FISHING TIPS & TECHNIQUES

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FLIPPIN' AND PITCHIN'
by: Nick Witkowski

One of the funnest ways to catch big largemouth for me, is pitchin' a jig into heavy cover. There's nothing like yankin' a 3+ pounder out of mats of vegetation or a thick brush pile full of branches and logs. I usually start flippin' for largies around the middle of May and will continue to catch fish all the way 'till October. Your gear for flippin should consist of a good quality graphite rod, heavy- action for more back-bone,( although a med-action stick will work too,). The length of the stick should also be at least 6'. I prefer a 6'6" to 7' (Lamiglas XC667 -line wt.- 15-30 lb. test- lure wt. 3/8-2 oz.). Get yourself a good quality bait-cast reel and fill that spool with a line no-less than 20 lb. test. There's no question that big bass feel more secure hiding out in heavy cover, so the line you use must have superior tensile and knot strength, high abrasion resistance, low stretch and sensitivity, and last but not least.....castability. As most of you fellow bassmasters know, I fish with STREN line. Say what you must...!! Use whatever line you want to! If you want to put bass in your boat and stop letting the toads swim away with a foot of line and your Strike King Pro-Model jig stuck in their mouth, I'd switch to STREN if you haven't already. For years, I've used STREN'S SUPERTOUGH and had great success, but this year it appears STREN has come out with a new line called HEAVY COVER. Just as the name suggests, this line is specially formulated to handle the rigors of brush-piles, weed beds, logs and pilings or any type of "hard to fish" cover. I can't wait to try it! Color choice is up to you, but you can't go wrong with black and blue tipped with a trailer of some kind, weather it be pork or plastic. I prefer the ZOOM Big Salty Chunk trailer. The wt. of the jig depends on the thickness of cover your fishing so the choice is up to you. 3/8 to 1/2 oz. is what I'm throwing 99.9% of the time. Depth, most of the time when I'm flippin' and pitchin' is around " TWOOO__FOOT!!!" or shallower. Anyway, I guess the most important tip I can tell you is that "Do not doubt yourself not even for a second when you see that line twitch or perhaps feel something different with the rod...... set the hook immediately or you might just have missed the hawg of a lifetime!' See ya!

NIGHT FISHING ON LAKE WASHINGTON
by: Steve Cox

With Lake Goodwin recieving a lot of night fishing pressure through the summer months, Lake Washington seems to get a little overlooked. Although Goodwin gives up fish 6 lbs.+, my first night trip to Lake Washington ended up as one of my best days ever! Another member of the club also did really well, with one smallie almost 5 lbs.! If you plan to go, try a 5 inch dark colored senko. Rig it weightless and use smelly jelly or some kind of scent. Toss the senko off the ends of the docks in the areas you normally catch fish in the daytime. Just dead stick it and occasionally pick up the slack to see if there is a fish on. Docks adjcent to deep water seem to be the best. The Mercer Island Boat Launch is a good place to launch since it has no gate and is well lit. Good Luck!

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