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Bait School Bite Spec

Lure: Bandit 100 – Baby Shad

When: Fall, Spring, Summer

Where: Highland reservoirs, river systems, natural lakes (Table Rock Lake, Arkansas River, Mille Lacs)

Learn the secrets of a lifelong Jacksonville angler and veteran guide and how he uses minnow-imitating lures for redfish, spotted seatrout, snook, striped bass and more.

Every successful angler I have had the pleasure of fishing with seems to have a niche – something that angler is exceptionally good at doing. Some have multiple niches. From what I have witnessed, it is usually working a particular lure or style of lure in a specific manner. It’s often a relatively simple technique, once mastered, but it often involves some very fine details, and those details make the angler stand out from others. 

Much of my fishing success and success I have enjoyed guiding clients on inshore waters in Jacksonville, Florida occurs while fishing shallow-running minnow-imitating lures. Keys for me include keeping lures in the right depths, retrieving them properly and presenting them with the right tackle. 

Over the years I have found a variety of different shallow runners that get the job done for me.  Probably 60 percent of my fishing success is with shallow-water crankbaits, and I use them extensively for spotted seatrout, redfish, striped bass, largemouth bass, snook and more.

We called on Bobby Garland pro staffers, and they promptly delivered with outstanding holiday shopping ideas that would make any crappie angler happy!

Does the accelerating Christmas countdown find you still scratching your head over what to get your crappie angler, either because you don’t have a clue as where to start or because you think he or she already has everything?

“No problem.” That’s the word from a handful of folks who are familiar both with the intimidating task at hand and who have crappie-fishing expertise. We asked for details, and they provided some outstanding last-minute gift ideas, which offer quick and easy solutions that are sure to be a hit with any crappie angler, from beginner to pro.

Time: Early Winter

Place: Highland reservoirs

Lure: The Bomber Deep Flat A in Crawnifiscent

When the water starts cooling during late fall and early winter, crankbait bass fishing gets hot. Learn the strategies of two expert anglers.

Thanksgiving leftovers are a memory, and you’re looking ahead to the Christmas holidays. Bass fishing is on the back burner, partly because there’s a serious nip in the air and the water temperature on your home lakes is dropping. The bass are too sluggish to bite anyway. Right?

The reality is that early winter bass fishing can be exceptional, provided you cast the right baits into the right places. This is the time to wind fresh line onto your favorite cranking rod and break out a variety of crankbaits.

For the past seven years Ohioan Frank Scalish, a former Bassmaster Elite Series pro and Bassmaster Classic qualifier, has been fishing earnestly during the cold months to find how specific crankbaits perform in chilly bass waters. He designs baits and colors for several brands offered by Lurenet and is currently focused on Norman and Bomber lures.

This often-overlooked strategy for trolling or casting crankbaits convinces tentative walleyes to bite and makes aggressive fish even more aggressive.

Rolling Rocks.

I’m not referring to the green-bottled beer (sorry Pennsylvanians), but to physically rolling submerged gravel and cobble with crankbaits. Dredging is another term applied to this high-action approach. How do you roll rocks with a crankbait? Velocity, plus depth!

Typically, a power trolling technique, rolling rocks is also a method used by savvy shore anglers and river waders. The “rolling rocks” terminology is quite literal. The goal is to pull the crank with enough velocity that it hits the rocky bottom so hard that the diving lip flips small rocks up and out of the way, plowing a mini furrow in the gravel bottom. Whether you are fishing a pea-gravel bottom or something bigger—marbles, cobble, baseballs, or even melons—instead of the norm of ticking those rocks, this technique begs you to SLAM into the rocks. It’s true that the bigger stuff doesn’t get rolled by the lure, but that’s not for lack of trying!

All lipless crankbaits look quite similar, but each one carries attributes that work in different situations – or more importantly parts of the country.

In this blog we will go over three key identifiers for choosing the right one based on forage, time of year, and fishing pressure!

Like I mentioned above, almost all lipless crankbaits look similar, but they certainly carry different attributes that fit different situations. Today I will be discussing my three favorite options, the Cotton Cordell Super Spot, BOOYAH Hard Knocker and BOOYAH One Knocker. Each one has some serious intricacies that we will look at and help you become more successful with them!

Learn about different Pop-R models and when to use each to maximize success.

You know the Rebel Pop-R. It’s the most iconic popper in the fishing world, a name commonly used to reference various poppers and the unofficial template for many other popping lures.

You may not realize that the Rebel Lures makes several different Pop-R models, all with much in common but each a little different. We’ll look at all the Pop-Rs and dig into how each is distinctive to help you pick the perfect Pop-R for any given situation.