Doug Cummings doesn’t hesitate when you ask him about his favorite lure for Lake St. Clair’s jumbo smallmouth bass. A YUM Wooly Bug is first on his list.
Cummings, a St. Clair guide and serious threat to win any tournament held on Detroit’s backyard bronzeback factory, uses a host of offerings to bag big smallies at various times. However, the Wooly Bug is his go-to for giants, especially during the summer.
The Wooly Bug won the Ninth Annual Wonderland Marine West Open Team Tournament for Cummings and his partner, Rick Woods. At the Wonderland, the largest annual team tournament in Michigan, Cummings and Woods used 4-inch Green Pumpkin and Watermelon Red Flake Wooly Bugs to bring a 25-pound, 15-ounce sack of smallies to the scales. In the mix was a 6-pounder, which also earned them the big-fish prize.
They jigged the Wooly Bugs in 32 to 37 feet of water, using ½-ounce jigheads on 10-pound-test Silver Thread Fluorocarbon. Cummings and Woods endured a long run that limited their fishing time significantly, but their spectacular catch made the rough boat ride well worthwhile.
Last year, Cummings used the same Wooly Bugs to catch two of the five largest smallmouths registered in Michigan’s Master Angler records (catch and release category) during all of 2006. Weighing in at 6-13 and 7 pounds even, the fish measured 23 and 23.5 inches, respectively.
Cummings, who lives near Lake St. Clair and gets out on the water every opportunity he gets, believes the Wooly Bug offers a different look to bass during a time when virtually everyone is dragging a tube or drop-shotting a finesse bait and that the bait’s bulkiness allows the fish to find it in his deep jigging areas, where light penetration can be an issue.
"The effectiveness of the YUM Attractant can't be ignored either. I consistently outfish others in my boat that are not using YUM baits," Cummings noted. Wooly Bugs are loaded with YUM’s exclusive Live Prey Technology (LPT), which simulates enzymes put off by distressed forage fish and prompts fish to attack.
Because the Wooly Bug is solid (unlike a tube) Cummings strings it on a jighead (as opposed to using an inside-style head), which provides a couple distinct advantages.
"Number one is that it makes more noise as it bounces along the bottom, helping to attract fish," he explained. "And number two, it helps to telegraph the bottom content back to me, giving me confidence that I'm fishing over the kind of bottom I'm looking for."
Cummings’ best Wooly Bug jigging bite typically begins in July and runs through mid-September. As fall sets in, the deep-water giants disappear, but hoards of feisty fish move shallow and will attack BOOYAH Blade Spinnerbaits, XCalibur Twitch Baits and YUM Dingers!
Want to Go?
To learn more about guided fishing on Lake St. Clair with Capt. Doug Cummings, give him a call at (586) 212-1076 or drop him an e-mail at captdoug@FineLineFishing.net.