How To Beat the Skunk and Get Your Swagger Back, Too

Recently read about an angler who had accumulated a string of three or four consecutive skunks and was looking for a way to break out of his bad-luck pattern. In this case, the solution was as simple as deciding to make a trip to a big pond.

The water this particular morning was 51 degrees, with clarity all the way to the bottom--about 8 or 9 feet. The pond encompassed 5 acres and was a spot this fella usually fished a few times each year. Following is the story in this man's own words.

                                        * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"After taking out a bait, I mentally talked myself out of using it and put the lure away. Then I stood there for several minutes until I remembered an article I had read in a magazine, which talked about how amateur fishermen often will throw a good bait a few feet into the 'crap, slop, veggies, etc.,' but a pro will launch it much further without hesitation. And that's why they catch more bigger fish a lot of the time.

"All I could think of was all those trees on the bottom of this pond. I decided to go weedless, rigged up a weedless 10-inch worm, and cast as far into the nastiness as I could get. A little later, I changed to a weedless grub, but still nothing. Then I tied on a 'Dinky Rig' for the first time that year and got hung up, losing my rig after only a couple of casts.

"At this point, I was more determined than ever to beat another skunk, but what to throw? Settled on a spinnerbait in a shad color, with gold blades. Found one in my box and said a little prayer while tying it on, half resigned to lose the bait.

"My first cast was at 3 o'clock. I let it flutter down a little before working it back, then made another cast, this time at 2 o'clock. Halfway back, it felt like I was going through some moss. I could see the blades turning. I sped up the retrieve in hopes of getting the weeds off, and to my surprise, found there was a fish hanging onto the bait. I went to set the hook...albeit late...and the bass promptly stopped, turned loose of my lure, and sped away.

"I then decided to walk the bank a ways and found a group of several trees in the water. I made another cast with the spinnerbait and let it flutter down as before, hitting every branch as I brought it back, but still nothing. Made another cast to the same spot, though, and halfway back, a fish smoked it hard.

"From that moment on, it was a game of seeing how many fish I could catch before I got snagged and lost the lure. I tied on a similar bait, and the action continued about another hour. I caught a grand total of eight bass...ranging in size from about a half-pound to a pound.

"That experience taught me that, in order to catch fish, beat the skunk, and get some of your swagger back, too, you just gotta go hard into the slop and drag those fish out kickin' and screamin'."