Top water worm fishing....
 

When I first moved into the cabin, I was catching all of the bass by
finesse fishing worms around the grass beds and along the rip rap bank.
About two weeks ago the weather got really hot, and the bass catch
dropped way off. I tried some different lures, but didn't have much
better luck....no one else was doing any better, and I figured the bass
had went to deeper water (no boats allowed here), so tried some long
casts with a drop shot rig...no luck!

The other day I was back to throwing my "go to" worm along the bank, and
caught a couple small ones.....those few hook-ups were when the worm
first hit the water, and it seemed like a waste of time to work the
worm after that initial drop. So I started just reeling the worm in if I
didn't get a hit on the first drop. Well, it surprised the heck out of
me when a nice two pounder hit the worm while I was "surfing" it along
the top to get it back in for the next cast! Next cast out I tried the
same thing, but added a "twitch" to the worm as I fast reeled it
in....had a strike but missed em. I kept playing with the retrieve until
I got another hook-up.

The last couple days I have beat em to death with that top water worm
technique....blows my mind! :)

Anyone else ever had this happen when worm fishing? It's a first for
me...on rare occasion I have had a bass hit the worm when I was
"hauling" it back in, but nothing like this!

I suspect that some top water lures would work as well...but ya all know
I am a soft plastics guy, and I don't have much in the way of those
alternative lures in my "sack". But I am going out and buy some tomorrow
:). I did try a spinner bait, and got a couple....but the worm out
performed the spinner 10 to 1.....go figure :)!

John K

Top water worm fishing....
 

On Jun 5, 12:40 am, (John B) wrote:
When I first moved into the cabin, I was catching all of the bass by
finesse fishing worms around the grass beds and along the rip rap bank.
About two weeks ago the weather got really hot, and the bass catch
dropped way off. I tried some different lures, but didn't have much
better luck....no one else was doing any better, and I figured the bass
had went to deeper water (no boats allowed here), so tried some long
casts with a drop shot rig...no luck!

The other day I was back to throwing my "go to" worm along the bank, and
caught a couple small ones.....those few hook-ups were when the worm
first hit the water, and it seemed like a waste of time to work the
worm after that initial drop. So I started just reeling the worm in if I
didn't get a hit on the first drop. Well, it surprised the heck out of
me when a nice two pounder hit the worm while I was "surfing" it along
the top to get it back in for the next cast! Next cast out I tried the
same thing, but added a "twitch" to the worm as I fast reeled it
in....had a strike but missed em. I kept playing with the retrieve until
I got another hook-up.

The last couple days I have beat em to death with that top water worm
technique....blows my mind! :)

Anyone else ever had this happen when worm fishing? It's a first for
me...on rare occasion I have had a bass hit the worm when I was
"hauling" it back in, but nothing like this!

I suspect that some top water lures would work as well...but ya all know
I am a soft plastics guy, and I don't have much in the way of those
alternative lures in my "sack". But I am going out and buy some tomorrow
:). I did try a spinner bait, and got a couple....but the worm out
performed the spinner 10 to 1.....go figure :)!

John K

Twitching a weightless worm just under the surface, keeping it moving
fast, is a good warm weather method here. I often run way up rivers
and creeks and do that in tournaments. Another good bait to use for
this is a Fluke - guys fishing for spots often reel it as fast as they
can skipping it across the top. You can't move a bait fast enought
with a reel to keep it away from a bass that wants it.

Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com

Top water worm fishing....
 

Twitching a weightless worm just under the surface, keeping it moving
fast, is a good warm weather method here. I often run way up rivers and
creeks and do that in tournaments. Another good bait to use for this is
a Fluke - guys fishing for spots often reel it as fast as they can
skipping it across the top. You can't move a bait fast enought with a
reel to keep it away from a bass that wants it.
Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com
========
Shows you how much I know....I just never visualized a worm as a top
water lure. I really need to get it in my head about what you said about
fast retrieves. I know it, but it's hard for me to do. In the past when
I had "followers" with a top water lure, I always slowed the lure
down....now my kid tells me if you get a lot of follwers and no
hook-ups, you are reeling too slow!

I still got a lot to learn! :)

John K

Top water worm fishing....
 

"John B" wrote in message
...

Twitching a weightless worm just under the surface, keeping it moving
fast, is a good warm weather method here. I often run way up rivers and
creeks and do that in tournaments. Another good bait to use for this is
a Fluke - guys fishing for spots often reel it as fast as they can
skipping it across the top. You can't move a bait fast enought with a
reel to keep it away from a bass that wants it.
Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com
========
Shows you how much I know....I just never visualized a worm as a top
water lure. I really need to get it in my head about what you said about
fast retrieves. I know it, but it's hard for me to do. In the past when
I had "followers" with a top water lure, I always slowed the lure
down....now my kid tells me if you get a lot of follwers and no
hook-ups, you are reeling too slow!

I still got a lot to learn! :)

John K

I'm not in the same class as John Jr, but I learned that a couple years ago
on a summer crank bait bite. I had to find baits I could just burn through
the water to get bit.

Just curious. Is your pond/lake pretty clear? I have run across this more
often in clear water than stained water.

Speaking of clear water. I also found that when bass were stacked up just
off a grassbed I could get a couple more bites by changing crank baits after
every couple fish. Usually just a subtle color change would do the trick.

Also, as a side note I'll remind you that even in the hottest days of summer
you can catch some fish shallow at the right time of day around cover.
Usually dawn and dusk. If there are laydowns and weed or tulie matts you
can punch through them and catch a few also during the brightest parts of
the day.

I feel embarrassed reminding you of this stuff because I'm sure you already
know it.


--
Bob La Londe
Fishing Arizona & The Colorado River
Fishing Forums & Contests
http://www.YumaBassMan.com



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Top water worm fishing....
 

John B wrote:


Anyone else ever had this happen when worm fishing? It's a first for
me...on rare occasion I have had a bass hit the worm when I was
"hauling" it back in, but nothing like this!

I suspect that some top water lures would work as well...but ya all know
I am a soft plastics guy, and I don't have much in the way of those
alternative lures in my "sack". But I am going out and buy some tomorrow
:). I did try a spinner bait, and got a couple....but the worm out
performed the spinner 10 to 1.....go figure :)!

John K


Thirty years ago, the Federation national championship was on KY lake,
right around Labor Day, it was incredibly hot and muggy, and the lake
was way, way down. I caught a pretty good LMB or two in practice tossing
a little 5" blk/chart worm to very shallow bushes, and some barely legal
spots fishing the same worm along bluff banks. 1st day of the tourney, I
head out to do do the shallow bush thing for LM. After about an hour
without a bump, I was in the middle of working the worm through a brush
pile (these were real little, scattered, scraggly pieces of twig and
small branches, not anything you'd really think of a fish holding stuff)
when the need to go chase those little spots just overcame me. I started
just cranking that little worm in as fast as I could -- until a 3
pounder stopped it just as it hit the surface!

Naturally, that renewed my interest in the brush piles. For a half dozen
casts, anyway. With no more hits, those spots on the bluffs started
looking good again, and once again I started winding it in like crazy.
And once again I got smashed just as the worm hit the surface at high
speed. I'm stubborn, but not stupid. I switched to a spinnerbait, and
started "waking" it past the bushes. Nothing. Went back to the worm, but
just winding it, without letting it sink into the bushes first. Nothing.
So I went all the way back to what caught those first two fish --
fishing the worm slowly in brush, then reeling it in like mad. I ended
up catching about 30 fish over the course of that day and the next, by
fishing that little worm in the bushes, then reeling it away from the
cover as fast as I could. If I didn't diddle it around in the middle of
the sparse cover first, I didn't get bit. And If I didn't wind it as
fast as I could on the way back, I didn't get bit. Every, single hit
came within a foot of the high speed worm breaking the surface.

On day 3, I couldn't get bit doing it, and ended up catching one smallie
on a 'smokey joe' color pattern baby big-o. In those days, smallies were
something of a rarity on Kentucky Lake, unless you ran all the way
upriver (south), so my lonely little 2 pounder was something of an oddity.

Top water worm fishing....
 

Come on Bob, suck it up for the team, no one gets embarassed in this group.
;-)

--
--
Member Of The National Association Of Photoshop Professionals


"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
.. .
"John B" wrote in message
...

Twitching a weightless worm just under the surface, keeping it moving
fast, is a good warm weather method here. I often run way up rivers and
creeks and do that in tournaments. Another good bait to use for this is
a Fluke - guys fishing for spots often reel it as fast as they can
skipping it across the top. You can't move a bait fast enought with a
reel to keep it away from a bass that wants it.
Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com
========
Shows you how much I know....I just never visualized a worm as a top
water lure. I really need to get it in my head about what you said about
fast retrieves. I know it, but it's hard for me to do. In the past when
I had "followers" with a top water lure, I always slowed the lure
down....now my kid tells me if you get a lot of follwers and no
hook-ups, you are reeling too slow!

I still got a lot to learn! :)

John K

I'm not in the same class as John Jr, but I learned that a couple years
ago on a summer crank bait bite. I had to find baits I could just burn
through the water to get bit.

Just curious. Is your pond/lake pretty clear? I have run across this
more often in clear water than stained water.

Speaking of clear water. I also found that when bass were stacked up just
off a grassbed I could get a couple more bites by changing crank baits
after every couple fish. Usually just a subtle color change would do the
trick.

Also, as a side note I'll remind you that even in the hottest days of
summer you can catch some fish shallow at the right time of day around
cover. Usually dawn and dusk. If there are laydowns and weed or tulie
matts you can punch through them and catch a few also during the brightest
parts of the day.

I feel embarrassed reminding you of this stuff because I'm sure you
already know it.


--
Bob La Londe
Fishing Arizona & The Colorado River
Fishing Forums & Contests
http://www.YumaBassMan.com



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Top water worm fishing....
 

I'm not in the same class as John Jr, but I learned that a couple years
ago on a summer crank bait bite. I had to find baits I could just burn
through the water to get bit.
Just curious. Is your pond/lake pretty clear? I have run across this
more often in clear water than stained water.
Speaking of clear water. I also found that when bass were stacked up
just off a grassbed I could get a couple more bites by changing crank
baits after every couple fish. Usually just a subtle color change would
do the trick.
Also, as a side note I'll remind you that even in the hottest days of
summer you can catch some fish shallow at the right time of day around
cover. Usually dawn and dusk. If there are laydowns and weed or tulie
matts you can punch through them and catch a few also during the
brightest parts of the day.
I feel embarrassed reminding you of this stuff because I'm sure you
already know it.
--
Bob La Londe
Fishing Arizona & The Colorado River
Fishing Forums & Contests
http://www.YumaBassMan.com
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
========
Bob, thanks for the tips! I need all the help I can get, and I surely
don't know all there is about them finicky bass...in fact, I don't know
a whole lot :)!

The lake is just slightly stained, with lots of grass beds, some cypress
trees and stumps, and an adequate amount of tulies along the banks. I
have my best luck late in the evening on the inside of the weed beds,
and a few feet outside the tulie stands. I caught about 8 or 9 tonight,
nothing big, 1 to 2 lbs., but with my ultra light spinnng gear and 5 lb
test, it's fun!!!

Thanks again...and don't ever hesitate to share your experiences with
me....I've been fishing for over 50 years, and I probably know something
about the sport, but the longer I fish, the more I realize just how much
I "don't" know! :)

John K

Top water worm fishing....
 

Top water worm fishing....

RichZ wrote:

I ended up catching about 30 fish over the course of that day and the
next, by fishing that little worm in the bushes, then reeling it away
from the cover as fast as I could. If I didn't diddle it around in the
middle of the sparse cover first, I didn't get bit. And If I didn't wind
it as fast as I could on the way back, I didn't get bit. Every, single
hit came within a foot of the high speed worm breaking the surface.
=======

Rich, that was my experience also....had to let the worm make that
intial drop, and twitch it a little....then reel it up almost to the
surface, and a fast twitching retrieve. Like you, I caught most of them
on the first part of the fast retrieve.

It's still working :)!

John K