The drop shot is a rig that every bass fisherman should know how to tie and fish.  It is truly one of the greatest fishing techniques ever invented.  There are many different ways to make a drop shot rig.  This detailed article will break down the different components that are used to make a drop shot rig and help explain why you would choose one of another.  If you are not familair with drop shotting, the basic concept is to allow you to suspend a soft plastic lure while maintaining contact with the bottom.

So what is a ditch and how do I find them?  Ditches to put it simply are depressions in the bottom.  Some people also call them a "hole".  Ditches can be natural, or created by water entering a body of water.  For example, if you have a creek that pours into a lake, there will be a ditch near the mouth of the creek.  These ditches are created from erosion due to current.  You can find ditches in other areas as well.  They can be found on flats, humps and even points.

With the first couple of warm weather days drawing near here in Illinois that means it’s time for one thing, Pre Spawn bass fishing. The bass’s biological trigger hits and lets them know it’s time to move up from their deep wintering holes and onto points and flats adjacent to spawning pockets and coves.  One little problem though with the water still cool (53-60 degrees) those bass aren’t willing to chase that favorite crankbait or spinnerbait that you like to throw. What bait is the most effective bait to throw when you have fish that are in a negative feeding mood, the answer is a Suspending Jerkbait. Without a doubt one of the best cold water baits on the market.

The New Technique Hump

So you spent the weekend reading about an interesting new fishing technique that’s all the rave on the bass fishing tournament trail. You go to your local tackle shop, pick up all the components necessary, call your buddy and head out on the lake. Your friend decides to stick with the technique that he’s used to, while you rig up the new one and begin to try to fish it.

Worm fishing is a technique that every bass angler should know.  Like most methods of fishing, some require additional skills like " reading the line". Others require us to use our "sixth sense" to detect those soft or delicate bites from bass. Well welcome to the world of worm fishing, because this is a combination of everything I just mentioned and more!

NOTE: -When I use the word worm, I am also referring to other soft plastic shapes and creatures, which can be fished by these methods.

With so many lures available on the market today, it is often a daunting task to decide what is good for a particular situation, time of day, water clarity and temperature. The jerkbait is a lure that can produce quality fish for almost all situations, in both still and moving water. What is more, the adaptability of this bait makes it a "go to" when crankbaits or spinnerbaits are not producing.

There are times when I want to specialize my spinnerbait presentation in a way that isn't very popular. I like to go shallow and slow. The way I see it, a bass sees dozens of spinnerbaits fly by his face, "ticking the tops of the weeds", looking for the reaction strike in the course of his life. I want my bait to crawl by making a lot of noise to show him something different.

Keeping what has been said in mind, all of your senses need to be wide open and receptive, because the fish will tell you where they are and what they. They talk to us in many different ways; it’s up to us to be listening. You may see them, but not catch them. You may see other triggers that tell you whether or not there are fish in a given area, but not realize it. Have you ever come into a swampy area and seen lots of frogs on the bank, but none in the shallow water or in pads at that spot. Come back in a couple of hours and they are all back in the pool.

Do you know what’s going on at the end of your line? I mean, do you really know what your lure is doing? Do you know what it just hit? Was it a rock? A log? A fish? Do you even feel your lure? It must seem like these questions are silly, but most anglers can’t answer them correctly. After the third or fourth cast some anglers slip into the repetitive mode or worse yet they don’t know how the lure is supposed to feel.

You may look at this and say, “This guy is crazy!” Think about this for a moment. We hunt and become the predator. We set up to ambush the deer as they go through their daily routines. We set up on food plots, bedding areas, travel routs—are we not doing the same things when we go bass fishing?
How many people buy topo maps to go hunting? How many look at aerial photographs to find the best places to set up a stand? I do the same things when I go fishing. I study topo maps to find humps, ridges, creek channels, points, flats, and any number of other good spots to set up and fish.

If you have had trouble catching fish lately, have not been fishing in a long while, or have never been fishing, I have some sound advice for you…..call a guide. Recently, I have been struggling in my quest to catch the ever elusive, black bass, on our local fish haven, Richland-Chambers Reservoir. Rather than sell my boat and all my gear out of frustration, I opted to call a friend of mine, Stan Lawhon, who guides on Richland-Chambers Reservoir.