THE LATEST NEWS
Pete Gluszek: Chat
Pete Gluszek shares some spring time tips along with the latest news from The Bass University.
Johny Bass Strikes Again
Here is a bit of Wednesday humor from our buddy Johny Bass. Check it out as Mr. Bass meets his idol Jacob Powroznik and shares a salad with one of the Priority Fishing staff members.
Keep up with John on his Facebook page and on his web site.
Zaldain Lake Seminole Elite#1 2014
Ride along with Elite Series Pro Chris Zaldain at Lake Seminole.
Speed Cranking Calm Waters for Big Bass
Its widely known that crankbaits and other reaction type baits excel in windy conditions. What’s not as commonly known is exactly why this is. Although increased oxygen levels and bait displacement are key byproducts of a wind driven shoreline they are not typically the biggest contributor in the willingness of a fish to strike a moving bait. The seemingly extra aggression is directly related to the fishes inability to see your bait clearly. In the clearest of Lakes a chop on the water not only decreases light penetration but it also refracts light in a distortion of beams shooting through the water column. Simply put, you get more bites in the wind because the fish cant quite make out your bait as well.
With that said, it seem to make sense to count out the reaction bite altogether on a calm day. Doesn’t it? Well I can say that if you do you may be missing out on a big often overlooked opportunity when it comes to cranking. Over the years I have discovered that by speeding up my retrieve or even “burning” my crainkbait I can lure the fish into eating my bait on a calm day for the same reason he eats my bait in the wind. That reason is that he just can’t quite get a good look at it. For this technique I recommend a high speed reel like the Lews BB1 7.1:1 gear ratio.
Speed is your friend in this scenario however its also important to consider the importance of varying your speed. A quick stop and go, med to fast to extra fast in any combination will do. The key is increasing your overall speed and making your bait as erratic as possible. More often than not the more erratic and random you can get your crankbait to move the more bites you’ll get. One of my favorites for this technique is the Chikara Crank by Gary Yamamoto. This bait does a lot of the work for me as at high speeds it really jumps around creating that erratic action I’m looking for. So next time you’re headed out to the lake and the weatherman is calling for light and variable winds make sure you don’t leave your crankbaits at home cause you may just be missin the boat.
By John Hutchins
Iaconelli on “The Rock”
Locals proudly call this cedar-lined 43,100-acre reservoir in The Ozarks – “The Rock” – and for Mike Iaconelli it sets the stage for an unavoidable pun.
After a 75th place finish at Seminole, and a 64th on the St. Johns, he finds himself between “The Rock” and a hard place in the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings as he and the other Elite Series pros practice on Table Rock today.
Will this be the tournament where Ike turns around his 2014 season? “I’ve had good finishes here, and I’ve had bad finishes here, but most importantly this lake holds one of the greatest memories of my career and life, because this is where we were the day I won the 2006 Angler of the Year title,” he gratefully reflected.
So leveraged by positive memories delivered here eight years ago, Iaconelli is breaking “The Rock” into thirds. “I’ll practice the lower end one day, mid-lake the next, and the upper end as well, until I get a feel for where I’m getting the most bites and gaining the most confidence,” says Ike of an approach that Rick Clunn has long professed to figuring out any large reservoir, and Iaconelli now teaches in the Bass University courses he hosts.
“The cool thing about Table Rock is that it patterns really well, so if you figure something out in practice, you can usually apply it throughout the competition days,” explains Ike, who is optimistic that the fishing will be really good this week on a sometimes-stingy Table Rock. He’s guessing he’ll need to catch an average of 15-pounds a day to make the Top 12 cut here.
“It’s early April but it’s been such a harsh winter that the water temps are still in the 40s and nature is behind its normal schedule, so I’ll approach this more as a pre-spawn tournament than the bed fishing tournament it might normally be,” says the Runnemede, NJ pro, with more than $2 Million in career prize winnings to his credit.
With bed fishing mostly ruled-out, Iaconelli says he’ll rely on Rapala’s DT crankbaits, as well as a no-longer made, hard to get, series of vintage Wiggle Warts that sell on eBay for about $50 a piece, plus a Berkley Beat Shad swimbait, and of course, the Shaky Head that has served as a productive security blanket over the many successful years of his pro career.
Perhaps the most important tool he’ll have on-board this week will be a list of notes he’s written to himself with a Sharpie and taped to the inside of his windshield. Mental reminders to not rule-out anything, to aggressively fish everything the day will allow, and of course, to Never Give Up – especially when caught between a rock and a hard place.