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VOL. 37 • ISS. 13
GONE FISHING continued from page 1
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FRESHWATER |
June 8- 22, 2018
WHAT’ S HOT Continued from page 1
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25 |
providing ample firepower for hooking and fighting big bass in thick cover.
Lucas works quickly and methodically through prime lies.“ Flip the bait out and let it fall to bottom,” he says.“ A lot of times bass hit on the first fall. Don’ t expect a crushing strike, though. Bites often register as nothing more than a soft and spongy feeling on the line.”
However the fish hits, Lucas advises setting the hook immediately.“ Set hard, right away,” he says.“ Then get the bass moving up and out of the cover.”
If nothing bites on the first drop, Lucas recommends using your rod tip to raise the bait slightly off bottom and shake it once or twice.“ If you don’ t get bit, reel in and flip it out to the next spot,” he says.
Lucas notes that the technique works in weeds thick and thin, as well as around laydowns and in shady areas under docks.“ Finding isolated spots that concentrate bass is the key,” he adds.
No. 2 Feeling Shaky
When largemouths and smallmouths roam offshore weedlines and rocky structure, Lucas leans on a slightly shakier approach.
“ Twitching a slender soft bait along bottom on a shaky head jig imitates crayfish and other forage, triggering strikes from bass that pass up crankbaits and other fastermoving presentations,” he explains.
His go-to is a 5-inch Berkley PowerBait Shaky Snake.“ The bait has a lot going for it,” he explains. Indeed, Berkley designers graced it with unique, corkscrew ribs to give the slender body and cone-shaped tail a subtle, undulating action.“ The ribs also create more surface area,
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which aids in the delivery of PowerBait scents and flavors,” he adds.“ This encourages bass to hang onto it longer than they would other baits.”
For this tactic, Lucas switches to a 7-foot, medium-heavy spinning outfit spooled with 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100 % Fluorocarbon. Water depth dictates jig weight, with common sizes ranging from 1 / 8- to ¼-ounce. Thin wire hooks aid in hook-setting, while the angle of the head affects bait action and resistance to snags. In general, 90-degree heads enhance shaking, while 60-degree heads tend to slide more cleanly across structure.
Once you’ re rigged up and in position, Lucas advocates fishing the shaky setup with a slow hand.“ Cast out, let the jig land and slowly move it along bottom, shaking it with the rod tip,” he explains, noting that the approach also works wonders in shallower strike zones such as around docks.
No. 3 Tube Time
For summer smallmouths, Lucas also favors the time-tested tube jig.“ Dropshotting is deadly, too, but it pays to always have a tube rod rigged up, so you can show the bass something different,” he says.
Tube jigs excel at imitating crayfish, which drives smallies crazy. Lucas’ top choice is Berkley’ s PowerBait Power Tube. Along with tantalizing tentacles and PowerBait scents and flavors, it features a slightly flattened torso, which yields a smooth glide on the fall.
Tubes are extremely versatile baits, allowing a variety of retrieves ranging from basic bottom dragging to variations of swimming, shaking, bouncing and deadsticking— along with combinations of all five.
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Lucas recommends experimenting with different moves, without getting overwhelmed.“ The simplest approach is to drag the tube across the bottom, similar to a shaky head,” he says.“ That will put smallmouths on the line all season long, everywhere in the country.”
For more, go to www. berkley. com.
When Collins is high and spilling like it is right now, the peninsula that divides the far side of Elmer’ s Cove from the rest of the lake turns into an island. Right at the end of that island we spotted something that looked odd. A ripple, a shine …? Maybe it was a bird diving or even a muskrat or something ….?
“ Bait … It’ s bait. Those are shad, something has to be chasing them,” I exclaimed.
“ I see them, I see them,” Wes repeated as he scrambled to tie on a shad pattern minnow plug.
I already had the lure I wanted on the end of my line, so I took the initiative and made a big looping 2.5 mph circle around the bait with a small Ex-Cel Spoon working about 8 feet deep …. Nothing!
Doubt was flooding into my mind, when Wes hooked up right behind me and peeled off. I came around hard with the video camera running and learned that Wes had hooked a good size spotted bass.
After tossing the bass, we once again started circling the bait that was still breaking off the island. Wes landed and released another bass almost immediately and I had a husky rainbow actually run into the side of my kayak as it zeroed in on a terrified shad. I’ m pretty sure the shad got eaten a nano-second before the trout ran headlong into my Hobie.
While the action off the island held up I caught a bass and a second trout, while Wes’ s rod went dead.
When the shad action tapered off outside Elmer’ s Cove we moved into the cove itself and found more bait breaking around a section of floating dock.
Wes hooked his personal best trolled rainbow when a hefty 3.5 pounder slammed his plug on his first pass around the dock.
We high-fived in celebration of Wes’ s big rainbow and then got back to trolling. By this time, I’ d added a 6 inch green Sling Blade to my rig with the Ex-Cel trailing about 30 inches behind it.
I made a very close pass to the dock at just under 3 mph and the Sling Blade and spoon combo got crushed. I was certain I had a big rainbow like the one Wes had landed, but instead it was a big open water spotted bass that simply couldn’ t lay off a shad pattern spoon zipping through the water!
Of course, we kept on grinding on the bait and we kept landing fish. Most of them were bass.
Early in the afternoon, we decided that we’ d have to hit the road soon. We decided to go to the extreme rear of Elmer’ s Cove to shoot some final scenes for the video we’ d be putting together.
It looked pretty bassy in the back of the cove and Wes was fooling around with a wacky rigged worm, when I spotted shad blitz out of the water amid three distinct swirls. I knew exactly what to do.
With trembling fingers, I dug a small River2Sea walking bait out of my tackle kit and tied it onto a spinning rod armed with 20 pound braid.
I fired the lure out, started walking it and a bass immediately exploded on it. By the time, I landed and released that 2 pound spot Wes was at my side.
“ Put on a popper,” I told him as a bass boiled on the walking bait and I had a second two pounder struggling on the end of my line.
Wes’ s white popper got slammed almost as soon as it hit the water and so it went.
We’ d get a few blow ups, the bait would move and we’ d have to wait for the bite to develop again. I don’ t know how many bass we ended catching. I do know it’ s the only time I can recall leaving a topwater bite still in progress and heading home, but that’ s what we had to do in order to beat the traffic!
Wes was in a bigger hurry than I was, so I stopped at the Collins Lake Store for a soda and a waffle cone packed full of yummy peanut butter cup ice cream … It had been another fantastic day at Collins Lake!
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