Entry 9-5

Fishing with Randy Dearman

Wacky Fishing Tips

Editor's Note: Fifty-three-year-old Randy Dearman of Onalaska, Texas, has fished professionally since 1983. He has fished in the BASS Master's Classic seven times, as well as achieving numerous top-10 wins across the country. In 1993, Dearman won the Texas Invitational at Sam Rayburn Lake and today works as part of Strike King's Pro Fishing Team.

Question: Give me a few techniques that you are using that may be different than simply taking the lure out of the box and fishing with it.

Answer: I always insert a rattler inside Strike King's full-model tubes, between the point and the eye of the hook. That holds the rattler in place. So, when you shake that bait, you can get a few bites. Also, when you're fishing around boat docks with a crankbait, you may want to take the eye, where the split-ring goes through, and bend it just a touch to the right. Then, when you are on the right-hand side of the pier, the lure will swim up underneath the pier, and you can pull the lure back around. If you want the bait to go to the left, then you bend the eye just slightly to the left. This alteration will cause the bait to run in that direction. When the bass are in the shade, sometimes these small adjustments to the lures are what you have to do to catch them.

Question: Are there any more unusual or different things that you are trying?

Answer: One thing I do is use a 1-ounce jig instead of a weight up front when fishing a Carolina rig. Often, when you get a fish on your hook, you may catch it on the jig or on whatever you are using for a Carolina rig. Many times, if there are plenty of fish in the area, when you hook the bass and reel it in, the other bass will come up and try to get the bait from it. Those bass will see the other bait, and you can catch two at a time. This method is something that not a lot of people are doing.

Sometimes, with the new Spit-N-King, I'll attach a leader to the back of it. Then I'll put a little bucktail about 12 inches behind it. When you are fishing that bait, often the same thing will occur that happens on the Carolina rigs. The bass will come up behind the bait, see the little jig behind it and grab that. When you get a bite, be patient. Another fish may be on the way.

Here's another trick I have used. When I'm fishing very heavy vegetation with a popping frog, often I'll take that frog and put it in tandem - a black one in front and a white one in back, vice versa. The bass will come up, blow up on the frog and often miss. Then, the same fish will come back through because he missed the lure. That bass is there looking for something. Since the fish has blown a hole in the grass, you can provide it a second frog to see when the bass goes searching.

Question: Finally, what are we going to see from Randy Dearman in the future?

Answer: In 2003, I hope that I'm the last man who weighs in the BASS Master's Classic, and they tell me that I've won. That's my goal.

Fishing with Randy Dearman

Wacky Fishing Tips

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