Jackson: For timeless success in fishing, live bait's a proven winner

A couple of days before I had fishing guru Ron Lindner on the air with me during my Sunday outdoor radio talk show, I brought up some of the ancient memories relating to the things he and brother Al invented and promoted during the mid-1960s.

I was fortunate to be on the scene with them. The late Bill Binkelman introduced me to the brothers in 1966. I then witnessed a remarkable awakening by thousands of anglers who went back to school by relearning the basics of live bait fishing.

Though Binkelman was an expert in the use of live bait, the brothers Lindner took Binkelman's experiences to a new, more detailed level with the Lindy Rig and similar lures in the spinnerbait category.

It's been my experience that even today there are some bass fishermen who turn their noses up in the air when they see a person going after both largemouth and smallmouth bass while using live bait.

Now that Mark Zona, a far south-side angler, has been elevated to a professional in good standing with his own television show, I can probably expect to hear from him any time now as he reads me his version of the riot act because of my opinions.

Have any of you ever asked why professional bass tournament entrants are forbidden from using live bait while they compete? Is it because they can possibly catch more fish with bait versus artificial foolers?

Of course, one setback with live bait is that quite often a game fish will swallow the hook, sometimes making it almost impossible to retrieve that hook without seriously injuring and even killing the fish.

On the flip side, using artificial lures tests the skill of the tournament angler to find and tempt fish to strike.

I don't have any argument with those folks. It's just the select few snobs who think they are better at many things in life because they use XYZ crank bait or QRS spinner baits.

Give me the lowly minnow and its family of small (and sometimes large) shiny, torpedo-like bodied swimmers that can often tempt a stubborn bass or walleye to get out of its hiding place and do a little chasing for a meal. I have a soft spot for my other personal favorites - a conditioned night crawler (according to "Nightcrawler Secrets"), or a fat, squirmy leech.

The still famous Lindy Rig was designed to be used with either a minnow or night crawler, ball-bearing swivel, and a snelled hook, usually a No. 8. In the late 60s the Lindners also promoted their Lindy Spin and Squirrel Spin.

Take any of those three breakthroughs from "back in the day," pair them up with live bait, and trust me - you are really fishing.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at www.1590WCGO.com) and get more content at www.mikejacksonoutdoors.com.