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Largemouth bass are the most popular gamefish in the United States.
Across the country, bass have a great familiarity of lures with
which they are bombarded. Even with their pea-size brain, they
learn not to bite baits they’ve seen the most. Yes, fishing
pressure is the major reason to modify a lure, and there are several
things you can do to an artificial bait to fool Mr. Bucket Mouth.
Changing a lure’s appearance and/or action can change a contrary
bass into one that is fooled into striking.
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SIMPLE CHANGES
Many of today’s hard plastic lures are flashy and bright.
Soft plastics come in a variety of colors and most are fairly
mundane. Dulling down a hard bait and adding a splash of contrast
to soft lures is the easiest modification. I carry small tip permanent
markers in my tackle box to mark crankbaits and jerkbaits. A few
black dots or lines drawn on the sides will knock down the flash
and, drawn in the right configuration, can make the lure look
more natural.
For soft plastic lures, there are a number of dips, dyes, and
markers that can be used for highlighting. The most common change
is to tip the tassels of a tube lure in chartreuse. Anglers can
also use red to mark soft jerkbaits. Not only will the lure act
injured, but it will look that way, too.
The gold and silver blades of a spinnerbait reflect a tremendous
amount of light in clear water. Changing the rear blade to one
that is painted white will knock down the glare. The size and
shape of blades determine the vibration of the lure. When bass
are pressured, they tend to shy away from strong pulsations. If
you are using a Colorado or Indiana blade on the rear, try swapping
it out with a willow leaf blade. If you typically use a tandem
willow spinnerbait, try one with a single willow.
WHAT’S THE TUNE
We’ve all cast a crankbait that has wandered to the one side
or the other. This lure is said to be out of tune. By bending
the lure’s line tie to the center, the lure will again track
true. There is another lure that we don’t think about as
being out of rhythm. It’s the rattle trap. A trap can track
to one side or the other, not quite as pronounced as a crankbait,
and can be deemed a phony by a bass.
Make an effort to keep track of a rattle bait’s line tie
as well.
There was one instance where I’ve seen an angler painstakingly
tune a crankbait to track true. Pete Gluszek, the first bass pro
I ever fished with, and I were fishing a marina’s bulkhead
in the Northeast River. Pete meticulously tuned his crankbait
to make sure the lure ran in close quarters and parallel to the
bulkhead. If the lure veered away for the wall, a bass relating
to it would surely not strike.
PROFILES AND
PRESENTATIONS
A jig and pig is a favorite lure amongst bass anglers. The same
can be said about freak baits. Both are big and bulky and appeal
to big bass. However, this also means that bass have seen more
than their share of them. Slimming down a jig or freak bait can
lead to more bites.
Eastern shore angler Chris Price is known for stripping strands
out of a jig’s skirt to slim it down. Using a smaller chunk
trailer will also make it look leaner. Pennsylvania pro Randy
Yarnall loves to flip and pitch Zoom Brush Hogs. When he feels
that fish have seen it too often, he will pinch off the side appendages,
and thus, change the profile of the bait.
Some anglers will purposely use a tube jig in areas where others
use jigs and freak baits. This presentation also can become commonplace
for bass.
The two typical ways to rig a tube is Texas style, or with a lead
head jig inserted in its hollow body. When it comes to the jig
head method, a simple tweak can change the way the lure behaves.
Most anglers insert the jig head so it touches the head of the
lure on the inside. Backing the jig head out a minuscule 1/8-inch
will change the way the bait falls through the water. This simple
modification will have the tube mimic a dying minnow in its death
spiral. A bass will not resist the ease of dining on lures that
fall in this fashion.
In Maryland, bass waters on the upper Chesapeake and Potomac River
are heavily pressured. Getting bass to bite can often be a chore
from spring through fall when recreational and tournament anglers
show up in full force. Standard lures may be ignored leading to
a slow day of fishing frustration; but making slight modifications
to commonplace baits can mean getting bites and setting the hook.
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