|
When it’s cold as ice, Ike likes to make ‘em bite. That should give him an advantage in another brutally cold Bassmaster Classic.
“Cold, winter-pattern/pre-spawn tournaments suit a main way I like to catch ‘em, which is creating a reaction strike with crankbaits, like the Rapala DT series, making the fish bite,” says Michael “Ike” Iaconelli, an East Coast Rapala and VMC pro no stranger to catching bass in cold weather.
“When the water’s cold, their forage is cold and doesn’t really move quick,” he says. That’s why his Rapala crankbaits work so well in cold water – their unique, balsa wood bodies feature a slow rise on the pause that elicits strikes.” Ike’s pause and rise follows a “secondary movement,” he creates by changing retrieve speed, snapping his bait, or jerking free of vegetation.
Expect Ike to employ the latter tactic in the Classic Feb. 21-23 on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville, known for its prodigious vegetation (known simply as “grass” in the shorthand of bass pros, despite the vegetation type). Armed with rods rigged with Rapala DT 6’s, 10’s and 14’s, he will quarter-cast the outside edges of grass in 10 to 12 feet of water. “I’m getting that crankbait to bury in the grass a little bit on that edge,” he explains. “And then I’m going to use a snapping motion to rip it free.”
In addition to Rapala DT series cranks and Rippin’ Rap lipless cranks, Ike will cover water with other “classic, cold-water search baits,” like Rapala’s Husky Jerk and Shad Rap. He’ll also throw a Scatter Rap, the erratic-moving balsa crankbait that Rapala unveiled at last year’s Classic.
“The neat thing about that bait is that it has action all own its own,” Ike says. He’ll throw it on shallow flats over emergent, one- to two-foot tall grass. “Those fish love to get right in that, right on the top of it,” he says. Rather than ripping a Scatter Rap through or out of grass – as he would a DT crank or Rippin’ Rap – Ike will reel it over the top, changing his retrieve speed from slow to moderate throughout the retrieve.
VMC Finesse Baits And Jigs
After locating groups of active fish with search baits, Ike slows down with “soaking baits.” Those include various shapes of soft-plastic worms and creature baits, which he rigs on his trusted Ike Approved VMC Hooks and Jigs to “clean up and hopefully maximize a group of fish.” In preparing for the Classic, he’s already rigged rods with VMC Rugby Head and Wacky Weedless Jigs.
|
