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Good music, hard hook sets, and monster bass, does it get any better???

By now nearly all of the members of the Tactical Bassin community recognize Adam Hinkle when he submits a video. For those of you who don’t, Adam is a regular contributor and his work is much appreciated. Some of his recent pieces include Beating the Bank for Giants, Fall Jig Madness, and Mapping Your Approach. Adam Brings a unique perspective and a whole different style to the Tactical community.

True to form, Adam is smashing fish in Southern California. Lucky for us, we get a front row seat to the show. These fish were caught on the 8″ Huddleston Swimbait in both ROF 5 and 12. The rod you see is a Dobyns 795 MLSB. Adam’s approach to swimbaits is quite a bit different from my own. He uses 20 lb mainline and smaller hooks to draw the heavily-pressured Southern California bass into the open. It just goes to show there isn’t always a right and a wrong way to catch these big bass. Its important to experiment and develop confidence but always stay open to progression.

Also, for those of you who are confined to smaller boats and are drooling over the net they keep sliding out of the rod locker, that is a Hiber-Net by Frabill. Its quite a bit different than what I carry but after watching how nicely it stores I may have to check it out myself.

What is it about the “tick” of a swimbait bite that keeps us coming back for more? There are a lot of other more productive things we could be doing but we find ourselves day after day, week after week, year after year, chasing big green fish around oversized ponds. Why? I don’t know what it is for you but for me its got to be the hookset and the impact.

In that moment I don’t know if its a 2 lb bass or a 15 lb bass, it could even be an over-zealous catfish. But for that second, as I swing that rod up and to the right with all the force I can muster, I pray as fast as I can that when that rod loads up the fish will absorb the impact and pull back with equal force. That for me, is what its all about. Catching the fish, the photos, the videos, is all great but the thrill of the hookset is where all the adrenaline peaks.

There is nothing like slamming a hookset into a fish and feeling like you just hooked a brick wall. A fish so strong that you have to stop and look at the rod tip to make sure its not a snag. Then and only then does she start to shake her head and slowly make her way to deep water. For those that haven’t experienced it, your turn is coming. For those that have, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

This video is dedicated to that moment of impact. These fish did exactly what I’m talking about. They bit hard and they battled harder. I hope you enjoy watching a bunch of big fish choking down swimbaits because that’s what you’re about to see. The main bait used to catch these fish was the 8″ huddleston Deluxe. As always, the reel was spooled with braid and a 30 lb mono leader. The Rod was a Dobyns 807 Mag. These may seem like huge components to the average angler but look at how hard the fish are flexing the rod, its all about having the right tools for the job.

After months of requests the time has finally come for me to chime in on the topic of Alabama Rigs, generically known as “Spreader Rigs” or “Umbrella Rigs”. Obviously I’m months behind the hype. Most of you now own rigs and have had some experience with them. Some of you are probably having a blast catching fish on them while others of you have already retired them to a plano box where they will soon be forgotten.
I would have chimed in months ago but I wasn’t willing to speak out until I felt I was speaking from a place of experience.

For those of you that have been living under a rock, the “Alabama Rig” gained huge notoriety when Paul Elias won a major event last fall. It is a smaller, “freshwater” version of the old saltwater spreader rigs.

The video was shot on Clearlake in mid-april. While the fish in the video is by far my largest fish on the “A-rig” my clients and I have been catching big fish on it all spring.
As you watch the video you will notice there are a handful of details that I failed to cover. I apologize for the oversight, but Jeff and I were in a hurry to get back to fishing. The day ended with 5 fish for 44.05 lbs, only one of which (the smallest) was not caught on a Spreader Rig.

Feel free to respond with your thoughts and questions. I’ll film a follow up video with more of the technical details in the coming weeks and will answer as many of the questions as possible at that time.

Don’t you just love those winter days when the sun comes out, the wind lays down and for a few brief moments it feels like Spring? Despite the ice cold water you can almost imagine fish starting to head for the shallows and begin to feed near the surface. You know the days I’m talking about; you’re in full winter gear all morning but by early afternoon you’re wearing just a sweatshirt and for a few minutes you even give the T-shirt a try. Nearly a month ago now I was enjoying one of those very days. I was with a client and he was on a school of fish that that wouldn’t leave a swimbait alone. During a lull in the mayhem my mind started wandering to warmer places and despite the 50 degree water temps I started digging through the lockers looking for a topwater. Wouldn’t you know it, down in the bottom under all the winter tackle I found a lunker punker. Without a doubt, the punker is my favorite early-spring topwater bait.

I tied it on for kicks and began firing it around the boat haphazardly. What I didn’t expect was that after just a few casts, a fish would roll and miss the bait. As I continued slowly walking the bait to the boat I could see the fish following behind working side to side as she tracked the bait’s movements. It seemed to go on forever but realistically, she was probably behind the bait for 15 to 20 seconds before finally inhaling the bait on the side of the boat. It wasn’t the biggest fish ever but a 5 lb topwater bass in early March is a sight for sore eyes.

As soon as I got home from the lake I started searching for my lunker punker footage that I could share with the Tacticalbassin community. The following video was put together in 2 days of epic fishing on one of my favorite fisheries.
The bass in this area were keyed on large prey and the punker was the perfect tool to do the job. There was a lot of fishing pressure but most anglers missed the opportunity to step up the size of the baits and specifically target the larger fish. Its important to realize that this can be applied to your local waters as well. These larger baits don’t just catch big fish, they catch 1 and 2 lbers as well. Some of these same fish might have eaten a smaller topwater but the bigger fish would have passed them by. By using the right tool for the job I was able to catch more of the fish that were in the area. We were literally catching MORE fish because we were using BIGGER baits. That is a concept that a lot of anglers fail to realize.

There are some simple modifications I make to this bait to help increase my bite to hookup ratio. While I don’t have time to cover them right now, get a punker or two in your hands and in the next couple of weeks I’ll shoot a follow up video to show you exactly what hooks I use to make the bait do what it needs to do as well as the tackle I’m using when fishing the bait.
Though I throw both sizes of the wood punker as well as the full range of injected baits, this video was shot with the 6″ Injected G2 Lunker Punker with Rattles. Here is the direct link to the bait I was using: Injected Lunker Punker

Last week I was out on Clearlake enjoying a great day on the water with a client. He had just gone on a tear, landing a 4, 5, 6, and a 7 lber in just a handful of casts. I’m idling to the next spot feeling pretty good about the day and my phone beeps. I pull it out and what do I see? A text from Josh Fan. (See East Coast Swimbait Advice ) It was hard to see the picture at first in the bright sun but as my eyes started to focus they about popped out of my head. Here I am in California enjoying a great day, then Josh drops the photos you now see. Talk about an East Coast reality check!
In Josh’s recent video he encouraged East Coast fisherman to throw bigger baits and to focus on catching bigger bass. He went on to say that he was heading home to start throwing big baits himself in pursuit of a personal-best largemouth.
Let these photos be further encouragement to you East coast anglers. Big baits work nationwide. I get a steady stream of emails asking questions about the size of baits that guys are using and if they’re too big for a particular part of the country. In almost every circumstance the answer is no, they aren’t too big. You just need to listen to what is being said here, take the advice to heart and put in some time on the water. Once I got off the water I had a chance to talk to Josh about this fish.
He caught her on an ROF 5 Huddleston 8″ swimbait. He went on to explain that prior to this fish he was beginning to doubt if his big bite was coming. He said it had been nearly 2 years without a truly “big” bite to show for his efforts. He also gave some credit to the Southern Trout Eaters DVD.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard an angler who is relatively new to big baits praise this video. I watched it right when it came out and I too have to admit that if you’re fishing in the Eastern United States you need to watch it. You may not watch it more than a few times but in that time you’re going to learn a great deal about how to approach your local waters with a big bait.
Whether it was the DVD, the trips to California, or just pure tenacity that kept Josh on track, the commitment paid off. Though he didn’t have a scale the bass was 26.5″ long and was clearly a new personal best. Did I mention it was caught in the North East? Way to go Josh! I’m confident this is the first of many big bass that will come your way in the near future.

Since the rest of the world seems to have “Linsanity” I thought it wouldn’t hurt to let it infect the TacticalBassin community a bit as well. I had the pleasure of fishing with Josh Fan and Jeremy Lin (The NBA’s newest star for those of you who may have been living under a rock) last fall. I thought the sports fans in the crowd might enjoy a quick clip from that trip. Here is Jeremy catching a nice Clearlake bass on a River2Sea Bubble Walker in the 128 size. There isn’t a lot of knowledge to be gleaned from this video but its still fun to see a guy like Jeremy getting out on the water and relaxing in the off season. Enjoy!

When the fishing is going really well it’s easy to become jaded and forget how good we have it. It’s important to take the time to stop and consider just how blessed we really are. One of the best ways I can think of to get that “reality check” is to watch the reaction of someone who isn’t used to fishing our local bodies of water.
Allow me to introduce Josh Fan. I had the pleasure of fishing with Josh for several days on some of the best fisheries Northern California has to offer. Josh was here during a prime time when wakebait and topwater fishing was at its peak. While we didn’t catch any true “giants” we caught a bunch of quality fish and had a great time on a fishing adventure that neither of us will soon forget. As the trip was drawing to a close Josh took the time to sit down and share some tips that were born out of his experiences in the West.
These tips will help you regardless of where you live but if you’re fishing in the East you really need to hear what Josh is saying. He talks about the fish we were catching on a Lunker Punker and a Wake Jr. but the key is the belief in his voice about the effectiveness of these bigger baits. Josh now has a clear understanding of how powerful true big baits can be, regardless of where in the country you happen to be.

While driving into town this morning I grabbed my water bottle off the seat of the truck and attempted to take a swig. I was caught off guard when nothing came out and it took several seconds for reality to sink in. Something about that solid block of ice staring back at me from inside the bottle got me thinking about how much I missed the warmer weather. It bothered me so much that I soon found myself flipping through old footage of flip flops, shorts, and topwaters.
I know that many of you are in the same situation. For some of you it was cold when you launched the boat last weekend, for others you wish you knew exactly where your boat is under all that snow. Either way, we’re a long way from topwater season.
Instead of tearing up and thinking about how far away the topwater bite is I suggest you get proactive and start preparing your tackle for the coming year. I’ve talked about frogs, spooks, and wakebaits in the past but I’ve never really touched on poppers. I absolutely LOVE fishing a popper on a spinning rod on a quiet morning. Year in and year out the popper comes to my rescue when the topwater bite seems to be falling apart on a tournament day.
My favorite aspect of the popper is its versatility. When the fish are aggressive you can work the bait fast and in the case of the River2Sea Bubble Walkercan even get it to walk-the-dog much the same as a spook. When the fish are moving slow you can turn to a Yellow Magic or a Rico (I’d suggest the “20th Anniversary Absolute” color) and get those critical bites during off peak times. The key to the Rico on a cold morning is to work the bait so softly that it splashes without making the “bloop bloop” sound that poppers are known for. That subtle approach consistantly gets bigger bites for me than the more aggressive retrieves.

Another great aspect of popper fishing is that unlike most other baits, the higher-end poppers come equipped with great components and are ready to fish out of the package.
The only modification I make at all is to change the front hook out for a red one when the fish aren’t fully committing to the bait. I know it sounds silly to a lot of anglers but that really can help your hook up ratio on a slow day.
I know we’re a long ways away from a wide-open topwater bite but I thought it would be nice to take a break from all this cold weather and focus on something a little less draining. I hope your dreams of big bass, small topwaters, and explosive strikes keep you company until warmer weather arrives for good.

Well, its New Years Eve. 2011 is in the rear view mirror and 2012 is barreling toward us. Soon we’ll be fishing the spawn, chasing the summer topwater fish, and targeting fish around schools of bait in the fall. So, what is going to make 2012 different than 2011? What are YOU going to do to improve your odds of a successful fishing season? One of the keys to my success each year is consistant goal setting. Once the goals are laid out I know exactly what I am striving for and can eliminate a lot of “busy” fishing that isn’t goal oriented. Without goals I tend to get side tracked and waste a great deal of my time.

Let’s review last year’s goals and see how I did:

1) Catch a new personal best spotted bass. Its currently 5.0 so I should be able to top that no problem. The trouble is, I want a 6.5 lber. Wish me luck!

2) I’d love another personal best smallmouth. I’m currently in the 6 lb range and I would love a 7 lber, but I will honestly put this one on the back burner if I haven’t caught the spotted bass.

3) I’d like another largemouth over 15 lbs. Its been a very long time, I’ve hooked a few and completely butchered those battles. Its time I get one to the boat and fill some of the “weight range gap” between my biggest and 2nd biggest.

4) Catch a double-digit bass from at least one lake where I have not caught one before. (I’ll have to drive farther but I’ve got a few options in mind.)

5) Help at least one friend catch their first double-digit bass.

Now that you know exactly what my goals were its time for me to face the music. I didn’t have as successful a year as I would have liked. Yes, I caught some double-digit bass ( I got number 50 as a matter of fact) but not from a new lake. I did hook another 15+ lber but I waved goodbye after she buried herself in a weed bed. As I mentioned I might I let the smallmouth goal slip in order to continue pursuing the spotted bass goal. Now, that is the one place that I shined. This was the year of the spotted bass. I started the year with a personal best of 5.0 lbs and I broke it 7 times. I ended the year with a personal best 6.1 (and caught a 6.0 earlier in the same day.) Lastly, I helped two people catch double-digit bass and that was probably my favorite part of the whole year.

Now that you know how I stacked up against my goals you should feel more comfortable discussing yours. I’d love for all the members of the Tactical Bassin community to list your goals for 2012 in a comment at the bottom of this post.

Here is what I am shooting for in 2012:

1) After 3 years its time to stop putting it off and pull my guides license. Email me… we’ll go fishing.

2) Assist 5 anglers in catching their personal best, and have at least one of those be a 10+ lber.

3) Catch a 6.5 lb Spotted bass or larger (7 lbs would be good too)

4) Catch a 10 lber from a new body of water.

What are your goals and why? Whatever they may be, if you apply yourself and keep your eye on the prize you can accomplish them. It doesn’t matter if its a 20 lb largemouth in San Diego or a 3 lb largemouth in Wisconsin. Set your sites and do what it takes to meet your goals. Good luck in 2012!!!!

Tactical Bassin is pleased to welcome another video from Southern California’s own, Adam Hinkle. As many of you know Adam catches big fish from the boat (as seen in his recent jig video) but he’s also a force to be reckoned with walking the banks of San Diego’s famed fisheries. He was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule and lend some incredibly detailed insights that are going to help you catch more fish.
For the locals, he’s offering you specific locations. For the rest of us he’s offering tips on understanding your topographical maps and how to turn that information into fish. Get a note pad, you’re not going to want to forget any of this.

I hope you all realize how powerful this information is. Adam knows what he’s talking about, I’ve seen the numbers. These are the kinds of details that seperate “average” fisherman from the “untouchables” of the sport. This game we call bass fishing doesn’t involve magic. It requires attention to detail, and most importantly it requires time both ON and OFF the water. No matter where you fish you can apply what Adam just taught you and its going to have a significant impact on your fishing.
Adam, thank you for taking the time to share these insights. We look forward to hearing more in the future.