Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3904 Feb 1-14 | Page 23
FRESHWATER
VOL.39 • ISS. 4
HOW TO
By Cal Kellogg
surface again…Repeat. Generally you
won’t play this game for long before
a hard charging bass blitzes the bait.
That’s my kind of fun!
What about other species? I’ve
caught stripers, bluegill, crappie,
channel cats, squawfish, carp and king
salmon on Rapalas floaters of various
sizes.
Heavy Spoons
Big fish eat small fish. In many of
our reservoirs and throughout the
Delta threadfin shad are the forage
of choice. Spoons do a dynamite job
of imitating shad and other baitfish.
They don’t offer an exact imitation,
rather they give the fish an impression
of a baitfish through flash, silhouette
and movement. I firmly believe that
giving gamefish the “impression”
of forage is far more important then
providing them with an exact match
in most situations.
When I say “heavy spoons” I’m
talking about spoons that have some
heft to them like Kastmasters, Kroc-
odiles, half ounce Hum Dingers and
my own half ounce Speed Minnows
in contrast to light weight spoons
intended for trolling such as Needle-
fish, Sep’s Pro Secrets and such. It’s
the weight of the spoons that gives it
versatility.
Lightweight spoons work great
from trolling, but that’s pretty much
the extent or their usefulness. Heavy
spoons can certainly be deadly when
trolled, but you can also cast them
long distances and you can jig with
them too.
When casting in lakes and rivers
a hefty spoon allows you to work a
variety of depths by counting the lure
down. Once at the level you want,
you can employ a range of different
retrieves. You can slow roll them or
reel them in quickly. You can pause
the retrieve, let the spoon flutter
down and then begin reeling again or
you can work them with pauses and
twitches.
If you’re not jigging with spoons
you are missing
out on some
outstanding
action. Jigging
is simple. Figure
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let the lure fall
and flutter on a
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continued from page 5
gear out, a hop and pause retrieve
right on the bottom using a vibrating
crank, much like you’d fish a jig. This
approach can be highly effective for
black bass.
For stripers a fast and steady troll
or retrieve is the way to go. Just
remember when casting to work out
your retrieve all the way to the rod
tip. Stripers love to crowd the bait
up against the bank or boat before
striking. When a 12 pound striper
grabs your Rat-L-Trap 24 inches
from the rod tip, it will make you
heart skip a beat and you’ll probably
have to wipe the whitewater off your
sunglasses!
Curly Tail Grubs
Grubs aren’t much to look at,
but they are absolutely deadly fish
catchers. They were one of the best
kept secrets in the trout trolling frater-
nity for a long time, but now the word
has gotten out and more and more
folks are using them.
For trout trolling simply pin a 1, 1.5,
2 or 3 inch grub on a hook attached
to a piece of fluorocarbon leader.
Attach that leader to your mainline
with a quality trolling swivel to avoid
line twist and troll the bait slowly
at the level you think the trout are
hanging out. I generally run my grubs
naked, but at times I’ll team them
with a dodger or set of flashers.
For casting you’ll want to team
your grubs with darter style jig heads.
For trout, bass and panfish 1/8 and ¼
ounce heads work great. If stripers are
in the mix you’ll want to upsize both
your grubs and the size of your heads.
You can work jig rigged grubs a
number of different ways. You can
toss them out and slow roll them in
swimbait style. You can burn them
in, try a drop and pause approach or
mix in a variety of twitches, rips and
pauses. Heck you can even toss them
out and let them spiral all the way to
the bottom on a semi-slack line. This
can be very effective in the late fall
when water temperatures really start
to drop and the shad start to die.
If you are
targeting fish that
like to hang out
on the bottom,
such as black
bass munching
on crawfish a hop
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the fish.
We are a
respond to both cast and retrieve
approaches and jigging.
All you need to do is match the size
of the spoon to the forage in the lake
and the size of the fish you are trying
to catch. For stripers half to 2 ounce
models will likely be appropriate,
while panfish and trout will require
smaller lighter spoons.
Vibrating Crankbait
Vibrating crankbaits are made by a
long list of manufacturers. Rattle-L-
Traps and Cordell Spot are the most
famous of the lot, but nearly all of
them will hook fish.
My first ever fish on a crankbait was
a 6 pound Delta striper that jumped all
over a blue and chrome Cordell Spot.
Catching that fish was quite a thrill
and a chrome Cordell Spot remains
one of my very favorite striper baits
to this day!
As with the other lures I’ve
mentioned it’s the vibrating crank-
bait’s resemblance to a shad minnow
and their versatility that makes them
so deadly.
If there was ever a lure made for
fishing quickly and covering a lot of
water, it’s the vibrating crankbait.
These lures sink like a rock and the
faster you crank them in the more
sound and vibration their hollow BB
filled bodies put out.
For trout and panfish I’ve found
small versions either trolled or casted
and retrieved steadily at a brisk pace
to be deadly when the fish are actively
feeding. Like spoons you can count
them down to work a range of depths.
When it comes to black bass you
can get really creative with vibrating
cranks. One of the tried and true
approaches is to cast them out near
submerged weeds using fairly stout
gear. You’ll want to count the bait
down a bit and then start a steady
retrieve. As soon as you feel the
bait hitting weeds give it a hard rip,
basically ripping it through the weeds.
A lot of times as soon as the bait rips
free a largemouth will smash it.
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