Tag: Reader Feedback

A few months back I received a “care package” from Ronald Richards, who I affectionately refer to as Brother Ron. That package contained about 20 lipless crankbaits – different sizes of the Bomber Ratl “RRR” A. It just blew me away. I asked him to tell me a bit more about why he loved these specific lipless crankbaits so much, and here was what he said. Thanks again, Brother Ron.

Don’t Give Me Any Lip!

A Story from Ron Richards

About forty years ago I bought a Ratl “RRR” A made by Bomber Lure Company.

When I say I bought “a lure” that’s not really true. I always buy at least two, if not more. Just in case. If they work good I can loan one to my partner (on a cold day in hell) or if I lose one, I have a replacement.

No. I don’t remember where or why I bought that first one.

Probably at a WalMart store in North Platte, NE. Maybe at Cabela’s in Sidney, NE. I lived about equal distance from both of them. But it doesn’t matter. I guess I just liked the looks of them and the fact that they rattled. The fact that they discontinued making them right after I “discovered” them has nothing to do with the fact that I ended up with well over one hundred of them.

Probably close to two hundred.

I fished a lot of sand pits (borrow pits) in western Nebraska for largemouth bass, and a couple of major reservoirs for anything that would hit a lure. That is still pretty much how and where I fish today.

I cannot tell you why the Bomber crankbait works so good. I can only tell you that it did and it still does. I had Rattletraps, I had Rapalas, I had Bayou Boogies, I had a large assortment of cranks that didn’t compare to the results I had using a Bomber Ratl “RRR” A.

And that is still true today.

Maybe it’s because I tie that lure on and stay with it. Maybe it’s the rattle. Maybe it’s the color.

But one thing it ain’t… it ain’t my imagination.

One year back in the 80s the post spawn walleye were up in the willows at the west end of a NE reservoir. Three of us limited every day for three days using these crankbaits. Nothing else seemed to produce a hit. These were all spawned out females, nice fat walleye.

Nice fat walleye out of the cooker. 

My best wiper came on a Ratl “RRR” A, out of Red Willow Reservoir in Nebraska. It was a little north of eleven pounds. 

I’ve caught bluegill, crappie, catfish, northern pike and smallies on these lures. They just work!

One evening my wife and daughter and I were fishing a pit and planned on having a picnic. I caught three bass on three casts and the third one gave a mighty twist as I was pulling it out of the water and into the boat. Lure popped out and buried itself in the first joint of my thumb. To the bone. My wife is an RN, she took one look and said… “off to the ER.” I knew the doctor pretty good and told him… ”no matter what, don’t you screw that lure up!” He laughed and promised he wouldn’t. 

He didn’t… and I used it next week!

… I’m still hearing about “no picnic” though…

We moved to Missouri shortly after that episode and those lures worked amazingly good on largemouth bass down there. I now had several dozen in different colors, and the biggest bass I caught went all of eight pounds.

Then a few years ago we started going to Texas for the winter. Fishing on the Colorado River reservoirs. Primarily on Lake LBJ. Those crankbaits absolutely hammered the big bass in that lake. And still do. I had back to back five pound bass this year using one. My biggest is nine and three quarters. Still hoping for a double digit.

My technique when using a lipless crankbait is to cast it out and crank it back. Mighty simple, but it works. I do a countdown a lot of the time just trying to get the right depth. I’ve also done ok using it like a jerk bait, but a smooth retrieve still is the best producer.

AJ asked for pictures with the lure in the mouth of a fish. Sadly, I can’t produce that. I have lots of bass pictures but none showing the lures in their mouth.  I can still see many of them in my mind, but that is difficult to reproduce on paper… just never seemed important until he asked for them.

If you haven’t gone lipless, try it. 

While I’ve made a case for the Bomber, I know that lots of other lipless crankbaits work too.

Best regards and good fishing.

-Ron Richards

Special thanks again to Brother Ron for allowing me to share this story. If you want to get in touch to share a story of your own, I’d love to hear from you. You can also share Ron’s story below. -AJ

Good morning brothers!

I hope all is well – the weather has gone from over 80 degrees to the low 30’s with snow in the last 48 hours here in Illinois… which has just destroyed my mood…

No matter. Life goes on. I wanted to share a few tips with y’all that a good friend of mine shared with me a while back. I simply call him Brother Ron D. Brother Ron D likes to fish with light line and light gear. He also likes to tinker, and last year he started to email me so we could talk shop a bit. We’ve discussed technique(s), as well as modifications – I’ll share some of those with you all at a later date as well…

Remember the other day we talked about my buddy, Brother Marty? I met him through email as well, and we celebrated his recent victories:

As important as it is that we celebrate our victories, I think we also need to share quality information with one another. What’s working. Why it’s working. So I’d invite each and every one of you that has either a recent catch to celebrate, or a tip or trick to share to let me know so I can continue to improve – heck, so we can ALL improve – and share what’s working with each other.

With that said – let’s jump into some light line techniques & tips!

Fishing With Light Line: Tips & Technique

AJ – Wishing you a healthy 2023!!

I was very encouraged by your latest blog about fishing with light line. As you know, that’s how I roll.  And let me tell you, Matt Straw is correct. For the fish we are targeting (Largemouth bass, 5 pounds or so) light line will absolutely land them. I have been preaching this FOREVER. It is (but also isn’t) perplexing to me why people don’t use lighter line. Let me explain…

As bass fisherman, we study things to nearly an obsessive degree. We obsess over the weather, structure, lures, our gear, what the fish want, what the fish don’t want, etc etc. But one area I see bass fisherman overlook or outright ignore is actually fighting and landing bass; this part of bass fishing is the most enjoyable to me. The fight… the battle. But most bass fisherman have no idea how to do this.

Why?

Because they use heavy super-lines. So there’s really no reason to learn this extremely important skill. Look at the very top of the sport. Ever watch a bass professional reel in a fish? They just rip it in as fast as possible. Sometime the fish even lay flat on the surface and they just reel it in, skimming the top of the water. And then once at the boat, they violently swing the bass into the boat!! Why do they do this??  Because they know the line will not break, that’s why. There’s absolutely ZERO fighting and landing technique for 99% of the catches they make. They just horse it in. Now I understand WHY they do it.  Because that’s maybe not just a fish to them. That’s a paycheque. Food on the table. So you want to be 100% sure to get that fish in the boat ASAP. But that’s not me. Or you.

We fish because we love it. It’s doesn’t get me sponsors, pay the rent or put food on my table. I fish for the love of the game. And arguably, the best part of the game is the fight…the battle. I’ve never quite understood why bass fisherman take so much time and effort (and expense) to go fishing… and then when they hook a fish they try to end the most exciting part of the day as quickly as possible!! And part of this reason is they see how the pros fish… and the other part is they’ve completely forgotten how (if they ever knew in the first place) how to fight and land a fish because they’ve become reliant on super-lines. I’d even say most fisherman have no idea how to properly set drag.  You just see them fiddling with the drag knob until there’s a pleasing sound or something. Or they pull, by hand, at the reel until they say “That should do it!!” That’s not how you set drag. LOL (FWIW, I set my drag with a digital measuring scale. Because it matters.)

When fishing light line your accompanying gear, particularly rod selection, becomes more important. If not vital. You want the rod to take as much shock as possible. Rod too stiff and ALL the stress is on the line. Drag set incorrectly… again… more stress on the line. However, once you get both of those things correct, you’d be astounded at how heavy of a fish light line can take. For example, the first time I set my drag correctly, I was awestruck. My wife would be the rod holder and I’d hold the line with the measuring device. And I’d yank the line (several feet away) until the drag was perfect. You absolutely can not believe how much strength, rod bend, etc light line can hold. I’d be yanking the line and the rod would be bent and I’d think the line was about to snap. Then I’d look at the device and see I was only at 50% of breaking strength. And I was REALLY pulling, trying to break the line. Once you see and feel that…. you know later on that a 5 pound bass is quite unlikely to snap your line from just a fight. It’s a synergy effect. The line, rod, drag and technique all working perfectly. There is little doubt in my mind that 3 pound could take a 17 pound steelhead as in your blog post… and beyond. 100+ pound fish are regularly caught on 4lbs test… and I think the all time record is 575lbs. No, that’s not a typo. So yes, absolutely 4 lbs is enough for all of our bass fishing. If fisherman would be just willing to learn.

And when you learn? It becomes fishing zen. And does not require balls of steel. Just practice, commitment… and the will to be a better fisherman.

Talk soon,
~Ron

A Quick Thought on Ron’s Email

I started this blog, website, YouTube channel, whatever – all of ’em – so that I could get better at fishing. I was sick of taking my kids and / or wife out with nothing but a guess as to where they’d be and what they’d bite. That’s a great way to kill fishing for other people.

I was tired of failing. Tired of letting them down. Tired of seeing the look of defeat and disappointment on their faces.

And so, this process began…

Obviously, it’s still going, but messages like Ron’s – I can’t tell you how much they mean to me. How much they are appreciated. The fact that someone took the time to share something they feel is overlooked and important. It makes an impact.

In life, we all have a circle of influence.

Some of those circles are very small. Others are massive. But we can all make a difference, and our time would be best spent on doing just that – as opposed to obsessing over the “circle-size” of others.

“Once my circle is bigger, THEN I’ll be able to make a difference!”

Nah man.

That’s wrong.

You can make a difference today. Maybe just for one person.

It may seem small, but I assure you – it matters.

That might be a little deep for a fishing article, based on a fishing email, discussing a fishing technique… but… heh… maybe not?

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

Good morning, brothers.

I think it’s time to start a new thing…

Every day I get emails from readers and subscribers that have become friends. I am blessed by these messages – they make my heart happy. Keep ’em comin!

Some men want to talk about fishing alone – others share stories about their family, or their faith. Some want to talk about what it means to be a father, a brother, a son – a man.

These conversations are valuable, in many ways.

I’d like to start featuring & sharing some of YOUR wins in all of the above categories, because they are too good to keep to myself.

Enter my new friend – Brother Marty.

Not that long ago, I saw a comment pop up on an older video that just so happened to be the video that started all of this – I was a mess, completely depressed, building a business, drinking way too much, frustrated, but I wanted to share the fact that I was turning over a new leaf in the hopes that it would help a few other anglers…

The fact that Marty got something out of this – that it spoke to him on some level – made my day. This led to an email conversation, where we began to discuss strategy:

Hey A.J., hope you are doing well. I have been enjoying your videos on minimalistic fishing. I actually paired down 12 tackle boxes into two for my trip today. While, I got skunked, the guy I was fishing with did as well. But I got to tell you, it was so much easier having to dig through two tackle boxes rather than a dozen.  My first tacklebox was strictly terminal tackle. My second tacklebox was a collection of baits which allowed me to attack the entire water column. I took about four top waters, four spinner baits, four crank baits, and a collection of Senko‘s and jigs. Like I said, no fish but still a lot of fun. I’ll look forward to following your content.  Keep up the good work. By the way, just from your channel name, I’m assuming you are a Patriot. My wife and I are as well. God loving, gun toting, folks who love the USA and what it once was (and hoping it will be again).

– Marty

Marty was on The Path

We went back and forth a bit more – I talked about how this was a process, not a destination. I still fail constantly at this – have WAY too much stuff (just look at the pictures in this post to see what I mean…) but the act of minimizing the junk will help us focus where it counts: on the water.

… and hey… good news… Marty sent me two updates since then… check this out!!!

AJ, hope you are doing well my friend. Today’s fishing… it couldn’t have been better! The big bite was on. Though we weren’t in a tournament, we would have probably won any tournament we entered with today’s bag. Our 5 biggest fish weighed 27-10. I caught a 4-10 and a 5-8, while my buddy landed a 4-0, 5-14, and a 7-10. If my math is correct our bag would have weighed 27-10. We caught several 2’s and a few 3’s and broke off (we saw them) a 4 and a 6. Honestly, my best day ever on the water.

Again I only took two 3700 tackleboxes; one with terminal tackle and one with assorted lures. However all but one of our fish were caught on a wacky rigged Senko style bait. The (top 5) bass was caught on a jig. Still enjoying your videos. Keep up the good work.

-Marty

Now here’s the icing on the cake – you ready?

Last Friday, he sent me this:

Morning AJ and happy Good Friday. So this just happened. I reworked my two 3700’s. I did not take a terminal tackle box. Instead I loaded one with various colors of Senko style baits along with the necessary hooks. The other one, I loaded with a couple spinner baits, frogs, buzz baits, etc.. Probably a dozen or so lures. I caught this 6-3 as I was considering calling it a day. It was cold and rainy, I hadn’t caught a fish … and I needed coffee. LOL. It is my personal best. BTW, caught her on a Bama Craw Yum Dinger. Have a great weekend.

– Marty

So… does Minimalist Fishing REALLY WORK?!

It absolutely does.

Can I take credit for Marty’s fish?

I absolutely can not.

This is the result of his hard work. His adjustments. His perseverance. His dedication.

The victory is his and his alone – and he earned it.

God… I love that phrase: he EARNED it… and I would be willing to bet, he’s gonna earn more and more in the not too distant future…

Good on ya, Brother Marty. Go get ’em.

I’m rooting for ya.

Many of you have contacted me over the last 3 years, and I plan to start writing up some of your victories as well. (You know who you are!) If you’re new here and anything you’ve read or watched has helped you catch more & better fish – let me know. It’s time we start sharing our victories with one another as we continue to become better anglers – and better men!

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.