Bass

Largemouth bass aren’t good to eat. Pale-flesh salmon and trout are inferior. Catfish from muddy waters taste like mud. Bony fish are useless. Just as with terrestrial critters, myths and misconceptions regarding fish flesh abound. Though often outright wrong, sometimes they contain kernels of truth...

Sorry, I don’t mean to kill your dream, harsh your mellow, or pull the rug out from under you, but the title says it all: You’ll never be as good a bass angler as KVD. I hear it all the time from weekend warriors, aspiring pros, and people who can’t tell a crankbait from a crankshaft: “I could be a...

On my 2007 trip to Tokyo, I spent $36 at a tackle shop on an artificial shrimp in a cup. This was not a random purchase. My friend Matt Paino, president of Optimum Swimbaits, who had gone to college in Japan and subsequently imported several Japanese tackle brands to the U.S., took me on to the...

The Texas Rig is an ultimate classic setup for catching bass, and the beauty of this presentation lies in its simplicity. The length of the rod you choose will depend on where you’re fishing, but it’s important that the rod is medium-heavy with a fast taper. This means your rod will be a little...

As we waded down a small creek near Bristol Bay, Alaska, trying not to fall over and fill our waders, Texas bass pro Keith Combs set the hook on a cartwheeling, hellbent-for-leather rainbow trout. It vaulted out of the water, and suddenly the unseen bears that he’d obsessed about minutes earlier...

Most bass fishing lures are designed for relatively shallow water. That makes sense in the context of the fishes’ typical habitat but fails to acknowledge their seasonal movements as the water chills in the winter. In many southern waters, once the surface temperatures drops below 60 degrees or so...

This is one of the most effective lures for locating and targeting smallmouth—and just about any other predatory fish. A simple paddletail swimbait on a jighead produces a beautiful action all on its own, making it super easy to fish. Possibly the greatest value of this rig is its ability to cover a...

Why bass? I felt a little bit dirty writing that, bordering on traitorous. After all, bass have been very good to me. They’re responsible for many of my greatest memories, they contribute to my income, and I’ve built a large part of my life around them. While they’ll occasionally disappear...

While a lot of the basic lures and techniques we use in bass fishing have been around for decades, the vibrating jig is the new kid on the block. Also known as chatterbaits, these bladed lures throw off a lot of flash, pulse, and wiggle—all of which absolutely trigger fish. In this video, we got to...

When faced with thick, shallow cover full of tree roots and snags, you might not immediately think of running a bunch of big treble hooks through the middle of it. You might also be surprised to know that this is one of my preferred techniques and one that was pivotal to my efforts on the recent...

Three-time Toyota Texas Bass Classic Champion Keith Combs buried his face in the twin displays on the console of his boat, idling, idling, idling around a semi-private trophy fish factory in East Texas. Meanwhile, I was in the passenger seat stewing. Occasionally we’d see a fish blow up on bait or...

One of the greatest things about bass fishing is how it rewards creativity. Soft-plastic jerkbaits have been in production and use forever, but rarely do you see them fished like this. My friend and cameraman Parker Wright started rigging them weightless with an exposed hook and we had a blast using...