Nearly every angler has a fishing secret or two that he/she will not divulge. It doesn't matter if we're talking about secret spots, secret techniques, or secret baits; it's usually easier to find a needle in a haystack. Occasionally, though, someone breaks that mold and will share a helpful tip or two. As it were, four Louisiana bass anglers willingly told local scribe Chris Ginn some things they do "just a little bit differently" to catch fish.
According to that Louisiana Sportsman reporter, some of their ideas were eye-popping, while others were of the "why didn't I think of that" variety.
Dennis Tietje has an off-the-wall trick that he does with rigging a NetBait 9-inch Super T-Mac straight-tail worm. He inserts a Lunker City Herb Reed Weight into the tail of the worm so that it will back up.
"Rig it like you would a regular Texas-rigged worm, but don't add a weight to your line," said Tietje. Then take an insert weight and stick it into the tail...from the front, though, so that it will stay in place.
"Postspawn is prime time for fishing a tail-weighted straight-tail worm because, during this period, bass are notorious for running intruders out of a bed without ever biting. They'll charge a lure but stay behind it the whole time."
When Tietje drops his rod tip, his tail-weighted worm swims right back in the fish's face.
"He can't help but eat it then," said Tietje. "He's either got to eat it, or get out of its way," adding that "this worm is just as effective in deep water as it is shallow. I really like throwing it around the corners of a deep bed of hydrilla, but it also will work on bare points and in brush piles."
Kenny Covington is one of those anglers who often throws a damper on local contests. His consistency in catching bass and his ability to read water match up with that of any angler.
Covington told the reporter that one of the secrets to his success lies in doing something he calls power fishing finesse baits. In short, it means fishing small baits with regular casting tackle.
"My big--or should say little--three are a Norman Tiny N crankbait, which they also call a crappie crankbait; a Strike King Bitsy Buyg; and a 1/8-ounce Stanley spinnerbait," he said. "With those three baits, I can catch fish anywhere, but they really shine in river systems and lakes where a 13-pound five-fish limit is considered a good bag."
While it's not much of a revelation that a bass angler fishes a small bait, Covington said it's a little different that he fishes these offerings with casting rods and reels with line up to 20-pound test. He believes these finesse baits work just as well on 15-pound-test P-Line as they do on 8-pound-test line.
"And those small baits catch some big bass, too," he added. "I can't tell you how many big-bass pots I've won on that Bitsy Bug.
"I doctor up the Tiny N by adding a No. 6 treble hook to the belly and a No. 4 on the back. It doesn't take away any action, but it helps hold those bigger bass better."
Although Covington says he can take these three tiny baits to any water and catch fish, he feels most at home with them when that water has boat docks that get pounded by big jigs, worms and spinnerbaits all day long. He can come behind other anglers and skip these small baits around those same docks and catch bass those before him left behind.
Veteran of the pro bass wars
Homer Humphries has been fishing long enough to know exactly what he's going to do when he's fishing in a crowd. He cited a Bassmaster Central Open tournament he once fished where he and the other competitors had a window of an hour and a half to catch fish on a jerkbait in the coves.
"After that, you might catch one more the rest of the day, or you might not," he said.
It was a small lake, and every cove and creek had four to eight boats coming through at any one time all day long.
"Not only was the fishing pressure rough, but we were dealing with front after front coming through," he noted.
In those conditions, Humphreys relied on his bread-and-butter technique: Carolina-rigging.
"That may not sound very exciting," he said, "but fishing on the business end of a Carolina rig should make you sit up and take notice.
"I found the mouth of one cove was maybe 30 feet wide," he recalled. "I could tell on my Humminbird Side Imaging that one side of this little mouth had a swag in it like a slough. I started fishing a 6-inch lizard on my Carolina rig, but I only got a couple of pecks. That's when I switched to a 5-inch solid black lizard."
Humphreys had learned about the magic of a 5-inch lizard from a fella at Toledo Bend.
"All he ever seemed to throw was a black Mister Twister lizard," explained Humphries, "and he told me that all he ever saw around the lake were black lizards.
"You look in 100 people's boxes, and you won't find one solid black lizard," Humphreys insisted. "You'll find black/blue and black/red flake, but you won't find solid black. It's such a natural-looking color, and it's something the fish just don't see. I use the 5-inch size not because it's an inch shorter, but because it's shorter and presents a smaller overall profile."
The final Louisiana angler with an oddball tip is
Chris Burnham. For several years, his rule of thumb has been to go the opposite direction of everybody who downsizes their lures and fishes them slowly during high-pressure conditions.
"When everybody says to go small and slow down, I go big and fish slow," he said. "And just by going big, I'm doing something different than everybody else on the water. When everybody's grabbing a shaky head or a Bitsy Bug, I reach for a 7-inch Zoom Super Magnum Fluke."
Although the bigger fluke is only two inches longer than a regular Super Fluke, Burnham says his version is a giant hunk of plastic that's almost the same girth of a Coke can. He hated to expose his secret, but he knew he couldn't keep it under his hat forever.
"I can take that Magnum Fluke and go fish the same areas (working it like a Senko) where everybody else is throwing a shaky head," said Burnham. "During the summer, I twitch it near the surface, but during the spring, I let it fall to the bottom, then lift my rod tip up 90 degrees toward the sky."
He continues to lift and drop his big fluke all the way back to the boat..."with the same action as what your daddy taught you to do when you first learned how to fish a plastic worm," he continued. And although a twitching retrieve may work better during the summer, he fishes it more like dead-sticking during the spring.
"I fish it all year long and catch more fish on it than any other bait.
"The key to getting the best action out of the big fluke is to rig it on an extra-wide-gap heavy wire hook tied to 25-pound-test fluorocarbon line, using a really stiff rod. I've tried it on braid, but the 25-pound fluorocarbon sinks just right for this bait."
Unlike the reporter who did these interviews, you haven't had the pleasure of watching the anglers mentioned here catching bass after bass while everyone else around them just beat up the water. If you doubt their veracity, you're encouraged to try their out-of-the-ordinary techniques the next time you go fishing.
