The Inside Line

At Dobyns Rods, we build models for every technique bass anglers need to employ. Sometimes, they’re making short, precise casts, flips, pitches or skips to specific targets; other times, they’re launching baits long distances. It’s important to develop your skills at all presentations, but I think the long cast is something that doesn’t always get enough attention.

When B.A.S.S. announced Lake Fork as site of this year’s Texas Fest, every angler in the field immediately thought of big bass. Because of good management and strict catch-and-release regulations, trophy bass are abundant on Lake Fork, and this year’s event certainly proved it.

Of all the events slated on this year’s Bassmaster Elite Series schedule, none was more concerning than Winyah Bay. Serving as the confluence to numerous rivers, this South Carolina tidal system can be unpredictable and stingy … even when the conditions seem right.

Of all the events listed on this year’s Bassmaster Elite Series schedule, I was most optimistic about this one.

That may come as a shock to some of you since my favorite fishery — the St. Lawrence River — is also on the schedule. And you know how much I like that place.

The reason I wanted Hartwell was the timing. It fell dead on the spawn, and I love to sight fish. And with more than 56,000 surface acres, I knew I’d find somewhere to fish by myself.

Gary Dobyns loves the spring season; but not only for the warming weather — he’s more enamored with the seasonal bass movement that increases the levels of both quality and quantity. No doubt, the prespawn is the time to punch your ticket on a whopper and the renowned rod maker is all about maximizing his opportunities.

At nearly 40,000 surface acres, Lake Lanier is spacious and welcoming. Its beautifully sculpted shorelines feature countless points, pockets and coves — all comprised of rock, sand or clay.

The main body of the lake is deep and clear but to the north, the rivers feeding Lanier flow with a chalky stain.

Fishing in February on the St. Johns River can mean feast or famine, rarely anything in between. It’s all dependent on the weather. If a severe cold front moves in, forget about it. But if temperatures are on the rise, you better make sure your tackle is up to the task.

When B.A.S.S. first released the 2018 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule, I saw plenty of opportunity. Most of the venues seemed perfectly suited to my style of fishing, and I was anxious to get things rolling.

Unfortunately, with each passing event that optimism faded. In the end, I was left with the worst season of my 30-plus-year career.

The pre-ICAST story of note has clearly been about the new entrants into the trolling motor market. That’s an arena that in the tournament bass world has been a two horse race for a few decades, with the Minn Kota Ultrex taking a commanding lead over the past few years. Now, with other companies entering the fray, there’s real competition.

I am now four days deep into my snakeheading “guide” career, as friends from out of town have sought me out to help them fill their snakey jones on the Potomac. In fact, I have my first repeat visitor coming from Texas (via ICAST) on Friday night for a chance to repeat last year’s ultimately victorious struggle over the prehistoric invasives.

This is about the time of year when the north country wakes up, and tour level smallmouth fiends who’ve been eating grits and drinking sweet tea for the past six months expect to come into their own. If you’re from Michiana or Minnebraska and you’re just outside the Classic cut, heading up to bronze country is like a gift from the fish-bearing gods, an opportunity to cement a spot next March at Guntersville.

One of my fraternity brothers cheated his way through college. Truth be told, it was the least of his transgressions – had he not been perhaps the school’s greatest wrestler to date, his fighting, belligerence towards campus security and other drunken misdeeds might’ve gotten him kicked out long before graduation. In moments of clearheaded sobriety, though, he worked on various schemes to game the academic system.

I spent the next couple of decades looking back on that year with regret and anger. First I was ashamed that I hadn’t been fully engaged. Then I gradually realized that to the extent that I wasn’t an active participant, that reflected poorly on him as well. He didn’t teach to the entirety of the class, just to the select few who fit his preferred student profile. I concluded that he did many of us a disservice and despite being very smart he was actually a poor teacher.

“I hear you knocking, but you can’t come in…”

It’s starting to seem like that should be Chris Zaldain’s weigh-in music.

Now that my return to Alaska is finally close, I’m starting both to relive my 1995 trip and to get excited about this one. The last go-round, we spent money we didn’t have at the end of the journey to take a halibut charter out of the world-famous town of Homer.

I just finished up a short article for one of the few remaining major newsstand mags about shiner fishing in Florida. I’ve gotten paid to write about fishing for 15 years – and when you add up all of the articles and advertorial pieces I’m sure I’ve been published well over a thousand times, as far as I can recall this is the first piece I’ve written about using live bait for bass.

I’m less than seven weeks away from my second trip to Alaska, only 24 years after the first one, and I’m as excited as I’ve been about anything in a long time. I’m going to some world-famous fisheries and I’ll be there with people who know the waters better than anyone else.