Angler From My Hometown Makes It Big

It's not very often that anyone from my little hometown of Oswego, KS, population roughly 2,000 when I lived there, makes national headlines, but fisherman Danny Smith II (right) pulled it off with the recent catch of a 4-and-a-half-foot, 39.5-pound alligator gar that he pulled from the Neosho River.

His story now has been told in the pages of USA Today and Newsweek, as well as on ABC News, to name only a few of the major media outlets that have interviewed Smith. The news peg here is that this fish is not even native to Kansas, nor has it ever been documented there before.

Smith knew he had caught something unusual as soon as he got his first glimpse of the fish's head. He immediately ruled out a "pretty decent flathead," because the shape of the head was all wrong. His fishin' buddy is the one who identified the species.

Getting the fish to the boat was only half the battle for Smith.

"The fish went to flopping and flipping around until he destroyed one of my oars," he said. "There was one little 10- to 15-pound flathead in the boat that was acting like he wanted out of the boat as bad as I did," the result of taking just one look at those double rows of razor-sharp teeth.

While in prehistoric times, this fish's predecessors may have lived in Iowa or Kansas, modern alligator gars today are found in the lower Mississippi River Valley, from Arkansas and Oklahoma to Florida, Texas, and parts of Mexico. Not harmful to humans, alligator gars eat other fish, crabs, turtles, birds, and small mammals.

Meanwhile, Kansas is home to three native types of gar, the most common being the longnose gar, which can measure 5 feet long, along with shortnose and spotted gar. Alligator gar have snouts that resemble American alligators and can grow beyond 10 feet long and weigh up to 350 pounds.

How did this particular fish get in the Neosho River? Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks biologists reportedly are looking at several unique options. However, they've already ruled out the possibility of the fish being a hatchery-produced fish, which always are tagged.

"Because most populations of this species can be distinguished from one another with a sample of the fish's fins, another option we're considering is genetic identification," wrote KDWP Assistant Director of Fisheries Research Jeff Koch. "This will tell us if the fish came from an existing population in another state."

If this option doesn't work out, microchemistry is another technique that can be used. With this method, the elemental proportion of a bone on the fish is measured and compared to the elemental concentration of surrounding water, which could help determine how long the fish had been in the Neosho River.

"It's not unlikely this fish once was somebody's pet or perhaps purchased from a pet store and simply released into the Neosho once it became too large," said KDWP Director Doug Nygren. "These techniques should allow us to determine which mode of introduction occurred."

While trying to find out how Smith was able to catch this alligator gar in the Neosho River, KDWP wants to remind people that "transporting and releasing fish or other species in public waters, whether native or non-native, is illegal in Kansas."

I should point out that Kansas also boasts its fair share of record catfish. The current blue cat record is 102.8 lbs., a channel cat at 36.5 lbs., a flathead cat at 123 lbs., and a bullhead cat at 7.33 lbs.

With thanks to my wife for the tip that led to this post.

Difference Between "the Walking Worm" and "Walking the Worm"

Don't recall what I was researching this week when I somehow stumbled across the difference in these two phrases. I only remember that my target search had absolutely nothing to do with worms in general.

Nevertheless, I learned that "the walking worm" (pictured left) is the title given to one of those "as seen on TV" gimmick lures of the circa late 1990s to early 2000s fame. The commercials of that period claimed the walking worm "out-fished live bait by a 3-to-1 ratio and possibly was going to be banned from tournaments (never happened, though). The secret of this lure was the 'energy recoil action' that allowed it to curl and twist like a real worm in the water," or so the commercials would have had you believe.

It came in a set of 30 or 50 worms (depending on which ad you happened to see), plus five worm hooks, some weights, and a nine-compartment container that retailed for, as you've probably already guessed, $19.95. And you likely could have bought the same number of regular plastic worms at the time for a fraction of that cost, with money left over to pick up an extra crankbait or spinnerbait.

I couldn't help but want to see if there was any evidence whether this lure really worked. After a little additional research, I came across a video that demonstrated it would at least catch some little bass. Check it out for yourself at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYMHe9DY_MY.

So much for "the walking worm." Now I'll share what I learned about "walking the worm." I dare say the vast majority of you probably already have figured out that what we're talking about here is the so-called "trick" worm.

When rigged similar to a floating topwater lure and twitched back and forth during the retrieve, the trick worm performs just under the surface, similar to any other lure designed to be worked in a walking-the-dog manner.

This lure setup is similar to an older one that's called a "swivel worm." In this setup, the worm was tied 18 inches behind a barrel swivel, and the hook was inserted into the worm so that it twisted as you swam it back just under the surface. The barrel swivel was an absolute necessity because of the twisting and turning nature of the lure. It was successful but hard to cast accurately, though similar to the way a trick worm is fished, except the trick worm does not spin. Bass often will hit a trick worm when they refuse other baits.

As I've learned once again, you just never know where you'll end up when you're doing your tracking on the Internet.

Tournament Prefishing...Good or Bad?

The answer to that question depends on whom you're talking to. A fella online said he feels "prefishing sometimes hinders you more than if you didn't prefish."

He went on to explain, "I have heard story after story about having sensational days prefishing, and then on tournament day...nothing! Not even a nibble from the same places where big ones were caught the day before.

"Did catching them cause them to move to deeper water? Cause them to quit eating for a while? Cause them to swim away? Who knows?"

Of course, some prefishing trips...for lack of a better way of putting it...sucks! An angler, who was asked what he does when that's the case, responded, "Don't continue doing the things you tried during the prefishing.

"Some of my best tournament finishes," he said, "have been after a tough pre-fish. I go out with a more open mind during the event and fish the conditions, not the pre-fish patterns. To me, prefishing is really mostly an excuse to spend some extra days on the water more than anything. My goal is to try and get a feel for the mood of the fish.

"There have been more tournaments lost after a stellar prefishing day than the opposite. Don't let a poor prefishing session determine your success. During any event, be it club-related, team, pro-am-, or draw, a consistent angler always adjusts."

Veteran bass pro Frank Scalish (left) once said he wished he had a dollar for every time he has listened to a pro or co-angler claim they won in the practice days.

"They were catching so many fish in practice, it was hard to believe they didn't get them during the tournament," he explained. "All I can say is: Winning practice means nothing. There's a huge difference between getting bites and hooking fish.

"Let me give you a better illustration," Scalish continued. "I was fishing my first pro-tour season with B.A.S.S., and we were on Lake Eufala. It just happened to be the last tournament of the season, and I was on the bubble to make my first Bassmaster Classic. I most assuredly found a pattern offshore...Fat-Free 7s and Carolina rigs. I was very excited."

As the practice progressed, Scalish noticed a rise in the water level, which concerned him, so he went to the bank to find some flipping fish. He found exactly six, all but one of which were in buckbrush. The other one was on an old submerged refrigerator unit.

"I didn't hook any of those fish," he said. "They were my backups. Those fish were nice-sized, as well."

After that last day of practice, Scalish went back to his room and was talking with Mark Menendez, who asked him how he was doing.

"I told him I had found some flipping fish for backup, and he asked how many I had caught. I told him none but said I had gotten six bites and believed I could go back and catch most of them."

Menendez just laughed and said Scalish should have caught them 'cause they wouldn't be there during the event.

"I just shook my head and said, 'We will see, won't we?'," noted Scalish.

On the first day of that tournament, the Ohio veteran pro went to his first Carolina-rig spot and caught one close to 4 pounds, then broke off a 7-pounder while wrestling him beside the boat. He fished that spot a while longer with no more bites and decided to go to the flipping fish, rather than pass them up on his way to the next offshore location.

"I apologized to my co-angler," said Scalish, "and explained that I had located specific fish and that he probably would not catch one there, but that if he were patient, I would take him to get a limit before the end of the day. The co-angler was OK with that plan.

"I went to the first buckbrush and flipped all over it but found no fish. I proceeded to the next and caught a big one. I advanced to the next and caught an 8-pounder. The next yielded a big zero. The one after that, though, went over 4, and when I went to the refrigerator, it gave me another one over 5 pounds. I was sitting on 23 to 25 pounds, and it was only my second stop.

"So, as promised, I took my co-angler to an offshore spot and let him fish for his five. Everything worked out, and I made the Bassmaster Classic. If I had hooked those fish in practice, I would not have caught them in the tournament.

"Not hooking fish in practice is just smart fishing," said Scalish. "I believe a lot of fish are hooked during practice as a result of ego and ignorance...not ignorance of the stupid kind but more because some anglers don't know how not to hook one. I would rather catch more in the tournament when they count and not have some ego-driven dunce plaster them when it doesn't matter," he concluded.

No Kiddin'--I Really Can't "See Straight" Any Longer

That was the diagnosis I received from my long-time eye doctor today.

This was my first checkup in more than a year, thanks to all the business with COVID-19. May not have scheduled an appointment now, except for the fact I've been noticing a couple things related to my vision that hadn't existed until recently. I've been having double vision when looking at something out the corner of my eye, along with depth-perception difficulties when fishing early-morning low-light conditions.

As the doctor told me, my eyes simply no longer are working together. My left eye focuses on things at a slightly lower level than what my right eye does. The problem likely won't get any worse than it is at the moment, but if it should and I want to get some relief from it, I can go back to wearing prescription specs again. That's not going to happen unless the problem gets dramatically worse than it is.

And besides, the depth-perception difficulties go away once full daylight is achieved.

Coupled with the return of some minor vertigo bouts, though, reckon it's in my best interests to never touch any booze ever again. No problem there, however, 'cause I haven't had anything alcoholic since I retired from the Navy nearly 40 years ago.

October 2021 Best Fishing Times

With a Fishing Rod in My Hand, I'm as Good as Any Surgeon...

There are some anglers who know that to be a true statement about themselves, but if they're REALLY that good, I would bet you won't hear them bragging out loud about it. Why? Because when you're that good, you're perfectly content letting your actions on the water demonstrate it.

Over the years, I've been in the boat with a lot of guys whom I considered to be "good sticks." And the common theme among all of them was that they never once broke their arms while patting themselves on the back.

On the other hand, those guys and gals (like me, for instance), who knows we're only "wannabe surgeons" with a rod in our hands, have no problem owning up to our lack of skills...and even making light of it.

Take the fella I read about online who said, "My precision casting is excellent. I can hit the only rock in 100 yards to test the durability of a new crankbait. I can catch a single limb 10 feet up a tree that even a bird would have a hard time landing on. I can hit the water next to a lily pad so hard that fish halfway across the lake can be attracted to the sound. I can work the land side of a shoreline better than most anglers can work the water side. I even have wrapped a lure in a power line. Now that's precision casting."

Another one admitted, "I was throwing a brand new lipless crankbait, and the thing flew across the lake and almost hit a lady sitting on a bench on the other side. I had to play it off and look around, acting like I had no idea where it came from."

Then there was this guy who said, "I was fishing our creek property a few weeks ago and kinda let a cast get away from me. Our neighbor has a bada** man cave in an old mill right on the creek. Yours truly managed to throw a spoon with a treble hook attached to it right in the window...or would have had there not been a screen to stop the lure. Being a Sunday, my neighbor had five or six guests that day, and I had to go over, apologize, and get permission to enter his place and unhook the spoon from his screen. At least I provided a few laughs for the party."

And finally, I came across a fella who remembered something that happened back in the mid-90s, when he first had moved down to South Carolina.

As he explained, "I was fishing a federation tournament on Lake Murray and was paired with a guy whom I never had met, which is usually the case. As a Yankee in Dixieland, I stood out very much back then, so I felt I had to show that it didn't matter where I was raised...I could fish with the best of 'em. One of the first things that guy said to me, though, was, 'You ain't from around here, are ya?' which was exactly what I had expected to hear.

"We started out fishing a grassy hump with spinnerbaits...me with a 5-foot 6-inch medium-action composite rod that I loved to use for spinnerbaits. It was paired up with a nice Daiwa baitcaster. After making only a few casts, I had lost a fish that hit short, and before I knew it, my end of the boat was drifting farther away from the sweet spot, while his end was nosing into it.

"Because I hate being front-ended, I decided to chunk my bait as far as possible to reach that sweet spot again. My rod had a pistol-grip handle on it, and when I let the lure fly, there also went my whole rod. I first was embarrassed by watching this happen in slow motion and then mad about seeing my rig sink like a rock. My boater got a good laugh from it, then added insult to injury by asking, 'Was that some Yankee trick?'

"The only good thing about what happened is that my rig landed right in the sweet spot...and spooked away all the fish that had been there. I could tell my boater was upset, but it didn't bother me. As I saw it, that was poetic justice for that front-ending a**hole."

Whether you fish a little or a lot, you soon recognize that the ability to drop a lure on a precise spot will mean more fish and strikes on a consistent basis. Nothing destroys confidence faster than the frustrating tendency to hang a lure in a bush or let it fall short of the target.

Precision can make all the difference in the world, especially when fish are finicky or in hard-to-reach areas.

In the words of bass legend Bill Dance (right), "Casting is a learned routine, and anyone can perfect his/her control and accuracy by doing one thing--practicing. The best time to improve your casting is when you're on dry land. If you wait until you're fishing, you'll end up feeling as though you're wasting and/or not enjoying your time on the water. It's much better to simply set aside a few minutes each day and practice in your yard or at a nearby park or ball field.

"When doing so, always select a target and try to put your lure on or close to the mark. Today's reels are amazing when it comes to smoother casting. Remember that baitcasting is (or should be) all wrist action.

"Here's to casts that make us all better at what we love to do--catch bass."

For a video that highlights the importance of accurate casting, click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYMWGiVSIQQ.

DIYer Makes His Own Buzzbait

Some folks just keep buying cool-lookin' stuff but never get around to putting it to use (I fit in this category), even though that was their reason for buying it in the first place. Once in awhile, however, a fella or gal actually makes good on such plans, and as it turns out, I read about one of these individuals here recently...before my computer came apart at the seams, so to speak.

The DIYer (do-it-yourselfer, should anyone be wondering) in this case had bought some "chasebaits ultimate squids." He thought they were something a bass would eat if presented right. These baits come three in a pack and are about 6 inches long with tentacles, and there are few color options.

As this DIYer explained, "I had an old in-line buzzbait from yesteryear, so I took off the blade, added the hook from a beat-up, hollow-bodied frog, and inserted that into the body of the squid and attached it to the blade. Now I have an in-line squid buzzbait.

"Having a paygrade just one step up from a wheelbarrow operator," he continued, "I thought I'd better test it.

"Fishing has been horrible lately, with every-other-day thunderstorms making the lake muddy and high. I just wanted to see how it looked coming across the water, plus I had a new rod and reel I wanted to use as well. To my delight, it worked great and makes a nice 'fluttering' sound. I even got a hit on it, but it was a small bass.

"The only problem was that on about 20 percent of the casts, the two longest tentacles would get tangled in the hooks and mess up the action. Might have to cut those shorter. Next I'm going to attach one to a large buzzbait and see how that setup works. One thing's for sure: No bass around here has ever seen how that works...well, there is one."

Another long-time DIY lure maker was the late Dewey Mullins, whose patented "special" spoon perhaps was his crowning achievement. This spoon gained considerable notoriety during those not-soon-to-be-forgotten days of the '70s and '80s, when anglers from every part of the country were flocking to Back Bay for a chance to catch some of those legendary 8-plus-pound bass. Dewey's spoon accounted for a large number of those citation catches, including his own 13-pound 3-ounce largemouth, caught in September 1979.

Among Dewey's other DIY accomplishments was a line of spinnerbaits and chatterbaits, as well as his own adaptation of the original Flying Lure, which he fashioned out of Johnson Silver Minnow spoons.

There are many different types of fishing lures available on the market these days. In fact, there are probably thousands, if not millions, of different lures out there. You've probably noticed that each year, there are more and more new types of lures coming out. The reason for this is simple: Fish are getting larger and smarter.

According to research by the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, a fish learns to avoid hooks by observing and remembering the mistakes of other fish in their environment. Old lures are becoming less and less effective, increasing the need for newer, more expensive lures that fish haven't seen before, in an effort to trick them into biting.

Rather than spending your money on new lures, consider reaping the benefits of making your own.

My Come-Uppins Are Coming in Spades

[UPDATE]

In the words of Gomer Pyle, "Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!" Things are starting to trend upward.

Put my ol' van in the garage last Thursday and got it back Friday afternoon, complete with a set of new sparkplugs, new sparkplug wires, and a new distributor cap and rotor. Also had them do a lube and oil change, wheel balance and rotation, and a state inspection.

Then, just a little earlier this afternoon, I went and picked up my newly repaired laptop computer. And in case you're wondering, yes, both bills are paid. One thing is certain now, though: I won't be buying any new fishing gear in the near future.

Of course, if fishing doesn't get any better than it was this morning, I won't have any need for new tackle. Boated only one fish...about a 2-lb. striper. Talked to a couple other parties who were catching a few bass but nothing to write home about.

The water was coming in hard the entire 4.5 hours we were out, and the coloration in some of it left things to be desired.

'Tis the season for the annual migration south of those "big boys." For the most part, they were haulin' butt today. We saw several go right past Pungo Ferry in total disregard for the "no wake" buoys marking the area. Of course, the sign is missing from the area, so perhaps everyone is feeling empowered to do as they please...as long as John Law isn't looking, I suppose.

Here's why I say that. First off, I broke my boat here a few months ago. Second, yesterday afternoon, I broke my computer (borrowing my wife's for the time being). Third, this morning, I broke my ol' fishin' van.

And as if that isn't enough, my vertigo is back...reared its ugly head again last week. Not as bad as the first dose, but it still frustrates me a bit at times.

Don't have a clue yet when I'll be seeing my boat again. Last I heard, "I'm next," but your guess is as good as mine as to what that means. Feelin' more sure by each passing day, though, that I probably can kiss my fall jerkbait fishin' goodbye this year.

As for my laptop computer, it, in a manner of speaking, "exploded" yesterday as I opened it to do a blog article. The layers of plastic holding it all together separated, allowing me an "inside look" I just as well could have done without. The repairman tells me I may get it back this weekend but says not to pin my hopes too high on that estimate, 'cause it all depends on when the new parts arrive from out of town.

And then there's the issue with my van. Got in it early this morning to take my computer to the repairman. Just two problems, though: It was running rough, and the "service engine soon" light came on while I was letting the motor idle.

Ended up nursing the vehicle to the garage just before I started this post. In talking to the senior mechanic, I leaned that the problem likely stems from some spark plugs misfiring. In any event, I was told to expect a diagnosis to be forthcoming tomorrow sometime. If it turns out the repairs don't cost a fortune, I'll go ahead and have them service the van and do a state inspection. Don't you know I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

This time around with the vertigo I spoke of earlier, it's more a nuisance than anything else. The bouts don't come as often or last as long as they did the first time a couple months ago, but I nevertheless have to deal with them.

I have to admit I hardly can wait for this string of bad-luck episodes to come to a screeching halt. Just hope my billfold "grows" some greenbacks before all the payments come due, 'cause otherwise, I may find myself in a heaping new kind of trouble.

Oh well, that's life, I reckon...which might be interpreted as "can't win for losin'."

A New Personal Best...

but where she was caught, how big she was, and what bait was used was not provided with the photo. It's my understanding the fish may have qualified as a citation, but no one weighed it, so your guess is as good as anyone else's. Landing the fish was a major undertaking, and so Rob Chatham (pictured here) opted to release his prized catch as soon as possible after snapping a few pictures yesterday. That's what I would call being a real sportsman. Good on ya! my friend.

What Memories This Photo Stirred

It has been nearly 50 years since I fished the waters of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River, but many pleasant memories were stirred the other day when I saw this photo of the picturesque river in one of the reports produced by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.

Surface run-off from the western slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains, parts of the Allegheny Mountains, Massanutten Mountain, and ground water from the karst regions of the Shenandoah and Page Valleys make up the flow of the South Fork. A fifth-order stream that averages around 100 feet in width, the South Fork flows north for 97 miles, where it meets the North Fork.

The subtrate of the river varies from bedrock to cobble and boulder. Several species of rooted aquatic vegetation are found throughout the river. This vegetation can become quite dense during the summer months.

The South Fork is popular for tubing and paddling. With 20 public access points along the entire length of the river, there is an opportunity to plan many different float trips of varying distances. Except for the public-access points and small sections of George Washington National Forest land on the west bank of the river, the majority of the land bordering the river is private property.

Long, flat runs and pools provide excellent fishing for smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, and redbreast sunfish. There also are decent numbers of channel catfish and even a few muskies. Anglers will find success by using curly-tailed grubs, spinners, tubes, and minnow imitations.

A float trip on this river is an excellent choice for novice anglers or paddlers. There are plenty of fish, and the river is easy to navigate.

Will never forget the period from about 1966 to 1972, when I was assigned to staff duty in various offices within the Office of the Chief of Navy Information in the Pentagon. The work was challenging and the fishing a dream come true. Many a day I spent fishing a number of different Mepps spinners (and once in a while a Big O) for smallmouth, and many a moonlit night I spent anchored in a riffle, fishing for channel catfish with live bait. I still can hear the sounds of those ol' owls keeping me company from their perches in the trees along the banks.

I can truthfully say the Shenandoah River never disappointed. I always had a couple of smallmouth as table fare for the old-timer, whose johnboat I rented on the banks of the river back in those days. He preferred the fish to his normal $2-a-day rental fee. Life was so much simpler back then.

Those Weather Forecasters NEVER Get It Right!

I dare say anglers everywhere have expressed that sentiment at one time or the other, or may have heard buddies sound off with something similar. Right?

Consider this example of a fella who was planning a fishing trip after he got off work. Just 90 minutes before heading out the door, he had checked the forecast, and it called for only 9-mph winds.

By the time he got to the river, though, the winds were sustained in the high teens, with gusts north of 20 mph.

"The weatherman flat out missed the forecast!" he said. "No two ways about it!"

Or take this example of a guy who headed out fishin' after the forecaster called for no chance of rain, let alone any bad storms. He subsequently got caught at the wrong end of a heavily timbered, 200-acre lake in his johnboat that only had a 30-pound transom trolling motor and a 45-pound bow-mount trolling motor.

"Literally, I was about as far as I could get from the ramp when it first rumbled out of nowhere. I put my motors on high and headed back, but navigating around all the trees was time-consuming. And it got to me while I still had a few hundred yards to go, not including the fact I then had to cross the main lake. It was not a fun experience!" Take a look for yourself, by clicking on this link, which will take you to a video of the experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udItbQwj74o&t=1096s.

There's also this example of a kayaker who was fishing a narrow cove with a heavy tree canopy that blocked out most of the sky when he suddenly felt a wind shift and temperature drop.

"I popped out of the cove and found dark skies, with lightning and thunder approaching," he explained. "Luckily, my launch point was in the other direction...almost 2 miles away, however.

"So now I had to make a choice: Take the shorter path over open water, with lightning all about, or take the longer path, skirting the shore. My normal pedaling cruise speed is about 3 mph, but I decided to kick it into overdrive and risk open water.

"When I hit 5.8 mph, my Yak Attack transducer arm came shooting out of the water. I folded it up quickly and kept going, with the storm closing in. By the time I made it to the docks, I was sucking wind. But now I had to get the kayak out of the water, load it on my CTug, then pull it up a big hill to store in my hotel. I didn't even bother draining it or breaking it down. That was a good thing, because about a minute after I put it in storage, the skies opened up, and it got really nautical out there.

"Lesson Learned: Keep the weather alerts energized on my cellphone."

As one angler explained, "It's not really how often the forecasters are wrong that's the issue...it's how far off they are when they're wrong. A few weeks back, the locals said it was gonna be 80 and cloudy. When the day arrived, it was 96, and not a cloud in the sky. That's not even close. My hatred stems from pure jealousy. Who doesn't want a job where you can blatantly lie to people over and over, and it's completely acceptable?"

Yet another angler saw it like this, "I mean...really...who cares what the weather report is, or how accurate it is, as long as it's coming out of her mouth?" relating, of course, to the young lady doing the weather reporting in this photo.

Of course, there's always the hard-core anglers who come prepared for whatever the weather gods wish to hand out. They just don some rain gear and get with it, as the young lady in this video is doing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP1WqQaSCUM&t=401s.

For Period Ending Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021

Sunday, Sept. 26 (from Ron)...Fished the annual TKAA Charity Tourney. Started slow with a few dinks and then managed to find a decent 4-0 at 18 inches that actually qualified for second place. Was able to find seven bass but fell shy of the winner, which was 21.5 inches. I caught my fish on SwimSenko, a chatterbait, Husky jerk shad, and a spinnerbait. The fresh water slam division (bass, chain pickerel, and pan fish) did not see any complete entries of all three fish. Only two chain picks were caught and no panfish out of the 22 Fresh Water Division of anglers. I tried to find each, but just couldn't. Going to be hitting the saltwater for a few weeks.

The Benefits of Remembering Lessons Learned on the Water

Read the other day about a fella who caught his first bass on a Mister Twister plastic worm back in the early 70s...about the time I was just getting into bass fishing. He was taking note of the fact that, as a result of that catch, curly-tail worms usually have been his first choice over straight-tail worms.

"It's the adage about catching the fisherman before catching the fish," he explained.

"Over time," he continued, "I found that I used straight-tail worms in certain situations, be it drop-shotting or skipping, but rarely did I choose a straight-tail model when Texas-rigging them to be fished around docks or brush. Mentally, the image of the worm 'swimming' on the fall with the curly tail gave me confidence."

This angler explained that he fishes a lot of docks, which are the most prevalent cover on his home lake. He fishes them two different ways: casting a Texas rig with a 1/8-ounce tungsten weight to the corners and skipping a wacky-rigged Senko under the docks.

"Typically, early in the day, or when there is a lot of cloud cover," he said, "the Texas-rig outproduces, but as the sun rises, and the fish move back under the docks, the Senko catches increase. Probably a third of the strikes on the Texas-rig are on the fall, with the remaining coming as I work it back along the dock or out in front of it."

A couple months earlier, while trying to better imitate a medium-sized bluegill (the main forage in his home lake), this fella tried a 5-inch straight-tail Roboworm Texas-rigged. He immediately saw a huge increase in bites...probably two to three times the amount he had been averaging with various curly-tailed worms.

"Not just numbers," he explained, "but size as well, including an 8-pound pig the second trip I used them. This continued for the next seven outings...not that unusual, given my SoCal location. Water temperature was within three degrees of the same every trip, and every day was sunny and bright. Once I figured them out, there were only minor adjustments to make.

"The first day we had any type of real cloud cover for any length of time," he continued, "I immediately noticed that the number of strikes on the straight-tail worm were way down. The number of strikes on the Senko were the same (increasing as the day wore on), so I tried a couple different colors and sizes without much difference.

"It wasn't until I finally rigged up a 7-inch purple Berkley Turtleback worm with a curly tail that the light switch went on. It was producing like the straight-tails had over the previous trips. That action continued until after the clouds cleared and the sun stayed out. I went back to a straight-tail worm and got the expected results for that time of day.

"My fisherman's hunch is that in low light, when fish are scattered a bit more, not only are darker colors better, but more action makes the worm easier for the fish to find. When the light and the fish visibility increase, the more natural and subtle presentation of a straight-tailed worm then will win out...at least during the summer, with 80-to-83-degree water temperatures."

As another reader outlined, "What you experienced, is textbook. You're fishing neutral fish. They aren't actively feeding, but they will eat an easy meal should it come within their strike zone.

"You have better results with the straight-tail worm during times when finesse is the way to go. The tail doesn't undulate and displace water. Instead, it quivers and looks alive but easy prey.

"The cloudy conditions more than likely involved a barometric-pressure drop, and the fish were actively feeding. When that happens, the strike zone gets bigger, and larger offerings become good producers. The swimming action and water displacement alerted the fish to its presence, and they responded by attacking it.

"Your experience was a classic example of how less action is better when the fish aren't in a feeding mode, and it has happened to everyone who has fished for bass with lures for any length of time. You made a great observation, which just added to your 'on the water' knowledge. Remember it, and you'll make good lure choices in the future."