A Late Fall Must for Trophy Smallmouth Bass.

You need these baits.
By Luigi De Rose

The JACKALL Squirrel DD is a top choice for cold water. 

Deep diving jerkbaits are a must for late fall trophy smallmouth bass fishing. If you looking for these minnow baits, you might have to move pass the bass fishing section and over to the walleye one in the tackle store. Often, these deep diver plugs are considered walleye baits but they're lethal on trophy sized smallies. Don't expect them to glide and dance like short billed baits. These deep divers are ideal for more sluggish action as they remain deep. 

Here are a few to remember:

Jackall Squirrel DD

Rapala X Rap 

MORE BELOW

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Only  hours left until we draw one lucky winner of the new Lucky Craft SKT Magnum Crankbait autographed from Bassmaster Elite Start Skeet Reese.

Like IBASSIN on FACEBOOK to be part of the draw. Dead line Friday, December 13, 2013 at 6 pm Eastern time.

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Contest ends later this month.

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Win an Skeet Reese Autographed Lucky Craft S.K.T. Magnum DR

Not sure where you live but it is freezing here! Nothing puts a warm smile on an angler's face like winning free lures.

Like us on Facebook and you'll have a chance

to win this Skeet Reese Autographed Newly released

S.K.T. Magnum DR from Lucky Craft USA.

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Randall Tharp is the 2013 FLW Cup Champion!

FLW Press Release
(Photos: FLW)

SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER CITY, La. – Two years ago, Randall Tharp fished a nearly-flawless Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Ouachita but took second to Scott Martin and a big school of offshore bass. Tharp prepared for the 2013 Cup knowing that deep fish weren't an option on the Red River. Everything was shallow and positioned around dense cover – right in the honey badger's wheelhouse.

Coming in to the tournament, Tharp had located a handful of productive backwater areas in Pool 5. He was convinced that the bigger bites that came from the main river were random, whereas the backwater kickers, while extremely difficult, could be patterned. On day one, he learned several other pros had found those same areas and was forced to regroup and reassess. By Sunday, he was fishing two spots – one a finger off the river located three miles north of Red River South Marina and one a lily pad field adjacent to the marina.

Tharp started each of the last three days on the finger, one of the few areas lined with homes. He'd throw a bluegill-colored 3/8-ounce 4x4 Swim Jig with a Strike King Rage Craw Trailer (green pumpkin with 1/3 of the body trimmed) on the side that featured a mud bank. Once the sun got up around 9 a.m., he'd bounce across and fish the longer riprap stretch with a Lucky Craft 1.5 squarebill crankbait (TO color).

2013 ICAST 3 New Colours from Lucky Craft with Brent Ehrler and IBASSIN

2013 ICAST find Brent Ehrler in the Lucky Craft booth explaining the new colours. Listen with IBASSIN.com as Brent explains these new patterns.

2013 3 New Jerkbaits from Lucky Craft with Brent Ehrler and IBASSIN

If you love jerkbaits, Lucky Craft has 3 new ones for you. 2013 ICAST finds Brent Ehrler explaining all the features of these new baits.

2013 ICAST Day 3 Photo Gallery

By Luigi De Rose

Cody Myers displays PowerPro's Zero Impact. It was the ICAST winner in
the line category.

Numerous new Loomis NRX will be out in 2014.

Skeet shows off his two new crankbaits from Lucky Craft. 

Ish is all smiles with the Tatula rod...

and matching Tatula reel. 

Brent Ehrler with the Humminbird 360 bow mount.
Wait for the video he does with us. This unit is crazy good. 

ICAST 2013: Media Night Sneak Peak

New Minn Kota Talon (12 foot  3 section version).
They also dropped the main motor housing half way down the Talon.
Should be a show winner. 

Mustad's New KVD X-rig.
Mustad took Bernard Yong-Set's idea and many others.
Nice to know I helped in the original design. This is a spin-off
of the original Jika Rig I wrote about years ago in
Ontario OUT OF DOORS magazine. 

PowerPro's New Microfilament Braid.

Quantum's New Energy Spinning. (might have got this name wrong
because the security guard yelled to not touch anything when another
press guy picked a reel up. Was funny at the time but everyone jumped.

CHECK OUT MORE AT IBASSIN.COM's Facebook page

Shimano's new Chronarch Ci4+.
A lot of writer loved this reel but we couldn't pick them up with
cops looking over us.

Feathered Hooks for Jerkbaits

Last week, I explained how the feathered hook make all the difference on finicky smallmouth. I was planning on tying up a batch myself but didin't find the time. I popped by the local tackle shop and saw these hanging on the rack. Not having the time, patience or feathers I bought them. The Mustad treble has white with a hint of chartreuse. It also offered a red treble which was all the rage a few years back. The VMC came all white, red or in the VMC Sureset treble. I stuck to the standard treble in white. If you're as lazy as myself, stop by your local store and pick a few up.

Jerkbait Secrets for Fall Smallmouth

October triggers a switch from largemouth to smallmouth for anglers in the north. This held true last weekend. I honoured my donated fishing trip for two from last year's Ontario Chinese Angler Association's Christmas dinner.  We planned on heading to a well-known smallmouth lake to work jigs on the bottom. I double checked with a few fishing buddies and they confirmed what I expected; it wasn't cold enough and the fishing was poor. With that news, I headed north to a deep, shield lake  rich with smallmouth.

With three of us in the boat, I wanted to ensure my two guests were into fish.  We, particularly myself, alternated between a variety of lures but nothing worked like the jerkbait. By mid-day, all three of us were casting minnow plugs and jerking them back to the boat.

A few interesting things occurred that day. I stuck to the deeper water and limited myself to smaller sized plugs in the 3" to 4" range. My three best were a X-rap, Duel and OSP. Mine were regular baits without any doctoring. I primarily used gaudy coloured or silver baits because I like the flash. Plus it is easy to follow thm and react when a bass follows it.

Return Trip to Japanese Tackle Store

This is a return trip to a local Japanese tackle store. Amazing stuff. Check out all the Megabass, Evergreen, Daiwa, Deps, OSP, Jackall stuff. These stores really have a lot of top end tackle.

IBASSIN in Japan: Sneak a look at the local tackle store!

Here is a semi-illegal video I took of a local tackle store here in Wakayama, Japan. I'm not sure if I was allowed to video but I did. They have so many nice baits. Have a look at the video and see for yourself. I'll be doing a return trip. I have been to a few other stores, one super big one but it was packed due to a sale and I didn't want to get the boot for pulling out the camera.