Back at it

Well, it’s certainly been awhile since I’ve been on the water.  Unfortunately, it isn’t looking like I’ll be able to go on any sort of adventurous fishing trip by the summer’s end, so I decided to head up to the cottage to at least spend some time out on the water.  I had two goals this weekend: first, to learn how to walk the frog; second, to do a little night fishing.

OK, so those of you who aren’t familiar with LiveTarget’s lures are probably asking: walking the frog?  What the [expletive]?  Well, the frog is another top-water bait I’ve added to my arsenal- but using it requires a little more technique than some of the other top-water lures I’ve been using.  The technique is explained nicely in this video:

Walk the frog

I was throwing it this weekend mainly to get the hang of using it, not because I thought I was going to have much success with it.  The key to getting the ‘walking’ action for me was making sure there was enough slack line when giving the lure a tug.  Eventually, it’s quite easy to get into a good rhythm with the frog, though I must admit it’s not the easiest lure to use in a canoe, since it is much easier to twitch your rod from a standing position.  Nevertheless, I absolutely cannot wait to start throwing this lure around lily pads and other largemouth holding cover.

Due to the warm summer we’ve had, I thought that I could have some success waiting until night to do the majority of my fishing.  Because the weeds, though submerged, are heavy at this time of year, and because I didn’t want to keep re-tying lures in the darkness, I stuck with my black Arbogast jitterbug.  This, in hindsight, was a poor move, since I didn’t get any hits- and I’m still trying to figure out why.  Maybe I went out too early- perhaps the water temperature at 10:30pm was still too warm for the fish to become active.  Maybe there wasn’t enough light for the fish to see the lure (smallmouth depend largely on their sight when feeding)- the moon is still about a week away from being full, a time when most anglers believe night fishing to be at its best.  Maybe, because of the warm weather, the fish are still in summer mode, and have yet to hit the point where they start feeding like crazy before the cold weather hits.  In any event, I didn’t have any luck on Saturday night.

Night fishing, however, is something I’d highly recommend.  Of course, you have to be extra careful and mindful of safety when doing this, but there’s something about being on a canoe alone on a lake at night- it’s quiet, almost eerie, and so all of your senses seem to be heightened.  Personally, I found that this actually made it easier for me to focus on my fishing.

Wacky Rig

Speaking of focus, or lack thereof, I went out again on Sunday night and decided to head out for a couple more hours on the canoe before spending three hours in traffic.  That day, I had been told that a wacky rig- basically just hooking a plastic worm through the middle- is a great way of catching bass, as the bait falls enticingly when hooked this way, and that it has been successful in my area.  Having realized that my strategy the previous night didn’t work, I decided to try fishing with soft plastics.  Hard-headed as I may seem to most people, I actually enjoy adapting, learning and constantly changing- because if there's one thing I love more than being stubborn, it's being successful.  I fished a wacky rig for awhile, but to no avail- even using the scented worms that were recommended to me.  Eventually, I changed to a Texas rig to cover water a little big faster- and because I was getting caught up on weeds far too often using the wacky rig.  Now, I am definitely NOT confident fishing with soft plastics- especially when fishing through weeds, as occasionally I have a difficult time distinguishing between a brush against weeds and a strike.  This proved to be costly, as I finally got a hit- the first and only one of the weekend- but a pathetic hook set cost me the fish.  Words could not describe my frustration (I have subsequently read this article which offers a few good tips on how to detect bites).

Texas Rig

That being said, I need to take some positives from this weekend.  The good thing is that I stopped using the lures I’m confident with when I realized that they weren’t catching me any fish.  I made the right strategic move by switching to soft plastics; I merely didn’t execute the way I should have.  I definitely understand now why having a partner at a tournament (or in general) is extremely useful, as one person can use finesse baits while the other can use power baits to see what's getting the fish to bite.  I’ll be back at the cottage next weekend and hopefully I can smack some fish then.  If it's any consolation, at least I did better than this guy: Stephen Headrick.

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