Published: October 01, 2006 12:47 am      

Choose bass lures that are fun to use

My bass fishing buddy Junior is a dedicated plastic worm angler. He stands on the front of his boat with one foot planted on the trolling motor control and probes the bottom for biting bass. His posture reminds me of a great blue heron perched on a stump waiting for a fish to come within range. Junior can fish this way for hours, his eyes unfocused; yet, all of his other senses are acutely tuned to the slightest vibrations coming up the umbilical cord of monofilament line slanting down into the watery depths. How he does it is beyond me. Curious, I have asked him if he considers his method a fun way to fish. “It is fun when I catch one” he replies.

His style won’t work for me. It is too tedious. I need the process to be entertaining. Blow ups, savage strikes and fish that leap out of the water is the action I crave when bass fishing. After all fishing, not just catching, is supposed to be fun; so why not choose lures that can make it so?

There is nothing wrong with focusing on the end instead of the means as Junior does. And many bass anglers fish that way. Fishing bottom-bumping plastic worms and their like is a proven way to catch bass. But, it is a heck of a lot more fun to fish top water lures that offer a visual as well as a perceptual reward. Casting these types of attractions is exciting. Anglers can observe them as they bloop, bubble and burble across the surface of the water. The anticipation of believing any second a bass is going to engulf it in an eruption similar to dropping a bowling ball into a bucket of water from the top of a step ladder is exhilarating. If you want to enjoy the visual aspects of top water fishing while chunking and winding for bass, there are several types of lures to choose from.

Buzz baits: These contraptions first came on the bass fishing market in the 1970’s and are still one of the most fun and productive top water lures ever invented. Described as a boat propeller wrapped in a plastic hula skirt, the buzz bait is noisy, oversized and completely ridiculous, but it drives bass wild. These lures are at their best when fished over the top of submerged vegetation, next to woody cover or along rocky shorelines. White and chartreuse colors are the most productive during daylight. At night black lures offer the best silhouette. The standard sizes are 3/8-1/2-ounce, but sometimes the 1/4-ounce models will generate more strikes when bass are somewhat reluctant to strike them. Use them any time, but they are most productive early and late in the day. When the sky is overcast, they can be productive all day.

Plastic frogs: Bass and frogs go together like biscuits and gravy. And the new generation of plastic frog lures has made fishing for bass even easier and more fun. Zoom’s Horny Toads and Stanley’s Ribbit Frogs are two examples of new soft-plastic frog lures that are versatile and enjoyable to use. Rig them just like a plastic worm with a hook through the head and then tuck the point into a special slot in the body of the lure and they are weed-less and deadly for bass lying in ambush under thick vegetation. Cast them onto lily pads and then hop, slither and pause the lure in small open spaces. The density of the plastic used in their construction allows them to sink very slowly when forward motion is stopped. If bass don’t bust them on top, the slow, seductive sink is usually more than a largemouth can stand. Strikes are spectacular. These frog lures can also be used much like a buzz bait too. Reel them fast across the top of the water and they splash like a pool full of kids learning how to flutter kick. Oh yeah, when you see a giant bulge of water and weeds headed towards the faux frog, try and not jerk the bait away from the fish. Let them hit it and feel the weight of the fish before striking. Frog fishing is exciting stuff.

Poppers: Poppers are another type of surface lure that will generate some adrenaline moments when bass fishing. They are designed to be cast close to some type of cover, weed lines or standing timber are good places, and then the lure is retrieved in short jerks. The cupped face of the lure displaces water and is thought to mimic a surface feeding fish or an injured prey trying to escape another predator. The standard way to fish them is cast, pause, jerk, pause, and so forth. Poppers build tension and capitalize on the inherent predatory instincts of bass. When a bass commits to striking a popper there is no mistaking their intentions—annihilation.

There are lots of ways to fish for bass, but there is nothing like the thrill of catching a green marauder on a top water lure. And besides the delicious anticipation of the strike, fishing these crazy lures is plain and simple fun. And is that not what fishing is all about?