"Spectubualar"

Over the last twenty or so years of I have had the opportunity and humor of trying thousands of different lures for bass fishing. Covering every spectrum of the water column has put nearly every type of lure through my hands at some point and time. While recently practicing for an upcoming tournament I was reminded how these trials and errors have improved my fishing success.

 A couple weeks back, after our abnormally high river started to subside, largemouth begin lurking in around their summertime main river haunts. I was having no problems locating fish, using a Scumfrog, but was having trouble getting the fish to commit. Whatever the reason these largemouth in the main river grass would blow up on a frog….but refuse to take it or come back on it for all that matters.

 After a half a day of frustration I stayed with my pattern and switched my lure and presentation and boy what a difference a bait makes. I Texas rigged a 5" tube bait with a three sixteenth ounce weight on a 4/o Gammy EWG hook and tied it to my 7 foot XTRA heavy action Falcon Rod and 50 pound Bully Braid.  When these fish blew up on this bait I was able to stop it immediately and let it sink into the hole they had just created and that was key.

 Now I did not catch every fish that blew up on me….but I did start catching fish and most of them were great tournament fish in that two and a half to three pound range. No matter where I went on the river if the fish held grass this pattern worked. Believe it or not it worked so well it held up for at least seven days. I lost more than my fair share of limit fish on Saturday but still ended up with an ok finish that advanced me in the AOY points race. On Sunday we finished fourth at a team tournament on a pattern that was discovered at the beginning of the week.

 Times and situations much like these remind me how lucky I am to have tried anything and everything to catch fish. So the next time you are getting short bites or missing a lot of fish…settle down, clear your thoughts and figure out a way to catch those fish. You know they are there…so why not spend the time and energy figuring out the bite. Who knows You might even learn something in the process……I know more times than not I have!!!!!

 Tight lines and God Bless!!!!!!!