Westernbass Magazine - June 2012, Page 41

Westernbass Magazine - June 2012, Page 41

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y favorite method during the summer months on any lake across the nation is dropshotting. You can always catch fish dropshotting. Sometimes, you don’t always get the quality, but you can get quan- tity. My favorite outfit is a Folkestad 6’10” silver drop shot rod with a 2000 daiwa Ballistic reel with 6-lb test Fluorocarbon. i use Maverick and robo- worms in a variety of colors. My most exciting method is fishing frogs. This works well in the summer on lakes that have lots of tule grass and some brush. My favorite cover is tule, grass number two, brush number three. The frog colors i like are whites, yellows and browns. i like to put black dots on the white bottom on the right and left hand sides. i always cut one tail a little shorter than the other at an angle. This helps the frogs walk easier. i use 55-lb Samurai braided line on a daiwa frog’n rod with a Zillion reel. another pattern to look for in early mornings on all lakes with cover is the buzzbait. i like to use a ½-oz klacker buzzbait loaded with 55-lb test Samurai braid on a 7-ft medium-heavy daiwa rod with a Zillion reel. You need to make a lot of casts and cover a lot of water, the bites can be exciting and produce bigger than average bass. another pattern that works across the country is a walking bait such as the Zara spook and a Suave made by lobina lures. i also use a chugger type bait a rico or a rio rico also manufactured by lobina lures. i generally use all the above lures in shad patterns such as Silver Flash, Hologram Shad and the Sexy Shad. during the summer months, i usually use a fast retrieve with a few pauses. i like to make my ricos spit during the summer not chug. another method that i had kept quiet about for several years, but is now out in the open is fishing a cut down Yamamoto Swimming Senko on a pyramid head, dart head and dropshot. it has worked on every lake that i have fished. another favorite is fishing Yamamoto Grubs on 1/8- to 1/4-oz dart heads and sometimes i dropshot a Yamamoto Grub on 6-lb test Fluorocarbon. i always fish the dart heads on a daiwa spinning rod and reel. i rig them a variety of ways. When the fish are suspended and not in structure, i like to use an open hook. When they are in cover, i fish them weedless, t exas rigged on the dart head.

My favorite Yamamoto Grub colors are the smoke blue pearl, smoke with silver flake, green pumpkin, firecracker (nicknamed Captain america), i fish all these in 4 or 5-inch trying to match the hatch. When the bass get structured up during the day when the sun is high and they are below the light break, i have found that a shakey head with a 4 or 6-inch Maverick worm works well. i also like to use a 3/8-oz or ½-oz football head jig with a Yamamoto double tail in 4 or 5-inch. Generally a fast hopping retrieve triggers a reaction bite. Spinnerbaits will work well during the summertime when we have windy conditions or mud lines and cloud cover. i like to fish it quick, casting past the available cover and running the spinnerbait as close to cover as possible. Bumping the cover with the spinnerbait will definitely increase the percentage of bites. another trick is to run it past fast the cover and stall the bait and let it descend. one of these two methods will generally draw the fish out of the cover or shade, but you need the wind or the mud line or the clouds. if it’s bright skies, don’t waste your time. When the fish are suspended and chasing shad, i like to use a 4-inch weightless Yamamoto Senko in shad colors such as smoke pearl blue, milk with silver flake, rainbow trout laminate, and smoke with silver flake. i fish this wacky rigged on a daiwa spinning rod with 6-lb test. it is important to fish this with 100 percent slack line and let the natural weight of the Senko and wind currents provide the action. You would be pleasantly surprised with how many fish and decent ones that you can catch with this method. last but not least, another method i forgot to mention earlier is fishing the Maverick 10-inch tami’s rock ‘n roller on a dropshot. This has produced well on all waters. i fish it with a minimum of 11-inch or more leader length and 3/16- to ¼-oz weight. i violently shake it, then pause, i violently shake it again then pause. it seems to call the fish out and many times when the fish bite it, it is VioleNt! one of my favorite places to fish it is around docks. The action of the worm is that of a twisting night crawler or a crazy snake! all the above methods have worked for me on every lake i’ve fished. Give these patterns a try and i believe you won’t be disappointed.

Professional co angler Tami Curtis is the producer of www.TCsportsReport.com and the TV show Fish’n 4 FUN. Each will feature upcoming information on swimming Senko. Her namesake Maverick worm can be purchased online at www.TackleIt.biz

Issue 3

June 2012

41