Part 1

The strike came with nerve tangling suddenness.

My spinnerbait had no more than hit the surface when a smallmouth smashed it.  “There he is!” I yelled.  A minute or so later that fish was glistening in the guide’s net.

Think I’m just dreaming?  Guess again!  You just might get a chance to see it happen.  That fish, you see, was among a bunch of others that grabbed a Mack’s Lure Stan’s Spin spinnerbait during the filming of a Hawg Quest television show in late August.

Here's a nice double Glenn Hall and I took out of Oregon's Umpqua River during the filming of a forthcoming Hawg Quest TV show.  Glenn is the host of the popular Fox Sports Net fishing show.

Hawg Quest, of course, is the interesting fishing show that appears each week throughout the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and parts of Northern California on the Fox Sports Network.  The host of the show is Glenn Hall, a likeable guy who headquarters in Roseburg, Oregon.  The show was first shown in 2005 and has enjoyed a building audience ever since.

Glenn’s capable cameraman and show editor is Taj Gombart, also of Roseburg.  Taj has spent most of his life in the film industry.  Remember the motion picture “A River Runs Through It”?  Taj, while working as a cameraman in the movie industry, had a bit part in that film.

I’ve often been asked if this or that television personality really knows anything about fishing.  Glenn sure as heck does.  He’ll hold his own in any kind of company. For that matter, so will Taj.

This photo provides proof that those Umpqua River smallmouth liked the Mack's Lure Stan's Spin.

And so will Scott Wolfe, guide coordinator for the fabled Big K Guest Ranch.  Scott had suggested to Glenn that I be invited to be a guest on the Hawg Quest show.  Any time I have a chance to spend time at the Big K and share a boat with my friend Scott I’m going to grab it as fast as the river’s smallmouth smash into a bait.

Actually, I had the good fortune to fish with Scott a couple of days before the filming was done.  We threw a variety of lures at the river’s smallmouth.  Various Yamamoto Senkos and other plastic creations caught lots of fish.  The Mack’s Lure Stan’s Spin got the majority of the fish caught on hard baits.

Actually, it was Wolfe who caught the first smallmouth on the spinnerbait that carries my name.  Each time I’m in the boat with Scott I marvel at how well he knows the Umpqua.  I always keep one rod rigged with a Stan’s Spin when I’m fishing smallmouth.  One of my rods was rigged with it on the morning I’m talking about, but I was using another outfit.  Scott picked up my rod that held the spinnerbait.

“There just might be one in that pocket up close to the bank that will hit this spinnerbait,” he said as flipped the lure to the spot he had indicated.  He’d taken maybe a half dozen turns of his reel handle when a smallmouth nailed it.

“Scott,” I said, “I swear you know more about where these Umpqua bass are located than that heron over there on the other side of the river.  You’re as sharp eyed as that osprey we watched catch fish yesterday.”

And I wasn’t joking.  I’ve fished with Scott often enough to know just how skilled this dedicated river guide is.  Scott’s twin brother Richard also guides out of the Big K.  So does his father.  I don’t know of another family group that has their combined years of guiding experience.  That experience shows whenever you’re in the boat with one of them.

Few anglers know the waters of Oregon's Umpqua River as well as Scott Wolfe.  Scott is the guide coordinator for the fabled Big K Guest Ranch.  He is shown here with a dandy Umpqua smallmouth.

You don’t hear of anglers using spinnerbaits for smallmouth as much as you do where largemouth are concerned.  Those Umpqua River smallmouths evidently haven’t heard they’re not supposed to find spinnerbaits particularly appealing.  They dang near jerked the rod out of my hands a couple of times.

I wound up taking one of the largest smallmouth we caught over the four days on my Stan’s Spin.  If you’ve got a smallmouth trip coming up I’ve suggestion.  Get yourself a selection of these baits in the quarter ounce size.  That’s the smallest size available.

When I’m throwing one of these lures exclusively for smallmouth I make a couple of skirt changes.  For starters I reduce the number of strands in the skirt by half.  I also add a few strands of silver colored Flashabou to what’s left of the skirt.  I like the flash that material makes as the lure is manipulated.

I can’t guarantee, of course, that the Hawg Quest TV program will show any part of what I’m talking about.  It all depends on how the show is edited---what’s selected and what’s not.  But if you run into Glenn Hall somewhere down the line at an outdoor show or some similar event, and you just might because he’s becoming better known all the time, ask him if the lure they hung my name on catches Umqua smallmouth.  If he doesn’t say yes, you can be assured Scott Wolfe will!

One more thing: What you’ll see on the Hawg Quest show is for real.  There’s none of that “fakey jakey” business you might have seen on some of the other fishing shows.  Glenn and Taj show it like it is.  And they have fun while they’re at it.

I’m not certain when the Umpqua River Hawg Quest adventure will be shown.  Glenn thought it might possibly be in December.  Keep an eye on this Mack’s Lure web site.  If I get advance notice of when the show is to be aired I’ll share it with you.

In the meantime, check your TV program directory to see when the other weekly Fox Sports Hawg Quest television shows are presented.  You’re a cinch to enjoy them.

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