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Airing June 25th!
Yeah, I know it today was Memorial Day but I still had to put in a little over half a day trying to get caught up on our production work. My producer, Jim Kramer, and I worked into early afternoon shooting elements for the Kerry Automotiveand Arkie commercials that will run during this season’s Stihl’s Reel in the Outdoors. The shows will begin airing on Outdoor Channel Saturday, June 25th. I will admit I am pretty excited to see the finished product! Kerry Automotive
Today, I appeared with my truck and boat for Kerry Automotive at the Northern Kentucky Auto Dealers annual tent sale at Northern Kentucky University. The place was crankin’ and Kerry was moving lots of vehicles. The boat and truck was very popular with the customers. Skeet Reese – Post SpawnSkeet Reese talks about post-spawn bass fishing. Comments Off on Skeet Reese – Post Spawn
Test LureThere are no signs of Barracudas now and my last fish catch count was zero. So this time, I went to Redondo Beach hoping for a better result!! I brought with me some crucial lures for this season to reconfirm my fishing techniques to a better direction and to personally level up my skills. For that, I tested out my retrieve speed. When you think of Lucky Craft salt lures, the well known lures would be theFM110 & FM130MR… but this time I used a newly released lure in Japan – it is called the “BIGUP”. Lucky Craft Japan pro staff, Mr. Abe created this deep dive model Seabass lure!! For detailed product explanation, how it is used and fishing results, please check out the “Enjoy” DVD! And this time, I went to test out the “BIGUP” lure (as well as other lures…). And in result to the testing, I think it went pretty well. It doesn’t go as far as the FM, but it makes small and detailed wave motions underwater. Also, when you stop retrieving, instead of suspending it performs a slow sinking action. FM series are suspending models, but I imagined BIGUP lures to utilize its performance to get bites while sinking. Very interesting! Calico Bass and Barracuda!? I plan on always having color lineups from metallic, gold, and green colors for this summer and also having my FM and BIGUP lures to go Okappari (Shore fishing) and boat fishing. So please stay tuned.
BIGUP Product Ad:
Sandy P.S. It’s actually been awhile since my last Okappari (Shore Fishing), and I was able to go through a lot of thinking while seeing a lot of people having a good time kayak fishing. I would like to try that out next year. H-1 Grand Prix Winning Lure
This time, I researched a little bit about the recent H-1 Grand Prix tournament winning lure, “Chimushi” brand – the “Kaiba” lure. What is this!!?? It already looks like it fishes well!! This shape and the sense of volume! To say it in one phrase: “manly fishing”. This lure seems to work very well for a one fine fishing. I’m very impressed with the lure-man’s sense of design – creating an amazing lure with such simple design. For more information on this lure, please check out the link below. http://www.chimushi.com/lures/kaiba/page01.html
Square Bill Crank Baits with Brent Ehrler
Written by Tom Leogrande: Square bill crank baits have been popular amongst professional anglers for many years. Recent success with a square bill at the Bassmaster Classic in 2011 has the bait more popular than ever. When Where Other areas include shallow seawalls, docks and shallow wood. “I like the bait around anything hard that I can deflect it off of. Lay down trees, submerged rock piles, underwater pipes all can be great for the square bill.” I generally don’t fish the square bill in grass. I’ll switch to a lipless vibration bait forgrass, the Lucky Craft LV-500 is perfect for that. Although the square bill can catch them in grass, the lipless baits pop out of the grass a little better.” Key Angle It can be docks, a shallow rock pile or a lay down, but hitting it in every angle is important according to Ehrler, “For example, I’ll pull up to a dock and fish perpendicular to it, making every cast possible between every post of the dock. Then I’ll move the boat out to the end of the dock and make parallel casts to the dock. I’ll make every cast possible from that angle, as well. Then I’ll pull around to the opposite side of the dock and make every cast from that angle. Sometimes it’ll be the 10th cast across a particular post that gets the fish to bite.” This technique can prove successful even in highly pressured fishing areas. Ehrler believes that by fishing a piece of structure from every angle, you can pick up fish left behind from the angler just making the easy casts. “Get in there be methodical and make ten to twenty precision casts around every piece of structure, you’ll be surprised how many more fish you’ll pick up throughout the day. These are fish the anglers ahead of you missed.” Ehrler warns to not get caught up thinking that every dock is going to have fish feeding at the same angle. “The angle’s are notpatternable, each fish is different and has its own angle. Just because I catch one fishing parallel to the dock on the left side of the pilings doesn’t mean the next fish is going to come the same way. Each fish is completely different and has its own feeding angle.” The Baits The BDS-3 and 1.5 are wide wobble baits making them the perfect choice for the warmer water months, when fish seem to want the wider wobble. “I’ll use the BDS 3 when the fish are feeding on bigger bait fish and the 1.5 when the baitfish are smaller.” When the water is cold Ehrler turns to the SKT MR, “The SKT MR has the same tight wobble as the popular balsa crankbaits. The tighter wobble makes it a great cold water or very stained water crankbait.” Line The target fishing depth from 1 to 5 feet can be covered with each of the Ehrler’s go-to square bills. Ehlrer dials in his baits to maximize the deflection and bouncing of the bait off of the structure. “I’ll use 12 pound Sunline FC Sniper Fluorocarbon to get the bait a little deeper if I want to increase the deflection. Likewise, if the bait is digging too much I’ll change up and go with the bigger 15 to 20 pound Sniper (Fluorocarbon) to help the bait run a little shallower.” The low visibility characteristics play very little role in the selection of the Sniper Fluorocarbon. “I generally don’t fish the square bill in super clear water so I don’t use the fluorocarbon for that reason. It’s more about controlling the depth of the bait and the lack of stretch. With the Sniper, I can really feel the bait, and understand what it is doing down there.” The added abrasion resistance of fluorocarbon helps in Ehrler’s decision. “I’m throwing these baits over some pretty hairy structure sometimes and the Sniper really holds up nicely. My line is running up against old dock pilings, over wood and between rocks, so every little bit of added abrasionresistance is going to help when I get the big girl on.” Color Equipment When selecting a reel Ehrler chooses an Abu Garcia Revo series reel with a 6.3 to 1 gear ration. “I like to get the bait moving at a pretty fast pace, the 6.3 is perfect for that. Some guys switch up with their crankbaits to a slower 5 to 1 gear ratio. For me the Revo 6.3 to 1 is perfect.” Ehrler does change the hooks on his square bills to Owner ST-36 hooks. “The ST-36 hooks are a little stiffer and a little more sticky than the stock hook. When you are fishing near wooden docks or trees a hooked fish can easily catch one of those trebles on a piece of wood. If they can get leverage like that all they have to do is shake their head to one side and they’ll straighten the hooks out and get off. Another thing that can happen is, if you hook one on the fronthook and the fish turns and catches the tail hook on its gill plate and then turns its head back straight, it could straighten the hook out and you’ll lose them. The added stiffness of the ST-36 hook helps prevent that.” Closing Red River Round Up
Brent Ehrler Blog The FLW Tour Red River event just wrapped up and I’m happy with a top ten finish. This was my second trip to the Red River. Last year we practiced for 3 days and then the event was cancelled. My pattern for the event was flipping and cranking. My flipping rig was the Yamamoto Flappin’ hog with a Picasso 3/8ths ounce tungsten weight and a 3/0 Owner hook. When it came to cranking I had my favorite two baits tied on, the Lucky Craft RC 1.5 and a BDS 1 Crankbait in a variety of shad patterned colors. One thing I can say about the Red River is that is a “snakey” place. I saw at least 5 snakes a day. I had one eat a frog, but I didn’t hook it. Several times I had a snake swim right to the boat and try to climb in. There was a five footer that was 40 or 50 feet away and when it saw us it made a b-line for us. I had to swat the water in front of him with my rod to keep it from coming into the boat. Now I don’t know the difference between a water snake and a moccasin, but in my opinion they all look venomous when they are swimming at you. The Red River is a true test to all of your equipment. It’s the “stumpiest”, “snagiest” place you will ever be. I can’t tell you how many times I got stuck. I’d get stuck where my motor was completely out of the water. You’d literally have to rock the boat just to get the motor into the water. Other times I was trying to get into a backwater, I’d hve to trim my motor down into the water and plow my way back into places I probably shouldn’t be. I really felt like I was in a jeep and I could get through anything. Running the River itself is pretty dangerous as well. I used my 1197 Humminbird zoomed out and I’d literally follow the track line on the screen to navigate through some very narrow channels. I didn’t use the side imaging much in this event due to the depth and water clarity I was fishing in, but that giant screen and GPS definitely came in handy. I’m up at Kentucky Lake pre-practicing for the event here in late June. I’ll fish here for a couple days before I head out to the Potomac River for the FLW Open event, practice starts on Sunday. It fishes pretty similar to the Delta, except it has a smaller tidal change. At the Potomac the water level changes 1.5-2 feet while the California Delta has a 3 foot tidal change, give or take a few inches. The primary fishing style is flipping into the pockets of grass at low tide and at high tide I’ll do some shallow cranking. I’ve been to the Potomac a few times and haven’t done exceptionally well there. I did learn a lot from those trips and I think I have a better chance now that I have better feel for it. Also, since those events on the Potomac I have fished the California Delta quite a bit and have gotten better in that type of water. Looking ahead, it looks like I will be fishing similarly to how I did at the Red River, flipping and shallow cranking. I might able to get a few frog fish as well. Following the Potomac event I am fishing a Celebrity event for Yamamoto at Old Hickory in Nashville with some Country music stars. Currently I sit in fourth place for the FLW Tour AOY race with two events left. Unfortunately, the postponed event from earlier this year has been moved to right on top of the date our baby is due. That could make for an interesting dilemma. If I have a realistic chance for the AOY title and our baby doesn’t come a little early I might not be able to fish that event. I hope it all works out. BarracudaOn this next fishing trip, I again departed off from Redondo Beach (where they had a few Barracuda catch count) and went off Santa Monica to aim for some Barracudas. Due to the rain the day before, there were high waves and strong winds and the boat was shaking pretty badly! It’s been awhile since I got motion sickness, but I still managed to start casting with a FM130MR. For about an hour, as we saw a group of birds we would move to that area and finally an angler right next to me got a Barracuda bite! The rod was bent beyond normal and it was so big it was impossible to even bring it up to the deck. The lure he was using was a jig used very commonly in the West Coast. As for the color, it was very similar to the Lucky Craft “#703 Aurora Mackerel” color! I suppose Barracudas like blue and silver colors. Then I realized – will I be able to lift up a Barracuda with the rod I brought!? I started to worry…. Last year for my very first Daily Flash Minnow Report I caught a Barracuda here in Redondo Beach……….. But I didn’t know it can get this big~~~! Since the wind and water temperature is pretty low today, crowds of Barracuda migrated 50ft (around 15m) in water depth. So after I casted a jig, I let it sink first then retrieved!! I continued this pattern. I couldn’t go home like this! So I decided to do it “Sandy Style”! The “Anomalous Carolina”!! I attached a 1oz egg shaped weight to the leader area and then a FM 20cm apart from the weight. I started fishing again!! But can’t seem to get any bite… no one around me is catching any either! In result, today’s total catch was 30 and a pretty disappointing outcome. However, the Big Fish caught was enormously big! And it wasn’t like the person who was measuring it was small either! I was very surprised by its size. Next time I will change rods and definitely have thicker lure hooks set up and try again! Sandy P.S. No matter what, I want to catch a Barracuda that size with a lure!! |
