Shopping for Bass

No amazing deals on the pond today, and the  fish didn't even bite especially well. We managed a few, though, and with or without them, I'd have sure rather been out in the johnboat than near any malls on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

We fished the same pond as a couple of days ago, with a friend and me in his boat and Nathaniel and Asher in Nathaniel's boat. While the wind wasn't howling like it did on Tuesday and the water had gone down some, it was still quite muddy. Even black or chartreuse baits disappeared less than a foot beneath the surface.

The two fish I caught both hit a spinnerbait with gold Colorado blades that sent out a fair amount of flash and thump. Both were tight to the bank, and I'm guessing I pretty much landed the bait on their heads. Nathaniel also caught one bass on a flashy metallic-colored jerkbait, fishing it really slowly and hooked and lost one other (the biggest of the morning, of course) on the same bait and presentation.

Thursday Tips: Convert Misses into Catches

It might be the hardest thing in fishing. A fish blows up on a topwater plug, throwing water in every direction, and you have to act like it didn't happen. More often than not, jerking a bait away or stopping it in place will deter a fish from hitting again. If you don't feel the fish, it probably didn't get the lure, and your best reaction in almost every case is simply to keep working the bait at the same cadence that prompted the initial strike. That's easier said than done, especially when a largemouth blows grass everywhere to attack a frog or a striper or redfish delivers and absolutely explosive attack. If you can keep your cool and keep working the bait, stay ready. The follow-up strike, if it occurs, will probably be less vicious but more efficient.

If no follow-up comes, you often can get the fish to bite again on a subsequent cast. Don't throw the same lure, though. Keep a follow-up lure rigged and nearby at all times, and use it. For open water settings, a soft-plastic stickbait or jerkbait rigged weightless tends to work well. For such an offering, cast directly to the spot where the hit occurred, let the bait fall and watch for the line to jump. Another good option is to cast a lipless crankbait or other shallow subsurface offering past the initial point of attack and swim it quickly through that zone, keeping it just beneath the surface.

If you're working over cover with a frog or a buzzbait when a fish hits and misses, follow up with a weightless, weedless worm or jerkbait, cast past the spot and worked with quick twitches of the rod.

Then, if they don't take the follow-up lure, try your original offering one more time before moving along.

One of the most frustrating things about topwater fishing is the fish's propensity to hit and miss, but if you learn to react properly and to make good follow-up presentations, you'll up your catch rates substantially on some days.

New Rogue in Town

Smithwick Perfect 10 Rogue

Word's out that Smithwick has introduced a new Rogue. I haven't seen one of the new Perfect 10 Rogues in action yet, but here's the scoop, as I understand it. Unchanged are the Rogue's body shape, trademark roll and suspending design. New are a tungsten rattle, which creates a different sound than is found in any other jerkbait, and a new material and lip design that allow the Perfect 10 Rogue to get down faster and to respond quickly to every twitch of the rod. The Perfect 10 Rogue comes in eight color patterns, all somewhat translucent and reflective.

I'm looking forward to introducing Perfect 10 Rogues to brown trout in the White River in a few weeks, and I suspect that those salmon, steelhead and walleyes guys who have learned about the new Rogues are already envisioning how they will put them to work. However, I'm guessing the first glowing reports will come from bass fishermen, as we are just moving into the prime jerkbait season for bass. In fact, it's very possible that a Perfect 10 Rogue could plan an important part in Tulsa this weekend. The only bad part about that would be skyrocketing demand of a brand new bait, which might make them harder to get ahold of for trout fishing on the White!

Thursday Tips: Pause Your Presentations

The first warm days that foreshadow spring (which will be mixed in this month if you live far enough South) will push game fish such as bass and crappie shallow to feed and you can catch them on flats and around shoreline cover. It's important to remember, though, that the air warms far faster than the water, and a cold-blooded bass and it's cold-blooded forage remain winter slowed even on the warmest, sunniest days. That means the fish usually won't chase meals very far. It also means that a fast-moving lure won't look natural.

Suspending jerkbaits stand out this time of year because you can make them dance and dart erratically and then leave them hanging enticingly in the strike zone. The pause is absolutely critical to such a presentation early in the year, and sometimes finding the right length of pause is the key to catching fish. As a general rule, pause as a long as think is long enough and then pause that long again.

Pauses aren't only for jerkbaits and bass, though. Slow falling lures like a 1/16-ounce Road Runner Pro Marabou work well when the water is cold because you can move the lure with twitches and mix in pauses, with the bait falling slowly through the water column and looking helpless.  Pauses are also central to fishing a "float and fly" for bass, crappie or trout. The float allows a tiny hair jig to hang motionless in the water column between series of jiggles, and most fish take the bait during the pause.

Pausing is tough because you feel like you aren't doing anything and because it limits your capacity to cover water in search of fish. However, at times it's a real key to drawing strikes from fish and definitely yields big rewards.

The Wonderful White

Frank Saksa knows Rattlin' Rogues and brown trout.

A guide on Arkansas White River for the past two decade, Saksa was a pioneer of fishing jerkbaits on the celebrated tailwater. Time has taught him how to approach the river's hefty browns at various water levels and the kinds of casts, jerks and pauses that trigger strikes.

I've spend the past two days in the boat with Saksa, who guides out of Gaston's White River Resort (www.gastons.com), and I've seen first-hand what the browns think about an XCalibur Stick Bait or a Smithwick Rattlin' Rogue. Good casts, erratic jerks and long pauses are among the keys to success, but there's no substitute for a guide who knows where to drift, how to position the boat and how to direct you at any water level.

Of course, a river that's loaded with hefty browns doesn't hurt either. White River veterans consider 2- to 4-pound browns average on the White, and 6- or 7-pound fish aren't uncommon when the bite is on. When he turbines are turning (the more water the better), Saska likes nothing better than throwing big jerkbatis for heavyweight brown trout. I agree!