working a drop shot rig is when I’ m confronted with steep slopping banks that are dotted with stumps. You’ ll find a lot of rocky stump studded banks at lakes like Bullards Bar and Shasta.

When working stumps, I don’ t fish with an exposed hook point. Instead, I swap the traditional mosquito style hook for a small offset shank worm hook and Texas rig my bait with the hook point lightly buried beneath the skin of the worm.

What if I told you there was one bass lure that you could effectively use in water of virtually any depth, regardless of water clarity or cover that would catch fish day in day out during every month of the year? A lure that effectively mimics both baitfish and crawfish, that can be burned, slow rolled, ripped, jigged or banged off solid structure such as rocks, dock pilings or tree stumps.

You’ d probably want to run out and pick up a selection of these miracle lures, right?

Well, the good news is that you probably have some of these lures in your tackle box right now, but the bad news is that you likely tie these lures on infrequently at most and if you are like many bass anglers you don’ t use them at all. The lure I’ m

referring to is the lipless crankbait.

The Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap and the Yo-Zuri Rattl’ n Vibe are just two of the different lipless crankbaits that crowd the market. The fact of the matter is that virtually every manufacturer of hard baits offers a lipless crankbait. Most of these lures share common characteristics. They all shake violently when retrieved, most have internal rattles that generate a ton of noise and they all drive bass crazy.

When the water is clear, you’ ll want to crank quickly. When the water is stained or muddy, back off with the speed. Most lipless cranks sink. This allows you to systematically cover a broad range of different depths with a simple cast, count down and crank approach.

As with most crankbaits, lipless cranks will catch a bass once in a while when retrieved through open water, but it’ s when they are worked near or actually bouncing off cover that they are at their most effective.

Bass anglers encounter three basic types of cover … rocks, wood and weeds. Rocks are the easiest to work for the beginner. Simply cast the bait beyond the area where you think the bass are holding, allow it to sink and retrieve it such that it bangs and bounces off the rocks.

Weeds and crankbaits don’ t mix, everyone knows that, but this assertion is dead wrong when it comes to lipless cranks. When working submerged weed beds and weed edges, a lipless crank is one of the very best baits you can employ.

When you feel your bait load up in the weeds you want to respond by ripping it lose and then burning it with the reel. This is the way that you trigger reaction bites when working the salad. Remember, if you’ re not hanging weeds, you’ re not fishing the bait correctly

What is the best topwater bait for bass? That’ s a tough call for me. I love walking baits, but they can be hard to work for some folks and if you need a bait that stays in the strike zone a walking bait with its steady rhythmic motion might not be the best choice.

Likewise, I have a soft spot for poppers. They are easy to fish and you can keep them in a small strike zone for an extended period of time.

When I first started fishing poppers I was a Rebel Pop‘ R’ man. A few years later I switched over to poppers from River2Sea.

Last year, I stumbled on what I consider to be the perfect popper, the Yo-Zuri 3DB Popper. This bait features a double cupped mouth that can throw a ton of water. It has a ribbed belly that only adds to the vibration the bait creates and also slows its progress across the surface. It’ s Mylar dressed tail hook pulsates subtly with the slightest surface ripple and it reflects light in much the same way that a real minnow does.

The thing that really sold me on the

3DB Popper is the fact that it’ s a duel action bait. You can fish it like a traditional popper or you can“ walk the dog” with it.

When working in popper mode, toss the bait into a likely area, use the reel to pick up any slack and just let the bait sit. Let it rest until the rings from its splash down have gone away, then give it a single light pop or two and let it sit some more. If you think the bass are aggressive shorten the amount of time you let the bait rest between pops.

When the bass are really aggressive, walk the dog with the bait and steadily chug it across the top.

This popper is a great tool for taking the temperature of the bass. On one cast, you can work the bait slowly and methodically. On the next cast, you can keep it moving and really cause a commotion.

I don’ t think you need a big range of colors in terms of poppers. My favorite is a semi clear patter Yo-Zuri calls Prism Ghost Shad. It’ s a very realistic shad imitation. Silver and black is a great choice as is Sex Shad, a traditional dark over light shad pattern. I’ ve got a couple baits in the Prism Frog pattern simply because I think they look cool.

If the light level is low and you need a bait that you can see well on the surface, a Bone pattern bait is the way to go. It will appear as a dark silhouette to the bass, but it will stand out distinctly for you against the backdrop of dark water.

As soon as we managed to get the boat going the speed and direction we wanted, a wind gust would hit us from the back and throw everything off again. John and I managed to catch a few more average trout, including a 19-inch skinny rainbow that only weighed 1.77 pounds!

At the weigh in at the Basshole Bar & Grill, we discovered that most people had a hard time catching fish. The team that had 13 pounds on Saturday only managed to catch one small rainbow on Sunday!

John and I managed to take 17th place, one spot

Mark Kalinowski shows off a fat rainbow caught trolling a Speedy Shiner in the Sacramento Arm of Shasta Lake.

Photo by MARK KALINOWSKI, Concord in front of Mark at 18th place. The big winner was the team of Robbie Mannon and Mark Kosiek, who led everyone by a large margin with a total weight of 20.67 pounds. Their“ secret” was trolling white wiggle hoochies behind Sling Blade dodgers in the McCloud arm.

To see the top 25 winners and other information on the Shasta Lake Trout & Salmon derby, go to www. kokaneepower. org

Tsasdi Resort is located right on the Sacramento River arm of the lake between Sugarloaf Resort and the Basshole. The lovely cabins are located on the hill above the lake, with a very nice dock with nicely padded slips for the guest’ s boats.

Their cabins include studios, one and 2 bedroom cabins, up to the large 3-bedroom modular home that we stayed in that will sleep 14! All cabins have cozy interiors with full kitchens, linens, dishes, TV and private decks with barbeques. Tsasdi Resort also specializes in weddings, retreats and reunions. The large Lodge can accommodate up to 125 guests and features a floor to ceiling fireplace and all the amenities. In conjunction with their other facilities, the can handle groups up to 275 people.

For more information, call them at( 530) 238-2575 or see them at www. tsasdiresort. us

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