FACT: No bait can effectively address every possible scenario in which you might find fish.
ANOTHER FACT: You can put yourself in posi- tion to mine the day’s opportunities with prudent bait selection.
To this point, I recently asked Bassmaster Elite Series pro Mike Iaconelli what baits he had ready to go. His lineup bespoke the thoroughness that has marked his decorated career — a Berkley Havoc Bot- tom Hopper, a Havoc Beat Shad and a Havoc Pit Boss.
“My rule of thumb is to cover the water column top to bottom — top, middle, bottom,” Iaconelli said. “The other thing I try to do with a lure selection like that is have things that cover finesse and things that cover power fishing. My selection does that.”
Let’s look at how Iaconelli employs these baits:
Bottom Hopper: He’ll occasionally Texas-rig it with a light weight, but Iaconelli’s primary finesse deal is a shaky head — a 3/16-ounce VMC Rugby Head, to be exact.
“The only thing I’ll do to that 6 1/4-inch bait is bite off about 1/4-inch of it,” he said. “I do that to shorten it up a little bit, but I also do that to create a flat spot, so when I thread it onto that jig head, it seats to the head.
“Also, when I rig the Bottom Hopper, I make sure the flat side is facing down, because when the flat side is down, it glides on the fall. And, of course, the key to a shaky head is that it stands nose-down, tail- up, on an angle.”
Because this is almost always a finesse applica- tion, Iaconelli fishes the Bottom Hopper/shaky head either on straight 6- or 8-pound fluorocarbon, or 15-pound braid with a 10-pound fluorocarbon leader.
Using this bait around specific targets such as docks or riprap defines Iaconelli’s standard shaky head game plan. Clear Lake’s boat docks, for example, offer loads of Bottom Hopper opportunity.
“The last time we were at Clear Lake, I caught several 7- and 8-pounders on a shaky head, so it catches big fish too,” Iaconelli said.
SUMMER 2017
Pit Boss: Touting this as a versatile power fishing bait, Iaconelli said he will punch it in heavy vegetation or flip it around various isolated cover. Depending on the scenario, he’ll rig it with a 3/8- to 1-ounce weight.
“I’m generally throwing this on heavier fluorocar- bon — 15- to 20-pound — and I’ll even throw it on braid in the really nasty stuff,” Iaconelli said. “That’s more of a power fishing technique.”
Noting that the Pit Boss is ideally formed for pitching/flipping to a variety of shallow cover, Iaconelli points to tules as his favorite west coast target.
“The last time the Elite Series was at the Delta (2015), I fished a full-sized Pit Boss
Pit Boss
Bottom Hopper
around tules,” he said.
“It’s a great bait in the
tules, because it imitates crawfish and bluegill. I fished it with a 3/8- and 1/2-ounce weight, de- pending on the thickness of the tules.”
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