Hello, I'd like to wish you the very best for the joyous holiday season. May I make a couple of small gift idea suggestions too? Okay, what I'd really like to get for Christmas is... No, just kidding! These gift suggestions are for the anglers in your life. Just imagine two great new fishing lures that every angler is almost certain not to have - but would love to get! These are both so new that even the angler who has every lure, probably doesn't have one of these. They're both under $20 and both very high quality. First, the new Ima Flit is a brand new jerkbait for freshwater bass anglers. Second, Tattoo's Walking Stick is a brand new topwater lure for saltwater anglers. It will be a welcome surprise to any angler who's lucky enough to get one as a gift from you. Not only will an Ima Flit or Tattoo's Walking Stick be perfect for that special holiday moment, but every time your angler lands a fish, they'll think of you and thank you all season long and for years to come. What could be nicer? And by the way, if you did want to get me something, I wear an extra large! Happy Ho-Ho-Ho-lidays to you! Regards, Russbassdozer on eBay

Tattoo Walking Stick ~ Yellow / Red Head US $12.49  See other items in this category: Saltwater Plugs		Ima Flit ~ Jerkbait ~ American Shad US $17.99  See other items in this category: Jerkbaits
Ima Flit ~ Jerkbait ~ Blue Shad US $17.99  See other items in this category: Jerkbaits		Tattoo Walking Stick ~ Blue White US $12.49  See other items in this category: Saltwater Plugs

 

Style H Hidden Head Spinnerbaits

.032 Light Wire Diameter. Style H have an .032 diameter wire arm, which is about as light as wires reasonably run on bass spinnerbaits. True, there are a few with wires of .030 or even .028 but they're rare, get the dickens twisted out of them and snap relatively quickly from metal vibration fatigue.

So .032 is about as light a wire as I feel one can reasonably use while still having some nominal level of fish-ability, to land fish played carefully with a forgiving rod, to somewhat hold up against twistage, and resist quick metal vibration fatigue.

Reason some anglers may want such a light .032 wire (despite the inherent drawbacks above) is their belief in and confidence that thinner diameter wire vibrates more and may at times attract more strikes than thicker wires that vibrate less. So the .032 wire (other things being equal) vibrates more than the most popular middle-of-the-road .035 or the heavy duty .040 wire arms most commonly used on bass spinnerbaits.

Super Wire Arm. What helps out a lot especially with such light .032 diameter wire is that the Style H's have Super Wire. So it is up to 30% stronger, gets bent less and vibrates up to 50% more than ordinary wire in lab tests. In actual fishing, I feel that 30% extra lab test strength equates to many times more bend-resistance on the water. So really, Super Wire is the way to go with light wire arms. You get a more durable, more fish-able bait, and it vibrates more, which is the reason some anglers opt for a light wire in the first place.

1/2 oz Style H Hidden Heads. Much of the mass or weight of the head is hidden beneath the skirt. However, I am a big advocate of showing off that hidden element. The new style EZ Skirts are a great dressing with a sparse peek-a-boo appearance that lets the hidden weight show through beneath the skirt . As you may be able to see in some of the dressed photos, the billowy, flared nature of the EZ Skirt lets the attraction of the hidden weight show throw the skirt, adding an element of allure that's not possible except by showing off a hidden head with an EZ Skirt.

So we're not trying to hide the hidden weight mass here, but using it to offer intriguing contrast and an additional dimension of appearance beneath the EZ Skirt.

1/2 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style H ~ Smokey Shad

1/2 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style H ~ White Silver

Genuine Silver-Plated Blades. On the two above, these are genuine silver-plated blades which are rarely seen on spinnerbaits. Most all so-called silver blades are nickel-plated which looks very close but nickel has a darker flash than genuine silver. The brighter, whiter flash of silver may pay dividends in murky water or when trying to attract fish from further distances - such as in deep water. The brilliant shine and flash of genuine silver is something fish rarely see in a bass lure.

Blades below are 24K gold-plated. Gold flashes and shines more than nickel-plated blades, but not as much as genuine silver.

1/2 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style H ~ Bluegill

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3/4 oz Style H Hidden Heads. The heavier 3/4 oz weight is especially suited for duty as a slow deep runner or as a fast subsurface burner type spinnerbait. Has the same .032 super wire arm. Used "normally" on a moderate retrieve, it will tend to seek its working level a little deeper than standard type 1/2 or 3/8 oz spinnerbaits. So you can think of it somewhat like a deep-diving crankbait model (compared to medium and shallow-diving cranks), except its a spinnerbait.

3/4 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style H ~ Watermelon Candy

The watermelon candy skirt on the black chartreuse Style H hidden head makes a great sunfish or tilapia presentation.

Inner Space, the Final Frontier Tackled by Tattoo
(Tattoo Tackle's New Topwater Walking Stick)

They say the NASA space program is worth it because of all the derivative products made possible by space flight.

If it wasn't for space flight, we wouldn't have those nifty NASA ballpoint pens that can write upside down even under water. Now, it's not clear to me why an astronaut would need to write underwater in outer space, but okay.

There's always the re-entry splashdown in the ocean, so that's probably where a pen that can write upside down underwater can come in handy.

Then, the space program made possible those neat Mylar reflective emergency blankets you can keep in your car in case you break down on a cold deserted road one night. Those blankets are a benefit to mankind.

I think the space program may have come up with Velcro or Teflon too. Anyway, they say if it wasn't for the space program, we wouldn't have many of the derivative products we use every day that were made possible by space research.

So too, my shared desire with Mike Dauphin of Tattoo's Tackle to research saltwater products in freshwater has hatched several new saltwater items that began as freshwater research. No, Mike Dauphin of Tattoo Tackle has not landed a plug on the moon yet nor has he sent a darter to Mars. But some of his dabbling in freshwater have had benefits for saltwater anglers too.

One of the first freshwater projects we started was to apply the 1 oz Tattoo Surface Swimmer (an Atom Spin-Atom type), resulting in a 5/8 oz model of the same for freshwater. During that testing and development of the freshwater Spin-Atom style swimmer, both Mike and I started thinking maybe the body could be turned around tail-to-front, leave off the metal lip, and there you may have it - the makings of a new topwater pencil popper style lure - the new Tattoo Walking Stick.

Well, Mike sent me some early prototypes of that to mess around with in freshwater, but I just had too many other things on my plate. I really did not test them much in freshwater, but my lack of trying did not stop Mike Dauphin.

Mike simply took that freshwater idea and he refined and applied it in the environment Mike knows best - not outer space but "inner space" as our vast seas and oceans are sometimes called.

How'd Tattoo's new Walking Stick come to be? Well, the initial inkling of the idea, first spawned in freshwater, was to take the then newly-perfected 5/8 oz Surface Swimmer (shown top), turn it around leaving the lip off, resulting in a topwater pencil popper style lure suitable for freshwater. The idea did not get off the ground in freshwater (yet but it will) although that did not stop Mike Dauphin. He continued to develop and build on it for saltwater, resulting in the brand new Tattoo Walking stick (shown bottom). The two bodies (Surface Swimmer and Walking Stick) are no longer exactly identical as certain body changes were required to bring out the best side-to-side walking movements in the Walking Stick - but you can certainly still see how the one freshwater idea evolved into the latest new saltwater product from Tattoo.

I'm talking about the new 1 oz Walking Stick topwater lure that Mike's rolling out now. It's brand new, and Mike pretty much perfected it and finalized it for saltwater over the summer. It's just getting out to Mike's dealers now is how I understand it. A 90 pound bluefin was landed on one of the final tests off Stellwagon Bank in late summer. I am not 100% sure, but I think some kind of potential Rhode Island state record albacore was landed on the Walking Stick recently. Mike sent one to an editor of Saltwater Sportsman magazine and as I understand it, that editor caight a grand slam (3 or 4 different species) on it on the first try out with it.

Anyway, it's an idea that originated in freshwater research and ended up benefiting saltwater anglers.

My hat's off to Mike because except for that pen that writes upside down underwater, the NASA research program has not spawned any great new products that benefit anglers. However, Tattoo Tackle's research into "inner space" has rewarded us all!

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Walking Stick Write-up in SaltWater Sportsman Magazine. If you get the SaltWater Sportsman magazine, check out the Tattoo Walking Stick. It is featured on page 96 in the December 2008 issue, or click here to read what Joe Cermele wrote about the Walking Stick in his blog on the Saltwater Sportsman web site:

• Click here: http://saltwatersportsman.typepad.com/little_tuna/2007/11/stick-it-to-em.html

Walking Stick Video Footage. Here is a link to a short YouTube Clip of some testing from one of the Tattoo’s Tackle team members, Rob Taylor. If you watch closely, you can see the plug skipping, jumping, and zig-zagging right before the fish smack it.

• Click here:

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Tattoo Walking Stick ~ Topwater Fishing Lure

Length: 4-1/2 inches
Weight: 1 ounce
Construction: Through-wired
Type: Floating, walk-the-dog pencil popper

How to Rig It. To rig the Walking Stick, most guys from the boat are using loop knots when they are chasing sharp-eyed albies, bonito and tuna in clear, open water. Any extra hardware that the fish might be able to see is not to their advantage. When fishing the turbulent surf zone, a small, strong metal clip works fine.

How to Work It. The Walking Stick has all the weight in its tail, to sail a long distance, and for its tail-walking action. As far as working the lure, work it like a pencil popper to get it to zig-zag, pop, gurgle, and skip on the surface. It’s so small that you don’t really have to work the rod violently to get it to dance. With a stiff 7 or 8 foot rod from the boat, quick twitching will get this thing to walk the walk. Casting out and just ripping it across the surface works as well. Like anything, it all depends on what the fish want.

Super Casting Distance. The Walking Stick casts swell for such a small plug. You can really empty your spool with it, more than other topwaters its size. The wood body is only four inches long and 3/4 inch at its widest. It's about the most aerodynamic shape possible. For such a small body to weigh one ounce is actually heavy for its size. It is pretty ballistic because all the lead weight is right in the tail. The weight is inserted right onto the wire at the tail end.

With the streamlined shape and all the lead in the rear of the plug, you will be surprised how far that you can launch this thing with a ten foot rod.

Whether you ply the open beaches or haunt the back bays, on deck or on foot, give the Walking Stick a try!

Tattoo Walking Stick ~ Blue White

New in package

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Tattoo Walking Stick ~Yellow / Red Head

New in package

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Tattoo Walking Stick ~ Zuri (Fluorescent Pink / Chartreuse / White)

New in package

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Tattoo Walking Stick ~ White

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Tattoo Walking Stick ~Chartreuse White

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Tattoo Walking Stick ~ Yellow White

What's all the Buzz About? It's Buzzbait Time

It's buzzbait time! A nice smallmouth that exploded on a buzzbait in a foot of water.

Where I fish on Lake Powell (Arizona/Utah) there are a lot of high cliff walls constituting the shoreline. Early morning topwater fishing tends to be best and also lasts longer on what locals call "east-facing" walls. Actually, these are walls on the eastern shores, so technically the walls face west. Still, everyone understands when someone says they had good topwater action running the east-facing walls in the early morning hours.

The aerial photo above shows five east-facing walls in spots called the Kanes, a couple of creeks above West Canyon and in Friendship Cove. They fall within a ten mile radius, or ten minutes apart. Running these walls quickly (about 15-20 minutes fishing each wall), you can cherry pick a bunch of decent bass off each wall while they are still throwing down some shade. This same "run and buzz" pattern can produce anywhere that east-facing shorelines throw down early morning shade a little longer time than more open shorelines.

A key aspect however, is not just any east-facing walls, but the real key is for otherwise good spots to lie underneath the east-facing walls. Simply because there is an east-facing wall, that does not make it a good spot. Each of the spots shown on the aerial photo represents an inflowing creek mouth. The fact they lay under east-facing walls makes them prime for early morning buzzbait or topwater action. Another plus is these spots are clustered less than ten minutes apart from each other. So you can run them all quickly and pull a few decent bass off each wall if you are lucky.

In terms of size, I tend to use the 1/4 oz sizes more when it is calm out; the 3/8 most of the time; and the 1/2 oz size when the wind blows or it's choppy. I tend to use a buzzbait more in cover, in the shade, in a chop or in rippled water. I tend to use hard plastic topwaters (such as poppers, Super Spooks, Lucky Craft Sammy, etc.) more in open, sunny or calm waters. So if I was fishing around a point that had a shaded, rippled side, I'd probably pick up the buzzbait rod until I got to the calm, sunny side, and then I'd pick up a rod with a Super Spook or Sammy for example. However, I have used buzzbaits successfully under any and all conditions. The best time to use buzzbaits is simply when bass are willing to belt them, which is often. In fact, I'd rather use a buzzbait than any topwater since a buzzbait fishes faster, covers more water, and I like the upright single hook. It's like fishing a topwater jig to me. Given a choice of line, I like to use fluorocarbon line with buzzbaits and a soft-tipped rod.

I often rig two buzzbait rods - one baitcaster with a heavier buzzbait and heavier line, and one spinning rod with a lighter buzzbait and ten pound test. This way I can show fish a couple of different buzzbait styles, colors, blade configurations, actions, change casting arms, and if one rod temporarily goes "down" or out of commission for whatever reason, I can instantly pick up the other rod to keep fishing. A third rod with a throwback soft bait (either weightless or lightly-weighted) is also essential to throw back at any good fish that blow up but miss the buzzbait, follow it to the boat or that you otherwise spot with your eyes or on the sonar. They may or may not swipe at the buzzbait again (or at all) but you can often catch them on the throwback soft bait of your choice. It's tough to beat a 4 or 5 inch Senko as a throwback bait.

A good throwback bait rigged and ready to throw - is essential. Shown above is a 4-inch 9S-Series Yamamoto Senko in "threadfin shad" color #927 with lightweight 1/8 and 5/32 oz wacky jigs. Being able to instantly throw back an unweighted or lightweight soft bait can be crucial to catching many more bass than just with buzzbaits alone.

Although this info is specific to how I use buzzbaits on Lake Powell, you may be able to apply some of these principles to your own home waters anywhere. Good luck!

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There was a time, several decades ago, when a few cronies and I restricted ourselves to only using buzzbaits. There was no special reason to do this, except we liked the challenge. We had done this sort of thing before by voluntarily restricting our fishing to only certain lure types or designated colors, in order to make fishing more challenging to us. Not for a day, or for a few fishing trips, but for entire seasons.

So I tied on a buzzbait at the start of one season, and never took it off. A few friends did the same thing. One friend in particular, Phil Chan and I, we fished mainly buzzbaits for not one but two seasons. There was no reason, except the challenge. Likewise, there was no reason NOT to fish buzzbaits. We scored well most any day or night, under any conditions, with buzzbaits. Oh, there were vexing days we wished to try something else, but we stuck with it. By the end of each fishing trip, we could usually conjure up a decent catch, most any day, on buzzbaits.

I wish there was some deep insight I could give you after two years straight, throwing buzzbaits only. There's not. Things that pop to mind are:

• Make that first cast count. Percentages are that you will either catch or be rejected by most fish on that first cast.
  
• Make the splashdown count. Casting a buzzbait is like pitching a softball. Due to the air-resistant big blades, it is more like an arcing slow lob cast than a fastball. So fish have more time to see it coming through the air, and they are most likely looking up expecting to see dragonflies, butterflies, bats and what not hovering close to the surface. Odds are, you will get hit upon splashdown or within the first few seconds many days.
  
• Make that first bite count. If you miss a bite, which happens often with all topwater lures, just keep it coming. If you plan to toss the buzzbait back at the same fish that missed, wait five minutes. If you cast right back in, there's more chance the fish will reject it. If you wait five minutes, the fish will often do its best to make a more solid strike after you wait five minutes.
  
• Bump the Stump. This almost goes without saying, but it's so true. Anytime the buzzbait bumps anything, odds are high you'll get hit.

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What Makes these Buzzbaits Great? Let us count the ways:

1. Oxbow Wire. Drop down bend in lower wire arm allows skirt to ride lower in the water for more solid strikes and hooksets. Oxbow bend also has stabilizing rudder effect, helping buzzbait run truer and straighter.
    
2. Oversized Gamakatsu. Extra-long wide-bend 4/0 Gamakatsu hook set far back to nab short strikers.
    
3. Two-Dimensional Planing Head. The horizontally flattened head is not just wide, but the flat plane is angled upward in front for instant lift. Behind the horizontal planing section, there is a second vertical planing dimension. This awesome engineering feat is like the water flow hitting a wall. It forces the buzzbait straight up, helping it plane as soon as it hits the surface, and keeping it on top at the slowest possible crawl. The hydrodynamics of it all are astounding.
    
4. New Skirt Technology. Either Hole-In-One, EZ Skirts or Wrapped Skirts are used. Short-striking fish can't easily pull these skirts down, which wrecks any chance for a second swipe. These skirt strands come glued onto a rubber core. They stay in place so bass keep hitting until you hook them!
    
5. Heavy Duty .051 Wire Arms in 3/8 and 1/2 oz. There's an .051 diameter wire in the 3/8 and 1/2 oz sizes, making this buzzbait a monster bass machine! It sports one of the strongest arm you'll ever see for wrestling the biggest bass on heavy line.
    

6. .040 Super Wire Arm in 1/4 oz. Much fuss is made with spinnerbaits about wire arm diameter. But when it comes to buzzbaits, there is rarely any discussion of wire diameter. Therefore, most buzzbaits are made with very heavy wire arms. For instance, these 3/8 and 1/2 oz buzzbaits have a heavy duty .051 wire arm. That's a wire size never used in spinnerbaits for bass.

   However, the 1/4 oz buzzbaits have an .040 diameter SUPER WIRE arm. Now, .040 is considered heavy wire for a spinnerbait, and most "big bass" spinnerbaits on the market have .040 wire arms. What this means is these 1/4 oz buzzbaits with the .040 wire are quite durable to land lunkers, and the .040 wire does allow for better harmonics and more vibration than .051 wire on a lightweight (1/4 oz) buzzbait.

   Yes, vibration is as important in a buzzbait as a spinnerbait, and the SUPER WIRE vibrates almost 50% more and is 30% more durable and bend-resistant than standard wire of the same diameter. Now, that 30% more strength is on a lab-testing machine. While actually fishing, it seems the bend-resistance equates to more than that.
    

7. Did we mention the oversized set-back 4/0 Gamakatsu for hooking, holding and landing the heaviest lunkers?

Those are just the facts. No hype.

That's What Makes these Buzzbaits Great!

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Wrapped Skirts

The buzzbaits below have the brand new wrapped style skirt. These are the very latest breakthrough in new skirt technology for 2007. Bassdozer's Store is one of the first to offer these. The non-stop wriggling motion of the strands is especially attractive on these buzzbaits.

It's kind of a retro rolled-up layered skirt. Made of a new generation of super soft, super thin silicone remindful of living rubber in terms of action under water. These have an inner core tube that three layers of super soft, super thin silicone are wrapped around so the finished skirt appears rolled up. The innermost layer is wide spear-point strands. The two outer layers are thin-cut strands. Each layer can be the same or different color. This new soft silicone is so thin that glitter cannot be added to the skirts. Glitter flake is too thick to go into this new material.

The main reason why wrapped skirts go so good on buzzbaits is that they stay put on the lead collar. They can't easily pull down. The wrapped skirts have a solid inner core tube that stays in place on buzzbaits. They are very durable and they wriggle like crazy.

Standard skirts can pull off the lead collar even just from casting a buzzbait with the standard skirt band. A buzzbait needs to be cast a little different than and more forceful than a spinnerbait or jig. A standard style skirt, once you catch a couple fish on it, just does not stay in place on a hard cast or when a fish grabs a buzzbait and misses, a standard skirt often gets pulled down the hook. On the other hand, the wrapped skirts stay in place.

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Citrus Shad ~ Clacker

Clacker. These buzzbaits have clackers. Bottom beads ensure the clacker sits up high enough so it constantly contacts the main blade. The longer wire bent down behind the rivet ensures the main blade stays far forward and in constant contact with the clacker too.

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Citrus Shad ~ Clacker

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ White ~ Clacker

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EZ Skirt Models

EZ Skirts. Buzzbaits in the section below have have "EZ" skirts, which are new on the market since mid-2005. These have a new style of "hubbed" center retainer to hold the strands in place. They are rugged and durable, the strands are locked in place so color patterns can never get messed up. They present beautifully on buzzbaits and have an incredible wriggling action.

Reason I use these on a buzzbait is I can carefully glue the center hub to the lead collar of the buzzbait, making it almost impossible the skirt can ever pull down. Keep in mind, it is the center hub that can be glued to the collar - not the individual strands.

These EZ Skirts have a good action and a lot of wiggle in the water, making them great for buzzbaits, plus the fact that bass can't easily pull them

When moving - swimming, buzzing or reeled steadily, this skirt style has incredible wriggling, pulsing, puffing movements not possible with other skirt types. You will definitely notice (and like) the difference these puffing, pulsing, swimming skirts make on the following three buzzbaits.

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ White Silver

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Smokey Shad

1/2 oz Buzzbait ~ Bluegill

1/2 oz Buzzbait ~ Chartreuse White Stain

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Black Red

1/2 oz Buzzbait ~ Black Red

Here are a few new colors I added without the spinner blade:

3/8 oz White Gold

3/8 oz Silver Hologram

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Hole-In-One Skirt Models

The Hole-In-Ones are center-hubbed, all strands come factory-glued perfectly in place. If you want, the solid center hub (not the individual strands) can be glued to the collar on the buzzbait, making the total buzzbait package nearly indestructible!

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Threadfin Special

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Gold Shiner Flash

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Smallie Special

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Alewife

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Chartreuse White Flash

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Chartreuse White Pearl

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Threadfin Shad

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Summer Shad

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Spot Special

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ White Pearl Flash

1/2 oz Buzzbait ~ Threadfin Flash

1/2 oz Buzzbait ~ Chartreuse White Flash

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Frogs, Toads and Buzzbaits.  Hollow rubber frogs and soft plastic toads have become a trend for fishing thick grass the last few years. Hollow frogs are often nudged or bounced along with the rod tip in order to impart some semblance of natural movement. Soft plastic toads are often kept moving, reeled or "buzzed" slowly across the surface of a congested grassy area. Many frog and toad lures are colored to resemble the same. Although buzzbaits are not as weedless as rubber frogs and soft plastic toads, buzzbaits also come across the surface in thick cover, but buzzbait colors rarely resemble frogs or toads. So now, Bassdozer introduces two new buzzbait colors for grass (and frog) filled areas: 1) Green Pumpkin Gold and 2) Natural Frog. Please enjoy!

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Green Pumpkin Gold

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Natural Frog

Merthiolate. Another productive color you've probably never seen in a buzzbait before!

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Merthiolate

Dragonfly Buzzbaits

I do not know about your region of the country, but here in the Southwest where I am, it has been a banner year for dragonflies, and bass have been fixated on eating dragonflies so far this summer. Now, dragonflies are always a good thing that draws bass around these parts - but especially this year.

It's not only the adults in the air, but the nymphs emerging from under water and undergoing metamorphosis into winged adults. Indeed, there are more fish hunkered down and camped on the underwater brush beds trying to get at the aquatic dragonfly nymphs rather than chasing the airborne winged adults. The nymphs as they mature have no choice but to leave the safety of the bottom brush where they are well-hidden and expose themselves as they climb out onto a limb or reed stalk where their new adult bodies swell up inside in order to crack out of their hard larval exoskeletons and unfurl their new wings and flying adult bodies. It's a complete metamorphosis where the nymph transitions from water to land (and air).

It's almost a migration or exodus the nymphs must make, from fully-submerged brush beds shoreward to emergent brush and reeds and such hard type growth where they can anchor onto something long enough to pop their old bodies and harden and cure their new bodies for a few hours before being able to fly off.

The transition from deeper sunken brush beds to emergent brush is especially compounded in lakes that have annual spring runoff that raises the water level and floods new growth in early summer. Nymphs that had previously been close to the shoreline can end up under many feet of water and, thanks to the rising waters, quite far away from any emergent growth they'll need to climb out onto.

So as good as a buzzbait is when bass are chasing flying dragonflies, don't neglect a heavy dark-colored spinnerbait or dark-colored jig and pig, since more and bigger bass are also interested in grabbing nymphs that are ready to undergo metamorphosis.

There's a misconception I often hear that only small bass chase dragonflies. But focus on the bigger picture of what's happening, especially the deep flooded brush beds the nymphs need to crawl out of toward emergent shoreline growth, and you'll haul many of the biggest bass of summer that have their heads down doting on these nymphs rather than chasing the hovering adults.

Also, adult dragonflies typically hover around calm kind of mucky, almost standing type water, because the winged insects the adults feed on hatch in such areas. However, the egg-laying and nymph nursery areas are often pristine, highly-oxygenated, open, windblown shorelines with lots of windrowed brush banks - quite the opposite of the mucky, almost stagnant areas where the adults hunt food. Indeed the dragonfly nymphs need a lot better water quality to mature than do the gnats and mosquitoes and such that adult dragonflies eat. They'll be emerging - and the mating adults will be dropping eggs - in much less mucky areas than they hunt food.

3/8 oz Dragonfly Spinner

3/8 oz Olive Alewife Spinner

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Spinner Buzzbaits

Spinner Blade. The trailing spinner blade on a ball bearing swivel adds a second churning, bubbling wake behind the primary buzz blade. It jumps and bumps and gurgles and bounces. It adds flash, movement, noise... more of all the things we tend to feel make a buzzbait great. And if you face moments when you don't want all that, you can remove the swivel and spinner blade in a few seconds, and it reattaches just as easily.

An important thing which this add-on addresses is that awkward moment when your buzzbait first splashes down and for whatever reason, you don't get it to instantly start churning on the surface. This is an important point with buzzbait fishing as many strikes happen within those first few seconds. There are many claims of buzzbait heads designed to plane and rise to the surface instantly. I experimented with those claims in my test pool the other day. I took one each of all the popular brands of buzzbaits that claim to instantly plane to the surface. I threw each one by one into the pool. They all sank. Not one has planed to the surface yet. This test proves that how quickly a buzzbait planes to the surface upon initial splashdown is mainly a function of the angler using his rod position, line angle and reel to make a buzzbait plane as soon as possible. It's often unavoidable that the buzzbait will initially submerge, if only for a few seconds before the angler's actions raise it to the surface. During those first moments when the buzzbait is submerged under water, I tend to get more hits with the spinner blade. I attribute those bonus strikes to the trailing spinner blade doing it's thing to attract bass. There are some days I get more strikes in the first few seconds when the buzzbait is under the water than I get for the entire rest of the retrieve, and I attribute that to the spinner blade doing its thing underwater somewhat similar to a spinnerbait blade.

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Alewife Spinner

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Smallie Special Spinner

1/2 oz Buzzbait ~ Chartreuse White Flash ~ Spinner

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ White Pearl Flash ~ Soinner

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Black Red Spinner

1/2 oz Buzzbait ~ Black Red Spinner

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Black White ~ Spinner

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Chartreuse White Star ~ Spinner

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3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ White ~ Spinner

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style P ~ Black ~ Spinner

Style Q and Style V Buzzbaits

Gamakatsu Hook. These buzzbaits all have Gamakatsu hooks.

Heavy Wire Arm. The 3/8 and 1/2 oz size buzzbaits have heavy duty .051 wire. The 1/4 oz size buzzbait has .040 super wire which is stronger and vibrates more than standard wire. I feel that wire vibration matters as much with buzzbaits as with spinnerbaits. So the 1/4 oz buzzbaits have .040 super wire. It is incredibly strong. It vibrates more and shakes the skirt much more, imparting more wriggling action to the skirt.

Buzzbait Blade Styles. The smaller style P, Q and V blades, the small clacker and small Colorado spinner match up best with 1/4 oz buzzbaits. The bigger P, V and Q sizes work swell on 3/8 and 1/2 oz models. These no reason for the letters used (P, Q, V) except they're just a short, easy way to identify different styles.

I often alternate casting with two or more different buzzbait rods when I am fishing buzzbaits, and between the various different P, Q and V blade set-ups, fish will hit them all about equally most of the time. The different blade set-ups do behave, look and sound different, but are not so different that fish won't hit most of them sooner or later on most days. Part of the reason is a lot of time, testing and experience have gone into optimizing every different blade set-up, so by the time you see them in Bassdozer's Store, they are all about as good as a buzzbait can get, and all have what is needed to best attract strikes.

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Style Q Blades. I call this double blade configuration the "Style Q". There's no meaning for it, except to distinguish the Style Q double blade version from the Style P single blade buzzbait. The Style P (shown on right in photo) is the standard style buzzbait. Style Q (on left in photo) is a configuration I came up with in order to show fish something different. When you throw a buzzbait for two years straight, it can get recognizable to fish. So Style Q is something a bit different, and it's action is a bit different.

I have experimented with many different possible double blade configurations. The bane of most every double blade buzzbait is that they do not cast well. Even the industry-standard Style P single blade is not a great casting lure. To the contrary, the Style Q configuration casts like a rocket. It rifles out there. Upon splashdown, the Style Q rises to the surface as quick or quicker than a standard single blade buzzbait. The Style Q can be fished on top as slow or slower than a standard single blade buzzbait, and it squeaks and squeals as much or more. The Style Q performs the typical churning, bubbling retrieve. In addition, there are two different action that can be made with the Style Q:

1. Plopping. This is just letting the counter-rotating blades (one blade turns clockwise, the other blade turns counter-clockwise) plop and plink on the surface. This is a natural action like a shad blipping on the surface or a small fish feeding on tiny insects. It is not a frantic gurgling, splashing action (although the Style Q can do that too).
   
2. Waking. This simply leaves a wake like an individual fish (or a tight school of bait) leaving a vee wake. It is not "bulging" the surface, like can be done with a spinnerbait, that leaves a bulge behind. This tactic with the Style Q leaves a vee wake like one adult shad (or baitfish) pushing water with its nose, or a school of tiny baitfish muddling along on top, leaving a vee wake.

The blades turn in opposite direction on the Style Q, making it run relatively true. The blades do not torque the hook and skirt over on one side like a standard single blade buzzbait tends to roll up on one side. So if you want to speed up the retrieve, the Style Q is more stable at faster speeds than a standard single blade buzzbait.

The Style Q... it's an oldie but a goodie for me, and now available for you to try.

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style Q ~ Chartreuse White Flash

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style Q ~ White Pearl Flash

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style Q ~ Alewife

3/8 oz Buzzbait ~ Style Q ~ Smallie Special

1/2 oz Buzzbait ~ Style Q ~ Black

Triple Style Q Blades. The two smaller front and back blades rotate clockwise. The bigger middle blade turns counterclockwise. The combined counter-effect negates torque or tendency for the buzzbait to lean or come in to the side. It comes in perfectly straight as an arrow, and that is especially helpful for an angler who needs to plan how to snake it through thick grass. The straight line path makes it easy to manipulate. It casts like an arrow too - straight, far and true. The triple blades present a lot of motion flailing on the surface every which way. The noise it produces has a shaking, rattling element that you don't get with other buzzbaits.

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Quad Style V Blades. The next buzzbaits have a two-piece four-wing blade Style V blade. The two blades knock against each other. The sound is remindful of an old time steam-powered locomotive clacking over some rickety railroad tracks, and it has more squeal, splash and splutter than a single two-wing blade. Most important, with four blades, it can be retrieved far slower than a standard buzzbait.

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style V ~ Charteuse White Hologram

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style V ~ Shad-A-Delic

1/4 oz Buzzbait ~ Style V ~ White

Style V Blades. These are used in pairs. It's actually two identical parts (with two blade cups apiece) that interlock to make a four-bladed buzzbait. The two parts constantly bash each other adding a metallic chugging dimension to the squeaks and squealing sounds emitted by this contraption. With four blades, the Style V slowly churns the surface in a small frenzy of sprayed white water.

Arkey Jigs Show Flair for Finesse

The Arkey style jig has proven time and again to catch bigger bass on average than most other bass lures. Who knows why, but it is true. The Arkey jig is one of the most productive bass lures ever made.

The particular Arkey jig you see here is one of the most popular jigs on the planet. Many millions of this same jig have been cast from the same molds and have appeared under many brand labels for many years, but always with a heavy wire flipping hook for fishing with the heaviest kind of bass rods, reels and line. This is one of the first times, however, the Arkey jigs you see here have been cast with a lighter wire Gamakatsu hook and thinner, more collapsible brush guard.

The merits of doing this are two-fold:

1. First, the advanced angler get the superior performance of the Arkey style head for finesse fishing applications.
2. Second, the less-seasoned jig fisherman gets the benefits of a lighter (yet still strong) hook and softer (yet still snag-resistant) weedguard that make it easier for the average angler to succeed at jig fishing with the lighter rods and lighter lines that casual anglers tend to use.

Why the Arkey Works So Swell. The wide face and broad belly of an Arkey jig lets it climb up and over bulky bottom debris like it's a 4x4 SUV. Where a more streamlined jig head would get wedged in a crack or crevice, the Arkey jig goes right over it like an offroad ATV. That's why the bulbous Arkey jig head is an ideal choice around laydown logs, stumps, trees and rocks, deep or shallow. It has a round, widened belly so it stands up, keeps the hook pointed up. The broad face and wide shoulders let it bounce and deflect off many underwater objects, and that kind of noisy, bumbling type contact is a strike trigger designed into the Arkey jig shape. At the same time, the face and shoulder shape helps turn the hook away from any obstacle it contacts, and the stand-up stability of the Arkey shape prevents the hook from rolling on its side so it doesn't snag.

Wood is Good. Arkey style jigs were originally designed, as the name implies, in Arkansas over 45 years back by Bob Carnes when many of the bass fishing impoundments there were newly-made. With so much freshly-flooded standing timber, the Arkey jig was devised to fish through the trees without snagging. Still to this day, the Arkey jig style is the best head shape for fishing wood, be it stumps, laydowns, knees, limbs and trunks of standing timber or whatever wood type cover, shallow or deep.

Hitting Rock Bottom. Although originally designed for wood, Bob Carnes quickly discovered the Arkey also excels at climbing uphill on deep water ledges. Indeed, the Arkey's equally as good as a football jig on any hard or rocky bottom too. Whether gravel bars, stair-step ledges, round river rock, glacial boulder beds, the Arkey excels wherever rocky cover abounds. With some hard cases such as square chunk rock or sharp-edged broken rock slides, the Arkey performs even better (snags less) than a football jig on sharp-edged square rock.

1/4 oz Finesse Jig ~ Black Blue Flash

3/8 oz Finesse Jig ~ Black Blue Flash

1/2 oz Finesse Jig ~ Black Blue Flash

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Hole-In-One Skirt Technology

Hole-In-Ones first came out in late 2005, but it is only in 2007 that the technology to produce half-size short-haired Hole-In-One skirts has been possible. The Hole-In-One style skirt locks the short hairs in place so they can never be pulled off the skirt by a fish, and they can never wiggle out from under the collar. On standard collars, the retainer band softens and loosens with use. With a standard full-length skirt, this loosening of the collar is not as big a problem as with short-haired finesse skirts which will fall out from under a loosened collar. With the Hole-In-One style skirts, fish can't pull the short hairs off the skirt, and the strands can never wiggle out from under the collar.

Inner Core. First, these finesse skirts are built using Hole-In-One bands, meaning there is an inner core (clear colored in this photo) that the skirt is banded around.

Outer Band. Second, there is a second collar (black in this photo) that is put around the outside, that sandwiches the strands between the inner core and outer band.

Glued in Place. Third, and what makes Hole-In-One skirts the best is that a light application of transparent glue is used to lock everything into one unit. Un this way, the short hairs can never wriggle out from off the collar. You rarely see this glue at all, as this photo shows no clue of the glue. Yet every strand is locked practically permanently in place on the collar, and it is unlikely a short-striking or hard-fighting fish can pull any of the strands out from under the retainer collar.

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Short Hair Finesse Skirts

FINESSE SKIRTS. These half-size skirts have a short fuzzy forward-facing stubble. An important breakthrough in 2007 is the technology to make these short-hair finesse skirts with the strands locked in place using Hole-In-One collars. These have an inner core tube and an outer band, and colorless light glue. It's hard to see there's any glue, but it's there, which is especially important to lock and keep the short ends from slipping out.

Finesse skirts have the same number of strands (44 to 50 strands depending on color) as full size skirts, but finesse skirts are exactly one half as long as full-size skirts.

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Arkey Jigs ~ Finesse Versus Power

Comparison of Arkey Finesse Versus Power Jigs:

The hooks in the photo are premium Gamakatsu flat eye jig hooks. The hooks appear blotchy in color, but only in the photo, not in reality. The jigs, the hooks and the paint colors all look far better in reality than in the photos.

Points in common: Both come out of the same mold. Both have the same Arkey head shape that works especially in wood or rock. The shape does not excel in thick grass. Both have the same double collar: 1) a ring to keep a skirt secure, and 2) a bayonet barb collar to hold a soft plastic trailer. Both have the same hook sizes: 1/4 oz 3/0; 3/8 oz 4/0; and 1/2 oz 5/0. Differences are: The finesse jigs have a corrosion-resistant black nickel Gamakatsu 60 degree flat eye, round bend light wire hook made specifically for finesse jig fishing. Although thin wire diameter, it is exceptionally strong. The power jigs have either a heavy Gamakatsu flat eye or a heavy Mustad Ultra Point flat eye. Both are corrosion-resistant black nickel, heavy wire for flipping or power fishing with heavy rods, reels, lines. The finesse jig has a softer, more collapsible, thinner fiber brush guard. The power jig has a firmer, less collapsible, thicker fiber brush guard. The finesse jig brush guard is molded in during the casting process. The power jig brush guard is glued in after casting and painting. A finesse jig is also sometimes referred to as a "casting" jig. A power jig is also sometimes referred to as a "flipping" jig. A finesse jig is ideal for deep water, for sparse cover or open bottom. A power jig is ideal for shallow water and heavy cover. A finesse jig is ideal for light to medium rods, reels and lines. A power jig is ideal for heavy rods, reels and heavy line. A finesse jig matches the new half-skirt styles and small trailers. A power jig matches with full-size skirts and big, bulky trailers. The finesse jig does not come in a 3/4 oz size. The power jig comes in a 3/4 oz size (not shown) with a 5/0 hook.

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Finesse Gear to Use ~ Rods, Reels, Line

Gary Yamamoto Casting Rod ~ Medium Fast Model. Gary Yamamoto has produced several fantastic new rod models for 2007. Shown here is the medium fast new casting rod model by Yamamoto. I don't think I''ve ever used a better rod for 12 to 14 pound test deepwater finesse jigging applications, or any jig application, shallow or deep, in the 12 to 14 pound test range with jigs from 1/4 to 1/2 oz heads, including the finesse jigs shown here, Yamamoto double tail hula grubs, tube jigs or any kind of jig fishing where a medium heavy application is required, this new Yamamoto rod is a sweetheart. The Arkey finesse jigs shown here have medium wire Gamakatsu hooks and more flexible fiberguard matches perfectly with medium/heavy rod and 12 to 14 pound test Sugoi fluorocarbon line.

Gary Yamamoto Spinning Rod ~ Medium Heavy Model. Gary Yamamoto currently offers three awesome spinning rods. The medium heavy model with ten pound test mono or castable fluorocarbon is absolutely perfect for finesse jig fishing, especially with the 1/4 to 1/2 oz jig sizes shown here. The Arkey finesse jigs shown here have medium wire hooks and more flexible fiberguards that work fine with stout spinning tackle like the medium heavy action Yamamoto spinning rod shown here. Stick to medium wire diameter (yet still strong) hooks like these Arkey finesse jigs with spinning gear.

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Trailer Choices

A jig with a skirt only, but no trailer, will catch few fish. No jig is complete without a trailer added to it.

The Yamamoto Flappin' Hog is both compact and bulky at the same time. The finesse skirt has only half the strand length of a normal skirt. So the finesse skirt really highlights a short but bulky trailer much better. With a full size skirt, such a trailer would get lost in the strands. On a half-size finesse skirt, however, this type trailer is presented the best possible way.

Many of your favorite finesse trailers are worth trying!

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Don't Forget the Scent

There's endless speculation among anglers whether fish attractants do or do not work as advertised. They do. At least for me. Especially with soft baits. I first began to use fish attractants in the early eighties. Dr. Juice was the first attractant I tried, soon to be followed by Fish Formula and a host of other attractants. After 25 years of experience, I can tell you they work, especially with soft baits. Some of the best attractants today are Gary Yamamoto's own fish attractant, Kick'n Bass and MegaStrike (shown above). I like the ease of MegaStrike's gel tube because it can be applied and stored with less mess. Squeezable bottles of non-gel liquid with spout type nozzles make more mess on you, the boat, and in storage. With MegaStrike's gel tube, there is still a mess, just less. Why put up with the mess? Because soft baits with attractant catch more bass than without. Twenty-five years of fishing with and without attractant have proven this to me beyond any doubt. If you don't want the mess (on you, your boat, your lunch, your rods, reels, everything you touch, etc.), that's understandable. Also understand that if you're not using an attractant with soft baits, you are not catching all the bass you could.

I like to keep whatever trailers I am using in their original bags. This way, it is easy for me to add a pea-sized glob of MegaStrike gel or a few drops of Yamamoto's liquid fish attractant or Kick'n Bass into each fresh bag of trailers when first open the bag for a day's fishing trip.

During hot times of the year, the MegaStrike gel will liquefy. I do not know whether you can see the liquefied MegaStrike remaining in the half-used bag of jig trailers (Yamamoto Flappin' Hogs) above. However, the attractant is in there. You don't need to put in much at all. A pea-sized glob or just a few drops. It will quickly work itself all over all the baits in a bag. It will give them a lifelike sheen coating which will disperse, causing a visible oily and olfactory-detectable "chum" slick in the water column and on the surface above the bait. If any baits had gotten kinked or bent while stored in the bag, the oil helps relax and unkink the baits. With heat from the sun beating down on the bags on the boat deck, it won't be long before the oils and sun's heat help restore all baits back to their originally-molded perfect shapes without kinks and bends.

I do not add fish attractant to the jigs nor skirts. Enough attractant gets on the trailers alone, and it is the trailer the fish tends to strike.

Bass hit jigs different ways. Some say that bass engulf jigs in their entirety as the jig falls, and that may be true. Swimming jigs along steadily, however, many times bass will nip and tug at the tail tips to begin with, and when a jig is at rest laying on bottom, bass often grab the tip of a trailer and yank it rather than engulfing the entire jig. If a bass nips and tugs at a swimming jig or if it grabs and yanks on a resting jig, if there is no attractant or if there is no expendable part that comes off in the fish's mouth, then the chances the fish will wheel around and strike again are iffy at best. Most likely, you will not get a second strike. At least that's what my research proves. On the other hand, when an attractant-coated part of a Flappin' Hog gets sacrificed to a hungry fish, it convinces the fish it's good to eat and has just been injured. It's almost certain you'll be struck again as the fish comes back to finish the job. All you need to do at that point is get prepared to set the hook.

Short-haired finesse skirts let trailers like this attractant-coated Yamamoto Flappin' Hog take center stage as the main strike target.

And that's the beauty behind a succulent trailer glistening with attractant and fished on an Arkey finesse jig dressed with a short skirt.

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Trimming the Fiberguard

How to Trim a Weedless Jig Many moons ago, I cut the fiberguards off jigs entirely. I fished jigs with fully-exposed hooks in the heaviest cover imaginable. This was in order to teach myself the hard way how to fish jigs in heavy cover. I reasoned that if I could master how to get an exposed hook jig into thick cover (the easy part) and out (not so easy), then it would be a cinch when I resumed using a fiberguard. Without any fiberguard, you need to land your cast precisely where you want it, often in the thickest part of the cover, or the exact spot you want to work it. In dense weeds, you would need to land right in a hat-sized hole in the weeds, for example. Once it hits the water, you really cannot move it at all. Just let it sink and wait for what seems like forever without moving it at all. Fish will often pick it up, even after a long, long time without moving it. If that doesn't happen, just shake the line, quivering the jig without moving it forward. After shaking and quivering the line for about ten seconds, wait for another long, long time, which is when the hit will come. I call this the "shake and bake" tactic. Repeat shaking and baking about four or five times. All the while, the jig hasn't moved an inch. You shake the line, not the jig. When you finally do feel a need to move the jig forward, do it ever-so-slowly, hardly moving at all, until it bumps some obstacle - a rock, wood, weed edge or whatever. Now, just keep backing off and bumping the object, back off and bump, back off and bump several times, then wait a long time without moving the jig. I refer to this as "knocking on the door." Repeat knocking on the door, but make sure to pause. The bumps calls fish over to see who's at the door, and when you pause, they answer by hitting your jig. Even if the jig snags onto an object, never mind. Just shake it patiently and attractively while it's snagged. Always make painstakingly long pauses in between the short bouts of shaking. When you pause, fish will pull the snagged jig off whatever it's stuck on. It took me two seasons to get good at it, but that's how I learned to fish jigs in heavy cover with fully-exposed hooks. The same applies to jigs with fiberguards, except they snag less. In case you do not want to learn the way I did, I offer you the tips below that tell you how to trim a fiberguard to best protect a jig hook from snags. Why do you need to trim a fiberguard at all? Too full a fiberguard may block the strike, impede the jig's way into the mouth, and resist your hook set. So trimming the fiberguard (while still preventing snags) reduces these potential problems. Tools Required to Trim Jigs. A knife blade and scissors are ideally required tools. A Leatherman Wave multi-tool conveniently includes both. Step One. With the pocket knife blade, carefully and gently rock the base of the blade against the fibers, right where the fibers are molded into the jig head. There's no need to actually cut or apply force. Just gently and carefully rock or wiggle the blade against the fibers a few times. How many fibers you cut off depends on two things: 1) the cover you'll be fishing, and 2) the rod, reel and line you use. In light cover and/or with a light rod and line, cut off more. In heavy cover and/or with a heavy rod and line, cut off less. In open water with no obstructions swimming a jig above the bottom, there's no need for a fiberguard and it can be cut off entirely. In light cover, often as few as 7 or 8 fibers are all you need. It goes against logic to buy a jig with a bushy fiberguard and then cut off all or most of it, but that can be your best option in open water or light cover. To begin with, it is better to cut off too few rather than too many. You can always trim a couple more later. Especially if you are not hooking a high percentage of fish, your fiberguard may still be a little too thick. So you may want to trim a couple more fibers off. It's a trade-off between better hooksets (fewer fibers) and better snag-resistance (more fibers). Step Two. About 20 of the approximately 40 fibers have been cut off flush with the jig head. Never pluck the fibers out. Plucking leaves a hole which will cause the remaining fibers to loosen and fall out. By keeping the "roots" intact as shown above, the remaining fibers cannot easily loosen. Step Three. Clip the remaining fibers short with the scissors. Step Four. How short to clip the fibers depends upon how heavy or light the cover you will be fishing. That's really the key to trimming a jig - where you will be using it. You usually do not want the fibers to be shorter than just touching the hook point, as shown here. In some cases however, especially in soft grass that can stick to a jig, I leave the fibers a little longer than shown above. Step Five. Half the fibers have been cut off at the base, and the remaining half trimmed to barely above the hook point. However, a fiberguard bundled directly in front of the hook point as shown offers poor snag protection from the sides. There are still further steps to complete. Step Six.  Most snags don't happen directly straight up in front of the hook point. Most snags happen