The steady gurgle of a Jitterbug can lull you into a daze, but don’t let that happen. Night bites on topwater plugs occur with zero warning, sometimes right at the boat, and they tend to be violent. Don’t let that scare you away, just don’t get too relaxed. There’s something truly thrilling about casting by the light of the moon (or into total darkness), fishing by sound and feel, and being at least somewhat startled by every strike.
Oklahoma’s Jason Christie won the Bassmaster Elite Tournament on Arkansas’ Lake Dardanelle Sunday, collecting the $100,000 prize, the big trophy and a Toyota Bonus Bucks award of an extra $3,000. Just as exciting is his win-and-in Bassmaster Classic entry. He now has qualified to fish the biggest bass tournament in the world three years in a row.
The lure company named “Arbogast” is rarely seen in the results columns of modern tournament winners. Yet, at a time not too long ago, that name stood among the top of all popular lures. I was reminded of this recently while watching one of the Bill Dance TV shows when Bill stated he caught his first lunker bass—all of two pounds—while fishing with his grandfather in a Middle Tennessee pond. What topwater lure brought this “monster” to the net? If you are over fifty, you probably guessed right….the famous Jitterbug!
A single glance made me almost certain that the Bomber 13A would be a fine trout producer. I already knew the 13A’s slightly larger cousin, the 14A, to have an outstanding action for enticing trout. First cast in a real stream confirmed the bait to swim the way that I had hoped. Third cast brought the more important confirmation in the form of a fat rainbow.
One of the most underutilized and effective tactics for catching bass this time of year also is one of the easiest to fish effectively. It’s slowly retrieving a wake bait across the top, and It takes a little patience, but the sudden topwater strikes are addictive.
It usually spawns from frustration, or boredom. The graph shows plenty of baitfish and even bigger marks of gamefish, but they’re not interested in what you’ve been cooking. Innocently enough – often as a last resort -- you drop a spoon into the fish and feel a tap. The fish pulls hard, and with that, you’re hooked on spoon fishing.
Talk about fishing in north Alabama will reach a crescendo in late February as the Bassmaster Classic hits Birmingham and Guntersville Lake, but anglers should remember that there are a lot more than bass swimming in ‘Bama waters. The crappie fishing in Guntersville and other nearby lakes is every bit as productive as the bass fishing.
If you could be on the water in Alabama only one week out of the year and wanted the best largemouth fishing for numbers and quality, where would you go and what would you throw? It’s a tough question, given the ample opportunities for great largemouth bass fishing on the Tennessee River in north Alabama. The state has four impoundments -- Guntersville, Wheeler, Wilson and Pickwick -- along the 652-mile long river that snakes through Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. You can’t overlook famed Lake Eufaula, either, for outstanding largemouth bass fishing.
Load the boat with tons of tackle trays if you like, but the YUM Wooly Bug simplifies most of my on-the-water decision-making. Day in and day out, I flip and pitch and punch with only two baits: a jig and the Yum Wooly Bug. I use the Wooly Bug in other ways, too, as I will explain, but the simple truth is that after the spawn, I probably rely upon the Wooly Bug more than I do any other lure.
