| __________________________________________________ March 25, 2003 - Vol. 4 No. 12 __________________________________________________ RIPBAITS AS TAUGHT BY GARY DOBYNS Gary Dobyns has won over one million in tournaments, a good chunk of it by ripping hard plastic-lipped ripbaits. Dobyns has recently published two articles on ripbaits - one in Bass West magazine, and one in Western Outdoor News. Here's more and different additional information about ripbaits by Gary, thereby creating the third in a trilogy of must-read articles on: RIPBAITS AS TAUGHT BY GARY DOBYNS http://www.baits.com/articles/ripbaits.html __________________________________________________ OKEECHOBEE OPEN COUNTDOWN CONTINUES! We are gearing up for the Yamamoto Open tournament at Lake Okeechobee, Florida on April 12th. It is an open team tournament. All are invited to fish it. It's going to be a blast! Interestingly, only Yamamoto soft baits can be used. This week's suggestions for those going to the Yamamoto tournament at Okeechobee are from Ben Matsubu, currently ranked 58th among the top 175 BASS pros in the world. For last week's suggestions or to sign up for the Okeechobee Open, please go to: http://www.baits.com/articles/yo-okeechobee.html Ben Matsubu suggests: "April 12th should be into post-spawn on Okeechobee. Most any color Senko should work well, especially watermelon with green flake (324), June Bug (213) and Red Bug (302). Okeechobee is a huge lake. If I recall correctly, it is about 38 miles long and 3 miles wide. You'd think bass could be anywhere, but actually Okeechobee fishes small for its size because everyone fishes the cleaner, clearer water. For instance, Pelican Bay is one area where everyone goes down there to get into cleaner water. Another bait you can do well with is the 7C-series 5.75-inch Cut Tail. The trick with the Cut Tail is to Texas rig it on as light a bullet sinker as you can get, using a rattling bead between the sinker and hook. There's one plastic bead that sounds like it has sand or mini buckshot in it, and I've had good success using it on Okeechobee." Look for more suggestions on fishing the Okeechobee Open next week. See you there on April 12th! __________________________________________________ SENKO TAIL DIP Bassdozer says: I'm a big fan of tail dips on my Senkos. Most of the colorants used for tail dips are transparent dyes. But the tail dip I use is neither a dye nor transparent. It is a solid opaque pigment that coats the tail like paint, which achieves maximum tail color visibility. There may be other brands of solid-colored tail dips out there, but the one I am familiar with and use is: http://www.colorite-glowmaster.com/taildip.htm I use three basic color tail dips: 1) chartreuse, 2) fluorescent orange, and 3) black. Most of the time, I limit the area I dip to 3/8 to 1/2-inch of the tail tip. Since dipping can get messy in a boat, I do my dipping at home. Since dipping can get worn off quickly, even in the bag, I don't dip up more than I can use in a few trips. __________________________________________________
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