Help: What to try?

I caught a nice large mouth bass at the bend of a moderately strong
river in southern Wisconsin using a top water lure. It is supposed
to be top water lure, but the current was so strong that it kept
the lurer under water a couple of feet. I went there because I saw
something was jumping out of the water. I got the fish in the first cast,
but then nothing else really, just one bite for over an hour.

My question: What else should I try? Thanks.

Mike

=====================================
Michael Wilson
Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Curtin Hall 495
P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
Phone (414) 229-4839 or 4511, Fax (414) 229-2643
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/English

=====================================

Spinnerbait. Why? Cause that's what we sell.

Actually, the real answer is because you can keep the bait at a constant
depth and speed and since the water is flowing too much to keep a topwater
tied on... keeping a bait just below the surface is your best bet. A
spinnerbait will flash like baitfish and should still run true with the
current.



"Michael" wrote in message
...
I caught a nice large mouth bass at the bend of a moderately strong
river in southern Wisconsin using a top water lure. It is supposed
to be top water lure, but the current was so strong that it kept
the lurer under water a couple of feet. I went there because I saw
something was jumping out of the water. I got the fish in the first cast,
but then nothing else really, just one bite for over an hour.

My question: What else should I try? Thanks.

Mike

=====================================
Michael Wilson
Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Curtin Hall 495
P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
Phone (414) 229-4839 or 4511, Fax (414) 229-2643
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/English

=====================================

"Charles B. Summers" wrote in message
...
Spinnerbait. Why? Cause that's what we sell.

Actually, the real answer is because you can keep the bait at a constant
depth and speed and since the water is flowing too much to keep a topwater
tied on... keeping a bait just below the surface is your best bet. A
spinnerbait will flash like baitfish and should still run true with the
current.



"Michael" wrote in message
...
I caught a nice large mouth bass at the bend of a moderately strong
river in southern Wisconsin using a top water lure. It is supposed
to be top water lure, but the current was so strong that it kept
the lurer under water a couple of feet. I went there because I saw
something was jumping out of the water. I got the fish in the first cast,
but then nothing else really, just one bite for over an hour.

My question: What else should I try? Thanks.

Mike


Floating topwater like a popper? Why wasn't it staying on the surface?
Where there any eddies or breaks in the flow where bass might naturally sit
in calm water and watch the fast current sweep by?

I might try a high floater and add some floatant to my line to keep it on
the surface. I might also try flipping a creature bait or a curly tail grub
to the eddies, slack water spots, and current breaks.

Also, you mgiht try the grub or creature on any large rock surfaces that the
current sweeps over. I've caught some nice smallmouth by letting the
current tumble my bait over a rock face and then into the drop off on the
other side.


--
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

Sounds like a good situation for a floater/diver like a Rapala Minnow or a
suspending jerkbait...a Rapala Husky Jerk may work well. You might also try
an unweighted (or split shot weighted) plastic worm.
Tight Lines!! JonMac

"Michael" wrote in message
...
I caught a nice large mouth bass at the bend of a moderately strong
river in southern Wisconsin using a top water lure. It is supposed
to be top water lure, but the current was so strong that it kept
the lurer under water a couple of feet. I went there because I saw
something was jumping out of the water. I got the fish in the first cast,
but then nothing else really, just one bite for over an hour.

My question: What else should I try? Thanks.

Mike

=====================================
Michael Wilson
Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Curtin Hall 495
P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
Phone (414) 229-4839 or 4511, Fax (414) 229-2643
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/English

=====================================

I echo, Bob La Londe's advice. When it comes to fishing river current, he is
in his element.

From your post, it seems that you caught the largemouth right out in the
current. If so, it probably chased a meal out of its ambush point in an eddy
or behind a boulder or log. Largemouth typically will be found in rivers
where they can suspend without expending much energy and they let food come
to them. When they see an approaching meal (from upstream), they leave their
shelter to attack it. Probably, your lure passed close by such a point where
one bass had taken its station, and after you caught it, there were no more
around. Or, the largemouth may have chased something else out into the
current and your lure just happened to intercept it.

I've used in-line spinners in such situations, and Bob Rickard designed his
spinnerbait specifically for fishing the clear rivers of Missouri. Use the
smaller sizes -- 3/16-ounce is best. Adjust blade size and number to get the
amount of lift you desire, and select gold or nickel depending on the color
of the water and the amount of ambient light.

Small crankbaits that burrow down to the bottom and bottom-bouncing tube
jigs resemble crawfish. keep in mind where they're likely to be found on
river bottoms, too, and try to present your lure there.

Joe
-------------------
"Michael" wrote...
snip

My question: What else should I try? Thanks.

Mike

"Joe Haubenreich" wrote in
message news
I echo, Bob La Londe's advice. When it comes to fishing river current, he
is
in his element.


Thanks Joe, I appreciate that. I was trying to figure out if a spinner bait
would be a good bait for that application as Charles indicated and from my
experience I just couldn't manage it.

HOWEVER, upon reflection there is one way that I do use a spinner bait in
heavy current. Perhaps not the best application, but one that has worked
for me with inlines, and should work with safety pins as well.

I learned it bank fishing canal bridges. I would back wind the spinner bait
with the current from upstream of my target letting the bait drift back with
the current, but holding it back just enough to keep the blades spinning.
This works were you can get a straight shot, but it also works when you have
to make long casts to get out and across to hit your target areas. Simply
cast out upstream and past your target allowing the current to sweep over or
past your target area and spin the blades for you. You can bump a spinner
bait with blades flailing against a bridge column , and then let it drift
back into the dark shadows under the bridge quite handily with a little
practice.

That goes all the way back to the first bass I ever caught a little over 30
years ago when I was ten years old. We caught a bunch of them that day, and
I think I amazed my dad because I told him how to do it before I ever tried
it.


--
Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

Don't pass up the opportunity to fish a heavy jig with a small pork
bait, or plastic. It's a target bait. Find wood. Rock. Or any thing
for a bass to use as an ambush point. Softly pitch a heavy jig right
onto the limb blocking the current and the weight will allow it to fall,
instead of being swept away with the current.

I am talking 1/2 oz to 1 oz jigs. Depending on the current. On a jig
bite, they will often have the bait before you ever know it. They bite
on the fall.

Carlos

Thanks, guys, for all your help with this. I really
appreciate it.

Mike