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Tricks & Tactics That Put Fish In the Boat
Part 2
The Mack’s Lure Stan’s Spin spinnerbait can be a fish-catching son of a gun when it’s in the hands of an angler who knows how to use it. In my last column I urged readers to get away from the habit that plaques so many bass anglers when it comes to spinnerbait fishing. The habit is to simply keep throwing such a lure without ever varying the speed of retrieve or trying certain other techniques that can sometimes make a dramatic difference in results. One of the lakes I used to fish contained lots of piling. These piling were a favorite hang out of some of the lake’s largest bass. Most of the piling were located in water that ran from 7 to 10-feet in depth. Rarely did I take bass on a spinnerbait by simply firing one up next to a piling and then just start reeling back in. What sometimes did work was to cast just as close to the piling as I could get, then just let the lure drop on a slack line. I counted the lure down as I picked up the slack. Once I knew it was near bottom, I flipped my rod tip sharply to cause the lure to dart up and away. This simple procedure helped me boat some of the largest bass I ever took from that lake. More often that not I had my best success when I added a trailer to my spinnerbait hook. Sometimes I used a plastic trailer, but more often I’d tip the lure with an Uncle Josh pork rind strip. The Mack’s Lure Stan’s Spin works wonderfully well for this procedure. The main reason it does is because of the lure’s lightweight Mylar blade. To observe what I’m talking about, drop your Stan’s Spin in clear water next to your boat and watch what happens as it falls. You’ll find that the lure’s plastic blade has a unique helicopter-style action as it drops. A swimming pool provides an even better place for you to get a look at what I’m talking about. Cast your Stan’s Spin into the deep end of the pool, let it drop and then flip your rod tip once it gets down a ways. That old pot bellied bass down there in the cover you’re fishing has probably seen more spinnerbaits than you have. But she’s never eyeballed one like the Pro Model Stan’s Spin. Every now and then that ‘copter blade action and the darting get away it makes when you flip your rod tip are sufficient to trigger her short fuse. She’ll smash the living daylights out of that bait and you better have a good grip on your rod when it happens. In my last column I also touched on the importance of slowing down your retrieve sufficiently so your Stan’s Spin bumps into the underwater cover where largemouth so often hang out. I love to use this approach whenever the cover happens to be submerged timber. If you’ve ever had the good fortune to fish Mexico’s Lake El Salto you know what I’m talking about. This wondrous bass fishing paradise is loaded with wood cover. I’ve had a chance to fish it half a dozen times and always I come away amazed at the number of bass just one cluster of partially submerged trees might hold.
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| Never overlook throwing a spinnerbait if the water you're fishing contains the kind of submerged timber shown here. Be sure to let the lure bump off underwater limbs and branches during the retrieve. |
Often, depending on just how thick is the cover you’re fishing, plastic lures of one kind or another provide the best chance to take fish. But this doesn’t always apply. Never, and I emphasize that word, ignore a spinnerbait, especially in stretches where the partially underwater wood thins out at bit. I’ll never forget what transpired one evening at El Salto just before it was time to head back to Anglers Inn Lodge for our evening meal. The guide eased our boat along a steep bank where partially submerged trees were scattered all along the shoreline. I’d made about a dozen casts with a blue skirted Stan’s Spin and---wham! Fish On! That heavyweight bass had to be one of the largest I’ve ever hooked at El Salto. I’ve caught largemouth down there of almost 12-pounds so I know what a trophy fish feels like. I was never to find out the exact size of that bass. The guide had the net poised and was all set to use it when the fish came unpinned. The line didn’t break and the hook was as sharp as when I took the lure out of its package. The fish just hadn’t been well hooked. As soon as I’d determined my Stan’s Spin was in good shape, I went right back to casting. Whenever possible I cast up between the trees that poked slender fingers up above the surface. Then I’d let the lure drop and endeavor to make it bump off the larger underwater limbs I couldn’t see but I could feel as the lure came back to me. I made just such a cast, felt it bump off one of those larger submerged limbs and again---wham! Fish on! This one didn’t get away. When we finally got it onto our Boga-Grip scales it weighed 10-pounds, 4-ounces. We shot a couple of quick photos of that old girl and back into the water she went. A guy like me who has spent most of a lifetime fishing bass in the Pacific Northwest doesn’t have that many chances to eyeball a bass of 10-pounds or more. There just aren’t that many of them around. You can be assured I was one happy camper when the fishing was done that day at El Salto. This two-part series on the Stan’s Spin spinnerbait still just scratches the surface on the tricks and tactics you can use with it. You may well have developed even better methods of using it effectively. If you have, by all means let me know. I’ll be happy to hear from you and I’ll share what you have to say with the other readers of Tips & Tactics.
Few lures are more dependable day in and day out than a spinnerbait. The Mack’s Lure Stan’s Spin has some things going for it that the others don’t. I urge you to give it a try if you’ve not already done so.
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