You Got Questions, We Have Answers

article by KENNY COVINGTON

Every year I fish between thirty and forty bass tournaments. It’s what I do. I don’t have the patience to hunt and I don’t play golf because I refuse to play a sport my kids would consistently beat me at. So, I fish both competitively and for fun all year.

Fishing tournaments and spending as many days as I can on the water allows me a large learning curve. I research, learn and then try new techniques or the how’s and why’s of my competitors when they were successful on days that I may not have been. Even after all the years I have spent on the water, I still try to learn something every time I go fishing. I believe that is one of the key ingredients to being a good angler.

Fishermen, besides being over analytical, are notoriously curious. We like to ask questions. We speculate, ponder and downright question the goings on underneath the water of the particular lake we may be fishing. The harder it gets to figure out why the fish aren’t biting, the more questions we tend to have, oftentimes without answers. In this month’s “Fishing with Kenny” article I thought I would share with you some of the more common questions I have been ask or have heard over the years and the answers I supplied to those questions.

WHAT IS THE BEST COLOR SOFT PLASTIC TO USE IN OUR AREA AND IF YOU COULD ONLY PICK ONE SOFT PLASTIC LURE TO USE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

When it comes to my color choices of soft plastics, I try to keep it simple. While a lot of people try to narrow it down to a choice or two, I always keep these five colors in my boat: watermelon/red, junebug, black neon, green pumpkin and candy bug. These five colors, regardless of the soft plastic you are using will catch fish anywhere, on any body of water in this country.
My choice of soft plastic would be a Zoom Baby Brush Hog. The techniques and ways to fish this little guy are endless. You can Carolina Rig it, flip/pitch it, swim it or use it as a jig or Chatterbait trailer. No matter the technique, it will catch fish. It’s just that good of a lure.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE TO BE THE BEST ALL ROUND CHOICE FOR A FISHING LINE THAT CAN BE USED FOR THE MOST APPLICATIONS?

Without a doubt, when it comes to cost, production and all-round fishing usage, the best line ever made is the green 15 lb. test Berkley Trilene Big Game monofilament line. It’s not even close and there is no sense arguing about it. This line was originally designed for deep sea fishing but it caught on with bass anglers quite quickly. Topwater, crankbait, worm fishing, spinnerbait, this line can do it all. Is it 100% fool proof? No, but nothing ever is. When it comes to picking a good fishing line to use for just about any technique or lure choice, there is none better.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT FISHING IN BAD WEATHER AND DO CERTAIN LURES AND COLORS WORK BEST WHEN IT RAINS?

I have fished in just about every weather condition you can think of. Snow showers in April? Yes. Tropical Storm warning? Yes. Tornado warning? Yes. The coldest day I fished was 20 degrees. The hottest day I fished was a temperature of 105 with a heat index of 115. I have fished in it all. No matter what the conditions are, however, you have to keep a good mental outlook while on the water. I have always believed the tougher the event, the easier it is to win. If you can keep your mental focus, a lot of times this will help you figure things out while others struggle.

I enjoy fishing in the rain but I will not, under any circumstances, fish with lightning in the area. A fish is not worth losing your life over! However, if I am able to fish while it is raining, I have noticed a couple of things that might help you on your next rainy-day trip. One, use bone or black colored topwater lures. A buzzbait or Whopper Plopper are also great choices. Two, if the fish will not come up and strike a topwater lure, which is often the case when fishing after a strong thunderstorm, pitching/flipping a dark colored soft plastic or jig will get you bites.

HOW DO YOU APPROACH FISHING A NEW LAKE AND/OR HOW DO YOU FISH A LAKE YOU KNOW EXTREMELY WELL?

When fishing a lake for the first time, look for things you are comfortable fishing. Is there a rocky shoreline? What about boat docks? Are there are cypress trees? Anything you can find that you have fished before is where you want to start trying to piece together the puzzle. Regardless of the lake, always fish shallow water and look for the dirtiest water you can find. Clear water lakes are a whole different story and require different techniques and mindsets to fish them so always look to try and establish something shallow.

When it comes to fishing a lake you know extremely well, try to think outside of the box. Instead of fishing past history, try to look at it as if it were a new lake. Explore areas that weren’t good in the past to see if maybe something has changed about them to attract fish. Or try a technique that you think the fish haven’t seen much. Anything you can do to keep from having preconceived notions before you get on the water will make things a lot easier.

WHAT IS A LURE YOU WISH YOU HAD TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO THAT IS POPULAR NOW?

This one is probably the easiest one to answer: a Senko and a Chatterbait. The Senko is arguably the best soft plastic ever created and the Chatterbait is just an excellent fish catcher regardless of the time of year and it catches big fish. Both are a staple in any serious bass fishermen’s tacklebox and you should always have one or both of them on a rod ready to go.

Well it looks like we have run out of space and time for another month. I hope we were able to share some information with you to help you catch more fish your next time out on the water. It is the dog days of summer so take extra sun related precautions, drink plenty of water, and please be courteous to other boaters while enjoying our local waterways. Oh yeah, and be sure to catch one for me!

See you next month!