The Inside Line

Every summer the Bassmaster Elite Series heads north, and that means big waves and big smallmouth. It is a fun way to fish but it also takes additional preparation to make sure my boat and the gear I use to tackle those big bronzebacks give me the best possible chance at success. Here are a few things I do to make sure all of my equipment is ready for the big water.

New lakes are always exciting, but they can be equally intimidating. I knew virtually nothing about Lake Oahe in South Dakota, other than it was huge and full of smallmouth bass … or so was the claim.

Entering this event, my expectations were high. The Upper Mississippi is thick with vegetation and other forms of shallow cover, perfect for my style and approach. In fact, my first trip to LaCrosse was particularly rewarding. The frog bite was off the hook, and I finished well within the money.

After a three-month postponement, BASS was finally able to hold the Sabine River event at Orange, Texas. The river was now back within its banks and conditions were stable after weeks of flooding.

Site selection for this year’s Texas BASSfest event was Lake Travis — a beautiful, deep and clear reservoir near the city of Austin.

During the pre-spawn, my bait of choice is a jerkbait and during the post-spawn, I love to throw topwater. This is nothing out of the ordinary as just about every bass angler uses these techniques during those times of the year, but one thing I like to mix in during both of these periods is a soft plastic jerkbait like the Yamamoto D-Shad. I fish it as a complement to my hard jerkbaits and walking topwater baits.

I like Kentucky Lake, but my track record there is weak at best. It’s full of bass — nearly all species in fact — but it can be fickle at times. And it’s almost always due to fluctuations in water level.

Welcome to Professional Bass Fishing Jeopardy, where we skip the easy questions and go straight into Final Jeopardy.

Ever since soft plastic ribbed swimbaits took over space in anglers’ tackle boxes previously reserved for swim jigs, spinnerbaits and vibrating jigs, we’ve been looking for ways to increase hooking and landing percentages.

On Monday I quizzed 2015 Forrest Wood Cup winner Brad Knight for the better part of two hours about how he compiles his arsenal of Lew’s Custom Speed Sticks, but we had 15 minutes left before we each had to move onto other projects, so I started digging around in his boat.

On Monday I got to spend 90 minutes in the boat with David Fritts, 1993 Bassmaster Classic Champion, 1997 FLW Championship victor, and widely acknowledged crankbait savant. About a decade ago I’d spent a day with him on the Potomac River on a tour practice day, but that day he was focused on finding fish so I really couldn’t pick his brain. This time, it was all about the Q&A.

Before last week’s Bass Fishing Hall of Fame induction ceremony fades too far into the rearview mirror, I wanted to offer one last thought about the inductees. While nonagenarian Berkley Bedell wowed me, Gary Klein and KVD were shoo-ins, and Helen Sevier could probably buy them all (James Henshall, who died 93 years ago, slightly before Bedell caught his first fish, was not in attendance), it would be irresponsible not to give broadcaster Tommy Sanders some love in print.

Just about every vacation is an opportunity to cram in a little fishing, even if that’s not the trip’s primary purpose. That means it would be sacrilege to head to the annual Bass Fishing Hall of Fame dinner and not find a way to wet a line.

On Thursday night I attended the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame’s annual induction banquet in Springfield, Missouri and I was heartened by the appreciation for our sport’s history that seemed to defy otherwise semi-clearly drawn battle lines, both new and old.

U.S. News and World Report recently released their annual rankings of the top universities in the United States and I was pleased that my alma mater, Columbia University, was tied for number three.

For the better part of a decade I’ve been bugging Yamamoto VP of Operations Ron Colby for a range of new products and soft plastic colors, some of which I’m surprised he hasn’t adopted and others of which I’ve realized I shouldn’t mention anymore.