by Steve Johnson
The explosion, which came out of absolute darkness, just about scared me out of the boat. It sounded vicious, more like a striper or a redfish than a largemouth bass, but the fish did not get the plug. A veteran after-hours angler, Steve Patterson never flinched. He just kept reeling steadily, wobbling his big black Jitterbug lure across the surface.
“Cast past where you heard that strike,” Patterson calmly instructed, pausing until I made the cast. “Begin reeling. Now stop.” Several seconds passed. “Begin reeling again.”
As soon as I turned the handle, the fish struck again, but this time there was no explosion. The bass sipped the bait under, like a bluegill nabbing a bug. When my rod surged down, however, I knew this was no bluegill. The bass, which Patterson landed for me several minutes later, weighed an even 10 pounds and was my first double-digit-weight largemouth.
Patterson, a trophy bass specialist from Gray Court, S.C., has dozens of 10-pound largemouths to his credit, and many of them have been taken after hours. On summer nights, Patterson often can be found on a small lake, wobbling a 4 ½-inch Arbogast Jitterbug slowly and steadily across the surface.
This is true hawg hunting. Patterson fishes all night for a few strikes, knowing any bass that hits his super-sized surface plug is apt to be a true heavyweight. In addition to the Jitterbug, which pushes out a big gurgling wake, another outstanding wobbler for big nighttime bass is a 7-inch Cotton Cordell Red-Fin. Reeled slowly and steadily with the rod held high, a Red-Fin swims with a very wide surface wobble and sends out a more subtle wake.
A Red-Fin fishing lure works best on dead calm nights and when the moon is shining brightly. The Jitterbug lure will work with a bit of chop and with any amount of moonlight (including none). Neither bait works well if heavy winds are creating a really big chop.
Patterson concentrates his efforts on the broadest flats he can find, often in the upper end of a lake or up a creek arm. Prime zones are the edges of flats, near even slight channel drops, especially if there are any stumps, brushpiles or other kinds of cover nearby.
Patterson seldom varies his retrieve. He makes a long casts, allows the lure to settle for a moment, and then reels slowly and steadily. The only variance is that occasionally he will stop his retrieve momentarily when the bait is beside a key structure or in an area where a largemouth has struck and missed.
The most vital thing about this style of fishing, which Patterson reminded me of repeatedly the first time we fished together at night, is to NEVER set the hook based on sound. Fish commonly miss lures at night, and a reflex hookset can send a plug that weighs more than an ounce and has multiple large treble hooks flying straight toward the boat -- in the dark.
“If a big bass gets the bait, there won’t be any question about it,” Patterson emphasized. “When you feel her; then you can jerk back.”