Last Friday was my last day at a job I held for nearly 11 years. I found a new improved gig and took a week off before diving into new challenges. Monday was my first day of freedom. It was the third straight day I didn’t have to go to work and the third straight day I got up earlier than I would normally to go to work. Sometimes I wonder about my own sanity.
I told Mark about my time off when I first decided to make a jump so that we could hopefully go to Mille Lacs for the day. Unfortunately, he had afternoon commitments, so we had to stick to a lake in town.
We were all over the lake, but started by fishing underwater humps. I started with an orange and black jig and pig and only got one nibble. Mark fished a white super fluke and caught a nice Northern pike.
We then went to fish the shores and docks. I tried my bubble gum fluke, but never got a bite. Mark tried his fluke as well as a chartreuse spinnerbait. Nothing near the shore worked. It wasn’t until Mark put on a Senko, wacky style that the magic started happening. He started catching little bucketmouths.
Seeing that worms were working, I put on the texas-rigged Slurpie worm that worked for me in Wisconsin. Within a few casts, I caught an 11″ and 12.5″ largemouth (pics below).
We ended up near a channel and on one cast with the Slurpie worm right at the entrance of the channel, I got thumped hard. I tried to set the hook, but felt nothing on the end of my line. When I reeled in, the line felt lighter than it should and I found that the fish picked the worm right off the hook.
The channel actually formed a ‘U’ and on the other end of the channel, I landed another 12″ largemouth. Mark caught a few more along the way and another Northern.
Even though I only landed three, I had countless hits on my Slurpie worm. It kept coming back all twisted; sometimes after an obvious tick, other times with just a little more resistance on the line than usual. I don’t think I’ve quite mastered what the bite feels like on the worm. I would have easily been in double digits if I had landed even half the bites I got.
Plastic worms seem to be the ticket this year on a multitude of lakes. I guess I’ll just have to keep practicing with them.
The vast majority of my bass have been caught on a wacky worm, including my two whoppers this spring. I don’t always have the patience for it because I’m a bit fidgety and prefer applications where you move your lure around, but it flat out works.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/austinlindstrom/5800828716/in/set-72157627078669522
Were you fishing the worm on a spinning setup or on a baitcaster? I think I’ve mentioned this in a comment on your blog before, but I really like line contact more than rod sensitivity. I don’t palm my baitcasters. I thumb my line over the foregrip with my non-dominant hand. I’m not fond of spinning reels at all, but lots of people fish wacky rigs on ’em almost exclusively.
In those instances when bass pick it up, just test the other end with a very subtle raise of the rod. I’d call it a lift, but that word just implies something too fast. When I’m fishing slow, I almost always test the weight on the other end before moving a worm just to be sure. Talk about having a bad case of paranoia. That’ll do it to ya.
Once you learn the weight of the worm by itself without a fish attached, you’ll be in business.
I’m getting good at detecting bites. I can tell between just the lure, when there are weed riders, or when I’m hitting rocks or weeds. My problem is that I don’t know when to set the hook. I can’t react fast enough on the initial hit, so sometimes I wait for a second strike, which happens most of the time, but my timing is off a lot.
I’m also not sure I’m rigging the Texas style quite right on the trick worms. The hooks don’t seem to expose quite enough when I reel them in after a miss.