Every angler loves to go to lakes that are renowned for their trophy sized bass. Not surprisingly, anglers usually use heavy line, stiff rods, and reels that resemble wenches when fishing these reservoirs. Its power fishing and anglers love it; however these same reservoirs can turn off quickly by cold fronts and angling pressure leaving power fishermen wondering what to do. The only viable solution is to downsize and finesse fish for them. Finesse fishing techniques require lighter line, smaller reels, and more flexible fishing rods than used in power fishing. Professional angler, Don Iovino, one of the pioneers of finesse fishing brought doodling to the spotlight years ago catching bass when all other techniques failed to produce fish. That same technique continues to catch bass today, but is often overlooked by anglers who want to power fish.

As our lakes, rivers, and ponds continue to experience increase angling pressure more and moreanglers are turning to finesse techniques to catch fish. Doodling is a technique used when fishing individual pieces of structure in deep water for bass that are less likely to be over fished or turned off by cold fronts. It’s a vertical presentation that relies on a shaking or doodling action to induce bass to strike the lure. “I would define doodling as shaking a worm at a constant rhythm in deep water on light line,” said Iovino. Iovino (www.iovino.com) believes that there are two reasons why doodling produces so many bass when other techniques fail. “When you are fishing with Brass and Glass the color coordinated brass weight and 8mm glass bead will bang together making a unique noise similar to a crawfish plus the painted brass weights come in the same colors as crawfish allowing anglers to match the hatch,” explained Iovino. Doodling requires the angler to rig it like a basic Texas rig, but Iovino will peg the painted brass weight about an inch before the eye of the hook allowing the glass bead room to move back and forth banging on the brass weight. “I like to use the Top Brass The Peg-It to keep the brass weight in place,” said Iovino. Top Brass The Peg-It (www.topbrasstackle.com) is a soft yet durable rubber peg wedge that can be pushed inside the sinker pinning the sinker to the fishing line and holding it in place similar to a toothpick, but without damaging the fishing line or tearing up the soft plastic worm like screw-in weights do. Iovino also changes from his doodling rig to a Carolina rig with this same rig by just pulling the weight farther up the line.

Most anglers live in fear of fishing in deep water using light line. It’s the last thing they want to do. Iovino thrives on fishing deep water structure and the challenges it presents because of the rewards it can offer. “When I am fishing in 45- to 55-feet deep, I will use a 3/16-onuce brass weight on 4- to 6-pound test line; if I go up to 6- to 10-pound test line I will use a 1/4-ounce weight. The type of fishing line you use is also important when doodling. I use Blackwater fluorocarbon line when doodling on both my spinning and baitcasting reels,” said Iovino. Iovino’s favorite color to fish with when doodling is Green Weenie (S-20). The Brass and Glass can also be used to make a doodling drop shot rig. “It’s the same set up as a normal drop shot, but instead of using a Tungsten drop shot weight you use the Brass and Glass combination. All you do is peg the weight about 12-inches from the drop shot hook,” said Iovino. Iovino offers doodling, drop shot, and split shot kits on his web site with all the tackle and lures required to make your own rigs. Brass and Glass are available in purple/black, green/brown, blue/black, red/black, crawfish, black, in 1/16-ounce, 1/4-ounce, 3/16-ounce, and 5/16-ounce.

The doodling technique can catch bass when they refuse to bit using other techniques like power fishing. It catches little bass, but can also hook the big ones. The brass and glass creates a sound and vibration of a scurrying crawfish that no bass can resist.