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Jackson: Warm thoughts on big-lure bass fishing

During dark and windy winter days, I can't help thinking about bass fishing.

It has come to my attention that location doesn't matter when hunting for big largemouth and smallmouth bass.

I've had fun in south Florida throwing muskie-sized baits into open pockets surrounding heavy cover located on the various canals snaking their way around Broward and Palm Beach counties.

The results were nothing less than spectacular, with a couple jumbo bass at a time trying to outswim each other so they could grab the big lure.

To quote an experienced bass fisherman, there is no bad time to use a large swim bait - or is there?

Big bass-catcher Bill Siemantel, a California lure maker and a regular at many of that state's deep reservoirs, has turned a lot of heads with his creations and techniques.

During an interview with him several years ago, he explained that one technique he likes is to stay shallow and cast outward to the deep water while slowly working one of his jumbo swim baits back to the boat or shoreline.

Late last summer, when the boat traffic started to ease up, I fished a section of Lake Catherine where the weed line started 25 feet from the shore.

My lure of choice was a special, handmade, topwater muskie chugger, a lure that allowed me to dredge up several muskies on Wisconsin's Grindstone Lake. I figured it could very well work on Catherine for both muskies and largemouth.

I use the adjective "chugger" because it pushes a lot of water out of the way as it moves along the surface. It also creates some obnoxious gurgling noises as well.

I compare it to a steam locomotive, a beast of iron and ferocity in its own right. The old coal-burners made a lot of noise while belching smoke and vapor. In the old days on the prairie, it scared livestock grazing nearby the track as the iron horse raced by.

I was counting on my chugger to "scare up" some vicious strikes from curious fish.

I won't try to tell you my bass-catching technique is something new. I confess to using one of Siemantel's tried-and-true enticing options.

I had two or three follows from large fish. It was the fourth cast from the shallow area to the deeper weeds that brought the interest of a big largemouth to sniff out things, so to speak.

I saw the fish come up at around 10 feet from the boat and literally come out of the water to jump on the big bait. I never set the hook because the 4-pounder did all the hard work.

I moved the boat about 15 feet to my left and repeated the process. It was the fifth cast that was the magic toss. This was another largemouth, around 3 pounds.

And it was then I changed lures. This time I tied on a No. 13 Rapala and made an extra-long cast to the middle of the weed clumps. A dozen throws, and no joy.

I stopped fishing, opened my thermos and poured a cup of coffee. I sat there for about 15 minutes and started the process all over. This time I made sure I kept up a steady stream of twitching, constantly imparting lots of energy to the bait. That seemed to be the missing element.

Just as the Rapala dipped its nose downward, slightly beneath the surface, another nice largemouth bass grabbed it and headed for cover. Minutes later, I hoisted another 3-pound fish into the boat for measurements and a picture.

If I hadn't made dinner plans, I would have stayed for another several hours, but that wasn't in the cards.

Whenever a Midwestern chill whacks me around, I think about how badly I want to get back on softwater and see if I can come up with some of my own on-water discoveries - and a few big bass to back it all up.

• 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 mikejacksonoutdoors.com.

Sinking thoughts on catching bass in heavy cover

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