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Only one lure sounds like the chugging, spitting, dog-walking Cotton Cordell Pencil Popper. That action and sound attracts stripers and big bass from long distances resulting in heart pounding vicious strikes; however, there is more to fishing a pencil popper than just casting it out and walking it. You have to know when to fish it and where. After you know when and where, you should fine-tune your presentation with size and color pattern to maximize your catch-rate.

The Elite BASS pros will be fishing Alabama’s Lake Guntersville May 7-10 in an event dubbed the “Southern Challenge.” Rest assured, Alton Jones, Dave Wolak, Edwin Evers, Terry Scroggins, Matt Reed and the rest of the best will pick that lake apart, but for the rest of us, I asked Jimmy Mason, a bass guide on the lake who also fishes tournaments, for some advice on fishing this lake known for size and quantity of bass.

It’s been said that catching fish on topwater lures is the ultimate fishing thrill. If so, then fishing the flats is the ultimate extreme -- the X-Games of topwater fishing. Flats like the those located around Tampa Bay in Florida have an abundance of redfish, snook, tarpon, and sea trout all willing to smash a topwater lure with vengeance.

Bomber’s Fat Free Shad series has been called the “Perfect Crankbait” many times, an opinion that was substantiated yet again recently when TJ Nissen landed the new lake record largemouth bass at Lake Austin in Texas. This giant bass weighed 16.03 pounds and took a Fat Free Shad BD7F in Citrus Shad color pattern the afternoon of Jan. 27, 2011.