Jackson: Fishing tips for generating strikes
A friend, who basically is a fly fisherman, reported to me that he's going to use nightcrawlers for bass on Lake Geneva.
As long as I can remember I have been a "strong follower" of Nightcrawler Secrets.
Over the years, I've shared some of my thoughts on that topic with you. I will probably buy another flat (500 'crawlers) and condition them according to the commandments of the late Bill Binkelman. But there are skeptics out there who will harp on me when I talk about the use of small hooks and live bait.
It's not that live bait of any kind is better than a jig or in-line spinner, but rather live bait comes through and "delivers the mail" when the usual critters from the ground and streams happen to catch the fancy of some fat bluegill or more sleek smallmouth bass.
Before I get into the No. 8 hook preaching, I will share with you my beliefs regarding in-line spinners and common stubbornness.
Many anglers I've encountered wouldn't dare think about the use of an in-line spinner, ala Mepps or Panther Martin.
These misguided, devout souls of angling propaganda have been veteran card-carrying members of the hook and minnow sect, and claim that this simple rig will catch any and everything that swims in the water. And under the right conditions and circumstances that could tip the scales.
Next to a human scrounger of empty bottles and scrap metal, many fishermen have been known to lean a bit toward the cheapskate side. It's all because that person would rather be hung on the proverbial cross than be seen putting his hand in his pocket to grab a buck or two. But that is a story for another day.
Over the years I've watched extremely good fishermen work a section of river where big boulders create slack-water pools on at least two sides. These people made long casts so their spinners went quite a distance upstream from the rock formations.
Sometimes a couple dozen casts were made to both sides of the huge rocks without any strikes.
When I asked one guy why he kept making casts upstream and around the rock, he responded in hushed tones.
"Sometimes the lure or live bait will seem to agitate a fish into striking," he instructed.
And it happened as the last syllable left his lips. A very scrappy smallmouth followed the spinner at least 50 feet and just as the line and lure cleared the boulder its jaws opened and the process of fish versus man ensued.
All it took was a little patience.
There was this pond in Hoffman Estates where I suspected some decent-sized bass hung out. I walked yhe shoreline looking for an opening path through the emerging weed growth. I saw a slight sliver of opening in this one section, so I started casting out and away from the opening, thereby bringing the ⅛-ounce spinner bait across the opening and subsequently skimming the tops of the cabbage weeds.
I knew the area held fish. The only problem, as I saw it, was finding a way to tease a bass out of hiding. Twelve casts later I had a hookup. My scale read 3 ½ pounds. I caught close to a dozen more largemouth from that area by waiting them out while making fan casts to the entire mass of weed growth.
• 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.