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On J. Percy Priest Lake, as on many reservoirs across the mid-south, huge schools of shad can be found in sun-warmed water close the banks. Actively feeding bass are moving shallow after them, so now is a good time to try a bait that looks like a shad being chased across the surface— a buzzbait, for example.

Fall is a wonderful time of year for bank fishermen, because they can reach fish that spend much of the year off-shore. Wear muted colors, stealthily approach the shoreline, and begin by casting parallel to the shore in both directions. If you have no takers, fan your casts, gradually retrieving the lure over deeper water.

If at first you don't succeed, don't be too quick to move on. Sometimes it takes a dozen or more casts in the same area to induce a bass to strike. A buzzbait's sound, flash, and vibration pull fish in from a long distance. And while I don't think bass really get mad, it seems that repeated exposure irritates them enough so they finally will smash a buzzbait just out of frustration.

When fishing from a boat, drift in toward the bank and cast parallel to the shore. Throw past every dock, jetty, point, log or rock pile and guide your retrieve so your bait bounces off obstructions. The erratic flash, sound, or interrupted retrieve often triggers a strike.

On Priest, most of my buzzbait fish in October were Kentucky bass and largemouth. I was throwing my lure right up on the bank or in less than six inches of water. Over the years I developed the knack of thumbing my line and lifting the rod tip as I switch the reel from my right to my left hand. I immediately turn the crank to engage the spool as the rod tip is moving up in order to start my retrieve before the bait's had a chance to sink below the surface. With fish as shallow as they are right now, be prepared for a hit within one or two turns of the handle.

Although ripping a buzzbait sometimes pays off, usually I reel just fast enough to keep the bait on the surface. Here are a couple things you can do to slow down your retrieve...

1. Select a buzzbait with bigger blades. Our 5/16-oz size has the same delta blade (buzz-prop) as our half-ounce bait. Having less weight and tendency to sink, it can be retrieved slower.

2. Create some drag. Secret Weapon buzzbaits come with a spinner blade clipped behind the buzz prop. That helps slow down the retrieve, too, but more importantly that spinning blade creates flash right above the hook. Adding that spinner blade behind the buzz prop just about doubles the effectiveness of a buzzbait.

You can add a plastic trailer or pork chunk to create some drag in the water, too. I like to fish buzzbaits with a trailer hook. I impale two small, rubber discs that I punch out of rubber bands, one above and one below the trailer hook. This keeps the hook positioned for a good hook-up and allows it to swing freely side to side. I would say a third of the buzzbait fish I catch are on that trailer hook.

Sometimes , though, if I feel that I need more flash, I'll clip a spinner blade to the hook. This creates a tail-spinner. With one spinning, flashing blade above the hook and another right behind it, any bass that tries to bust up that little clump of shad is in for a surprise.

Later, as bass move off the bank, switch to a spinnerbait or fish the buzzbait/spinnerbait combo down below the surface. In fact, that's produced several good fish for me since someone suggested the idea to me a few years ago.

Do you sometimes want to slow down your bait but still produce lots of flash and vibration? Attach a spinner blade or two on the buzzbait, cast it to open water, and count it down five or ten feet. Retrieve it at the same speed you would if the bait were on top.

For more tips and a list of the top ten mistakes that buzzbait anglers make, go to the Tips and Tactics section of the Secret Weapon Website - www.secretweaponlures.com.

Mt. Vernon, Kentucky — The moon’s slender arch cast faint sparks across Lake Linville's rippled surface. On the casting deck of his Nitro 911CDC bassboat, Prostaffer Treston Cobb sprayed Spike-It shrimp-flavored attractant on his spinnerbait — a 9/16-ounce Secret Weapon Quickstrike with a black #6 Colorado spinner blade, black plastic chunk trailer, and a black and red skirt.

Red...? Physicists will tell you that there is practically no light at the red end of the spectrum in dim moonlight. Why, then, would an angler targeting bass under starlight reach for a bait with red accents?

Three words: experience... results... confidence.

Don't try to convince Cobb that red doesn't put more fish in your livewell at night. He'll just smile, keep casting, and most likely will put another fish in the boat while you're talking about wavelengths and quantum physics. You can't argue with success.

Alexandria, VA - September 26, 2008 - On September 26, President George W. Bush signed an amendment to the 1995 Executive Order on recreational fishing. This historic amendment ensures that federal agencies must maintain recreational fishing on federal lands and waters, including marine protected areas. Once implemented, this policy will provide access to places where men, women and children can enjoy fishing now and in the future. The Executive Order revises Executive Order 12962 signed in 1995 by President Bill Clinton.

Over the past two years, the American Sportfishing Association (ASA), the Center for Coastal Conservation and its members, the Coastal Conservation Association, the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, the National Marine Manufacturers Association and the Shimano American Corporation worked together to secure recreational fishing and boating access. President Bush's amendment recognizes the marine and freshwater conservation impact of recreational anglers by allowing responsible recreational fishing and boating in marine protected areas and federal lands.

"We applaud the President for taking this unprecedented step which recognizes that anglers and boaters play a significant and critical role in this country's successful conservation model which is the envy of the world," said ASA President and CEO Mike Nussman. "As a recreational angler and boater himself, the President clearly understands that sportsmen and women are conservationists first and foremost and that recreational fishing is an essential component of the nation's heritage."

"The President's action established a legacy for recreational fishing by securing access to fishing and boating, the lifeblood of the American model of fisheries management and conservation," said ASA Vice President Gordon Robertson. "Every time American anglers buy fishing licenses or sportfishing equipment, an investment is made in fishing's future. This highly successful user-pay system for fishery management depends on access to the resource."

An August 25 Executive Memo signed by President Bush set the stage for today's Executive Order. The memo directed the Secretaries of Defense, Interior and Commerce and the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality to sustain access to recreational fishing as part of their study of potential marine protected areas (MPA) in the central Pacific Ocean. ASA supported the president's directive and his decision not to include the Gulf of Mexico and marine areas of the southeast United States as part of that MPA study. 

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The American Sportfishing Asociation (ASA) is the sportfishing industry's trade association, committed to looking out for the interests of the entire sportfishing community. We give the industry a unified voice, speaking out on behalf of sportfishing and boating industries, state and federal natural resource agencies, conservation organizations, angler advocacy groups and outdoor journalists when emerging laws and policies could significantly affect sportfishing business or sportfishing itself. We invest in long-term ventures to ensure the industry will remain strong and prosperous as well as safeguard and promote the enduring economic and conservation values of sportfishing in America. ASA also represents the interests of America's 40 million anglers who generate over $45 billion in retail sales with a $125 billion impact on the nation's economy creating employment for over one million people.

Lake Frederick, Frederick, Virginia — As the trailing edges of a late-night downpour blew across the darkened lake, Darren Simpson of Stephens City, Virginia hooked this nice 5.5-lb Largemouth on a 13/16-oz Midnight Snack with a gold #6 Colorado blade attachment and a blue/black double tail grub trailer.

From the deck of his dad's boat, Simpson cast in the direction of an underwater grass line that extended about ten feet from the bank. He let the lure flutter down to about 20 feet. After feeling his lure settle to the bottom, he began a slow, steady retrieve, just fast enough to feel the blade thumping.

The Stren Super Braid 30-lb test line spooled on simpson's Shimano Curado telegraphed every rock his heavy spinnerbait bumped along the bottom. When a fish took the bait, there was no mistaking it for another rock; the bass hit agressively and put up a hard fight. The largemouth that Darren lifted across the gunwale turned out to be the biggest of his fishing career.

Simpson avoids UV lights and fluorescent line when stalking nighttime bass. Instead, he keeps one finger on the line and relies on the sensitivity of a 6-ft 6-inch medium-power graphite pole to detect changes in the rhythm of the turning spinner blade.

Darren says he is highly impressed with Secret Weapon Lures and their great service, and he recommends them to any angler serious about catching braggin'-sized fish!

Waynesville, OH — Secret Weapon Prostaff Doug Cavin was fishing his regular Tuesday night bass tournament. By 7 PM the sun was setting and calm had descended over the lake. Lapping waves along the shore set a tempo, and a swelling chorus of birds, frogs, and crickets were washing away the stresses of the day.

As Cavin sank back against the upholstered bass boat seat, lulled into reverie by repeated casts and retrieves, his tranquility was shattered by an explosive eruption mere inches from the gunwale.

Cavin had been slow-rolling a Secret Weapon 5/16-ounce Threadfin Shad Quickstrike spinnerbait with double gold willowleaf blades. Usually this is his go-to bait for largemouth that chase shad that scatter through the 10 to 12-foot deep stump field on Cesear's Creek Lake. Occasionally a northen pike would home in on his bait, but from the glance he caught of the fish churning up the water by his boat, Doug thought this was different.

The fish struck with just four feet of line out, just as Cavin was about to lift his Quickstrike spinnerbait from the water. The powerful fish surged toward deeper water, and for fifteen minutes it wrapped line around stumps, burrowed into weeds, and did everything it could to snap the 17-pound Vicious ACT line. Each time the fish hung him up, steady pressure applied by the 7.5-foot Carrot Stick caused the fish to eventually emerge.

Cavin, a U.S. army veteran whose service-related disability doesn't keep him from that water, was begining to tire after the fifteen-minute battle, but the fish reached exhaustion first. As it came alongside, Doug saw this was a nice muskelunge. A little over 30 inches, the fish was too big to fit a net usually reserved for bass. Doug grasped the fish carefully, removed the hook, and held the it aloft for a fast snapshot before returning it to the water. As light faded, he supported the tired fish upright until it revived and writhed from his hand. With a strong flip of its tail, the musky glided into the dark, weedy depths.

Afterwards, Doug took stock of his equipment. The Vicious ACT line held up well even having been repeatedly sawed against logs and stumps. His spinnerbait survived, too, although it had taken a beating during the long fight. The angry musky bent its frame in several places, as you can see from the photo above. Doug's partner was impressed by the toughness of the Secret Weapon spinnerbait, and Doug explained that it is made of heavier gauge wire and withstands abuse better than most.

So... not the fish they were looking for during a bass tournament, but one Doug was glad to have boated all the same.

While helping a young soldier prefish for the August 30 BLF tournament, Burnie Haney unlocked at least one secret to smallmouth bass on New York's Oneida Lake. As we move into the fall season, the key has been fast-moving spinnerbaits over rock rubble in three feet of water.

In the gullet of a large perch cauthg on a shallow-running crankbait, Haney spied a 3-inch crayfish. Its soft shell immediately caught his attention. Molting crustaceans draw feeding predators like fresh slop in the hog trough, and when you see one molting craw-dad, you know it's not alone. Most likely most of the crayfish in the area are molting at the same time, and actively feeding bass won't be far away.

Two weeks later, Haney returned to the same general area as he prepared for a NY BASS Chapter Federation tournament. Sure enough the fish were still in there; not nearly as many (a few got caught during the BFL event) but still decent numbers. 

Haney's basic presentation was to fish shallow over the rock rubble with a Secret Weapon 16-oz Baby Bass Quickstrike spinnerbait. He clipped on a # 3 Colorado blade for vibration followed by a # 4 willow blade, which produced flash and relatively little lift for a fast retrieve. He cast it out and .

According to Haney, smallmouth move up onto open, shallow-water flats to chow down on the soft-shell delicacies. A tube or other type of drop bait will undoubtedly work, but as long as the wind is blowing and skies are overcast, Haney prefers to chunk and retrieve the lure as fast as he can crank the handle on his 6.3:1 reel to show his bait to as many actively-feeding fish as possible. Odds are he's going to connect. This in-your-face, rapid fire approach allows him to cover three times the area that a guy tossing tubes can in the same amount of time.

Then when the sun breaks through the overcast, he flips and pitches plastics to weeds clumps on points in the same area.

The pay-off 
On tournament day, Haney competed against 73 other boats (boaters against boaters & co-anglers against co-anglers).  He ran six minutes east of the Oneida Shores Ramp and fished the entire day in a half-mile area. As long as the wind blew he fished the shallow rock rubble with the spinnerbait just south of the eastern point of South Bay, and when the sun popped out about noon he switched to some weeds clumps in 3-7 foot on the western point of South Bay. Haney closed his limit and culled a few fish on a Texas-rigged chigger craw in green pumpkin. This performance netted a total of 12.26 pounds, good enough for 6th place. His big fish for the day was the 3.52-pound smallie pictured above.

August 9 Syracuse, NY -- Congratulations to Secret Weapon Prostaff Ron Plocek, one of two anglers to share first place at the August 2008 Champion's Choice Tournament. Ron gives a lot of credit to Secret Weapon spinnerbaits for his win. Here's how it happened....

After a strong first day and a decent bag the second, Ron Plocek brought just two bass to the scales on the third day of the BASS Elite tournament on Lake Oneida last weekend. He didn't think 5-10 was enough for him to have a shot of remaining first place.  But as he sat in the hot seat before the crowd and angler after angler walked up and weighed in, no one brought in a bag that would knock him out of the lead. To his surprise, he was still there after the last angler left the stage!

Day One found Ron sitting atop the co-angler leader board with 10-13 and a 4-5 largemouth that took big fish honors for the day.

On Day Two he struggled and dropped a few places, but victory was still well within reach.

However, by 2:15 PM on Day Three, with no fish in the livewell, Ron was sweating it. His boater, BASS Pro Richard Scherer, was having an equally difficult day. Fish were not active after two days of extremely stormy weather, nor were they hitting slow-moving bottom baits. With the clock ticking down, Ron needed a miracle!

The two anglers were over a grassy flat on Oneida Lake. This is normally a productive pattern, but they were finding no takers. Retrieving his Secret Weapon spinnerbait just across the top of the grass, Ron let it drop into a hole in the vegetation, and as he slow-rolled it back up a 3-pound smallmouth bass smashed the lure. Into the livewell it went, and his next cast with a Zoom Speed Craw produced a 2-pound smallmouth from the same hole.

Those two fish turned out to be just enough to secure first place for the Liverpool, NY co-angler.

Ron considers himself a "power fisherman" but not a "speed fisherman." He prefers heavy baits and heavy lines, but when it comes to spinnerbaits, Ron says he get more hits when retrieving as slowly as he possibly can.

"All the time I see people throwing spinnerbaits, and they seem to have just one mode of retrieve -- steady, just under the surface. They don't take account the reel ratio or other factors that affect the speed of retrieve. Keeping a spinnerbait too high in the water column causes them to miss a lot of fish. I keep my bait near the bottom or ticking the tops of the grass. I often hang up, but many times when I rip my bait from the grass I'll get hit. This technique has been very successful for me."

Ron's spinnerbait of choice is the Secret Weapon Quickstrike. "Their vibration... your feel when using them is incredible. I love 'em. The Buzzrbaits are great, too; I've had lots of success with them."

Does the brand of spinnerbait make any difference?

"You can't fish and do well without having a great spinnerbait. Most spinnerbaits out on the market don't run right out of the package. Catch a fish and get it out of tune, or if you pick up a little weed on it, and it won't run worth a darn. I never have the problem with Secret Weapons," declares Ron.

In the end, Ron shared his first place finish with Jesse Herbert, another New York angler who matched his total weight of 23-07. The two men shared first and second place prize money. In addition, Ron received $500 for the tournament's biggest bass at 04-05.

In all trails but the co angler trail, a tie would be settled by declaring the winner who had either the biggest bag or biggest fish. Ron had both thanks to Secret Weapon spinnerbaits.

Read more:
Epic final round caps co-angler series run (ESPN)  
Rojas Leads Elite Series Bass Fishing Event on Oneida Lake (BassResource.com)

SWL Prostaff Pete Baumgartner of King George, MD writes to share an important observation about how to adapt to changing wind conditions day-to-day:

I blew it this weekend. I got off work late Friday and went over to the [Potomac] river to get in what practice I could. I was throwing two different spinnerbaits on spawning flats — good conditions for it. I tried 3 different areas with similar structure and did well in all 3, with fish up to 5lb size.

Saturday AM we get out for ABA District 11 tournament and everything is the same EXCEPT now we have winds 10-12. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it is a difference. I'm on fish but they are all 13- and 14-omcj dinks (minimum is 15 inches this year). By 1030 the wind has increased 12-15 gusting 20 and clocked around out of the northeast. Bite is GONE. I moved to some shallow flats in the creeks, and got back on dinks, no keepers. Zeroed for the tournament.

One of the guys I was fishing with Friday night won the tournament. He switched from a spinnerbait to a rattle-bait and moved to the point in 3-6 feet of water. The other guy moved to the creek channel in (you guessed it) 3 to 6 feet of water and fished a chatterbait and soft plastic. He ended in 6th.

I started bass fishing seriously six years ago. Sometimes I just don't know what to do (yet). This was one of those times. I knew the wind change required me to adapt the pattern, but I didn't know what to adapt TO. Lesson learned, I guess. In general this spring - they are eating the spinnerbaits up though. I'm throwing 5/16 in 3 different colors and skirts (depending on the light / stain) - either a Secret Weapon Sidearm rigged as a Quickstrike or a actual Secret Weapon Quickstrike - and they love them. Some pretty hard hits. And they have started hitting SWL Buzzrbaits. I'm having good results in practice (usually). But except for one tournament where I finished 16 out of about 70, I just can't seem to bring it in on game day so far this spring.

Pete went on to describe his experience with the Secret Weapon Sidearm spinnerbait:

As you know, the Potomac is VERY weedy. And this year the mud / stain is significant (visibility on main river 12-15 inches, in the creeks 18-24 inches). Something that is quickly becoming a favorite for me is t take a Quickstrike (either 5/16 or 9/16) and rig it with a single silver or gold Colorado (very small) and then a single silver willow blade. I flip the skirt around (put the short side on first instead of the long side so it trails way back behind) and add a trailer blade. So I end with a long compact lure where I can go through weeds with fewer bindings. I'm using the word "binding" to describe what happens when the weeds wrap the lure up and the blades don't spin and you're just pulling a big wad of weeds back to the boat. This is not to say a Quickstrike doesn't work; it does. But in heavy growth this hangs up just a little less. It "hangs up" just as often as a Chatterbait, Quickstrike, rattle bait or whatever - but it requires LESS EFFORT TO PULL IT LOOSE. When it pops free you get the reactions strike, but it moving just a touch slower and the hook-up rates are very good. Just as important, I can go 5 to 7 casts without having to stop and clean the blades off. More casts usually equals more fish (unless your name is Pete and the calendar says "Saturday" apparently). LOL. And when the weeds mat up this summer, I think the compact design will still work on the edges so that I can make a few casts with the spinnerbait in the aisles before flipping the mat. And then as I get to the next aisle I can do it again. I will have gone from one dimensional to 2. And I can still throw a traditional Texas-rigged worm in there - but it adds another tool I am looking forward to trying. I use it in the pads already now - long casts right into the heart of them. Where the Quickstrike might sometimes catch a stalk the sidearm with a single blade goes though almost every single time.

Secret Weapon will donate (and match) 10% of online purchases during the month of March to service members fishing the Warriors on the Water Military Appreciation  Bass Tournament.

On April 18, 180 boaters will take active duty military out on Jordan Lake to compete in this event. Most of the military personnel are stationed at nearby Pope Air Force Base, Fort Bragg, and Camp Lejeune.

"All of them have just gotten back from Iraq or Afghanistan and this is the first time a lot of them have seen appreciation of this multitude," said Hal Abshire, who organized the event with fellow Desert Storm veteran Greg Lahr and Bob Cunningham.

This is the third year that Secret Weapon has sponsored Warriors on the Water, which has become one of the premiere military appreciation events in the country. Secret Weapon Prostaffer Greg Lahr is president of WOW. Another SWL Prostaff and active duty Air Force member, James Poirrier, will represent Secret Weapon at this year's event.

Build your Secret Weapon arsenal, say "thanks" to our troops, and help them get the most from their time on the water. 10% of the proceeds of your purchase will pay for soldiers' fishing tackle. Plus, Secret Weapon Lures will match your donation, which doubles your donation!

Secret Weapon also offers Military Gift Certificates and Free Lures (with purchases) for active duty military and veterans.

Thanks for supporting the troops.

Last week Larry "Stretch" Gaines drove 400 miles from his home on the Florida panhandle to a Martin Luther King, Jr. parade and tournament in the central part of the state. He decided to remain there and fish the January 26 Florida Bass Federation Nation tournament on the Kissimmee Chain. It was a good thing that he did.

Members of Gaines' bass club (Original Central Florida Bass Club) reported success with a Bass Pro Shop Swim Stik-O lure on pre-spawn bass, and he had been experimenting with this technique for a couple weeks. Gaines found that fish were just moving up into spawning areas on Toho, so it seemed an ideal presentation for conditions that confronted 48 Federation Nation anglers that morning.

No more than five minutes passed after Gaines dropped his trolling motor in the water when he stuck a big fish: a healthy 5.5-pound largemouth. That set the stage for the rest of the day. With a proven technique and a heavy fish already in the livewell, Larry was able to relax, take his time, and work the rig slowly and subtly like a lethargic swim bait.

The bass, he noticed, had not yet locked on any beds but were cruising the spawning area, so he covered a lot of water and kept his bait moving across the flats. Before long he boated another largemouth, this one about three pounds. Three more fish that barely lapped over the 12-inch mark followed. During that period, Gaines hooked but lost a few more bass, and several times he'd had short strikes.

Another angler came into the protected spawning area, so about 9:15 Gaines moved on, fishing his way back toward other potential spawning areas. As he did the wind picked up. A nice chop developed in an area toward the back of the flat -- a textbook-perfect spinnerbait situation. Gaines picked up a rod rigged with a Secret Weapon Tennessee Shad Quickstrike spinnerbait to which he had clipped tandem Indiana blades. His first cast along a reed line was rewarded with a two pounder. That allowed him to cull one of the runts he had taken earlier. Twice more he culled using the SWL spinnerbait, and then the Swim Stik-O lure produced his final keeper for the morning.

Along the way he had a few more bass hit, and a couple of real hogs, according to Gaines, burrowed back into the reeds where they were able to pull off.

At weigh-in, Gaines watched as competitors with lower numbers toted heavy bags of bass to the scales. His boat was number 23. As he waited, a couple of anglers' weights were in the eleven-pound range. He estimated that he had close to 13 pounds in the livewell, so he wasn't surprised when his 12.51 pounds moved him into first place. What Gaines hadn't expected, considering the number and quality of fish that he had missed that morning, was that his weight would hold up and that he would walk away with first place. Even more surprising to him was that his five-pound, five-ounce largemouth turned out to be the big fish for the tournament.

Gaines has another tournament in the Kissimmee Chain on Feb 9/10, and as long as a strong cold front doesn't come in he expects the pre-spawn pattern to hold up for another couple weeks at least.