Big Bass Coming Soon!

The photo above is not me, and that's not my fish...but I caught one very much like it.

Last fall I caught a very nice 22 inch largemouth bass "on an area lake." I had actually caught him a number of times the past few years, but this day I decided it was time to fill the last remaining open spot on the den wall.

I agonize over taking a trophy and have released many. I rationalized last fall the bass was about to pass from old age anyway. This is probably not the least bit true, but it was the best I could come up with.

The normal wait with our local taxidermist is a bit over six months. Why so long? First, deer season has intervened and soaked up a lot of his time. Second, he has a lot of fish because he does a great job. It's worth the wait to get the job done right. That's why I strongly recommed the good folks at North Country Taxidermy Studio in Hazlehurst, WI, They have done three trophies for us so far, working on the fourth, and each has been first rate.

My wife was not 100% onboard with me mounting the largemouth. She said it was because taxidermiy is expensive. But truth is, for the past nine years, her bass has been the largest on the den wall.  In about five weeks her's will have serious competition.

The Essential Slip Bobber

I grew up fising in creeks and rivers, using fixed bobbers to drift baits over holes and to slide them downstream into eddies. I caught a large number of catfish and carp with this technique, but was always prejudiced that it was lazy fishing. Who hasn't seen images of a guy sleeping on the bank over an unattended pole? And who would not prefer the thrill of a cast and retrieve strike on a spinner or crank bait?

Slip bobbers are a completely different deal. In fact, there are many times when they are the only presentation that will take fish.

You can learn everything you need about slip bobbers in the books of Greg Bohn. They are well worth the read.

Be aware that what works one day may not work the next. Or even the next hour. I have seen aggresive fish that one day will hit only cast baits, and slip bobber baits the next. I have no idea why. I didn't get the memo.

I do recommend fishing with one pole at a time. You might be tempted to throw out a slip bobber rig and cast to either side of it. But two things will likely go wrong. First, you need to be ready to respond to the bite on the slip bobber. You may also need to twitch the bobber occasionally to provoke the bite. Take your hand off the bobber pole and you will miss more than half the action. Second, you might, as I have more than once, catch two fish simultaneously. I landed and good size smallmouth bass and a midling northern clentching the second pole between my knees. It was not a pretty site. This is a good way to lose fish and break tackle.

All the Tackle You Need…in the Palm of One Hand

If you are an experienced fisherman, you don’t need this advice. Stay with what works for you and enjoy your time on the water. 

For the rest of you, listen up. We have had great results here in the upper Midwest with a very limited amount of gear. We regularly pass over hundreds of dollars worth of tackle in our boxes for these proven lures: jigs in three colors, tails in four.

Like most fishermen, we vary our presentation based on time of year, water and air temperature, weed growth, and water clarity. 

In April our first crappies fishing starts with slip bobbers. Cold water fish like to study the bait...a small minnow.

In May, we slow fish a jig tipped with a minnow. Most of the lakes we fish are clear to tea colored. In these waters our favorite combination is white jig with a purple creme tube jig. 

In June, as the water warms, we fish minnow-free. The crappies tear up the tubes, so always have plenty on hand.

Size of the jig seems more important than the color. We use the smallest size jig possible for the wind and casting conditions. Crappies sometimes wait for the jig to rest on the bottom, but more active fish will chase down a slowing falling jig. The slower the fall the better.

White jigs and purple tails work well most of the time. Chartreuse sometimes work better if the water is on the murky side. Black jig heads can boost the bite on sunny days. Bass are particularly fond of the black jigs and rusty tails.

It is amazing how many big bass, northern pike and even Muskies we've landed on jigs as small as 1/32 oz. while crappie fishing.

We always maintain a good supply of white, black and chartreuse jigs in sizes 1/32 to 1/4 oz. When you discover what the fish are hitting on, you don't want to run out.

Cleaning and Repacking Tackle Boxes

During warm weather fishing I seldom take a moment on the water to care for the arrangement of the tackle boxes. Lures are trimmed off line and tossed in. Nested items get knocked out of place from drops. This is a testament to both fast fishing action and shear laziness. But once a year, during winter, I dump everything out, sort the items, trim off old line, remove unidentifiable organic matter, and carefully repack.

We have four main boxes:

The Jig Box – Used 99% of the time. Hooks, Sinkers, Slip bobbers. Jigs. Tails.

The Heavy Box ­–  The expensive plugs, spinners, and wiggly things I bought and almost never use.

The Musky Box – The really expensive baits and rigs we almost never use.

The Ice Box – Tiny jigs, depth weights, and spoons. Used when my leg allows me to get out on the ice.

Like most “serious” fishermen, we have hundreds of dollars worth of tackle. Maybe thousands. Yet year after year we end up using a gold hook and split shot, or a jig tipped with a minnow or leach to catch virtually all the fish. More on this in our next post.

The photo above is not one of our actual boxes. But we bet it looks a lot like yours at season’s end.