The "Bass Coach" and his equipment

[macgyver]

THE BASS COACH




The Right Application
By: "The Bass Coach" Roger Lee Brown

One of the most important factors in bass fishing whether you are a beginner, novice, or even a tournament contender is using the right application of equipment to coincide with your bait patterns. This is very important because you can “over work� your baits thus causing the fish not to strike. Over working ones bait can be a contagious disease especially for a male angler. (Okay ladies! this one’s for you...) because a woman has more patience at working baits than a man does, (sorry guys, but it’s a proven fact.) I have noticed this many times in the past from either the husbands with their wives, girlfriends/boyfriends, brothers/sisters, and even the male/female “tournament team� anglers while they were attending my 3-day bass fishing school.


Overworking ones bait can be caused by several different reasons. Probably the biggest reason for overworking baits is caused by using the wrong retrieve speeds with your reel. Let’s take a crankbait for example; a crankbait is designed to work a certain way at various speeds. That’s one of the reasons why they manufacture crankbaits with different shapes and sizes. For instance, a crankbait with a narrow body is designed to work much faster than one made with a fat body (which is usually designed to work at a much slower speed.) Now, if your reel has a 6:2 retrieve speed, at a normal wind your reel would cause the crankbait to work way too fast. On the other side of the coin, if you had a 5:1 or a 4:3 retrieve speed, a normal retrieve would allow the crankbait to work properly. Even though there are many different presentations you can work a crankbait, you should experiment with your speeds and let the fish dictate on any given day how they want the bait.

Let’s talk about reels for a moment. Baitcasters, Spinning, and Spincast (or closed faced) reels can be considered tools of the trade. A personal preference from each individual will pretty much decide what type of reel one would use for their own comfort. I use all three of the different types of reels for different applications when I fish. Daily conditions, size and weight of the bait, and the areas to be fished will always tell me which type of reel I would use under different circumstance.

Let’s say that we are facing into the wind (always for the best boat control) and we are fishing around and under docks with a finesse (or light bait) and we have to cast into the wind, which reel should we use? If I used a baitcaster and it is windy, well, I really don’t think that I would cast a little bait into the wind because of getting that “professional over-ride� (or BACKLASH! Oohh, that’s such a nasty word.) What about using a spinning reel? Some anglers may use one for this type of casting, but every time I cast a little bait into the wind with a spinning reel I usually wind up with that darn ole “line twist.� So, what is the best application to use for this scenario? The survey says! A “Spincast Reel.� Now stop and think about it for a moment, all you have to do is push the button on the reel and make your cast into the wind. The line freely unwinds off of the reel with no tangles allowing you to put your bait where you make your cast.

There are many different types of bait, presentations and techniques used today in the sport of bass fishing, and the reel selection mostly depends on what is the most comfortable for the angler. Now, please don’t take this the wrong way because I am not going to say that you have to use a certain reel for certain applications, but I will tell you what works the best for me. I personally use a baitcasting reel about eighty percent of the time because I feel that I have much more control at casting, hook setting, and comfort than the others mentioned. I like the thumb control on the spool with a baitcasting reel because it allows me to stop the bait on a dime when it comes to accuracy. I also like the power in the retrieve, especially when it comes to horsing big bass out of vegetation and different structured areas. However, I like the spinning reel for vertical fishing and making casts with lighter baits. Here are the reel applications I mostly use for the following:

Flippin’ & Pitchin’ – Baitcaster…
Texas Rigged Plastics – Baitcaster or Spinning…
Carolina Rigs – Baitcaster…
Crankbaits – Baitcaster or Spinning…
Top Water – Baitcaster…
Spinnerbaits – Baitcaster…
Soft Jerk baits – Baitcaster or Spinning…
Drop Shot – Spinning…

end of part 1

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