To Catch Bass on a Bad Day, Just Keep Fishing

By Woo Daves

Many years ago, I went down to fun fish Buggs Island. I was going to fish out of my john boat, but somebody had stolen my motor. The only reason that the thieves didn't get my boat was because I had it chained to a tree.

Luckily, I just had recently bought a trolling motor, and I had a good battery for that new motor. I had driven two hours to get to Buggs Island, and I told my fishing buddy, "Since we're here, let's just go fishing."

To be effective, most bass fishermen believe they need a big bass boat with a big outboard on it. But the truth of the matter is that you can take a little john boat, like a Tracker aluminum boat, and start fishing right where you put in. More than likely, you'll catch as many, if not more, bass than the anglers running up and down the lake in their boats. The real secret to catching bass is keeping a lure in the water as much as possible.

My friend, George Cochran, won the Bassmaster Classic in Kentucky by fishing right by the boat ramp. George probably didn't burn a half-gallon of gas in three days of fishing. Rick Clunn won one of the Bassmaster Classics in Arkansas, fishing less than two minutes from the boat ramp.

When we started fishing out of that small boat on Buggs Island, the weather was about 70 degrees in February. By 10 a.m., we only had caught one 10-inch bass. My buddy said, "If we had a big motor, we could fish several different places and catch more bass." We took a break in the middle of the day, got out of the boat, walked around a little bit, and ate our sandwiches.

Within 30 minutes, snow started falling. My buddy got in the boat while it still was lodged against the bank, walked to the back of the boat, cast a Speed Shad across the cove, and landed an 8 pounder. We got in the boat and started fishing around the cove where we had pulled the boat up on the bank. We caught eight bass that weighed about 40 pounds--a huge stringer for Buggs Island.

If you asked almost any fisherman, "What's the biggest bass you've ever caught?" the majority of them would sway a 6-, 7-, 8-, or 9-pound bass that they've caught while fishing in a john boat. So, one of the biggest secrets on how to catch bass on a bad day, especially when you have equipment failure, is just to keep fishing, slow down, and hit every piece of cover that you can see. Don't ever allow equipment failure to cause you to stop fishing.

Now I can fish as fast as anybody. On days when fish are biting, fishing fast will catch a lot of bass. But on bad days, when fish don't want to bite, turn your boat around, go back to the place you've fished fast, and fish slowly with light line and small lures. You may catch a whole lot of bass then.

My No. 1 bait for fishing slow is a Zoom Trick Worm, and my No. 2 is a shaky-head worm. If the lake has a lot of smallmouth or spotted bass, I'll fish the Zoom Speed Craw, which resembles a small crawfish. I've learned that when I fish a plastic lure, the bass usually will take it before it hits the bottom. If they're not biting on a bluebird day, or on a bad-weather day, slow down your fishing, and make multiple casts with multiple lures to try and catch the bass that should be on that spot.

Woo Daves of Spring Grove, VA, started tournament bass fishing in 1973. He won the Bassmaster Classic in 2000 and has qualified for 20 different world championships. "My success in bass fishing isn't too bad for an ol' country boy," he said. This item first appeared in John E. Phillips' Outdoor Journals.