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. You can email me at rlbrown@capital.net
or visit my site at
www.basscoachfishing.com or if you
would like to check out the baits that are now available, you can find them at
www.lakechamplainbaitandtackle.com .
Until next time as always, take care & God bless!
“The Bass Coach” – Roger Lee Brown
