Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Fishing with the classics
I've been a periodically avid fisherman since I caught my first smallmouth bass at age five. In addition to the savage smallmouth, the Adirondack lake where I learned to fish has walleyes and northern pike, and at various times I have pursued these as well.
I've just returned from two lovely weeks up North, and had a very nice time reliving fishing memories through my tackle box. Any tackle box collects, over the years, a wide assortment of lures, each with its own story, or the grating absence of a story. Mine is no exception. In addition to lake fishing, I have at various times also pursued largemouth bass in weedy farm ponds, fished for carp and channel catfish in the muddy Iowa River, and sought trout and landlocked salmon in fast, clear running streams. Of course I share a fisherman's attraction to pretty, shiny lures of new shapes and sizes, and am far easier to tempt than the fish I pursue, and as a result my tackle box is crammed with all sorts of lures.
But when I actually go fishing and am faced with the daunting task of selecting a lure, I find myself ultimately zeroing in on one of the same three lures time and time again, at least when fishing for smallmouth bass.
My first fish was caught from a dock using a Mepps spinner, casting out to a notious dropoff at "the point." It was no fluke, apparently, as I continue to have luck, decades later, at the same place with the same lure.
Now I anchor out just over the drop-off, and in the day light work the spinner along the ledge. And the bass still hit it.
Anecdotally, I would have to say that the Rapala minnow is lure with the most success at this particular lake.
The floating Rapala dives when reeled quickly, and so can be worked slowly on the surface like a plug, or deeper on a troll or fast retrieve. Growing up, we found we could hook bass, walleye, and northern pike with a Rapala, and they were the most prized of our lures, and an always welcome present at my August birthday. I've had good luck with the straight minnow like that pictured at the right, but often also use a jointed version of which I have several. While I've probably caught the most fish using the Rapala, my favorite lure, and the one which brings forth the most exciting memories, is the Heddon Crazy Crawler.
The Crazy Crawler is a surface plug with two wings at 45 degree angles from its oblong body. When retrieved steadily, it waddles along the surface of the lake. When used on the quiet glass at dusk or dawn, it makes a quiet blunk blunk blunk sound as it works across the surface, and leaves a V shaped wake. This is the lure I break out after dark, when the bass come into the shallows to feed. Casting off the dock, watching the stars come out, the Crazy Crawler, like no other lure I've ever used, brings the bass to the surface where they strike with what almost seems to be anger at being disturbed. There is nothing like a surface strike on a quiet night to get the pulse pounding. Of course everyone has their own favorites and the stories to go with them. Last summer in the barber shop I picked up a copy of Field and Stream which had a great piece on the Top 50 Lures Of All Time. For the truly obsessed, or just the nostalgic, I recommend it.
4 Comments:
By 
The Leading Wedge, at
Tue Aug 22, 06:48:00 PM:
With reference to this post and the one about the nice pipe/book store, I can heartily recommend "The Fireside Book of Fishing: A Selection from the Great Literature of Angling". You may very well find a copy at that pipe/book store. I found mine in a musty used bookstore in Chicago and have seldom enjoyed myself as much as when reading it. The story about salmon fishing in Ireland is priceless.
It evokes the same feelings you mentioned about that store. For maximum benefit, I recommend an old, hardcover edition, but it is available on Amazon.
Disclaimer - I am, at times, an idiotically avid fly fisherman.
By Charlottesvillain, at
Tue Aug 22, 10:31:00 PM:
Thank's for the tip. I will certainly track it down. Old fishing books are amazing. I hope to write soon on the works of Ray Bergman, whom I revere.
By K. Pablo, at
Wed Aug 23, 12:13:00 AM:
Oh, man, that link was great. I'll see your Crazy Crawler and raise you a Hula Popper. In the days before buzz baits, these two were the best Bass Irritants!
I think every Northern I've ever caught was either on a Daredevle or a Johnson's Silver Minnow with a frog pattern pork rind on it. Don't know why so many fish find these things so interesting....
By Pike Anglers Club of Great Britain, at
Sat Jan 20, 07:09:00 PM:
Hardly any of the lures we use to catch pike in England feature - no Dawgs for example, or chop baits.
http://www.pacgb.com
