Swimmingly Simple & Seriously Fun

Sure, retrieve speed makes a difference, and long, well-directed casts improve your total numbers most days. Still, there isn't a much more basic approach to catching fish than casting a Kalin's Lunker Grub with a spinning outfit and winding it back slowly and steadily. In fact, when you're swimming Kalin's Grubs though the legendary smallmouth waters that surround Door County, Wisconsin, the most difficult thing is landing the decidedly mean smallmouth bass that are going to attack your grub.

Despite an accurate day 1 forecast of "winds 25 to 35 MPH with gusts over 40" on my recent trip to Door County, we were able to catch some fish while drifting and dancing across big waves in broad bays and to find and catch a bunch more that were piled up in protected canals. Day 2 brought calmer seas and allowed us to work bigger areas with our grubs and to see more of the area's beautiful shoreline. Although I never caught any of the giant fish that sometimes show up in and around Sturgeon Bay, I caught between 30 and 40 smallmouths on the second day, and my best five would have weighed close to 20 pounds without a "kicker" in the mix.

We mostly fished our grubs on 1/8-ounce Spot Stalker jigheads, fished on 8-pound fluorocarbon (or light braid with a fluoro leader), and medium action Denali Rosewood Shadow Series spinning rods. A few fish hit savagely. Most were just there. One minute you'd be reeling in a grub. The next minute you'd be setting the hook into a smallmouth that was suddenly on your line.

It was my first trip to Door County, but I think it's safe to say that it won't be my last!