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Chalk Talk: Klein on plastics

Chalk Talk: Klein on plastics

(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)

Over the course of Gary Klein’s four-decade career in bass fishing, he has continually aspired to be an early adopter of new techniques. Whether it was flipping, doodling or dropshotting, he’s always wanted to be on the leading edge. While Alabama Rigs and Chatterbaits are important, many of his greatest successes have come on soft plastics – they’ve kept his career going.

In fact, he even thinks that soft plastics have a chance to “revive” a career, as in the case of Tommy Biffle, who used a wobble-head to add to his many prior achievements.

No matter which soft plastic you’re using, Klein believes that it’s critical to first assess where in the water column fish are feeding. They may be conditioned to feed on the top, in the middle or on the bottom, and that will determine all of the aspects of your delivery system. He believes that only 20 percent of his strikes come out of hunger, so in order to aggravate or otherwise tempt a bass to strike, a single bait may benefit from multiple different presentations.

It’s not a one-size-fits-all attitude. Indeed, he was on the leading cusp of “sissy fishing,” winning at Lanier and Bull Shoals in the 1980s with 6-pound line, but 20 years later he went to Amistad and crushed them with a monster tube in 35 feet of water. The important thing, no matter which part of the continuum you’re on, is to “have a system for it.” He’s a big fan of round-point hooks, noting that “the quickest penetrating object is the needle,” and he noting the various levels of stretch among monofilament, fluorocarbon and braid, he endeavors to always keep his rod bent during the fight to further drive the hook home.

While Klein has made hundreds of thousands of dollars with a flipping stick, in recent years dropshotting has become a pet project. He called it the “closest thing to live bait fishing that I’ve ever used.” It’s exceptional in clearer water, and great for all bass species, but again it requires some precision to maximize its effectiveness. The two most important considerations, he explained, are length of leader and rate of fall.

He stressed that it’s critical to let your dropshot fall on a slack line. That way, the lure and sinker look like one is chasing the other, and then when it hits the bottom the lure darts away. Test it in a swimming pool with different lures, different weights and different leader lengths to understand how long that takes. Klein uses a wide range of leaders under varying conditions and he wants to fully understand the advantages of each one.

While he carries many spinning rods in his boat and in his truck, they’re all the same basic action – 7-foot, medium. “I know what I can get away with” when using that one, he said. By varying his line size and type, he can make it do everything from skip small soft plastics to manhandle a standard-sized spinnerbait.

He also remains an aficionado of the old school Carolina Rig because it too allows him to tailor his approach and his retrieve to specific conditions. “It’s probably one of the most precision rigs a bass angler can use,” he said. If he’s using, for example, an 18-inch leader, he knows that after hitting a piece of cover with his sinker, if he moves his bait forward exactly 18 inches it’ll be in “the juice.” He’s religious about using Big Game instead of fluorocarbon for a leader because the latter sinks. He also typically employs a 2/0 Z-Bend hook. The one non-negotiable, he concluded, is a 1-ounce weight. It’s the only size he uses, whether he’s throwing to the bank or fishing offshore.

If you want to learn some of Klein’s other soft plastic secrets and truths, including the modifications and strategies he employs for his signature Boss Dog lizard, check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.

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