Bob Smith
bob@bassinbobs.com
Pensacola
Blue
Angels
Bass Page
hook.
com
"BOBS LOCAL RIVER REPORTS"
Local Reports and Fishing Articles
Try Something Different
Almost all bass anglers have some preconcieved ideas about which bait to use where and when. Every bait is designed to be worked at a specific depth range, under certian conditions and at certian times of the year, right?
Wrong.
Often those anglers who continually out-produce the others are those who have discovered that a generilazation of a baits is a tremendous handicap. In other words, anglers who recognize the fact that no single bait should be relegated to one specific application typically are more prepared to effectivly fish under more and varied conditions.
One overriding factor which dictates where and when a bass will use a specific bait is whether it will hang up in the cover. Thick cover mandates snag resistent baits like jigs and texas rigged worms, right?
Wrong again.
One of the hottest tricks I know of is working a deep diving crankbait in shallow water through branches and brush.
The big lip on crankbaits such as the Allen Lures (Allen Lures, Rt 6 Box 5700 , Palatka, FL 32177
(904)328-8808) D18R "Big Al" actually help these treble hook adorned baits resist snags.
A diving crankbait can be slowly walked through fairly thick cover by reelong very slowly. When a branch is felt a short pause is all it takes to let the bait float above the obsticle.
Then the retrieve can be continued.On those occasions when you do get hung-up and inexpensive lure retrieved will quicky pay for itself in rescued crankbaits.
What about seasons?
Would you throw a topwater, or shallow running bait, in the middle of winter and expect to catch fish? Most people think winter means deathly slow presentations in deep water, this is simply not always true.
On our coastal southern rivers bass can be found and caught in tyhe shallows all year.
One February day my partner and I caught well over a hundered bass on jerkbaits and buzzbaits in about a foot of water on the Escatawpa River at Moss Point Mississippi, within sight of the public ramp. The air temperature was in the twenties and the water in the forties.
Experimentation is a valuable aspect of bass fishing.
There are no absolutes. No cut and dry times to use any particular presentation or bait.
When someone tells you that a bait is a springtime lure, or that it is useless to fish a topwater in winter, this is most likely someone who has never strayed far from the accepted designation for each bait.
Use your imagination. Try some nonstandard approaches to bend the rules and break the "laws"
(not the real ones mind you) to put more bass in the boat. Getting stuck in the routine of "this is a seasonal bait" can keep
you from fishing to your ability and realizing your full potential.
To catch more bass, simply try something different.
Good Fishing!!
Bob
