I heard it from my father a million times. When I was using a screwdriver to pound in a finishing nail: “That ain’t the way you’re supposed to use that!”
Using the claw on a hammer to dig dandelions: “That ain’t the way you’re supposed to use that!”
Using an extension cord to pull a sled behind my truck: “That ain’t the way you’re supposed to use that!”
I admit, that last one was stupid, but on the whole, each one of those tools worked, even though they “weren’t supposed to be used like that!” Bass fishing can go the same way. We often get stuck into thinking that there’s just one way to use a certain lure.
Think about the swimming jig, for example. Reel it quickly across the surface? “That ain’t the way you’re supposed to fish a jig!”
Or how about digging a big No. 7 Fat Free Shad into weeds just a few feet down? Catches a lot of bass in the fall, but “that ain’t the way you’re supposed to use a deep-diving crankbait!”
Don’t get me started on the wacky worm. That’s just plain wrong. (But it works!)
How about using a tube as a topwater bait? “That ain’t the way you’re supposed to use a tube!” But it flat out works, especially when worked through surface weeds. Begin with a 4-inch YUM Tube and insert a piece of Styrofoam. Use a pencil to push the Styrofoam to the top, or head, of the tube before rigging with a 3/0 widegap worm hook. The Styrofoam acts as additional flotation to allow you to work the bait more slowly.
This is the perfect topwater for bass when they’re up under shoreline weeds. Cast to the bank and experiment with retrieves until you hit one that works. It may be moving the tube as slowly as possible, or quickly twitching the tube over and through the weeds.
Another tube trick is to use the same rigging minus the Styrofoam and work the bait like a soft-plastic stickbait with a twitch-twitch-pause retrieve. Try a white or baitfish color pattern, or use a 4 ½-inch Vibra King Tube to really push some water.
Cecil Carder, a YUM sales rep., said he was training employees of the new Cabela’s in Billings, Mont., when one said that he’d been drop shotting a YUM CrawBug. The CrawBug features a hollow body like a tube, which allows a similar “stuffing” technique as the topwater tube. This inventive angler inserts foam earplugs into the hollow cavity to make the CrawBug float off the bottom (a little YUM liquid attractant acts as a lubricant to make insertion easier and as a fish attractant).
The CrawBug is then tail-hooked on a normal drop-shot rig. It’s a smallmouth killer, but can work on largemouth as well. Fish it anywhere you’d fish a normal drop-shot rig. But, again, “You ain’t supposed to use it like that!”
Since we’re on the drop-shot topic, here’s one more off-the-wall rigging. Try a YUM Super CrawBug as your drop-shot weight. What? “You ain’t supposed to use it that way!”
The Super CrawBug is prerigged on a weedless jighead. The top line tie allows its use as a drop-shot weight. Instead of just a round weight, using the Super CrawBug allows you to be using two lures instead of just one. Tie your normal drop-shot hook at the desired depth up the line and use a finesse worm.