Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3706 March 2-16, 2018 | Page 21

March 2 - 16, 2018 FRESHWATER VOL.37 • ISS. 06 19 Light And Mobile Bass Gear < A lot in a small space…Here we see author Cal Kellogg’s selection of bass gear for the 2018 season. Cal is committed to light tackle action this year and he’ll be fishing with a pair of spinning rods. Cal’s soft plastics, reaction baits and terminal tackle fits into three compact boxes and everything easily fits inside a medium size backpack. ^ Soft plastics are the bread and butter baits of most bass anglers because they produce fish across a wide array of situations. Laid out on the lid of the box we see four of Cal’s go to baits, a spider grub, 6 inch finesse worm, 4 inch Senko and a Berkley Power Tube. presents Gearing Up For Bass! A t the end of the day, I’m a trout fisherman. My first fish was a rainbow trout and my last fish will likely be a rainbow as well. However right now my mind isn’t on trout fishing or sturgeon or S.F. Bay halibut… At the moment, it’s bass that I can’t seem to stop thinking about. The abnormally warm dry weather we’ve been experi- encing is no doubt partly re- sponsible for my current bass fishing obsession. It just feels bass-ish in the warm sun. I even noticed some new leaves popping out on trees and the days are noticeable longer… But alas the fishing at my local lakes hasn’t been very good. It may feel like spring to us humans, but with water temperatures at or barely above 50 its still wintertime to the bass! I’d planned to go bass fishing at Folsom tomorrow from the bank, but after chatting with Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience I’ve decided to put the trip off for a later date. “I was out there last Sunday with a cli- ent. He wanted to learn the lake. In the end we fished hard for 2 fish. It was 52 degrees on top, but a few feet down it was 47. Despite the warm weather, I don’t think the lake is going to be warm enough to really go off until next month,” Don related. Okay, I’m not going bass fishing tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about bass fishing right now! For the last couple weeks I’ve been tinkering with gear, putting together a very streamlined assortment of bass tackle that I can use when fishing from the bank or a boat. I’m committed to light tackle fishing this year. I do most of my bass fishing in the spring and then turn my attention to other species, but I do dabble with bass on and off through out the summer and early fall. I’ve got a pair of spinning rods rigged up with 8 and 10 pound Trilene Big Game Line. I’m looking for versatility so both of my rods are fast action sticks that have some backbone. At this point, beyond my rods I’ve got two medium compartment boxes of lures and a smaller box of hardware. The boxes fit into my backpack that also includes some scent, fluorocarbon leader material and pliers. The first lure box features a selection of soft plastics. I’ve got two slots filled with 4 and 6 inch finesse worms. One com- partment’s worms are crawfish tone models. The other features baitfish colored worms. In a third section I’ve got a bunch of brown PowerBait 4 inch swimtail worms. They aren’t sexy, but the bass love them! Moving on there is a section of motor oil colored hula grubs and another section features 3 inch grubs and PowerBait tubes, again in both crawfish and minnow colors. The box is rounded out with a bunch of 4 inch watermelon and motor oil colored Sen- kos. And there are three 3 inch Sassy Shad style swimbait bodies in there too. The soft plastic box will undoubtedly catch the most bass for me, but the other box of lures contains the fun baits. My old boss and friend Allen Bonslett and I would be in a tackle shop. He’d point out a lure and say, “That’s a lure that looks so cool that it makes you want to catch a fish on it.” My reaction bait box is full of lures like that. Floating minnow plugs, both Yo-Zuri Pins Minnows (I told you I was going small and light) and traditional floating Rapalas will be an important part of my arsenal. I plan on smacking some smallmouths twitching those baits on the surface! I’ve got one brand new perch pattern Rapala that I especially like to fondle. The colors are subtle and the bait looks perfect FISH SNIFFER HOW – TO ^ Minnow plugs will make up an important part of Cal’s arsenal. The old school floating Rapala up top and the Yo-Zuri Pin Minnow below it will primarily be fished as surface baits with a twitch and stop retrieve. The Yo-Zuri L-Minnow down below sinks so it will be used in medium deep to deep water as a rip bait. < Cal is especially excited about this pair of “search baits”. The spinner bait is a bucktail skirted model from the folks at Panther Martin and it features the deadly Panther Martin Sonic Blade. The other bait is a Yo-Zuri vibrating crankbait…Can you say panicked shad? by Cal Kellogg CONTINUED ON PAGE 24