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When it comes to fishing, finesse baits can make all the difference in catching that elusive fish.
These finesse bass baits labored nice then, and work nice now.
A plaque on the wall of my residence workplace reads “1993 Kenora Bass Worldwide Winner.”
As I recall, being a winner didn’t imply first place, though accomplice Don Lamont and I did place close to the highest of the pack. Seeing that plaque, how- ever, provides me a sense of nostalgia for my tournament days. It additionally jogs my memory of a time once I solely fished smallmouth and largemouth bass with strategies that required finesse. There was no energy fishing or run and gun concerned. Lamont and I fished the Kenora part of Lake of the Woods nearly solely, slowly and intentionally.
By keeping near city, we maximized our fishing time.
The issue was the fish near city had been pressured and plenty of had been caught earlier than. They weren’t simple to catch however they may very well be fooled with a bit of finesse.
Slider worm works
Two baits we relied on that labored nicely for us then nonetheless work in the present day. The primary known as a Charlie Brewer’s slider worm rig. The slider is a worm hook with a small quantity of weight on the eye of the hook. It was developed 50 years in the past in Tennessee as a “do-nothing” rig for catching massive, cautious bass.
My favorite slider hook had a squat, saucer-formed weedless head that appeared just like the starship Enterprise. The opposite head we used had extra of a teardrop form and was referred to as the spider. Each heads had been mild — both 3/16 or 1/8 ounce on a #2/0 hook. The worm used with the slider was a four-inch slider worm or Berkley Energy worm. The slider worms had a small paddle tail, however my choice was only a straight tail. Worm colors had been refined, normally black, darkish purple, or brown.
Fishing with nice motion
The cool factor in regards to the slider was it fished very slowly however nonetheless had a fantastic motion. The important thing to fishing it was turning a spinning reel very slowly —three steamboats a reel rotation was about proper – and never lifting the rod tip a lot, if in any respect. Usually, the rod was held straight out and never too excessive up. Once I give it some thought now, the persistence required to do this all day was vital. But it labored. Bass would gently suck up the worms and so any stress felt on the retrieve required a set.
Within the days earlier than braid, we used premium, limp eight-pound monofilament with high quality reels and graphite rods. That graphite rod helped detect the refined strike on monofilament. Nowadays, I exploit 10-pound braid with a six or eight-pound fluoro chief. However every part else is just about the similar. The slider approach labored very nicely on sand bottoms (close to seashores), round docks and in weeds. Each smallmouth and largemouth had been weak to the slowly fished slider and worm.
Mushroom got here earlier than Ned
The opposite finesse bait was a mushroom-head jig and three-inch grub or tornado. The jigs we used had been made by Gopher Deal with in Minnesota and had been mild, with 3⁄32 ounce being a typical weight. Again within the early 90s, Lamont and I discovered this approach from Al and Ron Lindner who had been additionally fishing the Kenora Bass Worldwide (KBI). When Lamont and I visited them throughout the KBI pre-fish, that they had many small containers full of black mushroom-head jigs and numerous packages of three-inch Berkley Energy Grubs in black, purple, inexperienced, pumpkinseed, and blue.
In these days, the Lindners had been on the Berkley packaging for energy baits. It was a surreal expertise sitting in a room with them whereas taking a look at their faces plastered all over the baits. Anyway, that they had gotten onto the mushroom-head jig presentation and Al Lindner and his nephew James received a few KBI tournaments utilizing the sample. I also can recall James speaking about letting the jig grasp under the boat with no motion, one thing of a precursor to the moping approach Jeff Gustafson has not too long ago made well-known.
Finesse with motion
In contrast to the slider, which was fished principally without rod-tip motion, the mushroom-head jig appeared to achieve a bit of attraction with a few of that motion. Not so much, thoughts you, only a gradual carry and drop retrieve, whereas reeling slowly. There have been instances when a do-nothing approach would work receivedders. As an illustration, we fished steep rock partitions with the sunshine jigs and allow them to fall on a free line. If the line hesitated, we closed the bail, reeled up shortly and set the hook. As typically as not, that bass held the sunshine grub in its mouth. When the jig hit bottom, we’d maintain it, then slowly reel up with no motion.
In present areas, you’d forged the mushroom jig and permit it to float on a good line. When the Ned rig got here on the scene a number of years in the past, I used to be stunned by how related it was to the mushroom-head jig so many smallmouth anglers within the north had been utilizing for years. The Ned rig is a superb finesse presentation as nicely and may be fished in an identical method. A mushroom-head jig can be accessible today from Z-Man.
Darter head additionally nice
One other finesse jig head that was tremendous tuned within the southwestern US is the darter head. It has a slimmer profile than a mushroom-head jig and also youcan fish it with both a worm or a grub. I’ve all the time favored ¼-ounce darter heads for bass in present, and for fishing humps. I can recall studying aboutAmerican bass anglers utilizing darter head jigs and four-inch worms for bass suspended over deep humps. They might mark the bass with electronics then drop the darter jigs to them and slowly work them up.
I believe darter jigs are underused in Ontario bass circles. The jigs are streamlined and forged like a dream. Additionally they work splendidly with plastic minnow baits and can be utilized in locations like the Nice Lakes the place smelt, shiners, and bait fish are the first forage for bass. A gradual and regular retrieve, with little tip motion, permits the darter head and plastic minnow to swim.
Finesse bass fishing just isn’t for everybody. But if pressured or “bitter” bass are avoiding the standard strategies, finesse is nearly sure to place a number of bass within the boat this summer season.
Initially printed within the July 2023 challenge of Ontario OUT of DOORS
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