The Inside Line

After such a poor showing at the Potomac River, I desperately wanted to end the season on a high note, and I believed the Upper Mississippi could make that happen. I really like the waters there.

Have you ever considered hiring a bass guide for your next fishing trip?  As a full-time guide myself, and one who’s hired guides in the past, I’d like to share a bit of insight that should prove useful in helping you find the right guide for your next bass fishing trip.  

When B.A.S.S. included the Potomac River on this year’s schedule, I was licking my chops. A summer event on such good tidal water sounded almost too good to be true. 

Recalling my Top-10 finish on the Chesapeake Bay a year earlier, I felt there was no way I could fail. Boy was I ever wrong!

The Elite Series event on the Potomac River is starting soon and I am excited to get on the water. I have been there three times and each time the swim jig played a big role. The river really sets up perfectly for a swim jig. It is a great way to quickly cover water to find concentrations of fish and then once you find them, it's easy to slow down and pitch Senkos.

Being a part of the first Bassmaster Classic Bracket on the Niagara River was a pretty neat deal. It was cool to be a part of something that was sort of unfolding right before our eyes every day. The unique elements of a limited practice, a small field of eight pros, real-time scoring, having a scoring official in our boats and having our rounds streamed live to the internet were all part of an intense new format, never before seen on the Elites Series. 

Whenever B.A.S.S. schedules an event in New York, I feel my chances for success are strong. The Empire State has always been good to me, and I expected this event would deliver more of the same.

Part of the Finger Lakes, Cayuga is nearly 40 miles long and 400 feet deep. Formed by glaciers thousands of years ago, it has evolved into prime habitat for both smallmouth and largemouth. And because spring came late to the region, I felt both species might come into play.

Sometimes it’s not a matter of the amount you win as much as when you win it and how. In many cases it may be better to be exceptional in just a few events than very good in all of them.

As a result of his stellar 2016 Elite Series campaign, Gerald Swindle became the 11th angler in B.A.S.S. history to earn multiple Bassmaster AOY titles. 

You glass-half-empty guys will say that he needs five more to catch KVD and seven more to equal Roland’s total. The glass-half-full types will counter with the fact that he has more of ‘em that Skeet, Ike, Hack, Denny, Hank or – gasp – Clunn, six certain Hall of Famers who can be identified by one name apiece.

One second I was cruising down the river at seventy-plus on smooth-as-a-baby’s-butt water, the next second my speed took a nose dive and the motor started shaking. Even though I didn’t hit anything, I immediately knew what it was – my prop had thrown a blade.

In America, I’m told, most babies’ first words are either “mama” or “dada.”

In Mexico, I’m convinced, most fishing guides’ first words are “You have dye?”

Seriously, every time I’ve been to El Salto or Picachos or Mateos, I’ve quickly learned that you don’t throw a watermelon lizard or a green pumpkin Senko in the drink without dying the tail chartreuse before it gets wet. Otherwise you’ll get a serious case of stinkeye from your guide and perhaps some under-the-breath Spanglish decrying know-nothing gringos.