Entry 121-2
All About Emily Shaffer
How I Flip
Editor's Note: In 2004, Strike King pro Emily Shaffer finished 5th in the Women's Bass Fishing Association (WBFA) and fished the FLW tour, one of the two largest national professional bass-fishing tournaments, for the first time. Emily, one of two ladies fishing FLW, laughed and said, "I caught bass in every FLW tournament. The only problem I had is everyone else caught more bass that I did." Emily is one of only two ladies fishing the FLW tournament, which is one of the two largest national professional bass tournaments.
SK: How do you flip a tube?
Shaffer: When I flip a tube, I let the bait fall all the way to the bottom. Once it hits the bottom, I barely lift my rod tip to make the tube move. Most people don't realize how little you have to move your rod tip to get the tube to really move. I think one of the best things that a fisherman can do is flip his tube into a swimming pool and watch what happens when you move the jig. You'll be surprised just how much moving the bait will do when you move that rod tip. I try and stay in contact either with the bottom or with the limbs through which I'm fishing. I'll pull the jig up, bring it over a limb, and then let it fall right straight back down to the bottom.
SK: How many times do you flip in the same structure?
Shaffer: That's really determined by how much I believe there is a fish floating in that cover. For instance, once I was fishing some cover in St. Charles, Missouri, and really believed that the bass were holding in there. So, I continued to fish that cover and consistently caught bass on the 10th to the 14th flip. My press observer asked me what I was doing. I explained that for some reason on this day these bass just had to be irritated into biting. The bass were holding on isolated trees and laydowns, and I found out I just had to irritate and worry the bass into biting. I knew bass had to be in that kind of cover because there was really nowhere else for them to be and no other type of cover where they could hold. So, I had to fish for them until I could make them bite. I've found that when bass aren't really aggressive, you can irritate them into biting.
SK: Why are you fishing a tube on a Carolina rig?
Shaffer: Once again, I'm attempting to fish something different than what everybody else is fishing. Most people fish a worm or a lizard when they're Carolina rigging. Very few people fish a tube, and that's the reason I fish a tube. I believe you can catch more bass on lures that they haven't seen as often than you can on lures that bass see every day. Also, I'm fishing a relatively short leader. I like to fish an 18- to a 24-inch leader on my Carolina rig. I usually use a 1-ounce sinker also. Once again, I'm using my rod tip to move the bait in very-small increments. I don't want to move the bait very much at all. I'll work the bait really slowly and use it as a search bait as much as anything. If I'm fishing clear water, I'll use a pumpkin-colored tube with a chartreuse tail, 25- to 30-pound test G-Power line for my main line, a 17-pound Smoke line for leader and a No. 3/0 EWG Gamakatsu hook.
Contents:
- Part 1: Why Do You Fish the FLW
- Part 2: How I Flip
- Part 3: How Shaffer Uses the Tube as a Soft Jerkbait
- Part 4: How Shaffer Fishes the Crankbait
- Part 5: Shaffer Talks About Her Fishing Future
