Setting the hook with your ultralight spinning rod, you wonder what’s at the other end of your line. Hard tugs suggest that it might be a palm-sized bluegill. Of course, you’ve also caught white bass, crappie and perch and a couple small largemouths the past couple hours.
Your offering, a YUM white/silver flake 1 1/2-inch Wooly Curltail on a 1/16-ounce jighead, is apt to catch just about anything that swims, and you’re having a fine time proving that. Your approach: Cast near shallow cover, let the Wooly Curltail sink for a moment, begin reeling slowly and prepare to set the hook.
When summer hits hard and bass fishing gets tough, one of the best ways to tap into big fun is to pick up an ultralight outfit and pull out a box of tiny lures. Armed with YUM Wooly Curltails and Wooly Beavertails and an assortment of small crankbaits and topwater lures, you often will find fast action and great variety – and you might even catch some bass in the process.
Some of the best micro-sized lures actually double as crankbaits and topwater lures. Rebel Big Ants, Bumble Bugs and Crickhoppers all wobble a couple feet beneath the surface when cranked at a normal cadence, and all will produce fish when worked that way. However, during summer, when misdirected insects often find themselves swimming across the surface, twitching these baits or reeling very slowly to keep them on top often will produce faster action.
Try letting these baits settle for a moment after they land, and pause your retrieves from time to time. Insects that are out of their element often pause to get acclimated and then scurry across the surface with hopes of finding refuge.
If you prefer pure casting and cranking, two great lure choices are the smallest Bomber Fat A made, which is 1 1/4 inches long and runs 2 to 4 feet deep, and a Rebel Tadfry, a teeny bait at 1 1/4 inches that fish can’t resist nabbing when it wobbles past.
If you see surface activity, whether in the form of breaking fish, minnows skittering on the top or abundant insects, try popping a Rebel Crickhopper Popper or Small Pop-R. Heddon Tiny and Teeny Torpedoes, which are 1 7/8 and 1 1/2 inches long respectively, also will draw a variety of fish species to the top.
You’ll find that certain styles of baits will tend to favor certain species. Begin with YUM Wooly baits if you’re most interested in crappie or perch, Crickhoppers if you prefer bluegills or bank-running bass, and Tadfries if white bass are on top of your list of targeted species.
Stay shallow with you your arsenal of miniature baits, throwing around stumps, docks, rocks laydowns and other pieces of visible cover, especially in coves and cuts that offer a bit of shelter. Pay attention to the types of cover that produce the most strikes, and soon you may be working from stump to stump, pulling a fish of some variety off virtually every one!