Entry 142-5

Randy Dearman's Five Favorite Fishing Tactics

All It Does Is Catch Bass

Randy DearmanEditor's Note: In 1983, Randy Dearman of Onalaska, Texas, started fishing the BASS circuit and also became a Strike King Pro. According to Dearman, "Strike King was my first sponsor, and I plan to stay with Strike King as long as I'm a professional fisherman. Strike King has always had great products, and over the years, the company has allowed me to help develop products for them. They consistently come up with new products, and I feel fortunate to be able to work with a company like Strike King."

You can't cover a lot of water with a Carolina rig, you can't fish a wide variety of depths with a Carolina rig, the Carolina rig won't allow you to see the explosive bass action that a buzzbait will, and on many days, fishing a Carolina rig is about as boring as watching paint dry. The only reason I fish a Carolina rig and the reason it's my fifth choice is because the Carolina rig produces bass. When you find fish bunched-up on points or any time you locate a large school bass in one location feeding on the bottom, you can't beat the Carolina rig for success. Oftentimes you can sit in one spot and catch 10 to 30 bass.

The Carolina rig is very versatile. You can Carolina rig a small 4-inch Strike King finesse worm or an 8-inch lizard. The new 3X material from Strike King really has changed my Carolina-rig bass fishing. I've caught as many as 25 bass on the same Strike King finesse worm and never have had to change my bait. And, that's one of the big advantages that the 3X material brings to Carolina rig fishing. When you're fishing a school of bass, the quicker you can get that Carolina rig back in the water and into that school of fish before they move, the more bass you'll catch. With soft-plastic worms, you'll have to re-rig a new worm just about every time you catch a bass. But you can catch numbers of bass on those 3X finesse worms before you ever have to put a new worm on your hook.

I start off using a long leader on my Carolina rig, about 24 to 30 inches of leader coming off my barrel swivel. In the spring of the year or if I'm fishing in shallow water, I'll often use a shorter leader. But in deep water or if I'm fishing grass that's well up off the bottom, I really prefer that longer leader. I use the same pound-test leader from my barrel swivel to my Carolina-rigged worm or lizard as I use for my main line, which may be from 12- to 20-pound-test line. I drag my Carolina rig, using a drag, stop, drag, stop type of action.

Randy DearmanI'm not quick to set the hook when I get a Carolina rig bite. Many fishermen will set their hooks as soon they feel the fish. But I prefer to let a bass load-up on a bait before I set the hook when I'm fishing a Carolina rig. I don't set the hook really hard on a Carolina rig. I swing my rod to the side with more of a pulling motion rather than a hard hook set. In my Strike King finesse worm, I'll use a No. 2/0 hook.

Another reason I like the Carolina rig is I can use this tactic to get my bait down quickly to bass that are bunched-up in 18 to 20 foot or deeper water. I use a 1-ounce slip sinker up my line. So when that sinker hits the water, it takes the express elevator down to the bottom. I've found that often bass holding in deep water will concentrate right on the breakline of a ledge. When I pull that Carolina rig up to the lip of the break and let it slide over the lip of the break and start sliding down the side of the drop-off, the bass there will really eat my bait up.

Yet another advantage to the Carolina rig is that you can catch a lot of bass in one day on it. The Carolina rig also is a productive tactic when you want to take someone fun fishing who doesn't know how to fish very well. They can cast out their Carolina rigs and use their rods to drag the baits on the bottom. Usually when a bass takes a finesse worm, even an unskilled angler can hook that fish. For this reason, the Carolina rig is not only a great tactic for tournament pro fishermen it's also a very-effective way for novice fishermen to go bass fishing for the first time and catch themselves a bunch of bass.

Randy DearmanIf you're gotten to the end of this day's information and you have no idea what a Carolina rig is, then let me explain how to create a Carolina rig.

  1. Put a 1-ounce bullet sinker on your line with the bullet shape pointed up the line toward your rod tip. Have the scooped-out part of the weight down toward the tag end of the line.
  2. Use a glass or a plastic bead below the sinker to keep the weight from hitting the knot, if you wish. But having that bead on your rig isn't absolutely essential. However, you get several advantages when you use a bead on your line. As you drag the weight along the bottom, and the weight bangs against the bead, the weight and the bead will make a clicking sound that often will call bass. Also, by not having that 1-ounce sinker banging against the knot that you'll tie onto the barrel swivel, then you're less likely to break your line at that point.
  3. Tie the line below the bead onto a small barrel swivel. On the other end of the barrel swivel, tie 24 to 30 inches of line which we'll call your leader. On the other end of the line, tie a No. 2/0 hook, if you're fishing a finesse worm. You'll need to tie on a bigger hook if you'll be fishing a bigger bait.
  4. Texas-rig either a Strike King finesse worm, a larger worm, a lizard or a tube onto the hook. Now you have a Carolina rig, and you're ready to go fishing.
 

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