Weedless lures still have a lot of pull

Gary Richmond is nobody's fool. When someone tells him a particular lake is devoid of any decent largemouth bass, that alone is like waving a red flag in front of a raging bull.

This 60-something suburban salesman grew up in the city and first became acquainted with the Fox Chain when he was 5.

"My father would drag me out to Channel Lake, put me in an old rental boat, and teach me how to hold on to a cane pole while also stressing patience," he said. "Of course, how much patience can a 5- year-old muster up?"

His story is similar to mine as I also sat in the boat while my father flailed the water with his trusty fly rod or early spinning rig.

I've written before that I would limit out on sunstroke while Irv would land a garfish or a runt-sized largemouth. We didn't have a clue in those days where the big bass were hiding.

For the last 10 years, Richmond has been investing his energy in finding the Chain's larger bass as well as a few muskies now and then.

He told me he frequently will switch locales, meaning one week he will focus on the Chain's southern lakes and the next week he will work the north end.

"I'll go to areas where not many others like to fish," he said. "I hardly ever see any bass fishermen on Pistakee Lake during both weekdays and the weekends."

Any special lures or live bait?

"I've become quite a 'goop' fisherman and learned how to make my own weedless lures," he said.

That statement triggered my interest, since I also like to fish the heavy cover where a lot of big fish generally hide.

Richmond pulled out a bag of plastic frogs sans hooks and showed me how he rigs one of them with a regular hook.

"It's nothing fancy," he said, "but time after time a bass or muskie will jump on it in nothing flat."

Heavy weeds and thick algae cover can be the bane of many fishermen. Whenever I'm doing seminars in this area, anglers will come up when I'm finished showing pictures of bass taken from the "slop areas," and they'll all tell me that when they encounter the junk they'll go somewhere else to look for fish.

There are a variety of weedless frogs on the market, and I was lucky some years back to find two bags of Mister Twister Hawg Frawgs at a garage sale.

These baits are slightly smaller than some of the other floating frogs, but they work just as well. I run a small bass hook through the body and then turn the point upward through the body to help keep the bait weed-free.

Gary's rig is almost identical to what I've been using, and he ties the frog to 8-pound mono and a spinning reel.

"I used to use 15-pound test and a baitcasting rig, but in recent years I enjoy using lighter gear to haul the bass out of the salad," he said.

"I keep a detailed record of my catches from both the south-end and north-end lakes of the Chain, and over the last three years I've logged over 60 bass weighing over 4 pounds using this technique.

"My next foray will be on Deep Lake in Lake Villa, a lake that has been virtually untouched."

angler88@att.net