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Tricks & Tactics That Put Fish In the Boat
Part 1
What happens when a well-known lure company hangs your name on one of its products? I can tell you. What makes me an authority on the subject? I’ve had that experience. Regular readers of this column probably already know what I’m talking about. A few years ago the good folks at Mack’s Lure came up with a brand new style spinnerbait. Ray McPherson, the president of Mack’s Lure, knew that I had helped pioneer the sport of bass fishing in the Pacific Northwest. He asked if I’d help in the testing of the new spinnerbait and if it was all right with me if they called it the Stan’s Spin. Ray will verify my response. He’ll tell you I told him I’d be pleased and proud to have my name associated with a Mack’s Lure product, but with one stipulation. That stipulation was that the lure would catch fish. He gave me these new spinnerbaits in an assortment of colors for testing purposes. I was familiar Ray McPherson and his company. I had the highest regard for both. Ray and I share a number of beliefs that aren’t restricted to just the selling of fishing tackle. You can bet I set about testing the new spinnerbait at every opportunity. My first experience with it was at Siltcoos Lake on the Central Oregon Coast. The very first time I took it out I had one of the better days I’ve ever had on that particular lake. I continued to have sufficient success with the new lure elsewhere to call Ray and give him an enthusiastic “Let’s do it.” While I was proud to see my name on the new spinnerbait once it hit the market, I found I had another reaction. I very much wanted other bass anglers to have the same success with it as I’d had.
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| I caught this dandy bass on the Pro Model Stan's Spin |
One of the first questions I had from anglers who purchased the lure was “What’s the best way to fish it”? It’s a question I continue to get. I wish there were one easy answer to that question, but there isn’t. Bass, you see, don’t always react the same way. That’s one of the things that make the sport so darn interesting. What those fickle boogers do today they might not do tomorrow. Most newcomers to fishing a spinnerbait do the same thing whether it’s the Stan Spin or some other model they’re throwing. They simply cast it out and reel it back. Rarely do they vary the speed of their retrieve or try a variety of other procedures that sometimes pay off big time. Have you, for example, ever tried fishing a spinnerbait so slowly that it was bumping the bottom all the way back to the boat? Now and then you’re going to be surprised if you can simply manage to slow down enough to try it. Bass fishing isn’t one of my wife’s favorite things, but every once in awhile I can talk her into going along. On those relatively rare occasions she does accompany me I know in advance the lure she’ll invariably want me to tie on for her. It will be a spinnerbait. That was true before there was a Stan’s Spin and it’s even more true now. Like most other bass fishermen I’m inclined to fish too fast. My wife doesn’t have that problem. Time after time she’ll sit back there in the stern seat of my bass boat and throw her Stan’s Spin into water I’ve already covered. The difference is she retrieves so slowly the lure gets down where mine didn’t. Now and then, for that matter more often than I care to admit, she catches fish when all I get is casting practice. There’s more than one reason why that slow retrieve with the Stan’s Spin often pays off. If there’s a good bit of cover where the bass are holding a slow retrieve is a cinch to cause the lure to bump off underwater obstructions. For some reason bass can’t stand to see a lure bump and run without doing something about it. It’s a super way to trigger strikes when the fishing is slow. If you’re familiar with the Stan’s Spin, you’re aware it has a Mylar plastic blade. That lightweight blade continues to turn at extremely slow speeds. It’s ideal for a slow retrieve. The new Pro Model Stan’s Spin also has a metal blade to go along with the Mylar blade. The Pro Model provides the best of both worlds. You still have the easy-turning Mylar blade, but now you also have the whump and thump vibration of the Colorado style metal blade up ahead of it. I’ve just covered a couple of the methods that I know get results with the Mack’s Lure Stan’s Spin. There are several others. In my next column I’ll get into a couple of other procedures I’ve used with it. Certain of those techniques have accounted for some of the largest bass I’ve ever caught. Watch for my next column starting Feb. 15.
-To Be Continued-
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