Fred Raby
Volbasser@att.net
Pensacola
Blue
Angels
Bass Page
hook.
com
"FISHING WITH FRED"
covering tidal waters and impoundments
Ding-a-ling for warm cloudy water in summertime.
Summertime brings warm water temperatures, and often the thunder storms rain which make summer time bass hard to find, but even harder to catch. Bass have recovered from the post spawn feeding habits and become more lethargic in the warmer water temperatures. The run off has made rivers muddier, and the algae bloom leaves the lakes cloudy.
One of the best baits for fishing these conditions is the paddle tail worm. This worm is more bulky than most. It also adds an attractive feature in the paddle like tail which not only provides a larger and easier bait to find but also something no other soft bait offers, a throbbing swimming motion giving off vibration which is not only easier for the bass to see but more importantly is felt in their lateral lines. Darker colors, black, junebug and grape are favorites in the stained cloudy water providing more contrast.
I recently fished a tournament after a week or so of these conditions. Starting in the usual favorite places I was only catching small eight to ten inch fish using a traditional seven inch junebug worm. I knew the bigger fish had to be in the same area and eventually switched to the Ding-a-ling. First cast I caught a two and a half pounder. As I continued to fish the deeper outer edges of the cover I found more and more keeper fish completing my five fish limit in about three hours. Knowing I still needed some better fish I switched to a deep diving crank but the fish were just too lethargic to react so I went back to the Ding-a-ling and continued catch and cull throughout the day.
I felt good at the weigh-in under the conditions we were exposed to but had little confidence in winning.
As the other fishermen loaded their boats there were not many smiling faces, it had been one of those hot tough days and very few fish were caught. I won the tournament. It was a good thing I remembered that old stand by for those conditions.
There are also other applications that the Ding-a-ling works well. The swimming action tail fished without a weight is a great attractant in early spring and throughout the year in grass beds fished with a stop and go action. When I want to put a different action on a spinnerbait I will break off a piece of Ding-a-ling and use the tail as a trailer.
Fred Raby
