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St. Croix Report
Smallmouth specialist, Travis Manson
Smallmouth specialist and previous Bassmaster Elite angler, Travis Manson, is owner of Travis Manson’s Guide Service and host of the popular Smallmouth Crush live stream and podcast. The wayfaring guide grew up fishing in northern Wisconsin, but now tackles Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, as well as upstate New York’s St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario’s 1000 Islands region. He’s particularly handy with a jig, and as angler and guide who spends hundreds of days per year fishing for smallies, Mason considers hair jigs absolutely imperative. “It’s effective at catching smallmouth anywhere fish have good visibility. If I can see two to three feet or more into the water, I feel good about using the hair jig,” says Manson.
The proclivity of hair jigs to entice big fish is now well-known, but that wasn’t always the case. “There is something about the hair jig that smallmouth love, and for a number of years a lot of high-profile anglers were able to keep it to themselves,” Manson says. “Although the hair jig has been around for a long time it really started to come back in the smallmouth community in the mid 2000's. There were a few years when only a few anglers were consistently using this bait and doing very well before word got out. It can be a magical technique at times.”
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Seaguar Report
Three spinning reels
Over the past few years, braided lines with a fluorocarbon leader have become a go-to set-up for anglers fishing spinning gear. It's a combination that works exceptionally well and generally; the only question is which connection knot to use. But, some anglers still prefer to use straight fluorocarbon, whether for lure performance or convenience.
This group includes Bassmaster Elite Series pro Mark Menendez and television personality Mark Zona, who make a case for using fluorocarbon on spinning gear.
Why Fluorocarbon?
Those who know Mark Zona, either through meeting him or watching him on Zona's Awesome Fishing Show or his work with Bassmaster, see that he has quite the personality. He takes this into account with his line selection for some techniques.
Mark Zona with two nice smallmouths
"I'm a hyper person and fluorocarbon helps me get rid of some of that added action to my lures," he says. "Braided line is great, but the zero stretch causes baits to have a much more exaggerated action with each small movement of your rod. That's good sometimes, but fluorocarbon allows the bait to look more natural and subdued under the surface."
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By Al McGuckin
2-time B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year Gerald Swindle
Inside Gerald Swindle’s museum-like man cave sit two Bassmaster Angler of the Year trophies below a wall full of whitetail deer mounts, and he’ll be quick to tell you there is tremendous connectivity between his profound success as a pro angler and the many days he’s spent sitting in a treestand.
“You look back through the history of pro fishing at the dudes I looked up to – guys like Denny Brauer, Larry Nixon, and Ken Cook – and they were naturals as archery hunters, too. You can’t tell me there’s not a connection there,” Swindle emphasizes. “You see the same qualities these days in Greg Hackney and Jason Christie – two of the absolute best pros in the business who are equally as wicked in the whitetail woods,” he adds.
So, what exactly is the connection between consistently successful whitetail hunters who are also the world’s top bass anglers? Swindle says there are several reasons, and he graciously highlighted those at the top of his list.