Author: Nik Autrey

Crankbaits Springtime Bass During the pre-spawn, bass will hold around rocks. When they are done spawning, they will move back out to the same rocks when they are post-spawn. You can find these rocky banks and shorelines on most lakes. These “rip-rap” areas hold bass year round. Bridges, wing dams, man-made roads and boat harbors are some of the types of places that have rock. One of my favorite ways to target bass holding on rocks it to fish a crankbait. A crankbait is an awesome fish triggering bait and it helps you cover a lot of water as well.…

Shallow Springtime  Bass Fishing shallow in the springtime is a great way to catch big bass! The fish will move shallow and hold around any cover they can find. A great way to target these shallow bass, is by flipping a jig to the cover the bass are hiding in. My favorite bait to use in this situation is a 3/8 oz V&M Pacemaker Adrenalin Flipping Jig. I like to match it up with a V&M Mud Bug trailer. It’s a bigger profile trailer and doesn’t have a lot of action, which I like to use in the spring when…

Early in the spring can be the best time to fish for bass! Here in Washington State where I fish, the smaller lakes actually freeze over for 3 months. February is when they usually start to thaw out. That’s when I fish for springtime bass with search baits! Typically the bass will be in less than 10-feet of water around vegetation. As the lakes start to warm up the fish feel it and start to get a little more active. When the water temperature is the 30’s it is very slow fishing. I’ve caught bass in 33-degree water before, it…

Winter Walleye Tips Fishing for walleye during the bitter cold of winter is one of the most fun things you can do with a rod and reel. Don’t get me wrong, I am a diehard bass guy, but up here where I live in Washington State, the bass fishing is very slow during December, January and February. Some of the bass lakes I fish actually freeze over for three months and I couldn’t fish them if I wanted to! With the bass fishing pretty much obsolete during this time of year, I spend my time chasing walleye! PREPARING FOR THE…

All-Night Bass Tournament I recently had my 4th tournament of the year. It was on a small,natural, weedy lake in Washington state. It was a night tournament and it started at 7 pm and ended at 7 am! It was a twelve-hour marathon! The weather was nice, warm and hardly any wind. I got all my flashlights and headlamps ready to go and packed extra batteries! I started out the tournament fishing shallow reeds and caught a 3-pound fish within the first 5 minutes of the tournament on a Spro Bronzeye Frog 65 that I rigged on a 7′ MH…

When the water temperature ranges from 60-70-degrees, it will get the bass up shallow and on the beds! Whenever I’m targeting spawning largemouth, I always have five or six rods rigged with different baits to fish with. It gives me the option of switching multiple presentations to each fish. Every fish is not the same and they all react differently to certain baits. Whenever I find a fish on a bed, I watch it very closely to see how it is reacting to my first bait that I throw. If the fish is really aggressive it will bite on my…

Heavily Pressured Bass I recently went and fished a local lake that I’ve been out on one other time this year. The first time I fished it this year I caught them pretty good on a V&M jig by working the docks. However when I showed up at the ramp I noticed that there was a bunch of other bass boats out on the water. The lake is not that big and I knew that all of us would be fishing the same stuff – boat docks. When I planned on fishing this lake for the second time I was…

I recently took a trip to a local lake here in Washington State that just opened on the 27th of April. We have had a very early Spring this year and the water temperature is already 60 degrees! I have never seen the water temp get this warm this fast here! The weather was very nice, sunny with no clouds, no wind and 70 degrees! I started fishing shallow docks with a 3/8-ounce V&M Pacemaker Adrenaline flipping jig. I used a V&M Twin Tail Trailer to give it more action. Five minutes into the day I caught a nice 4-pound…

In the springtime, one of the most effective ways to catch bass is with a bladed jig. This is great tool that will help you put more fish in the boat. I try and target any cover that the bass might be holding in. Including docks, emerging pads, vegetation and wood. This technique really shines when the water temperature is between 40 and 55-degrees. Once it reaches 55, I like to throw different baits, but in that colder water it’s hard to beat! My personal favorite bladed jig is the V&M Pacemaker Lightning blade. It comes in several sizes and…

Early Season Jig Fishing – Jig Fishing The lakes are starting to thaw out in some parts of the North Country and this is my favorite time to pull out the V&M Pacemaker series of jigs! Cliff Pace designed these jigs himself for V&M and they catch a ton of fish for me. When the lakes start to warm up and the ice melts, these jigs are always tied on my rods! The first jig is the Flatline football jig. This is a very good bait to fish around rocky points, rip-rap and anywhere else there is rock. I like…

It’s two AM as my alarm clock blares, waking me from a sound sleep. Tournament morning has finally arrived! I hop out of bed and as quickly as I can, throw on my warm AFTCO gear. I know this tournament is going to be a cold one, and I want to be prepared. Thirty minutes later I am headed out the door and driving on the highway towards Long Lake, which is near Spokane, WA. It is a very cold and rainy Sunday morning in November as I haul my Ranger to the lake. I have arrived at the lake…

When bass are hunkered down in the real thick cover the best way to catch them is to go in after them! Heavy rods, thick line, strong reels and big baits are ticket when you are flipping and pitching! So often in the summer time when it’s hot out, the bass will make the thickest cover in the lake there home. And you can effectively put the fish in the boat with the right approach. In this article I will explain my favorite techniques for fishing this style. It really has worked for me! No matter where you fish in…

Bass Fishing Rod Selection Guide Rod selection is critical; you need to be able to pick the right rod for each specific technique. If you were to tell a professional golfer to play a round of golf with just a putter, he would look at you like you were crazy! He needs a variety of different golf clubs his bag to help him successfully achieve his highest potential out on the green. Fishing rods are the same way; I need a wide selection to help me achieve my highest potential when I’m out on the water. It is not uncommon…

Fall is officially in the air. The weather is growing colder and the leaves are starting to change colors as they cover the soon to be frozen ground. Christmas is right around the corner, and the temperatures are dropping. Bass are starting to get a serious appetite, preparing for the cold months ahead. That’s why fall is one of my favorite times to fish, it is such an awesome time to take advantage of the A-rig, and all the opportunities fall fishing has to offer. One of the best baits that I have ever used during this season is the…

Day #1 The alarm went off at 1:30 am. After 45 minutes of sleep my partner, Nick Barr, and I were loaded up and ready to hit the road. It was a two-hour drive to Columbia Point Park for the NWBass Championship. We arrived at the ramp and signed up. You could feel the excitement in the air. We were in the last flight for Saturday and Sunday. After what seemed like an hour of waiting to blast off we finally left the marina and headed down the river. We drove a ways down the river to our first spot.…

With fall quickly approaching and cooler weather on the way, fishing suspending jerkbaits can be one of the best techniques you can utilize when water temperatures start to plummet. They are an excellent imitation of a dead or dying baitfish, and bass gravitate towards them during certain times of the year. In fact, I consistently hook my first fish of each year on a jerkbait. Even though cold-water temperatures might entice and tempt you to be more inclined to slow down with a drop shot or jig, the jerkbait can often outshine these slower techniques. Within this article, I will…

In the right conditions, fishing shallow cover with a swim jig can be a deadly technique. When the fish are up around the shallow stuff, swimming a jig is not only a great choice, it may be your BEST choice for catching a giant bag of fish. In this article, I will share some of my favorite strategies for going after bass with a V&M Pacemaker Pulse swim jig. I usually pull out the swim jig when the water temperature reaches the low to mid 50s. From this point, I will utilize it until the water temperature once again drops…

Nik Autrey Topwater Bass Topwater frog fishing is undoubtedly one of the most exciting ways to fish for bass. The vicious strikes you get when throwing frogs really gets the adrenaline pumping and the knees shaking! With that said, it can also be an extremely frustrating technique. When fish after fish blow up on your frog but constantly miss getting hooked it can really mess with your head! In this article I offer up some helpful tips and advice that will increase the numbers of bass you put in the boat. The first thing I want to talk about is…