Starting Small OK in Bass Fishing

By Art Lander Jr., The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Jan. 29–CINCINNATI — Mike Iaconelli’s advice to anglers who want to learn how to catch bass: Start fishing on small lakes.

"It’s a stair-step process," said Iaconelli, 33, who will begin his seventh year as a tournament professional when the season starts at the end of February. "You have to develop as an angler."

Iaconelli was in town recently at Chip Hart’s Cincinnati Travel, Sports & Boat Show, one of 20 sport show appearances he will make before traveling to Kissimmee, Fla., to compete in the 36th Bassmasters Classic, Feb. 24-26 on Lake Tohopekaliga. "I love to fish, figuring out what the fish are doing, but I like to talk with anglers, too."

Between seminars, we sat down for a few minutes to talk bass, starting with his fishing roots, which he thinks gave him a competitive edge.

"New Jersey is not exactly a hotbed of bass fishing, but growing up outside Philadelphia, I was an hour’s drive from a lot of different types of water," Iaconelli said. "I fished 150- to 300-acre lakes that were more like ponds, tidal rivers, steep, clear glacial lakes, and acidic pine barren lakes."

He believes these were good places to learn how to catch bass, casting from the banks, then later fishing from a small johnboat. "On smaller lakes you’re not overwhelmed," he said.

Fishing in club tournaments he learned how to boat bass from crowded, beat (heavily fished) waters. "Starting small was a big benefit," he said.

This background helped him move up quickly when he started fishing professional tournaments in the late 1990s. In 2003, Iaconelli captured the sport’s most prestigious prize, the Bassmasters Classic, by finding a mother lode of bass in a tiny tidal pond in the Mississippi River Delta.

Having fished all over the country, in both rivers and lakes, Iaconelli knows where to find bass and how to catch them, information he readily shares. Here are some tips, and his best guess on what might be the next big techniques to sweep bass fishing:

Finding bass in rivers: The seasonal behavior never changes from stream to stream, Iaconelli said. "In winter the fish are going to be on deep, vertical breaks, in the spring they move up onto the flats, in the summer they’re looking for current and cool water, and in the fall they’re chasing bait," he said.

Current is always important to the equation. He fishes eddies, back swirls of current that bring the bait to bass waiting in ambush. "Cast upstream and let your lure drift to the fish," Iaconelli said. "When the water is high and muddy go to the bank and flip lures tight to cover. Bass move up (go shallow) when the water is rising."

Pre-spawn bass, in lakes, cruising the shallows: "This is the time for finesse fishing," Iaconelli said. "Bass aren’t locked on (the nest) yet. They’re finicky and you have to fish spinning tackle and light line."

One of the favorite techniques at this time is a tail-weighted 4-inch finesse worm, Texas-rigged on a 2/0 offset hook. "When you put a piece of nail in the rear of the worm, it glides backwards," Iaconelli said. "Bass are not expecting a lure to move backwards and it triggers a strike."

Shaky Wormin’, a hot new technique that more pros are using to catch fish in tournaments: A 4- to 5-inch finesse worm is threaded onto a 2/0 to 3/0 offset light wire worm hook in a tungsten jig head (1/16- to 3/8-ounce).

"The worm is nose down, at a 45-degree angle," Iaconelli said. "It glides and wiggles as it falls on a semi-slack line, and when it’s on the bottom, you shake the rod tip to give the worm some action. It kind of reminds me of how a rattlesnake tail wiggles."

Iaconelli casts the Shaky Wormin’ rig into all types of cover or heavy brush, or fishes it in open water dropoffs at the end of a gravel point. "It’s versatile," he said.

When deciding how much weight to use, he recommends using just enough to maintain contact with the bottom, depending on the depth of the water fished and other factors such as current.

Swim Baits, the lunker bass lures popularized on California lakes: "These are 5- to 12-inch lures," Iaconelli said. "You don’t get many bites but you catch big fish."

The lure style he favors is lipless, and is similar to a giant soft plastic shad, with a stubby tail. "The key is to identify the forage and fish a similar color pattern," Iaconelli said.

Some Swim Baits float, some sink slowly, while others are neutral buoyant and used to catch suspended bass. "In California I caught bass jigging them off the bottom," he said.

Vibration baits that force fish to bite: "These lures can be fished in clear water, dirty water, in 40- to 90-degree water temperatures," Iaconelli said. "It’s a reaction bite."

The Rat’L Trap is a popular version of this lure, but vibration baits come in all sizes and design variations. Iaconelli prefers quarter-ounce to one-ounce lures.

What they all have in common is a pivot point at the top of the bait, with the amount of the wobble determined by the width of the lure head. These lures should always be rigged with a split ring.

Iaconelli fishes vibration baits four ways Ð burning, ripping (or popping), yo-yoing and slow rolling.

In burning, a technique for aggressive bass, the lure is reeled in fast just below the surface of the water. "Cast out the lure and retrieve it with the rod tip at one o’clock," Iaconelli said. "You don’t want the bass to get a good look at the lure," he said. "Fish a lure with a narrow head and tight vibration."

In ripping, the lure is cast out to rock, wood or grass cover and allowed to sink to the bottom. Then, with a quick jerk, the lure is violently pulled from its resting spot. "This lure acts in a distressed manner, simulating a fleeing baitfish."

Yo-yoing a vibration bait is a winter or early-spring technique in which the lure is pulled up off the bottom several feet and allowed to free fall, mimicking a slow-moving, crippled baitfish.

The slow roll is an even slower presentation. The lure with a wide head is crawled across the bottom, so that it bounces off rocks, scooting along like a crayfish.

When fishing vibration baits, Iaconelli prefers to fish with medium-action fiberglass rods and traditional monofilament line, which has stretch. "On the hookset I like to step back and sweep the rod back," he said. "You want that instant of delay on the hookset, otherwise you will pull the lure away from the fish."

In thick cover, Iaconelli often removes the treble hook on the rear of the bait, to cut down on snags. When fishing vibration baits he uses 10- to 20-pound test line, depending on the depth and weight of the lure. "The heavier the line the more buoyant it is," Iaconelli said. "I fish lighter poundages when I want the lure to sink, and on quarter-ounce or lighter lures I fish with spinning tackle."

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Find out more

To learn more about Mike Iaconelli’s fishing tackle and techniques, or to buy his DVD, book or fishing jersey, go to www.mikeiaconelli.com [http://www.mikeiaconelli.com].

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