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Part 2
The bass fishing was spotty. My partner and I had been getting a fish now and then but it wasn’t what I’d come to expect when I was fishing on Mexico’s Lake El Salto
Our guide pointed to an area a couple of hundred yards away and then lifted our anchor into the boat. I hooked up a new 5-inch Swimming Senko plastic worm as we moved.
I missed a fish on my first cast into the new stretch of water. I noted that my companion was making some changes. I wasn’t sure what he was up to. “What are you going to throw at ‘em?” I asked.
“I’m still going to use the same Senko you’re using,” he said, “but I’m going to put a Smile Blade out in front of it.”
My partner that day was Bob Schmidt, the general manager of Mack’s Lure. I wasn’t surprised that he’d decided to use a Smile Blade with his plastic worm. I’d done the same thing on occasions.
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Stop Knots enable to an angler to rig up in different ways. Note how this one has been attached to a leader above a Smile Blade. When the angler using it is ready to cast the Stop Knot will keep the bead and Smile Blade from riding too high up the line. It also keeps the beads and blades in place during the retrieve. |
Bob cast and---wham! Fish on! After he’d done that three more times while I went fishless I decided maybe I’d be wise to do the same thing. I did but I ran into an immediate problem. I had put beads, as Bob had done, both above and below the Smile Blade I’d attached ahead of my Senko. The problem was when I reeled in the small bead ahead of my Smile Blade wedged in my rod guides and that boogered things up when I tried to cast.
This had happened a couple of times when Bob tapped me on the shoulder. “Here,” he said, “slide this Stop Bobber onto your leader so it’s positioned above the top bead. That will keep the bead from riding farther up your line as you cast.”
He was right and that’s not the end of the story. Once I got re-rigged so I had things as Bob did, we started keeping track of how many fish we could catch in a row. We wound up in one stretch that morning boating 19 fish out of 20 casts. The largest weighed 7-pounds, 8-ounces. Nearly all of the others we caught during that one period topped at least 2-pounds.
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Bob Schmidt took this dandy bass the last time he fished Mexico's Lake El Salto. Note the Smile Blade he used in front of the Swimming Senko he was fishing.
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That’s about as fast as the bass fishing’s going to get even at a lake with the wondrous productivity of Lake El Salto. The combination of a Smile Blade fished with a slow retrieve just ahead of a Swimming Senko was red hot.
Hot as it was we’d not have boated and released all those fish nearly as easily if we hadn’t had those handy little Mack’s Lure Stop Knots to keep the beads and our Smile Blades where they should be in front of our worms.
“Stop Knots,” Schmidt says, “were designed to use with slip bobbers. They let the angler set and quickly change the depth at which his lure is working beneath his bobber. I also love to use them to keep my Smile Blades in position if I want to use them with different lures.”
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| Look close and you can see the pink colored Stop Knot Schmidt has attached to his leader above his bead and Smile Blade. Positioned where it is, the Stop Knot keeps everything in place on either the cast or the retrieve. |
As I mentioned in my previous column, there are numerous other areas of angling activity where Stop Knots can be of equal or even more importance. Anglers today are using them for everything from salmon and steelhead fishing to help in catching panfish.
In my last column I touched on the Stop Knot’s use along with a slip bobber for crappie fishing. This can be a tremendous asset where crappies are concerned. Get into crappie fishing and you’ll eventually discover it’s next to impossible to fish a lure too slowly for these good eating panfish.
If I don’t know for sure where crappies are located I’ll troll or cast a variety of panfish lures until I find where the school is holding. Once I get it pinpointed, I’ll anchor and start using an outfit I’ve rigged with a slip bobber and a Stop Knot.
Once my electronics help me establish the depth at which the fish are holding, I’ll make the necessary adjustment of my Stop Knot. When I cast I know my Stop Knot will position my float so my lure gets down where I want it to be.
My retrieve, if you can even call it that, is to simply let the bobber move up and down with whatever wave action there is on the surface. If nothing develops, I’ll very slowly inch the bobber back toward the boat a couple of feet and rest it again. Don’t be surprised if the bobber starts moving when it’s just setting there because it’s a cinch to happen. Again---you usually just can’t fish too slowly if it’s crappie you’re after.
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A Stop Knot is a wondrous accessory for the angler after crappies. It lets you use a bobber along with whatever bait or lure is required. Fishing a lure beneath a bobber permits the slow presentation often required for successful crappie catching. |
You’ll find this approach especially helpful if you have youngsters with you. If a little boy or girl can’t yet handle a rod well enough to cast, do it for them. Once you get the slip bobber and lure out where it needs to be, hand them the rod.
Even younger anglers can usually hold the rod, turn the reel handle a little from time to time and learn to watch the bobber do its thing when a crappie comes along.
As I also mentioned before, you’ll find Stop Knots in two different colors shown in the new Mack’s Lure 2010 calendar. If you’re not already using these excellent little accessories, you’re missing a bet.
I can say that from experience because I overlooked them for a time myself. That’s a mistake I’ll not make in the future.
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