Last April on Lake Fork, I watched my drag scream as something massive peeled line off my reel. Twenty minutes later, I was holding an 8-pound, 4-ounce largemouth – my personal best after 20 years of chasing big bass. The crazy part? I'd switched tactics just 30 minutes earlier after getting skunked all morning. That […]

Last Saturday morning on Lake Travis, I was dead-sticking a wacky worm along a rocky point when my buddy Chad powered past me with his trolling motor humming. Twenty minutes later, he'd boated three solid largemouths while I sat there fishless. That's when it hit me – I'd been overthinking bass fishing for years when […]

Last Saturday morning at Lake Cachuma, I watched a guy land a 12-pound largemouth bass using nothing but a beat-up spinner and 20-year-old line. Meanwhile, three boats away, someone with $5,000 worth of gear hadn't had a bite all morning. That's California fishing for you – it's not about having the fanciest equipment, it's about […]

The first time I tried drop shot fishing, I was anchored in my fishing kayak just off a rocky point on Lake Travis. After struggling all morning with Texas rigs and getting nothing but short strikes, I tied on a drop shot out of desperation. Within ten minutes, I'd boated three chunky smallmouth that had […]

Last Saturday morning on Lake Travis, I watched my buddy struggle with his brand new Heddon Spook for nearly an hour. The lure just wouldn't walk - it kept coming straight back like a submarine periscope. By the time I showed him the slack line trick, he'd already spooked every bass in the cove. That […]

Last April, I watched my depth finder mark a massive school of bass suspended over a submerged roadbed 30 feet down in O.H. Ivie. Three casts later, a 14-pound largemouth nearly yanked my rod from the kayak. That's when I knew Texas wasn't messing around with their ShareLunker program. After 20 years of chasing bass […]

The splash came out of nowhere at 2 AM, nearly launching me out of my kayak on Lake Travis. My black buzzbait had been gurgling across the surface for what felt like hours when a monster largemouth decided it was dinner time. That 7-pounder changed everything I thought I knew about bass fishing. Since that […]

Last February, I was breaking ice with my paddle just to launch my kayak on Lake Travis. The water temp read 42°F, and everyone at the ramp thought I'd lost my mind. Three hours later, I paddled back with a 7-pound largemouth that crushed a jig in 25 feet of water. That's when I learned […]

Last March, I was shivering in my kayak on Lake Fork at 6 AM, watching my fish finder show nothing but empty water. The air temp was 42 degrees, water temp barely cracking 48, and I'd already cycled through half my tackle box with zero bites. Then I remembered something an old-timer told me at […]

The thermometer on my kayak read 92°F, and I'd been striking out along the banks of Lake Guntersville for three hours straight. That's when I remembered something Kevin VanDam said at a seminar: "When the water gets hot, the bass go deep." Twenty minutes later, after locating a 25-foot ledge on my fish finder, I […]