Springtime bass fishing heats up

By By Mikes Giles / outdoors writer
March 14, 2003
Last week was a typical spring week as far as fishing goes. Just as the crappie were moving up shallow, a cold front came through and put a big damper on the crappie bite. Heavy rains and cold winds really shut down the shallow water perch, as well as most of the deep perch. However, my nephew Justin Giles and I did find one good afternoon during the week when the bass were responsive. I say responsive because although they were active, they weren't real enthusiastic about chasing lures.
The lake we had chosen on this day was just the ticket. As the water was warming up the bass were getting hungry, especially for our lures. After missing some fish due to short strikes, we changed baits and slowed down our presentation. Hard body jerk baits were just the ticket. Many fishermen have forsaken these old time baits in favor of the more modern styled Sluggo type soft plastic baits that have become the rage.
My personal favorite for shallow fishing is the Rattling Rogue by Smithwick. It is about 6 inches long and has three treble hooks on it for quick hook sets. If a bass so much as breathes on it they will be hooked. I prefer a black back, chrome sided with an orange belly or a clown colored Rogue. Of course my second pick in this type of lure selection would be the six-inch Rapala. Usually either bait will perform admirably under the right conditions.
Our pattern on this day was pretty simple. We would work the grassy shoreline by casting our lures just to the edge of the bank or grass. After the ripples settled down we would simply give the bait a short jerk. This would propel the bait about six inches under the water causing it to flash and flutter before floating slowly to the surface. Many times a nice bass would then smash the lure as it sat motionless on the top.
If the bass didn't hook up with the lure on the initial jerk, then we would simply work the bait back to the boat. If the water was deep enough, we would retrieve the bait back by jerking it in a series of jerks, all the while keeping the bait about six to eight inches under the surface. If a fish boiled on it, you could be sure of a good hook up.
Zoom trick worms
Another bait that is used by fisherman all over the South is the trick worm. It is basically a six to eight-inch floating worm that will sink slowly when paused. We also caught a good many bass on this bait. Our technique on this day was to retrieve the worm back to the boat in a slow up and down motion. After the bait came to rest on the bottom we would raise the bait in a slow sweeping motion to lift it up. Then we would let the worm slowly glide back down much in the fashion of a dying baitfish. Time after time bass would smash the multicolored worms as they slowly descended.
Hot tip
Many times mature anglers such as myself forget that there are new ways to fish. Eleven-year-old Justin Giles reminded me of a statement made by Rick Clunn many years ago. Clunn was remarking on one of the young up-and-coming pros who had recently done something that nobody had done before or even thought of. In a nutshell, Clunn said that sometimes young people perform seemingly unbelievable feats because they don't know they're not supposed to be able to. They don't put constraints on their way of thinking.
Now some of my fishing buddies used to think that I came up with some weird fishing techniques, so maybe Justin was thinking on the same lines. He pulled out a rod that was rigged with not one but two trick worms on the same line. They were about 15 inches a part. "My dad said that you only use one trick worm at a time, but I use two with different colors so I can see what color they prefer," stated Giles matter-of-factly.
Let me tell you, don't ever think that a youngster can't come up with a good idea. Did the contraption work? You bet it did! Not only did he catch fish on the set up, he consistently caught bass on both worms! If you don't try it you'll never know if something new will work.
But remember, when you're out there catching bass on this new rig; you read it here first.