Well the last day of Jan gave us alot of fog and misting rain all day. I started out on the lower end of the lake fishing creek channels near the river and went the first 3 hours without a single bite. After making alot of moves and covering a ton of water I found a section or two that produced. I fished mainly 6-12 feet of water with better results on steep drops. The Jackall Soul Shad and TN70 were the best baits I found to produce.

I then loaded the boat and moved further up river putting in at Waterfront Tackle. I fished the afternoon up river having about the same luck. I fished and made a ton of cast but once you found a fish they were not alone. Ended the day on a good note with a solid 7 pounder and saw 3 following it when I put it in the boat. The afternoon baits were the same but I did have 3 on the I-Shad rigged on the I-Motion head. The fog was getting worse as I was coming in so I would think it will be just as bad in the morning. If you get out there go slow and pay close attn to other boats, they might not beable to see you.

I also wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone that came out last weekend to Bass Pro Shops for the boat show. We had a great time and I met some awesome people. The fish in the tank were nice to me and liked just about everything I tossed in the tank. I will be on the water everyday until I leave for the Bassmaster Classic then back the following weekend at Bass Pro Shops until the end of their Spring Fishing CLassic.

Lake Guntersville Report 1-16-2011

The last week or so of snow and ice seemed to slow the fishing down a little today for me. I hit the water working the same pattern I have been fishing but had to change things up a little. I moved further out on the points to a little deeper water and had to slow the baits down alot. I put the boat in more of the current and let the bait sit for around 12 seconds before moving it. Once I slowed down I started getting more bites and better fish. I fished the Jackalll Squad Minnow(Tenn Shad) on Lake Fork FH Pro 12 lb test. Once casting into about 6 feet of water I noticed the bites came right at the boat in about 9 -10 feet of water. I moved the boat further out and found I would get bigger fish. Once I worked an area and boated a few fish I then would re-work the area with a Lake Fork Craw Tube and got several more bites.



The big key is staying in the area and trusting you ability. If you didn't give up on an area too soon and worked every inch of it you would find where the fish were positioned and could put a good solid day together. Start working the typical winter pattern and then adjust and tweek it. Once I slowed down a little everything came into place. I am back at it again in the morning and the rest of the week. Hope everyone had a great weekend and looking forward to an awesome week. Stay safe and see you on the water.



God Bless

Phil.4:13

Preparing For the Cold Weather

As I guide and fulltime angler we don't get the chance to stay indoors when the weather takes a turn for the worse. I have been asked by hundreds of anglers when the weather turns cold, “how do you stand it?" Well I am not as knowledgeable as some of our Northern anglers that spend hours on the water in cold conditions but here is some of the things I have found to make the trip as comfortable as you can when the temperature falls fast.

When I first started fishing fulltime I had no idea what I signed up for. My first winter as a guide I was faced with going on the water to take trips when most people would be sitting at home watching fishing on TV. Over the years I have owned just about everything you can put on that says it's warm and weather proof and spent countless dollars to finally find something to make it better. Over this time I have learned two of the most important words in staying warm, WIND PROOF!

While alot of anglers, like me when I first started out, are looking to not spend alot of cash on gear they will only use 3 or so months out of the year this is the one time you can't be cheap and also stay warm. Now don't get me wrong you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to stay warm but a $20 rain suit is not going to do the job. The items I am going to talk about are not sponsors and the things I wear every day, not saying the brand is better than anything else on the market but it's what I use daily and have found to be the best for me.

Let's start with layers. This is one of the most important parts of gear. Always wear layers when you are fishing cold temps. This way you can shed one if the sun comes out, your tactics require you to be moving alot (making your body temperature go up), or things just get heated up. The fastest way to get cold is to overheat and start to sweat. I start with a pair of Under Armor-Cold Gear base layer pants. These are very thin but hold heat in while wicking sweat from your body. Next I put on a pair of Under Armor-Cold Gear jogging pants (loose fit). Next I use a pair of pants I learned about while I was a Police Officer in Birmingham. Blauer Tactical makes a killer liner for Police Motor Scouts and Mounted Patrol Officers. They are totally wind proof on the inside and "slick" on the outside allowing your outer pants to move over them and not bind. I then top that off with snow pants. Which are made by Northern Face. My upper layer is a cheap sweat shirt that I cut the neck out of and fits loose. I put a Under Armor Tight Cold Weather base layer top on. This will wick the sweat from the first shirt I put on but also keep the heat in. I then top that off with my favorite hoodie. The one I wear is sold by Wired2Fish. The reason I love it is because it is almost wind proof holds in heat and is thin, leaving my arms free to move. Under Armor makes some great thin hoodies as well. The key is wind resistant and very thin allowing you to move freely and be comfortable.

If the weather is just nasty I top all of the things I talked about off with an Iditarod snow jumpsuit, made by Northern Face. If it’s not below 30 degrees I will not wear this because it is made for sub-zero temps. I will switch to my Bass Pro Shops 100 mph rain suit. Both are waterproof, windproof, and thin.

Now for some outerwear I use all the time. I will wear something on my head always. Gill and Under Armor make great beanies that will hold in heat, wick sweat, and are wind proof. This is very important when fishing because your ears will get pounded with winds and you don't in most cases have to wear a hood which limits vision and moving. Shoes are also very important. If they are calling for rain I wear a pair of ankle high boots made by Muck. These are very comfortable and have non-slip soles. They are also waterproof and wind proof. If they are not calling for the wet stuff I will wear Birkenstocks or Merrell shoes. Gloves are the one thing I have had the hardest time finding. Trying to find gloves that are windproof, water proof and thin enough to tie on lures without having to take them off. So far the best I have found are Bass Pro Shops 100 mph gloves and Under Armor football gloves. I have tried the winter style golf gloves but they just don’t hold up for me. I can wear a hole in a set of gloves in about a month from casting and retrieving lures all day. So far Under Armor and BPS gloves are the only thing I can find that will last. I also use a pair of Motorcycle style gloves to drive in. They are thicker but allow you to feel controls and not get cold at all from the wind. I also use a mask made by Save Phace for driving. I prefer this over a helmet for two reasons. One, a full-face helmet kills my neck while driving long runs because of the way you have to sit in the boat and two; if you come out of a boat you can break your neck when you hit the water. The Save Phase mask works great, has a good line of sight from it, and if something bad happens it will tear away when you hit the water. Not to mention you can get them custom painted and they look awesome.

I hope this helps you out in getting ready to fish in cold weather and save you some of the "wasted" money I have sent through over the years trying to find the right stuff. As I stated before though this is only the things I have found to use and stay warm and comfortable all day on the water. If you stay comfortable on the water you will stay longer and that will increase your chances of boating the fish of a lifetime. Best of luck and see you on the water.

Dropshot 101

I have been asked several times after events how I seemed to catch fish when everything else seemed to "shut down" on the lake. Now granted I might not have had the biggest limit of the day but when fishing multi-day events catching a limit each day means staying in the race. Well I am about to let you guys in on one of the best tactics I use to catch a limit and stay in the game, dropshotting.



One of the biggest mistakes most anglers make is thinking a dropshot is only for clear, deep, open water. I have fished it in water in less than 3 feet deep all the way to water as deep as 65 feet. One other thing some anglers think is its only a light line tactic using small baits. While this is mostly true, I have used a dropshot type rig with 50 pound braid and 6 inch swimbaits. In this article I am going to let you guys in on a few tactics, equipment, and conditions I have used a dropshot and put fish in the boat when weather systems, fishing pressure, and other things that "kill" a bite seem to hurt alot of anglers.

First off let’s make sure you understand the right equipment for the job. If you’re going to fish clear deep water with a dropshot you need to make sure you have a very good understanding of what your sonar is telling you when you see things on the screen. Now, it does help to have the new "high dollar" units on your boat but it can be done right even with the older black/white screen sonar’s. I do use a big screen unit on the front deck to help me but it's just that a bigger screen and helps a little with detail and these "old eyes" don’t have to strain as much to see it. I feel knowing how to read your sonar is the biggest thing to being successful with the dropshot in deeper water. If you only have $500-$1000 to spend on new stuff for the season don't waste in on the new rods if the ones you have worked, upgrade your sonar. The cash you will win during the year will buy you new rods and reels.

Once you know how to read the electronics you need the right equipment in your hands for the job. When fishing deeper clear water and the fishing pressure is tough get a solid, very sensitive 6'6"-7'0" rod with alot of tip. I personally use a 6'8" Jackall Poison Power Inch Wacky Rod. This rod has a great feel, fits my hands well, and the tip puts an action on the bait that almost begs a fish to eat it. Also having the softer tip helps get a solid hook set and keep the fish on with lighter line in deeper water. One of the biggest mistakes I made when first fishing this tactic was a rod that was too stiff. That caused alot of line breaking and loosing fish. Also if you can use a light reel. This will help with fatigue in your hands and arm if fishing it all day. The line I use is anything from 4-10 pound Lake Fork Fluorocarbon line. I never use anything more than 10 in deep, clear, open water. On Lake Erie I was downsizing to 4 pound line to get more bites off a rock pile in 58 feet of water. Another thing I learned while fishing this up north was from a good friend and great angler, Brian McCarter of Nemesis Bait Company, you don’t need little tiny hooks to catch fish. I had a big problem loosing big smallmouth when they would jump on the dropshot. Brian told me to change to a bigger hook and I cut loosing fish by 80% atleast. I never saw a difference in the amount of bites I would get by upgrading either. I now use 1/0 or 2/0 EWG hooks that are very sharp not the little tiny dropshot hooks you see in the store. Now there are times I will use that tiny hook but it’s not very often.



One of the questions I get almost everyday about a dropshot is the knot I use. I show it on video but I will try to explain it here. Take your line and double it leaving as much as you want for your leader, let’s say 3 feet. Pull out 3 feet of extra and double your line to tie a Palomar knot. Once you have your line then with the hook point facing up take the loop and go from the underside up thru the hook eye. Tie your knot and secure it. Once you have that take the 3 feet of tag line you have left over and place the end from the top of the hook eye down. You then "roll" the knot into the hook eye (this will also help protect it). Now here is the tricky part, depending on the type of structure your fishing either tie an overhand knot in the end and slip on a dropshot weight or use my other trick. That is if you’re fishing stuff like grass or just hard bottoms, I use a bullet style sinker. Take a weight like the Lake Fork Tungsten bullet and slide it up the line letting it go free. Then take an old swivel and tie it on the end. That will keep the weight on but will allow the weight to slide. This will help alot in preventing line twist. Trust me this works well but if your fishing rocks it does get stuck alot.



As far as baits go for deep, clear water stuff I use mainly small stuff. This is something that is very regional though. If I am fishing Southern lakes (Guntersville, Logan Martin, Smith) I will use alot of baits that look like shad or small bottom feeding worms. Baits like the Jackall Crosstail Shad, Flick Shake (4.8), Lake Fork Live Magic Shad in 3.5 or hand pour small worms (3-4 inch). I also will nose hook them depending on cover I am fishing. If I’m in heavy grass I will sometimes Texas rig and skin hook the bait to make it more weedless. If I am fishing northern area lakes I use baits like Craws, Goby, and shad type baits. Some of my best baits up North are baits like the Jackall Crosstail Shad, Nemesis Goby hand pour, Lake Fork 3.5 Live Magic Slug and Zipper hand pour worms.



As for fishing lakes with more cover(grass, rocks, wood, ect) I will sometimes upgrade my equipment. For example I have used a 7'6" heavy Jackall Delta Spec rod with 50 pound braid and a 5/0 EWG hook to catch big spawning Largemouth from trees in Lake Fork. I have also used the same set up with a huge 1oz. weight and a 6 inch Live Magic Shad swimbait to punch matted grass in Fla lakes and Guntersville. One of the first times I ever used a dropshot was in an event on Lake West Point. I had found several bedding fish in practice and on day one of the event boated 3 of them. On day 2 of the event I went to one I need to catch to make the cut and found she was being pounded on by another angler. To be honest I knew I had to have a fish of that size to make it and when he was pulling off the area I asked if he was fishing a bedding fish. He told me he was but she wouldn’t bite and he wasn’t coming back, I could have it. I really think he thought the fish wasn't catchable. Well I went into the fish and soon saw he had set his boat up all wrong to throw at it right. I set up and after 45 mins of nothing I was at a loss. I then tied on my first dropshot, I used a 7'0" med action worm rod and 12 pound test and used old split weighs for a sinker. I placed them about 8 inches below the hook and used a hand pour worm on a 3/0 hook. The bait hit the water a few feet past the bed and as I slowly pulled it into the bed it lasted about 2 seconds. I boated the fish and ended up not only making the cit but making the top ten and later winning the event. The reason I am telling this is to show you to think out of the box and use what each situation calls for. Good friend and touring Pro, Mark Pack of Lake Fork Trophy Lures, taught me the shallow water dropshot with braid. He is one of the best guides on Lake Fork and boated a huge 54+ pound sack using the same tactic with a Lake Fork Live Magic Shad in trees that were submerged.



After you practice some of these and get confidence in using a dropshot it will be a "go-to" tactic for any years to come. I will warn you though; this tactic is very additive when you catch fish on it. Always remember this is only a way to catch fish not the only way to catch them. Use this as a tool, become good at it, and you too will be bringing fish to the scales when alot of other anglers are not. If you have any questions or would like to see these tactics in action give us a call and we will get you on the water to master it. Remember take a kid fishing, have a good time, practice CPR (Catch, Photo, and Release) and stay safe. See you on the water.



God Bless,
Capt. Chris Jackson
Fins-N-Grins
Freshwater Adventures

Lake Guntersville Fishing Report

This is a report for the first two days of the year for us on the water. Rodney and I both have been going crazy to fish and the weather to break just a little. I fished on the 3rd in the mid lake section finding most of the better bites in open water on humps. The lake was stained after the rains with most areas near the main river channel being more stained. The lower end of the lake is a little clearer but also a few degrees cooler. Water temps between 38-42 depending on time of day and where you are fishing. I found my better bites on the humps with small strains of green grass on top of them and near points. Fish seemed to be in the 10-12 foot range and moving very sluggish. Most would just load up on the bait and not alot of fight to them at all. Jackall Squad Minnows were the ticket for me all day on the 3rd in a shad color.



On the 4th Rodney and I made the choice to split the river in half a little and he fished up and I fished the lower end. I hit areas with hard bottoms/rock with deeper water very close by. As stated before the water was a little cleaner on the lower end which made the temps a couple of degrees higher when the sun hit it all day. By the afternoon I was looking at areas with 43 degrees. I fished mainly Jackall Squad Minnows(Tenn Shad), Bling 55 Crankbait(Chrome Shad) and Flick Shake(Green Pumpkin) rigged on a Wacky Jig Head(3/32) Had a good solid day boating 16 fish for the day and best 5 going 18 and change on the Cull-M-Rite scale.



Rodney fished with a buddy on the mid to upper end of the lake fishing jerkbaits and crankbaits all day. He is saying the jerkbait was the better bite and boated more solid fish but the crankbait was good for numbers. Most of his fish came off main lake breaks near the ledges where current was moving. The boated some solid numbers and had a best 5 of around 18 pounds and change. The weather should get more stable in the next few weeks and things are starting to get fired up. I would say the next 4 weeks will play a huge part in how the fish will move for the pre-spawn and stage up. Hope everyone is having a good start to the 2011 season and looking forward to a great year. Stay safe and take care of our lakes. See you on the water

Jackall Soul Shad Review

Well as the year of 2010 comes to a close Jackall Lures is still pressing forward and the "newest" bait to hit the line up in the US market is one I have been waiting on for sometime. The Jackall Soul Shad is one of the hottest new baits on the market. So hot in fact they are being sold out as fast as they hit the shelf, according to Tackle Warehouse reps when I try to place an order. Being they were hard to get I went to my "standby" Japan dealer and found a few.

While placing the order I noticed that the Japan market has 2 sizes one is the 58SP and the other is the 68SP. The 68SP is the size being sold in the US. I placed the order but the 68SP was out so I only got the 58SP in L Wakasagi. That color is close to a Super Shad color in the US with some very good looking flash to it. Also one of my favorite colors from Japan. One thing about Jackall is they have some of the best colors in the market and every single one of them catch fish.
Once I got the bait, which is just a little smaller than the US model(the US size being just about the same size as a Shad Rap SR7), I hit the water to test it. Being the water temps in the south were dropping and the winter pattern was becoming stronger everyday I knew this was the perfect time to see what this bait was made of. I first rigged it on a Jackall Master Stroke casting rod with a Daiwa Steez reel and Lake Fork FHPro 12 pound test. I found the fish to be sluggish but they hit the bait well, with most almost swallowing the bait. I worked the bait with a slow/fast retrieve making the bait slowdown then make a fast "darting" motion to trigger the strike. Although they say this bait is a suspending bait anglers need to remember water temps make the bait sink or float. When I tested this in the tub I found the Soul Shad floats in water temps above 52 degrees and sinks(slowly) with temps below 44, give or take a couple of degrees either way.

Now one of the main reasons I am glad they are bringing the bait to the US market is it replaces my need for the time proven Shad Rap. Now dont get me wrong the Shad Rap is a great bait but it has one weakness that every angler I know dislikes. You can't cast it well in windy conditions! Well in true Jackall form they have made this bait cast in most any condition well and gave the angler another tool for their "toolbox". The "magnetic weight moving system" they placed in the Bling55 was also placed in this bait and you can cast it forever, reguardless of winds. This system also aids in an angler being more accurate in bait placement with less effort.

I really wanted to try the bait on several lakes so I moved from Lake Guntersville to Lake Wilson. Lake Wilson is also on the Tennesse River system but more known for it's great Smallmouth fishing. Well That was what I was going after. I hit Wilson at a perfect time and fished it with a little different set up. I changed to a Jackall Power Inch Wacky spinning rod and a Daiwa Steez reel and Lake Fork Flourohybrid 7 pound line. I also fished the bait with another tactic, working it more like a jerkbait. One thing I loved was it can be fished several ways and one really cool thing about this one is it will reach far deeper in the water than most jerkbaits on the market. After boating close to 20 Smallmouth in the day one great fish decided she wanted my Soul Shad more than I did and after about 3 head high jumps near a dock made a run and broke me off on a metal pole by the dock. This explains why there isnt a picture of the bait in the article like most reviews I have done in the past.

I have already put my name on the list for more of the Soul Shad baits in several colors and feel very comfortable saying this bait is going to produce some solid finished in tournaments this comming season. If you have any qustions about the bait, colors, or tactics to fish it feel free to contact me or check them out on the Jackall website at www.jackall-lures.com . There is also a great video on Kota's website as well of him fishing the bait. You can find it at www.ninjatacklebox.com

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