Catching Bass…some very good presentations

Here is an article on catching bass and some very good presentations. Here are some presentations and tactics using a bait I call a zoomie developed by a fishing buddy and my wife as well as myself. We have caught a lot of bass using the following methods. I start with a package of Zoom Speed Worms in Watermelon/Red. I cut off the tails at the narrowest part of the worm. I rig the worm weightless, texposed on a 2/0 bent shaft worm hook. I first tie the hook to the line and then texpose the hook. When texposed properly, the worm will hang very straight on the hook. This lure immediately looks very much like a Senko type bait, but it has no internal salt or sand to weight it down….it has a very natural slow fall on its way to the bottom. This gives the bass a good chance to see it on the way down and not being in a hurry makes it look like easy prey.

The presentation.

I most often use a sidearm skipping cast. I let it fall to bottom, watching the line at all times….quite often it won’t reach bottom meaning a bass will catch it on the fall. But if it does get to the bottom, I simply let it set for 20 or 30 seconds before lifting about two feet s l o w l y, to feel for fish. If I don’t feel any fish after this slow lift, I tremor the bait once and let it re-fall.

Tremoring is done by simply grabbing the rod handle suddenly tighter….not trying to move the rod tip, just a sudden micro twitch. After waiting 15 seconds or so and lifting one more time….if still nothing on, reel in at a moderate pace and try another likely spot.

My wife’s presentation.
Connie casts to a likely spot near cover/structure, lets it sink to bottom and only waits 15 seconds before turning her reel handle one very s l o w turn, pausing again for 15 seconds and then one more s l o w turn. She does this until her bait has traveled 8 to 10 feet across bottom. When pausing, she watches the line very closely with the line over her index finger for feel. She also uses, by preference, a Zebco 33 and I suspect the distance of one slow turn isn’t very far compared to most open faced spinning reels such as those I use….so, if using an open face for this retrieve, one may want to use a half turn instead of a full turn.

In weeds, we cast to an opening and let it fall. When it stops we pause for 10 seconds or so then pull it in gently a little and let it fall down to the next level….bump and fall, we call this as when you pull it toward yourself you can sometimes feel it bump the next weed. Working it down to the bottom is often possible and often produces bass.

The weightless zoomie casts like a bullet and skips very well under logs, rocks and docks. It works very well on 6 or8 lb mono.
Zoom also makes an Ultra Vibe Speedworm. If you get those, cut the tail off a half inch up on the body of the worm. The ultra vibe bodies are a little thinner, but longer so losing a half inch makes the final bait a good size. I prefer the plain Zoom Speed Worms myself as they are just a tad fatter.

We fished zoomies up in Canada at Rice Lake, Ontario….using the above presentations and caught a slew of nice smallies and some very nice largemouth three years in a row….. Here in Tennessee, I gave one to my son and on his first cast a nice three pounder. In Canada I gave one to a neighbor in the next cabin and on his first cast a 4.3 lb largemouth.

If you are drifting too fast and the bait isn’t getting down far enough, you can weight the lure by inserting a piece of finishing nail just under the skin even with the exposed hook point . If you place it near the point, the lure acquires a tiny side to side wiggle on the fall, showing off the glitter. If you place the small piece of nail further to the side of the worm but still even with the point of the hook, it will have a slow and wide back and forth movement on the fall.

Once you have mastered the slow fall, deadsticking, tremoring presentation or any of the other slow fall presentations in the thread entitled,” Catching Bass…some very good presentations”, you can also use the same techniques in fishing plastic worms. You can, for example, use tail less worms such as the Razor Worm, and can even use the hooktails, and even the ribbontailed worms complete with tail, unlike the zoomie in Part I.

It’s done by texposing a light wire hook, but instead of starting at the head of the worm, start by penetrating the worm back farther going in the side of the worm and out the same side quite like skin hooking, before turning the hook around and texposing. This simply places the hook farther back in the worm to balance it on the fall so it falls enticingly slowly in a horizontal plane. If rigged normally by penetrating the nose of the worm, it just noses down and plummets to the bottom. You will find the fall of a worm to be considerably slower than the slow fall of a zoomie as discussed in the first thread, and this does take the patience of a saint, but again, it’s much more often than not rewarded with a large increase in hookups and results in some really nice fish.

The zoomie technique and the worm techniques both trigger strikes for several reasons. One is the bait stays in the viewing area longer, taking it’s own sweet time in the fall before disappearing in the bottom weeds…presenting itself as slow and vulnerable. Secondly, once on bottom, the pausing irritates some bass that are territorial and making them think, “There’s something in my backyard, and it’s not going away!”

You have to become a line watcher…and have to become patient if you haven’t fished this way before. You will discover on certain days you may have to pause even longer, but if you find the magic timing, will probably be one of the few catching fish….and at other times, you’ll be hooking up frequently, often before the bait hits the bottom. In either case, you will increase your catch numbers more likely than not.

Jack Chancellor created the “do nothing” worm and won several tournaments fishing it weightless. Charlie Brewer created the slider fishing techniques which fish the bait very slowly as well. I’ve mentioned these creative individuals as they have influenced my personal fishing greatly. You can still get the Crappie and Bass fishing book at www.sliderfishing.com and if you haven’t read it, I’d highly recommend it.
Something important, if you get the book, read it six times before going out on the water….no joke….the first time I read the book, I thought Charlie was repeating himself, but upon reading again and again, I realized he wasn’t. It’s an easy, straight forward read, and in order to catch all of what he’s saying, re-reading is truly important. It’s not hard, it’s just very simply written and very straight forward.

I’ve had a number of folks try the presentations and do better with their fishing……some improved dramatically. I’m not saying this is the only way, but if you try it and even adjust it to your liking, you will be impressed. It takes concentration and patience, and if you are in the bassy area, you will do very well.

Good Fishing,

Mac