WFN The Hunt For Monster Bass

[Snidley]

New show on WFN that featured a pro named Ott DeFoe fishing in the winter time with an A-Rig. Great shots of BIG, no HUGE Largemouth Bass that he bags in the dead of winter on Lake Chicamoga. Florida strain/Northern Strain hybrids that don't mind the cold but still get huge. There was a little bit of schilling for Bass Pro products but he also demonstrated an excellent method of running the plastic baits on a multi rig like the A-rig so as to optimize the bait as well as avoiding tangles which would be well worth learning if you run those things. He even managed 2 bass on one rig at the same time.

[BillM]

Dead of winter and Florida in the same sentence.  Must be rough, did he have to shovel the snow before heading out?   

[Snidley]

Lake Chicamoga is in Tennassee, the strain of bass is  Florida/Northern hybrid.and it was cold and wet in the film. His nose was runny and red and it was weather I would not go bass fishing in.

[AKRISONER]

11 hours ago, BillM said:

Dead of winter and Florida in the same sentence.  Must be rough, did he have to shovel the snow before heading out?   

lol bill you wouldnt believe what those good old boys on the bass boat central boards complain about.

 

I saw a thread with a guy asking if the "cold water" was going to hurt his outboard, the guy was from Georgia hahaha

i can guarantee those poor babies have never seen the water boiling on a November morning when the mercury dips to -18.

 

 

[OhioFisherman]

Good info on setting up and using a rigs.

[Snidley]

Love the opening with the 2 Fer. I once got a 2 fer with different species ie. smallmouth and a Drum and on a crank not an A rig.

[BillM]

What's the bait limit on A-rigs up here?  3 hooks?  I remember a thread about them a while ago.   Would be awesome for smallies in August when they're schooling shad.

[OhioFisherman]

5 hours ago, BillM said:

What's the bait limit on A-rigs up here?  3 hooks?  I remember a thread about them a while ago.   Would be awesome for smallies in August when they're schooling shad.

http://alabamarig.com/regulations/four-hooks-legal-fishing-the-alabama-rig-in-ontario/

As I understand the law you can use 4 hooks on an a rig in Ontario, here in Ohio we are limited to 3. I have never used one, but just my thinking is that you are trying to imitate a school of baitfish, I view getting the fish to strike and landing it as more important than hooking multiple fish at a time.

Doing battle with one 5 pound smallie at a time was enough of  a challenge for me, I couldn't really picture having more than one on the line at a time as usually having a good outcome.

Just my experience Bill, is the ones here on Lake Erie will school or hunt in a pack all the open water season. I can't really think of a more suitable explanation for catching 20 - 40 off a spot not much bigger than your average boat in a half hour?

I have gone hours either not catching any or just a scattered fish here and there, and then suddenly the bite is on!

[Old Ironmaker]

I have relatives in Florida. It's 68F there and they are bundled up like they are going ice fishing. I cancelled WFN years ago. Those shows are 1/2 or 1 hour commercials. Not often I learned anything from them. I never had much fun fishing Largies  in Fla, or here. Catch a 5 pound fish on 50lb tackle suitable for Musky. Fish on, crank like a bugger for 10 seconds and swing the fish into the boat, take all the salad off the thing, release, repeat.

[Snidley]

Might change your mind about largies if you caught a 14-15lb one in clear weed free water. In this video it was legitimaly cold but not to the extent that it was impossible to fish. That said when it gets that cold around here I spend my time on steelheads or stay home.

I tried a small Yum multi rig and got nothing on it, then sold it on.  i have been told these rigs work best in cold, for Bass, water. By the time bass season opens in southern Ontario I think the water is too warm to see great success with an A- rig and that's probably why you don't see them used much around here. I have toyed with the idea of trying them in modified form for trout/salmon. Both coldwater species will definitly take a plastic swimbait so 3 or 4 of them could be attractive. I know that west coast trollers use a multi attractor called a School of Fish trailing a hoochie or flash fly with great success

[Old Ironmaker]

Oh I won't pass up on any fish that comes in at 15 lbs. 4 of us hooligans were once booked to go to a freshwater lake in Cuba for Bass that big. That was 20 years ago and I can't even remember why the trip was cancelled.

[Garnet]

I tried A jig for pike. Nota.

[AKRISONER]

guys like em in the fall for smallies that are schooling on bait. seen guys throw them using extra heavy rods letting them hit bottom and then swim them back up through the bait.

I actually fished the exact spot where the A rig was born on guntersville. 30FOW on a channel edge near a large bridge. Won the guy a big time FLW event or possibly even the classic if i can recall correctly.

[Garnet]

It was Elais that won FLW tour. And Howel won classic on bridge, we stayed at motel at the other end.

The 2 gas stations where great tackle  stores. 

[AKRISONER]

2 hours ago, Garnet said:

It was Elais that won FLW tour. And Howel won classic on bridge, we stayed at motel at the other end.

The 2 gas stations where great tackle  stores. 

thats one of the things i loved about guntersville the best tackle shops were the gas stations. Shame the fishing has gone downhill so much since its heyday. Its an absolutely beautiful part of America.

 

and sorry not 30 fow...50, even 60 in one hole. Deep Deep Deep

Edited July 5, 2018 by AKRISONER

[grimsbylander]

My buddy invented the "A-rig" in 1978! lol He took some thin diameter wire and attached a few of the yellow Vibratail jigs to it. He called it "School of Fish"... man we laughed our arses off at that thing. Don't think it ever caught a fish though!