“Tools of the Trade”
(By - Roger Lee Brown)
“The Bass Coach”
Question, what
are the most exciting artificial baits that have ever been used by anglers? If you guessed “Top Water Baits”
then you are absolutely correct. Back in the 1960s when bass fishing started to gain its popularity as being
a competitive freshwater fishing sport, as well as today, the top water baits seemed to be the most sought after by most anglers.
 Just the excitement alone of seeing a fish come up out of the water and attack a Top Water Bait always seem to get
the blood flowing and the heart pounding. During that period of time, baits like the Hula Popper,
Rapalas & Rebels (floating stick baits), and Crazy Crawlers just to name a few were probably the highest on the anglers
list as being a must have for their tackle box. Since that time up to today things really haven’t changed
with the exception of having a multitude of “Top Water” baits to choose from. Some of my personal
favorite baits (or lures) are the Zara Spook, Chug Bug, Rapalas and Rebels, Floating Worms, Plastic Frogs, Buzz Baits, and
Torpedos. Now, I know what you may be thinking right
about now. You’re probably thinking that this nut writing this article is trying to sell something right?
If you thought this then you are absolutely correct again! Just keep reading and you will see that there
is another “Tool of the Trade” that hasn’t been introduced into the bass fishing industry until now.
But first, let me give you some background on this unique new “Tool” I am leading up to. Let’s take a couple of the pros and cons of using a few of the top selling,
top water baits of today and compare. The top water baits I have used over the years (some already mentioned)
either have exposed hooks already connected to the bait (or lure), or have to be rigged normally Texas Rigged style with a
single hook. The only problem is that you have to use one or the other in terms of getting the best results in
the areas you are fishing. For example, the best top water baits ever used seem to be the baits that make that
spitting, gurgling, popping, top water disturbance that seem to attract the bass to strike right? Or in the case
of structured areas with lots of grass, fall downs, floating debris, stick ups, reeds, and etc. where the exposed hooks of
the baits (or lures) would keep getting caught up you would usually go to the floating baits like the frog, floating worm,
soft jerk baits just to name a few, but the only problem would be is now you will lose that spitting, gurgling, popping, top
water disturbance we could get from the baits with the exposed hooks, is there a happy medium? I’m happy
to say Yes!, there is now. Let’s go a step
further with the importance of having the right tool for the job. Much like a carpenter, he or she wouldn’t
use a hammer to drive a screw into wood would they? Of course not, they would use the right tool for the job
which would be a screwdriver. The same goes for fishing. Most anglers won’t use baits (or
lures) with exposed hooks fishing in and around weedy areas because of constantly getting their bait caught up in the weeds.
In fact, I have found that most of my former charter clients and bass fishing school students seem to get discouraged
when they can’t work their favorite (their pet bait) top water action bait while fishing vegetation areas
because of losing all that action they seem to like, sound about right? What do we do if this happens, we go
to a Texas Rigged frog, floating worm, soft plastic stick bait, or even a soft plastic jerk bait so we can work these baits
without getting caught up on the vegetation. The only drawback is that we lose the spitting, gurgling, popping,
top water disturbance that the other baits produced. Is there a solution? I’m happy to say Yes!, there is now. Okay, here it is…. After many years of going through the
same situations as mentioned, one day a lightning bolt came out of the sky and struck me while I was fishing some vegetation
and gave me a premonition, NOT!, just kidding! This is true, one day after getting frustrated from
pulling weeds off my bait from just about every cast made into a great spot, and knowing I really didn’t want to lose
that action of the spitting, gurgling, popping, top water disturbance which my popper made I had a Idea. So,
after I got off the water that day and headed home I decided to stop at the dime store to look and see if I could find something
that would help remedy this problem we all have. Shortly, after looking around the store and I found myself in
the toy isle and then it caught my eye. I saw a kids dart gun packaged with 3 extra darts which got me to thinking,
“what if I could put the suction cup tips of the darts onto a floating worm?” What the heck, so I
bought the dart gun package with the extra three darts (by the way, which cost much more than the dime mentioned in the name
“dime store”) anyway, after I got home and opened up the package with the dart gun and extra darts I took one
of the darts and took off the (suction cupped) tip and super glued it onto a eight inch floating worm. This thing
looked so good I couldn’t wait to get back on the water to try it out, and then it happened! After going
over to a spot I know I made my first cast right into a weed area where there was little quarter size openings of water and
the bait hit the surface. I then lightly pulled the front of the bait over to one of these openings and then
slightly twitched my line. I looked at my bait as I twitched my line and it spit water (just as I had hoped it
would do), and at that spitting moment a five pound 3 ounce largemouth bass came up from under the water and exploded on the
bait. Okay, was this a lucky cast? Nope, I stayed there until it started getting dark which was
about 2 hours from my first cast and caught seven bass with none of them weighing less than three pounds. I figured out how
to get the best of the best! Spitting, gurgling, popping, top water disturbance bait that I can rig weedless!
Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah, Ah Huh, Ah Huh, I did it! I finally figured out how to get a soft plastic bait to get all the effects of
the baits (or lures) with the exposed hooks in areas where we couldn’t fish them before.Now, I got the perfect “Tool” for the job. Since that time, and now I have come up with four different top water baits, two of which are the Patent Pending 4 Inch “Sprog”, which is a solid soft plastic floating frog bait
that gets all of the spitting, gurgling, popping, top water disturbance we all seem to
want, AND, can be rigged totally weedless! The second one is the Patent Pending 9 Inch “Spittin’
Worm”, which is a solid 9 inch floating worm bait that gets all of the spitting, gurgling, popping, top water disturbance
we all seem to want, AND, can be rigged totally weedless! Both of these baits can be seen at www.lakechamplainbaitandtackle.com and are available for purchase. And the other two are, the first being a Patent Pending “Spitting Shad”
and the Patent Pending “Spit-Tik” which is also a solid soft plastic stick bait which both, get the same actions
as the Sprog and the Spittin’ Worm. I hope
to have all four of these baits each come in two sizes and a wide variety of colors. The “Sprog”
to come in 2 and 4 inch, the “Spittin Worm” to come in 6 and 9 inch, the “Spittin’ Shad” to
come in 4 and 6 inch, and the “Spit-Tik” to come in 5 and 7 inch. I can only do as much as my personal
funding allows, but I would definitely talk of some type of partnership with anybody that may be interested with financial
backing. I would love to get all of these baits available for all of the anglers who love that top water action,
but I can only do it as time and funding allows. If
you may be interested in my 3-day bass fishing school, a bass fishing charter on the world famous Lake Champlain, or spark
an interest with the line of Patent Pending baits.
 |
|
|
|
|
