Contest Question of the Week Archive

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Week of 5/22/00 #132 You are fishing a summer tournament on a local lake. You have had the opportunity to pre-fish this lake for a couple of days prior to the tournament. Three patterns have emerged. Pattern #1 is running down to the south end of the lake which is about 15 miles from the launch. There is a large feeder cove which has been producing nice bass with spinner baits on laydowns. Pattern #2 only requires about a three mile run. A small creek has been producing some very large bass by flipping jigs into heavy shallow brush. Pattern #3 has been productive on the main lake right near the launch. Moderate to heavy winds blowing on the north shore has brought plankton and baitfish activity right up to the shoreline. Small crankbaits have been the order of this pattern. The day of the tournament and mother nature has surprised you again. Overnight the winds are gone and falling temperatures have caused a solid fog over the still lake. The tournament goes off as scheduled to your surprise, despite the foggy conditions. You are now faced with a dilemma. Do you try to develop a new pattern? Do you try to go with one of your proven patterns? If so, which one? Winner Falling temperatures in the summer time can often make bass more active. Since there is fog present the fish will have moved away from cover because of the low light conditions. I would continue with pattern #3, but instead of throwing a crankbait, I would throw a small 3/16 oz. buzzbait, either chart or white with a painted blade because of the low light conditions. Later in the day, if the fog burns off, I would move back to pattern #1 or #2 because bright bluebird skies will often move bass tight to the cover. Depending on the wind, if it is still calm, I would downsize my lures to avoid spooking the fish. Week of 5/15/00 #131   You are fishing in a very familiar lake. A pattern that you have found to be especially productive in the late spring is to fish the shoreline with a soft plastic jerk bait like a Zoom super fluke or sluggo or Bass Assassin. Depending on water clarity and amount of sun or shade you use either a white or silver (clear water and bright days) or a Alewife color (on cloudy days or when the water is dingy). Conditions are perfect for these lures today. The water is very clear and the sun is ducking in and out of the clouds. Although you have caught a few small bass on spinnerbaits you are frustrated because your favorite pattern has not produced one hit. Finally, determined to make this pattern work, you make a simple change that puts a half dozen nice bass in the boat within an hour. What did you do? Winner I would continue to use the Zoom super fluke although I would change to the color, "Baby Bass".   Week of 4/26/00 #130 You have located a good concentration of largemouth bass in some heavy eel grass. It’s a partly cloudy day with water temps in the 70’s. Since the weed growth is thick you have tried to work a plastic worm and plastic jerk bait through the grass but the bass don’t seem interested. A tube bait seems to bring in nothing but weeds. Most of the grass is within two feet of the surface so you try a few surface lures including a floating jerkbait, zara spook and buzz bait. Finally you switch again to another pattern and bingo you start to land these bass with consistency. What are you doing? Winner I would tie on a suspending jerk bait of some sort. Maybe put some suspendots on a Swimmin' Image since they only go down 18 inches or so. Run it down, stop it in their face and then twitch it.   Week of 4/19/00 #129 You have discovered a smallmouth pattern after talking to some locals at a small bait shop. It is late summer. The smallies have gotten down deep in some rock piles which extend off the end of a long rocky point. You are anchored in about 20 feet of water and casting to the piles which are rising up to within about 12 feet from the surface. By the look of the shoreline and point the rocks are beachball size. The sun is up and the water is gin clear. What are you doing to get those smallies biting? Winner Start by using a clown colored floating jerkbait like a Bomber Long A or a Smithwick Rattlin Rogue. The bait should be fished fast with very irratic jerks and run around the surface. If this does not work, a suspending model and a slower jerk pause presentation should be used. If this doesn't work, a tube bait (crayfish color) can be popped off the bottom, or the same can be done with a small crawfish imitating jig like a Strike King Bitsy Bug with a small plastic crayfish trailer.   Bass Fishing USA Home Page