by Carter White
There are so many techniques for bass fishing out there I learn new rigs and techniques all the time from Carolina rig to wackey to top water and all the way to crank baits there tons of options. My preferred and most often used is the classic Texas rig. Texas rig has produced 100s if fish for me and has caught me more fish than any other technique.

My favorite thing to through Texas is a zoom lizard in green watermelon rigged on a 3 or 4/0 hook with a 1/8 oz bullet weight thrown on 14 pound fluorocarbon on a lees speed spool with a 7 ft skeet Reese. I like to work in on banks and shallow flats on the bottem with a jerk and reel than a few seconds of sitting after fishing like this it almost becomeS a natural motion. I also am a big fan of top waters because the produce large fish. The bird is my go to lure because of its design and also the plastic formula.

I like the plastic because lots of frogs such as the Matzuo frog have a really nice tough durable plastic but is fairly hard to push down. Then the koppers frog which is easy to push down but the plastic tears easily and rips making the lure useless. The bird has the best of both worlds with an easy push down to the hook yet a very tough durable plastic that will last you a while. I like to flip the bird under low overhang on the bank using 40 pound braid on the quantum escalade using a skeet Reese 7 ft rod.

Those are my two go to rigs for when I want quantity or quality fish and a little insight to how I fish them.

By Kyle Louis

My friend went to his secret spot. They only had 2 hours to fish so they didn’t have time to walk all the way down where they usually go. While they were walking they saw a bunch of shad jumping in about 1 to 2 feet of water. So they decided to go see what was going on. They started casting and there was a school of bass eating the sad. They were using shad color crank baits and they were getting hits on every other casts. When they had to leave they ended up catching 90 plus bass.

He and his friend went back the next day but they didn’t try to catch the bass eating the shad they went down to where we usually go it wasn’t as good but they still caught a lot but not a ton. The next day my friend and I decided to go we walked down to the usual spot we caught a few walking down I was using lipless crank bait on one pole and spinner bait on the other. In the morning I caught the most with the spinner bait and later I caught more on the crank bait. I switched the spinner bait with a California swim jig with a roboworm ez shad as the trailer it worked pretty well but then I lost it.

On the way back we caught a few more but when we got up to the shallows were all the shad were I started catching a ton with crank baits and spinner baits. My friend was trying to get top water fish with buzz bait but they stopped biting it so he decided to switch to a crank bait and started catching a lot. My friend told me to tie on a top water frog to see if I could get some blow ups. I was working my frog and my friend looked like he was getting ready to set the hook so I asked him are you about to set the hook and he said no but you should and as soon as he said that I got my first blow up and I got really excited but I missed that fish so I kept casting and finally got one.

Then it started getting dark and my parents came to pick us up. And that was the end of the exciding day of fishing.

By Carter White

I live in southern georgia and fishing is just a part of life for me. I’ve had so much fun fishing with family and friends and have created lots of memory’s. my dads not much of a fisherman or my grandpa but my great grandad was.

Thanks to him we have a cabin in the mountains of north georgia on lake chatuge. Chatuge is not a very good bass lake actually it’s considered the worst in georgia. I have managed to find success with the spots there though. Catching fish there gives me the confidence that I can catch fish anywhere. My best memory though is when is was younger my whole family would load up in the pontoon and my grandpa would take us to a spot we called the secret fishing spot it was just a bank with tons of rocks and we would just pull out tons and tons of bream. we would catch about 50 in a hour or so they just bit better than anywhere ive eve been. Most my fishing memory’s come from fishing with my best friend jace.

We’ve been friends since we were to we grew up going to church together and were both extremely crazy about fishing. Infact when I go fishing with out him it is weird because we feed off withers knowledge to know what baits workin plus were both competitive which drives us to be the best angler we an. My beat fishing memory was with him its when i landed my 8 pounder this past summer. i was also there when he caught his 7 pounder.

We’ve created a lot of memory’s together nd are tournament partners.Now we are still best friends and still love fishing its just about all we do. Those are my fishing experiences with my family and friends.

By Micheal Wenger

When it comes to topwater bass fishing there is one lure you can count on to produce time after time. That one lure is the Flip in the Bird lure. This lure produces more big fish than any other topwater lure out there. The reason this lure produces so many big fish is it is something hardly anyone throws. It is also the only lure of its kind on the market.

When fishing this lure you want to find the nastiest looking over hangs you can find. Once you have done that Flip in the Bird as far under there as you can possibly get. Then you want to twitch it a few times and let it sit for about fifteen seconds and twitch it some more. This way of flipping in the bird is the best way I have found.

The setup I like to throw this on is iRod Air 754c, the Lew’s Super Duty SD1SH, and Seaguar Kanzen 60lb. braid. This setup will help you land every fish that bites. The reason I like the iRod 754c is because it is lightweight sensitive and designed just for heavy cover topwater fishing. The Lew’s SD1SH was designed just for heavy cover heavy braid fishing. This reel is 7.1:1 gear ratio reel this helps with getting the fish out of the nastiest cover imaginable it even has a special place on the reel for braid to start so it isn’t slipping on the spool. The line Seaguar Kanzen 60lb. braid is the best braid that I have found its super strong absolutely no stretch and super sensitive.

The next time you plan on going out and doing some heavy cover topwater fishing make sure you Flip in the Bird. Go out to your local tackle shop and pick up a couple for yourself you will put down all other hollow body topwaters that you have ever fished before.

I’m in Middle School, but the High School I will be going to is starting a fishing team and they said I could join. So I’m super excited: This blog is going to be about you and an adult you know who likes to fish starting a fishing team at your high school. In oder to start a fishing team you need to talk to your schools principal. Then you need to get a teacher to sponsor (kind of like a coach) of your team. You need to be willing to put money into your team. Because your going to need a jersey and you will have to pay your entry fees.

I would like to thank Mr. Jeff Elkins for helping to start our fishing team. It will be a start (along with Flip In The Bird) to follow my dream to becoming a professional bass angler the FLW and B.A.S.S. So make sure to talk to an adult that you know that likes to fish about starting a team at your high school, talk to your principal, geta  teacher to sponsor your team, and be willing to pay money to fish on your team.  Make sure to check out my Facebook page at Flip In The Bird Junior Anglers and send me an email or message on Facebook about joining the Flip In the Bird Junior Anglers and purchasing a jersey.   My email is cal_culpepper@yahoo.com  Thanks Guys!

The “Flip in the Bird” fishing lure is something that caught my eye a while ago, but I was not completely sold. Why would I buy another hollow-bodied top-water lure when I already have lures that I have tried and definitely trust? After hearing more about the bird, I realized that it wasn’t like anything I already have in my tackle box. Instead, it covers a completely different aspect when chasing bass – truly imitating a bird, not just a frog trying to pass as something new and innovative.

I think the bird will help me catch bigger bass because it is innovative. Largemouths eat birds. If bass eat it, I want a lure that will imitate it with me when I’m out there. After all, one of the keys to becoming a better angler is adjusting to what the fish are doing and a huge part of that is having the lures to do so. The bird will fill a gap that many anglers miss – the fact that bass have a predatory and reactionary instinct to target birds.

As I mentioned, this lure is different from frog lures, but the bird can be used in the same situations as frogs, adding new looks to similar styles. A great part of the bird’s design is its life like profile. As I love to walk frogs over pads and submerged weed beds, I am familiar with the fact that frogs normally need to be in motion for bass to become interested. Of course, bass do strike frogs on the pause, but this is typically after several twitches to catch their attention. When the bird sits in the water, though, its wings and foe tail feathers fan out. If a bass sees the profile of the bird on the surface, it triggers their instincts, causing them to strike. Since the bird’s looks alone compel responses, they do not need to be worked like other hollow-bodied lures. This allows the angler to let the bird sit in the strike zone, the area that you are targeting with your cast, for longer, giving the angler a better chance to light up the lunkers.
I think that these are just some of the awesome opportunities that will help me catch bigger bass when flippin’ the bird.

I have had many different fishing experiences with my family and friends. My family doesn’t fish much anymore, but some of my friends do. When I first started bass fishing I just had a Zebco spincast reel and was fishing at a small pond with a plastic worm. Now I still fish some ponds, but I also fish a lot of local tournaments on lakes in the area.

When I started bass fishing I was to young to go by myself so almost every weekend I would beg my parents to take me fishing until they would finally give in. My mom or dad would let me fish while they sat in the shade and watched me or read. My dad taught me a little bit about fishing but he didn’t know to much because he hadn’t fished much in about 25 years, but I still thought he knew everything! He would take me for an hour in the evenings and I would catch some bass on a Jitterbug which was really exciting. The first big (at the time) bass I ever caught was fishing a tiny pond with my mom. I was using a small plastic worm and casted out to a tree branch, as I swam the bait by I got a hit and pulled in a 3 pounder. At the time I thought it was huge and was really excited. This is the bass that I thought was so huge.

I have fished a lot more with my friends than with my family, so I’ve had more experiences. One time my buddy and I were at a small private 20 acre lake that we always catch a ton of 1 to 2 pounders at. We usually catch between 70 and 100 per day, but not very many big ones. So one time we were fishing a big tree in 25 feet of water with jigs and drop-shot and I hooked and caught a nice 5 pounder. My buddy went to take a picture and I released the only big fish I had ever caught out of there. Then I hear him say “Uh-oh” and I look over and he forgot to save the picture! I was mad but got over it pretty quickly because we went right back to catching a fish on every other cast.

Anoter time a different friend and I were fishing a deep and clear pond out of a little jon boat. It was late pre-spawn so we could see some giant (up to 7 or 8 pounds) females cruising around looking for a place to spawn. We tried all types of lures to catch them from 7 inch swimbaits to 3 inch drop shot baits, but we just couldn’t get them to hit. Finally on the last day we had to fish I got a big one to hit, it was between 6.5 and 7 pounds but I didn’t have a scale with me.
I have had great experiences fishing with both family and friends, there is nothing better than hooking into a giant and landing it!

Recently in my local lakes there has been hydrilla that has started growing and people have been trying to kill it. Boaters don’t like it, but for fishermen like me it’s awesome!

Bass love to hide in the hydrilla and wait for bluegill, shad, perch, or whatever their eating in your lake. So in my opinion the hydilla helps the fishing. But for my home lake it just appeared in the lake. So it will take a few years for the lake to get really good.  For example, Lake Guntersville, in Guntersville, Alabama, was a very horrible lake, but now with all the hydrilla growing in it, it is a fisherman’s paradise and the number 3 lake in the country after number 1 Lake Falcon in Texas and number 2 Lake Okeechobee in Florida according to Bassmaster Magazine‘s article Top 100 Lakes in the Country.

Also a few days ago I notice in my slough on my lake that had a ton of hydrilla rising to the top of the water along with leaves and pine straw.  The Bird is a great choice to throw when the Bass are active around the hydrilla. It gives the bass a different appearance then soft plastics and hollow body frogs that most fisherman are throwing.  Remember to use heavy braid and a heavy rod when fishing this thick hydrilla. You have to have strong line and a rod with a good backbone to get the toad largemouth out of the thick stuff. I recommend 50 to 65 pound braid with a heavy action rod.  So like I said before, hydrilla creates a great habitat for the Bass and a fisherman’s paradise.

And remember to contact me by sending me and email at cal_culpepper@yahoo.com on information of purchasing a jersey and join the Flip In The Bird Junior Angler Club, and check out my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/FlipInTheBirdJrAnglers to share pictures, videos and stories with me!