Published: April 17, 2009 12:27 am      

Hot bass action

Trolling down the shoreline of a secluded lake one afternoon this week I detected several tell tale swirls of shallow water bass working the shoreline. Casting a Mann’s Hardnosed Frog just past the first swirl, I cranked the lure up on top and started “cranking” it back to the boat like Ray Joyner had shown me some 25 years ago in a Collinsville bass club tournament.

A fat sow bass quickly smashed the lure as it passed across the ripples! Rearing back on the rod I drove the Gamakatsu steel deep into the jaws of the lunker bass. Instantly the now enraged bass exploded through the water surface and tail walked across the water until it relented and dove for deep cover. After a few minutes of touch and go I finally wore the feisty bass down and my first bass of the day was history.

Though I had grown up fishing frogs really slow in small lakes and caught quite a few in the process, Joyner’s form of “cranking” was unique and years ahead of its’ time. Thanks to Ray I became very proficient at catching salad patch bass. Just as a baseball batter must see the ball and time his swing, a bass angler must see and feel the strike of a bass and then drive the hook home! Too early and you jerk it out of the bass’ mouth. Wait too long and he’ll spit it out.

There was no denying that these post spawn bass were in a feeding mode and looking for any meal that even dared move.

And that made my job all the more easier. Spot a swirl, cast the lure, and get prepared to get bit. It really is just as simple as that.

After catching a few on the frog, I switched to a Senco. Just as my cell phone rang I pitched the Senco a few feet out from a point. As I answered my phone, a hungry bass sucked in my offering and tried to take the rod out of my hands.

My phone call came to an abrupt end as I set the hook and battled another lunker bass. After landing and photographing the fish, I resumed my conversation and quickly ended my phone calls for the day.

Working the shallows further I switched to a Zoom trick worm and continued to catch bass by sight fishing swirls. As the bass swirled on their prey right near the grass and shoreline, I pitched the worm right into the strike zone of the bass, twitched the bait once or twice and usually got bit.

The key was setting the hook at just the right time because if you waited too late the bass would bury themselves under the moss or wooden structure and you’d either miss them or be hung up.

As the sun began to disappear below the western horizon the surface activity heated up even further. What had begun as swirls in the shallows had turned into a more aggressive slashing of the water surface as the ravenous bass made an all out assault on the small baitfish swimming along the surface.

Pitching a small jerk bait out across the shallow flat I started it back to the boat in a walk the dog fashion. However, it didn’t make it very far as yet another bass smashed this offering as well. As the last rays of sunlight faded I made one last cast down the shoreline and promptly caught a bass on my last cast of the day.

Though I’d only had a couple of hours to fish, I had caught and released a good many bass and relieved a little stress in the process. Don’t miss out on some of the most fantastic fishing of the year occurring at a lake near you right now. Try it, and you just might be hooked for life!