BOAT EFFICIENCY FROM THE MASTER
EDITORS NOTE: Over the years I have fished with a number of top level professional anglers, many who are very successful on the various tournament circuits. I have never met anyone as efficient as Gussy. Everything is geared to SPEED on the water, because time costs money. We just had Jeff at our 15th Anniversary Celebration and those that fished with him were blown away. So if you want to be a better angler hear how the Bassmaster Champion gets it done.
We all carry a bunch of stuff in our boats to make our fishing adventures more successful. Keep reading to hear all about some of the gear that I always have with me in my boat to help me catch more fish!
Tell me you have super glue in your boat?
Throughout the fishing season there are certain items that I will lose sleep over if I’m running low on them in my boat. I keep hundreds of the jigs that I like in my boat, plenty of hooks, bulk packs of my top soft plastics and multiples of my favourite hard baits. I learned years ago to keep my boat stocked with super glue as well. There are always at least three containers in my boat and more in my shop at home. You might be reading this wondering why super glue is so important?
Bonding your plastic is critical
A soft plastic bait does not go on a jig in my boat without first getting hit with a dab of super glue before hitting the water. Most of the plastics that I use are Z-Man Elaztech baits and it’s helpful in keeping these baits rigged up perfectly on your jig so you can catch dozens of fish on a single bait.
Say you’re reeling in a small swimbait and get a bite, obviously you’re going to set the hook. If you miss the fish because it bumps your bait or short strikes and you don’t glue the bait to the jig, there is a chance that your bait will be pulled down and your cast is ruined.
If you glue your bait, you can almost always just let it fall back to the fish and get another chance at a second bite. This is the same with all of the Ned baits and Jerkshad baits as well. I like to make long casts when I can so gluing the bait to the jig allows me to really whip it out there on a long cast and the bait won’t fall down the shank of the hook. The glue also has other uses in the boat, including closing up a nasty cut from a toothy critter or making small cosmetic fixes on your boat, rods and reels. It’s mandatory equipment in my boat.
Are you using an underwater camera?
When the first Aqua-Vu underwater cameras came out in the late 90s, they were very primitive compared to what is available now. The Aqua-Vu HD7i camera that I have on my boat is a colour screen, it tells me the water temperature at the depth of the camera and the picture is crystal clear.
Obviously, I’m doing a lot of tournament fishing these days. I do some pre-fishing for all of the events that I’m competing in and the underwater camera is an important tool for me. There is a bit of a stigma around underwater cameras, that they give anglers an unfair advantage. I can promise you, just because you see some fish on the camera does not mean you’re going to catch them. For me, they are just a great learning tool and far less advantageous in a tournament situation than say forward facing sonar.
ANALYSING THE UNDERWATER ENVIRONMENT
What the camera does for me is teach me a lot about my fishing spots. I can drop it down and see why one side of a reef is always better than the other side. Often there are boulders, a sand patch or a clump of grass, something different that is attractive to fish. I can use it to look under docks, look at brush piles or to identify fish that I can see on my electronics but cannot catch.
It’s often interesting when you drop it down to identify fish and they are not what you expected. I’ve thought that I was over top of a school of bass or walleye, only to have the camera reveal that they were white bass, suckers, or carp. It’s an amazing tool for species identification.
ESPECIALLY EFFECTIVE ON RIVERS
I most often just drop the camera down to look at specific things but if you fish rivers, the current gives you the ability to cover a lot of water because it will keep the camera under the boat as you drift along. In a lake situation without current, it’s tough to cover ground all that fast because the camera will get left behind if you move to fast.
I mount my camera at the console of my boat on a T-H Marine Mini-Kong mount and power it with a power point at my console. I keep the camera on the spool that it comes with and pull it out whenever I want to use it. One more note on the cameras…if you fish with kids and they get bored when there is a lull in the action, you can set them up to use one of these cameras and it will keep them entertained for hours, they’ll even find a few new spots for you!
Are you carrying the proper hooks in your tackle box?
When I’m on the road at a tournament I never want to be without the proper hooks or jigs for whatever technique or bait that I want to employ. I put a lot of thought and time into preparing my tackle and how I store all of my hooks and jigs so that I have what I need. I know where to find what I need and where I can find replacements.
I use a lot of jig heads over the course of the season but for the most part I get by with about a half dozen jigs that I use most of the time. A few Ned rig heads, usually a ¼ and 3/16 ounce, a ¼ ounce tube head, a ¼ and 3/8 minnow head and a 3/8 football head. Those jigs get me through most situations. Obviously, I carry a few more sizes but these are the ones I use the most. I tend to use heavier jigs more than lighter jigs for the advantage of being able to get my bait down to the fish most efficiently. I don’t want to be waiting to long for my jig to sink to the fish or the bottom.
VARIETY IS A KEY
With worm hooks, I carry a deep 3700 sized tray where I keep a wide variety of hooks in the most popular sizes. I can go into this box to look for a hook for flipping, drop-shotting, wacky rigging or rigging a swimbait. I keep it well-stocked with Gamakatsu hooks and then keep a second box in my shop or truck with back-ups of my most popular models like a 4/0 straight shank G-Power flipping hook, a 3/0 Super-Line EWG for most of my Texas-rigging, a 1/0 Split Shot hook for drop-shotting and a 2/0 EWG Weedless Finesse wacky rig hook.
I also keep a wide selection of treble hooks in the boat with me to replace the hooks on any hard baits that I carry with me as well. There are a variety of different styles of treble hooks in my boat with hooks that have different bends and wire thicknesses to accommodate the different baits and what I’m using them for. If I’m throwing a topwater bait for bass around a lot of grass and other cover, I want to put heavier wire hooks on. I can pull harder on the fish with and not risk opening up the hook.
THE RIGHT HOOK FOR THE RIGHT LURE-PAYING ATTENTION TO DETAIL
On some of the crankbaits that I’m using in open water with a soft rod, I want sharp, light wire treble hooks that will penetrate easily and allow the bait to have the most action. The most popular size treble hooks are #4 and #6 but I carry hooks as small as a #8 and as big as a 2/0 for some of my oversized largemouth and musky baits.The proper hooks for your presentation are important for allowing your bait to have the best action and then for giving you the best chance to land the fish that you hook. I am super picky about my hooks and always try to choose the best option for the job.
SIDEBAR: The best super glue
I have tried nearly every super glue available and my favourite stuff is the Loctite Ultra Gel. It’s not really runny so it’s easier to control and not nearly as messy as the cheaper tubes. All it takes is a dab or two and your bait will be instantly stuck into place.
You can also get a lot more glue out of these Loctite containers by removing the plastic container around the tube of glue when it appears that it’s empty. Once you remove the blue and black plastic covering you still have half a tube left to use. You’re welcome.