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“BASS FISHING 202”LESSONS FROM A TOURNAMENT PRO
This will be the first installment of a series of lessons from one of Minnesota’s top tournament anglers, Loren Davidson. HOW MANY RODS ARE ENOUGH?
I know most of you have seen some of the various television shows about bass tournaments, like the Bassmasters series, the FLW Tour, the Don Shelby Invitational, or the Minnesota circuit called the Silverado Pro Bass Tour. I watch these shows too. One question that comes to mind when they show the inside of the boat is how can they even fish with all of those rods on the deck! You would think they would be stepping on them all day long! That brings us to today’s lesson “How Many Rods Are Enough?”. The answer of course is a personal choice. If you think you can catch more fish with fifteen rods on deck, then that is what you need. I believe you need to have a basic arsenal of rods to effectively fish for bass under most tournament conditions. If you have a rod for every occasion, that’s fine. Here is what I think you need, and why. A good worm rod is the first priority of most tournament anglers. Day in day out more bass are caught with the plastic worm than any other lure. Most tournament anglers prefer a baitcaster with a medium to medium heavy action, six and a half foot in length and a limber tip. The limber tip is needed for casting the lighter weight texas rig worm. The medium heavy action will give the rod the backbone necessary to drive the hook through the worm and into the jaw of the bass. Team this rod with a high speed reel that has a 6:1 retrieve ratio. The high speed reel allows you to get your bait in quickly when you need to make another cast to your target. 14 # Stren is the line I use most. (Example: Quantum Tour Edition 66MH with an Accurist AC500PT reel) Most of us have heard the phrase “bump the stump”. This originally referred to spinnerbait fishing in shallow water. You need to get the spinnerbait close to the cover, close enough to bump into the cover causing deflection. A key segment of this tactic is accuracy. The reason accuracy is so important is the range of your target that is typically only 25 to 30 feet away. If you have ever watched Jimmy Houston on television, you know what I mean. He could drop his spinnerbait into a coffee cup 99 times out of a hundred! The single most accurate rod you can use is a pistol grip, medium action five and a half foot baitcaster. You do not need to cast a country mile, the fish are close to you. You also do not need a real heavy duty rod to the set the hook. I prefer the medium action rod so I can have better control of the fish at close range. You have much more forgiveness than a stiffer rod, thus reducing the risk of the lure ripping out of the bass during the fight. A high speed, five or six ball bearing reel is my preference. I spool up with 14# to 17# test Stren for most situations. (Example: Quantum Tour Edition 565F and an Energy E600 reel) With the introduction of graphite rods a number of years ago, fiberglass rods fell out of favor. Make no mistake, most of my rods are IM 6 or IM 7 graphite; except for one, my fiberglass crankbait rod. Ninety to ninety-five percent of the touring pros I know use a fiberglass crankbait rod. The main reason is the softer, parabolic action that fiberglass delivers. By that I mean the rod flexes well into the lower third of the rod. This allows the rod to absorb most of the stress of casting deep diving lures. You also will not have as much strain on your arm while retrieving. I like a seven foot rod for the increased casting distance I can get. The depth your lures run can be affected by the length of your cast. (Longer casts equals deeper running) I use a special crankbait reel with a 3.8:1 gear ratio to keep my baits in the strike zone longer. Spool up with a good no-stretch line like 10# to 12# Stren Sensor. (Example: Quantum TCF706MC rod and the Energy E640PT reel) I firmly believe that the majority of bass two and one half pounds and up will be predominately crayfish feeders if they are present in sufficient quantity in the ecosystem. Therefore, if you want to win tournaments, you need to fish a jig and pig! (Many of the pros I know use a plastic crayfish trailer on their jigs. (I do too on occasion, but ninety percent of the time I use an Uncle Josh 1A pork frog) My favorite rod for this most productive presentation is a seven foot IM7 heavy action rod. I use the IM7 due to the increase sensitivity it gives me. When a bass in twenty feet of water mouths your jig and pig, you need to be able to detect what is happening. The more typical jig bite is a fairly hard bite. The bass clamp down and try to crush the shell so the crayfish is disabled. You need to be able to move the jig in the fish's mouth on the hookset. That is why I like the heavy action rod. For that same reason I use a very low stretch line like twenty pound Stren Sensor on my reel. I use my smoothest reel, with six bearings to eliminate any interference in my ability to feel what the lure is doing. (Example: Quantum Tour Edition707FJ and the Energy E6ooPT) If you fish for bass you will inevitably end up fishing in extremely thick cover. Whether it is in the reeds or the cattails, timber or brush, you will need a flipping stick. These seven and a half foot pool cue style rods are a necessity on the tournament trail. When you are faced with the task of pulling a five or six pound bass out of heavy cover you do not want to give them a chance to bury in deeper. Use a minimum of twenty-five to thirty pound test, low stretch mono. You can’t be worrying about your line breaking. Use a heavy duty reel and lock the drag down tight. They bite, you set, you rip them out of the cover! (Example:Quantum Tour Edition767XF and the Energy 600PT reel) On the opposite end of the spectrum from flipping is the finesse style of fishing. There is no better rod for finesse fishing than a quality spinning rig. When you are faced with very clear water or the bass are real “spooky” you need to keep your distance. When you need to cast light lures a long distance, your best option is a spinning rod. A six foot medium action rod will handle most situations. It is very important to have a high quality spinning reel with a good drag system. (Example:Quantum Tour Edition TS60M and the Kinetic 4) How many rods are enough? I think you must have at least six. In the tournament world, some combination of the above equipment and presentations will account for ninety percent of the money paid out at weigh-in time. Can you get by with less? Sure. Each angler needs to decide how their equipment fits into their budget. I just know I want to be in that group that will account for ninety percent of the pay out! Every tournament, You will find these six rods on the deck of my BassCat!
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