away from them, professional anglers rarely cast the same offerings back to those fish. Instead, they keep "follow-up lures" on hand.

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Wing Dam Bass Strategies

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Largemouth bass are "waiting in the wings" for anglers who know the best strategies and throw the right lures against these rocky, fish-holding structures.

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Brown Trout Fishing Lures

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Fall is a great time to catch big brown trout, so anglers are wise to use lures that imitate the browns’ favorite foods -- crawfish and baitfish.

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Saltwater Fishing Hotspot: Venice, La.

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Louisiana fishing can be hotter than spicy Cajun cooking if anglers pick the right poppers and other topwater lures and use the right techniques. Here are tips...

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Terrestrial Insect Lures For Trout

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As the current sweeps your lure close to a steep, grassy bank, you watch the little topwater bait intensively, knowing a trout may slurp it under at any moment.

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Jack Crevalle: Overlooked by Anglers

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Few saltwater fish attack anglers' lures with greater recklessness than do jack crevalles or fight so brutally after they are hooked. Big poppers and other topwater lures bring out the best in these very exciting sport fish.

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Follow Shad to Fall Bass

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Autumn is highly favored by bass fishermen because many fish move shallow and feed aggressively as they prepare for the lean days of winter. For anglers to get in on the great action...

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Gear Up For Peacock Bass

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Fishing through fall and into spring is reported to be the best when seeking out peakcock bass for explosive strikes and fierce fights on big topwater and jerkbait plugs.

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September

Making Young Bass Anglers

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Are your children ready to move beyond bluegills and try their hand at catching largemouth bass on artificial lures? Consider these tips as you establish teaching plans.

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How to Choose Crawfish Lures

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Because bass and other game fish feed heavily on crawfish, using crawfish lures only makes good sense. So how do top anglers determine the best lure to use?

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Big-Water Smallmouth Bass Lures

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Big-water smallmouths are a breed of their own, and best techniques for catching them are somewhat specialized.

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Tiny Crankbaits & Jumbo Panfish

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Fishing lures that imitate insects get attacked by bluegills and are some of the best baits to use for late-summer and early-fall fishing.

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Stream Lures for Smallmouth Bass and More

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Equipped with a pocketful of ultralight fishing lures and a small spinning outfit, an angler has everything he needs for a fun fishing day in a small stream.

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August

Big Baits for Crappie

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Todd Huckabee doesn't just fish for crappie. He fishes for BIG crappie. And a major part of Huckabee's big-fish strategy involves picking the right lures.

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Monster Bass & Nighttime Strikes

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Learn largemouth bass night fishing techniques from trophy bass angler Steve Patterson. Patterson describes which fishing lures work best in night fishing conditions. The Arbogast Jitterbug and Cotton Cordell Red Fin lures are among his favorites.

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