Doodle socking is a cheap and fun way to catch bass

By Barry St. Clair

May 12, 2007 10:12 pm

— I am just about thoroughly convinced that modern fishing technology has taken a lot of the fun out of fishing.
It takes a small fortune now to be properly outfitted just to go catch a few bass. Anglers spend more on a boat today than I paid for my first house just a few years ago. And that is just the beginning. Add on several thousand dollars for electronics, custom designed rods made of space age materials, reels that are now computer chip enhanced and fishing lures that can cost up to $100. This has become the accepted gauntlet of those who call themselves bass fishermen. Throwing money at technology in the hope that it will make life easier or better is just one aspect of the modern age. But it was not always so. There was a time not too many years ago when fishing for bass was simple, effective, cheap and gloriously fun. It can still be so; all you have to do is learn how to doodle sock.
Doodle socking is a method that was invented when the luxury of technology was not even a concept. Bass fishing was something done to escape the stresses of daily life and put some fish on the table for dinner. Today, bass fishing has become impersonal. Anglers use techniques that require long casts and spend more time reeling than fishing. Bass fishing is at its finest when it requires sneaking up closely on the quarry along brushy or heavily vegetated shorelines and probing those little places that are too thick to reach by casting in the modern manner. This is where old time techniques such as doodle socking shine. And since I have mentioned this method several times in order to generate reader interest, now would be a good time to explain just what the heck doodle socking is and how to do it.
The authorship of the phrase is unknown, but a look at the components reveals its use as an apt description of the method. One definition of doodle is to scribble idly. That sentence aptly describes the technique part of doodle socking. The sock part must be a result of the manner in which bass are caught using this method. Let me explain: Equipment necessary to properly doodle sock is a fishing rod at least 10 feet long. Traditionally doodle sock rods were bamboo or cane and cut from a thicket and allowed to dry. A heavy piece of Dacron was then secured to the length of the rod by employing a series of half-hitch knots culminating in a tie-off on the tip with about two feet of line remaining. A lure was then tied on the terminal end. The outfit was then complete and ready to go.
The technique for using this contraption to catch bass was to sneak up to a likely spot and then doodle the lure back and forth in a figure eight motion on the water’s surface much like scribbling on a piece of paper. The idea was to irritate any resident bass into striking and then sock it to them by quickly raising the rod when the fish inhaled the lure.
This tactic works especially well in small pockets of water surrounded by heavy vegetation or timber: The types of places large bass like to live because traditional fishermen cannot reach them with conventional methods. The idea behind doodle socking is to make noise, and one of the best types of lures to use to accomplish that task is a propeller bait. My favorite doodle sock lure was a wooden Heddon frog pattern with blades on either end. Pulled through the water quickly it would make a double stream of bubbles that drove resident bass wild. Strikes were explosive and at close range. Bass were not so much interested in eating it as they were in killing the intruder. This is combat fishing at its finest and I have many good memories of hand-to-fin contact when employing this technique to yank bass out of the thick stuff.
The technique is well suited to ponds or shallow creeks and along heavily vegetated shorelines of reservoirs. Backwater sloughs are also good places to doodle sock for bass. It works best when bass are relating to shallow water, primarily in the spring and early summer, but can be used in small bodies of water year around. It is a simple, almost primordial form of fishing that is appealing to adults who want to put some of the old- fashioned charm back into catching bass. And it is an excellent method to stimulate a young angler just beginning. Just about any type of noisy surface lure can be used and of course modern materials in the form of graphite composite rods and braided lines can take the place of traditional materials.
The next time you bemoan the good old days, and how fun, simple and appealing basic bass fishing used to be, think about gearing up to doodle sock for bass. The youngster in all of us will be glad you did.