Bass Between the Storms

As appeared would be the case when I posted previously, my most recent round of fishing travels hit heavy storms square in the nose. Crashing rain, intense thunderstorms, flood warnings, muddy water and powerful winds were all part of the equation. However, through a willingness to adapt and work hard by a couple of great pros, I still managed to get in some excellent bass fishing and photo time between rounds of storms.

Eric Porterfield somehow found a place and a pattern when all the waters in his part of Oklahoma were several feet above full pool and the color of chocolate milk, and we caught a surprising number of good fish and got great work done. Pete Ponds saw the next round of bad weather was charging hard toward Mississippi and rearranged his schedule to bump things up a day at the last minute and even got out ahead of me to get started figuring out the fish. While you'd never know it by the photo above, when we got off the water (at about the same time I was originally supposed to arrive), heavy rain was coming in sideways and the distant thunder was quickly becoming less distant.

It was a full week with a lot of scrambling and figuring, but it was also mighty fun and produced some outstanding opportunities to shoot photos for Norman Lures and Bandit Lures. Big thanks to Eric and Pete.

Footloose Fun

"Be ready at the end of each pump," Pete Ponds told me. "That's when they're hitting it."

The words had barely escaped his mouth when a bass proved him right by walloping my Footloose crankbait just as I finished a rod pump and began reeling to take up line. I leaned into the fish just enough to set the hook and realized quickly that it was a pretty chunky largemouth.

I'd been catching some bass, but Pete had been spanking them on the Footloose, a small Bandit crankbait that swims barely beneath the surface and that I'd never fished. It looked too fun to not try, so he's rigged me one as well.

Some anglers fish a Footloose extra slow so it stays on top, as a wakebait. Others crank it quickly and steadily to draw reaction strikes. Pete works it with sideways pumps so it swims just beneath the surface and hesitates and pops up slightly each time he reels to take up line. That's when the fish most often strike, and that certainly was the case when we fished together.

I couldn't tell you how many bass we caught on the Footloose. I just know it was a bunch and that we had a bundle of fun. I also know that I've discovered a new tool for when the bass are shallow and aggressive but won't quite commit to a topwater lure.

Banged Out a Drum

 

Most bass fishermen grumble when the fish at the other end of the line turns out to be a drum. Not me. But then again, I'm not necessarily a bass fisherman. I'm just a fisherman, and I like catching fish if all shapes and colors.

 

Freshwater drum, much like their saltwater cousins, are hard fighters that I really believe many anglers would like to catch if it weren't for the often random seeming designation of "trash fish." My guess is that many fish that get looked at in that sort of way originally got that label based on eating qualities, which is ironic if you're releasing bass anyway.

 

Oh well. I think they are fun, and yesterday's drum was species number 29 for this years fish species list.