Outdoor Show Survival Guide

It’s that time again, that’s right the time when we all gather to see what’s hot and new in the outdoor industry has arrived. Most of us go to these shows to beat cabin fever or at least spend a day with our friends or children. The big question is “how to make the most of the day”? Have no fear; Captain Steve is here with his “Outdoor Show Survival Guide”!

Rule #1. No matter how cold it is, wear nothing heavier than a sweat shirt! This may not make sense immediately since February and March temperatures can be quite cool to say the least, but there is a method to the madness. The minor case of Pneumonia and possibly losing a toe from frostbite are a small price to pay when the alternative is sweating like you’re in a sauna while walking the show. Besides, a brisk walk is good for your cardio condition, and by underdressing this will guarantee that you move quickly to the show and again back to your vehicle.

Rule #2. Dress appropriately! Everyone needs to wear their best sporting shirts or slogan shirts. Break out the “Quacker Smacker”, “Bass Buster”, or “Beer Hunter” hoodies that your significant other can’t stand and wear them proudly! Remember the day you bought it and she asked “where are you going to wear that thing”? The sport shows are where! The side effect is you will get a lot of attention from the vendors as you pass by. This is also another great time to break out the camouflage again before spring.

Rule #3. Forget health food! Where else can you have a steady diet of jerky, pickles, crab cakes, soft pretzels and other goodies? For Pete’s sake, what other time of the year will you have 16 flavors of pickles and half a dozen critters jerked and at your beckon call? The best strategy is to get the free samples first and then stock up on all you can gorge yourself with as you walk the show. The few years you take off your life are well worth it in the long run!

Rule #4. Check out the seminars. These shows are full of free information. This may be the only time you ever get to rub shoulders with celebrities of your favorite sport. This is also the best time to study them closely and see what sets them apart without being arrested as a stalker. On a serious note, check out the scheduled seminars there is a bunch of good info out there especially the Delaware Valley Outdoors seminars (sorry I had to).

Rule #5. Have a pack mule or at least a back pack to put the info you’re gathering in. It’s a fact that we are attracted to all the brochures and little freebies at the shows and they can take up a bunch of space. Have something to put them in because Rule #1 will have you in bed for a while and the material you gather will probably last about the time your illness does. It makes great reading between cold sweats!

By following these five rules and taking them only half seriously I’m sure the show season will be much more enjoyable!

Captain Steve Horvath

Bassin' With Brian

5lb largemouthTuesday morning dawned with a pretty good chill in the air for early November, especially for a fishing trip. My porch and Suburban were both covered with frost as the sun began to creep over the horizon while I loaded my tackle for the trip to the Northeast River and Charlestown Maryland. The short trip to a pre-arranged meeting point was long enough to warm the truck to the point where my wife asked about turning down the heat for a while. In a few minutes I would be loading my stuff into Mike’s van for our trip south.

It was pretty weird meeting him at the crack of 7AM for a fishing trip, especially one with an hour and a half drive. After a few grumbles that only men can understand we were rolling down I-95 south at a pretty good clip. A good clip that is, until we hit Center City Philadelphia. The traffic didn’t seem so bad, especially because we were going fishing and that beats real work any day of the week. Soon Philadelphia was a memory and we were exiting onto Route 272 and closing in on our destination.

Pulling up to the ramp, we could see Brian’s Ranger parked but ready to go. Brian quickly had us loaded up and we cruised about ¼ mile to our first spot. The long pier pointed out into the Northeast River from a cement bulkhead wall. Our captain stopped us short of the pier to rig up and get our camera and gear ready. Brian seemed more excited than us lures were tied on and microphones were adjusted. Soon, the first casts, more like pitches of the day landed beside the many pilings of the pier. Brian pointed out the many “pieces” of an old dock that lay beneath the new one.

I could feel the worm weight bouncing along the concrete and wood a few feet below the surface as we inched along. As we rounded the end of the pier, Brian launched a cast with a well-worn balsa crank bait. He lowered his rod tip and cranked the bait along the wreckage that littered the bottom before raising hi tip sharply. The rod bent sharply as a lethargic bass came to the surface and wallowed around while pulling line from the reel’s drag. The bass fought well until it finally gave up and was brought aboard. Brian and I guessed at the fish’s weight before putting it on the digital scale. The fish weighed an honest 5 LBS! Soon the bass was released and we headed to another likely looking spot.

This spot contained both wood and metal and was close to some of the deepest water in the area. We banged our crank baits off of the unseen submerged structure, and soon enough my rod had a good bend in it! I fought the fish close to the boat and could see the fish wasn’t hooked well. Seeing me, the fish decided it wasn’t hooked well either and released itself rather quickly. Although I was a little let down, I checked the hooks and let another cast fly. The crank bait came over a piece of cover and as it veered off course another bass took a whack at it and hooked itself in its side. The bass fought hard, but with a little luck the fish came to the boat tail first.

Brian and I fished several other fishy looking places along the river to finish out the afternoon as the tide rolled in quickly due to a south wind. In that time, I found that not only does Brian guide for Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, but he also guides for spring and fall Striped Bass. It seems the Susquehanna flats area is alive and well these days, and he’s enjoying it quite a bit.

I could end the day by saying we had a good time and all that other stuff, but it would be a crime not to mention “the tool”. It seems that Brian has a pole with what looks like a spring mounted on the end. When one of us would snag our pricey crank baits on a subsurface structure, “the tool” would come out and we saved what could have been quite a few dollars in tackle.

So, if you want to have some fun, catch some fish and check out “the tool” contact Brian at briansgs.com. I think you’ll have a good time.

See You on the Water,

Captain Steve Horvath

Aye Captain

There I sat behind the desk with sweat beading on my forehead and lawn sprinklers in my armpits soaking through my shirt. Carefully I read each question as I filled in the little bubbles careful not to let the sweat dripping from my brow stain the score sheet. If that wasn’t bad enough I could feel my shirt sticking to my back as it soaked through. All this to drive a boat?  

Some time ago in the recent past I decided that getting my Captain’s license might be a good idea especially since I had intended on starting to guide anglers and hunters. How hard could it be? Little did I know just what kind of hoops I was expected to jump through to get it?

I started on my path not much different than most “would be captains”. There I was at the Atlantic City Boat Show standing in front of a booth that was owned by one of those “Captains Course” places. I plunked down my $450.00 and figured that wasn’t so bad to get my license and walked out with a bunch of pamphlets and other items I was given. “I’m on my way”, I thought to myself as I drove home that afternoon.

After a day or so, I started going over the items I was going to have to get along the way. The list wasn’t exactly a short one, so I decided to just do one at a time until I had them all. The first one was called a “TWIC” card. To get this card I had to go to the Port Authority in Philadelphia, pay a fee, and then wait while my background was searched. After a couple of weeks I was notified that my card was in, so back to the Port Authority I went and after an un flattering photo I was now at step 2 in the process.

Next on the list was a first aid certification. “Easy” I thought to myself, since I already had it. Then I saw where it said that the certification had to be within one year. I guess my card from 1991 just wasn’t going to cut it. Another fee and another class and I was another step closer. That weekend “Sea School” was about to begin start, so I decided to give it all of my attention.

For those who have gone through the boating safety certification, this is a whole different animal. The classes would be held on 6 days over a pair of “long weekends”. It’s been a while since I had attended any type of school, so I was a little apprehensive. The first day started at 8 AM and lasted until 6PM and to say I had a headache by the end was an understatement. The rest of the first weekend is still a blur with the only thing I remember being calls from Bob each night to see how everything was going.

The second weekend was much the same, except we had a knot certification as part of the course. “No problem” I thought to myself. After all I could tie a bunch of fishing knots and even a few useful boating ones. It turns out I have the uncanny ability to tie a left handed knot right handed. In fact my “teacher” had me stand in front of the class to show them a left handed “bowline” tied right handed. With a little luck, I was able to navigate through the knot portion and I was yet another step close. Soon I would find out how small the steps were I was taking. “The test” was looming in the distance.

As best as I can tell, the actual “Captain Test” was concocted by some evil genius that wanted to know what the breaking point of Steve Horvath was. We were soon to find out just what that was. “The Test” is actually broken into 4 segments. They go something like this: Deck General, Navigation General, Course Plotting, and “Rules of the Road”. The good news is that each test is individual, so that once you pass a segment, you’re good to go. The bad news is that while the first three tests have a lower passing score, “Rules of the Road” requires a 90% grade to pass. The other bad news is that with the exception of Gym class, 90’s were pretty hard to come by.

On test day, I decided to take anything but “Rules of the Road” until I had gone through the other sections. With a little luck, my scores were passing in the first three sections. So, there I sat with trembling hands knowing that my future rested in the 30 questions that sat in front of me. Truthfully I failed that section with an 80%. Here I was with one of the highest test grades I would achieve in my lifetime and I failed. Luckily I had 2 more chances to pass. A pair of 88%’s later and I had used up my three tries. Now I had to take “Rules of the Road” over again.

So there I sat after re taking the class, knowing that the future of mankind, or at least this man’s future rested in the hands of the little bubbles on the sheet. I felt a little light headed as I handed in the test sheet and watched as it was scored. One wrong, then a second and then the scorer looked up and said, “Congratulations Captain”. To say I was excited was an understatement, especially for a guy that went through the process thinking it was going to be easy.

Then there was documenting 360 days of sea time, as well as a drug test, physical, and a mountain of paperwork. About $1,200.00 out the window and I had my Captain’s License.

A big thanks go out to my wife and kids that quizzed me for hours on end, Mike and Bob for the encouragements, and my old friend George for calling me constantly asking, “Are you a Captain yet”?

High and Dirty Water?

What do you do when the normally clean water you fish looks like a late’ and is up in the trees? The best answer for a lot of us might be to stay home and catch up on the yard work we’ve been neglecting. What if it lasts for a month? Maybe you’re on a fishing trip or have a tournament scheduled and have to make the best of it? While it might be easier to throw in the towel, sometimes we just need to fish!

The first thing an angler needs to consider what the change in water clarity, depth and quite possibly temperature does to a bass. The first thing that should cross our minds is that at least one of the bass’s senses has been compromised. Sight is perhaps the first thing to go in a muddy environment, but color still plays a role in lure choice even if it’s minimal. By knowing that one sense has been minimized an angler needs to take advantage of the other two, namely smell and the fish’s lateral line (vibration). Anglers should choose lures with a lot of vibration characteristics under less than optimum visual circumstances. Lures like crank baits and spinner baits are just the ticket. After we look at the other factors about how fish position we can better choose which crank baits and spinner baits fit our needs best. The other choice is to use soft plastics and weed less jigs with scent on them (and I mean bathed in the stuff).

Now that we know the water is off colored the next factor is the water level itself. This factor has more to do with where the bass are and the locations we fish. While it may be intriguing and even fun to cast up under flooded trees and other flotsam that may be in the area, if an angler can’t reach the farthest a bass can swim into the shallows they are handicapping themselves. Anglers should look for steeper banks in the areas they would normally fish. By taking advantage of the fact that even with a higher water level they can still reach the bank, anglers can optimize their fishing time.

The next factor with these flooded conditions anglers face is that the water in addition to being high and off color, it has now cooled from the weather somewhat. This means that most of the offshore structure and deep water bass patterns have been disrupted. With the exception of the spawn this could be the time when more bass are shallow than any other. This is the biggest reason anglers can find success along the shore at this time!

How do we put it all together and be successful? Here’s the plan. Our choice of lures in high dirty water is pretty simple to make. My first choice is a square billed crank bait like a Norman Little-N or a Bagley. It would be either chartreuse with a black or brown back with an orange belly or fire tiger. Since I’m probably keying in on 6 feet of water or less this bait is ideal and doesn’t hang up nearly as much as you might think. My next lure choice would be a 3/8ths ounce spinner bait in white and chartreuse. The important thing about the bait is that I would use one with Colorado blades for more vibration than willow leaf blades (and of course a trailer hook). Choice number three is a 3/8ths ounce jig any color as long as it has some black in it and has rattles. My trailer would be a scented chigger craw or pork frog. Rod number four would have a creature bait like a Zoom Baby Brush Hog colored June bug or Black with a chartreuse tail. This is a mission where the drop shot, shaky head and other finesse tactics would be put on the shelf.

My tactic would be to hit the lake and cover lots of water, in fact I would cover as much water as possible. Somewhere in that journey I would find an area with fish and then spend some time in that area before moving on.

Well, that’s the best advice I can give an angler fishing less than ideal conditions this time of the year. I’ll see you on the water.

The Fall Frenzy

I think I’ve been a little guilty lately, in fact I know I have. With all that’s been going on with editing and salt water fishing bass fishing has been on the back burner a bit. At least it was until the temperatures started to dip a little bit. Fall bass fishing can be some of the best of the entire year if you understand a little bit about the bass and its world.

As we speak we’re in a period of transition. The cooling temperatures have the bass acting a little friskier than they were a few weeks ago, but the “fall frenzy” hasn’t quite started. Bass are starting to make their move into shallower feeding areas for longer periods of time, but the majority of them are still located in mid lake areas making them a little difficult for most anglers to catch. Try looking around main lake points at the mouths of large coves and rocky banks in these same areas for another week or two. Use lures like crank baits in shad and perch colors in stained water and crawfish colors in clearer waters.

After our next cold front hits, expect bass movement to increase greatly. Small baitfish will move into coves and creek arms with the bass close behind them! Shoreline areas with pads, wood, and other obstructions will be a prime hiding place for bass at this time. The best news is that they will be willing to chase fast moving lures on most days! What this means to the angler is that now is the time to cover water and lots of it in a day. While you can certainly catch some fish on soft plastics the odds are now in favor of the angler chuckin’ and windin’! The choice of lures to insure the most success can be critical now more than ever though.

The baitfish that bass feed on this time of the year can be really small so anglers need to match the hatch. Spinner baits should have small Colorado or Willow leaf blades in silver or gold colors. Crank baits of 3/8ths of an ounce or less can be quite effective. Remember to scale your tackle to match these lures so they have optimum action when possible. A 1/8^th ounce crank bait won’t cast or vibrate nearly as well on 17 LB test as it will on 8 or even 10 LB tackle.

Anglers should stay in areas where there is more bait or signs of fish activity and try different tactics. Some days the bass will eat a spinner bait reeled just under the surface while the next day they may want it crawled. Also realize that a crank bait doesn’t necessarily need to be constantly digging into the bottom to draw a strike. Many times you don’t want the bait to dig into the muck and mire getting fouled quickly on each cast. An old trick is to throw a ¼ ounce rattle trap on 20 or 25 LB test to keep it running shallower than it would on 10 LB test. An even easier trick is to hold your rod tip higher and your bait will naturally rise in the water column.

As a parting tip I’ll tell you exactly what will be tied on my rods next trip.

1.    Little Big –O in perch color

2.    Bomber model 6A in Fire Tiger

3.    White spinner bait (1/4 oz) with #4 willow leaf blades

4.    Chrome with a black back Pop-R

5.    Wacky rigged Green Pumpkin Senko

6.    Drop shot with a June bug finesse worm

7.    Baby Brush Hog (Green Pumpkin) Texas rigged

These rods will allow me to cover shallow to mid depths quickly while leaving me options if I miss a fish or want to pick an object apart a bit. If I had to guess I would say that the little Big-O would get a lot of attention and most of the fishing time if the bass are on shallow wood cover like I think they will be.

Remember, follow the fish as they move shallow and crank, crank, crank!