Everybody has a go-to bait. That one bait that, for whatever reason, you just feel good about when it’s dangling from the tip of your rod.
Mine happens to be a Rebel Pop-R. The 2 1/2-inch P60 Pop-R, to be exact. In any color as long as it’s silver with a blue back.
That’s the bait I feel most comfortable with. There’s no better way to start a day than casting a Pop-R near cover in the dark light of morning. The explosive strike and ensuing battle is all icing on the cake.
I recently fished the Mississippi River near La Crosse, Wisconsin, with pro angler Curt Samo. We began the day early — Curt tied on a Zara Spook and I asked for a Pop-R. We caught fish after fish under the bridge where we put the boat in. After that bite died, we slowly worked the rocky bank. Curt switched to a Pop-R. We continued to catch fish.
The fish stayed on the topwater bite all day long. We were using a fairly rapid retrieve — a skittish baitfish imitation. The Pop-R popped and threw droplets of water with every twitch.
We caught so many quality smallmouth I lost count. We had a few 12-inchers, but almost every fish we caught was a solid 2 1/2 pounds. We stayed until dark. Neither one of us wanted that day to end.
We fished 15 hours that day. It was the best day of fishing I’ve ever had. And I still had the same Rebel Pop-R tied on that I began the day with.
Sunday I fished Lake Tenkiller in Oklahoma with Arkansas River guide Brad Smith. In the weeks previous to that trip, I had been telling Brad about the Pop-R and what a great bait it was. I convinced him to tie one on.
The morning was slow, with only a few fish rising to take the Silver/Blue G-Finish bait. We stuck with it. We came upon some schooling bass and tossed the Pop-R into the fray. Sure enough, the Pop-R got hammered. Time after time we threw the Pop-R into schooling fish. And time and again, we hooked up.
I owed Brad that favor because earlier in the year, he had showed me his go-to bait — his “little buddy” as he calls it. His absolute favorite bait to fool fish on the Arkansas River is the Rebel Wee-R in Silver/Blue. He alters the back color a bit and experiments with different colors to see what triggers bass best on any given day.
Brad prefers the square-lipped bait for fishing river cover such as downed trees and brush. The square lip deflects easily off of cover and decreases the chance of hangups. Brad handed me one of his secret “little buddies” and we proceeded to catch fish.
I took Brad’s river technique and gave it twist of my own. I wanted to try the new Bomber 4A (new for 2006), so I brought a couple of them with me to a tournament on the Arkansas River recently. They were Citruse, a popular color for river fishing.
I caught a few fish on it — the best one a three-pounder that absolutely inhaled it. Just for the heck of it, I switched colors. Nothing. I went back to the Citruse. Success again.
I now have that one Citruse Bomber 4A in a prominent place in my tackle box. It’s missing some paint and one eye and it’s got a lot of tooth marks, but it’s right next to my Silver/Blue G-Finish Rebel Pop-R.
I guess I could call them my “little buddies.”
See you on the water...
Chad Gay