SLIDERS AND POWER BAIT- A WINNING COMBINATION

A recent week of summer holidays at our family retreat brought back a flood of happy bass fishing memories. Part of this can be attributed to my past participation in the Kenora Bass International, which is held the second week in August every year on mighty Lake of the Woods. I can still vividly the first K.B.I. held back in 1988. My partner and myself were one of 43 teams that competed that year and bass fishing in this part of the world was something seen on t.v. but never conceived of, at least not in a tournament form. It was a ragtag crew of anglers that assembled that first morning on the Kenora waterfront. Most had never spent any time fishing bass, never mind tried their luck in a tournament. While I had fished some walleye tournaments in previous years, I was one of the many that had never tried to catch a bass of any form in an organized event. The first day, though, couldn't have started out any better for us. On our first stop, a short distance from Kenora, my plastic worm was engulfed by a three pound smallmouth bass, then another and another and my love for catching these great gamefish was etched forever in my fishing subconscious. Oh, how things have changed since then and bass tournaments in Northwestern Ontario have become huge and popular events, which brings us back to present day because the techniques used to catch summertime bass remain much the same as they did back in 1988, though the artificial baits used to entice these fish have been much refined.

In August in this part of the world, I would have say the most effective way to catch smallmouth bass is by using a variety of artificial plastic baits, either a worm or grub style. There will be times when the bass will hit a top water bait or a medium or shallow running crankbait but day in and day out at this time of year, plastic is fantastic for these fish.

Most mornings while on holiday my son and I getting in the boat before breakfast and heading out on the lake to bass fish while everybody else was still asleep. The one lure that we found that worked pretty much no matter what, was one that you might want to consider having in your box, if you're fishing in the KBI or just out at the cottage.

This lure and technique was first introduced to me back in 1990 by Steve Green of Kenora. He showed me how to fish a snagless 1/8 ounce "slider jig". It consisted of a flat jighead molded on a longshanked worm hook on which you thread plastic worm.

On to this was rigged a four inch Berkley power worm of different shapes, sizes and colours but I will get into that in a minute. First things first and more importantly Steve showed me how to rig the bait properly. He did this by taking the head of the plastic worm (usually the thick end) sticking it just the top through the hook, then slid it up along the shank to the bend of the worm hook, which is right by behind the jighead itself. Here it gets a little trickier, because you have to then rehook the worm so it trails out horizontally behind the jighead. This is done by laying the worm flat along the shank of the hook to see where you have to pierce it again so it will flow out naturally. If you are having trouble with this concept, while buying some of these slider jigs at your local tackle store, get one of the staff to show you. Not all the tackle stores in Winnipeg have them though, so call around. They are called "Slider Heads" and are manufactured by Charlie Brewers Slider Company and can be viewed on his commercial website at www.sliderfishing.com. The jighead that I have always used that has worked the best through experimentation in the 1/8 ounce snagless head with the actual eye of the jig on the front. This eyelet location allows you to glide the lure through the water by slowlifting your rod tip one foot then slow dropping it. Reel in line when you drop the tip, watching it at all times for a take. For this reason I always use Berkley Premium "Photochromic"line on my reels. Photochromic is highly visible above water but becomes virtually invisible once it enters the water and sinks, allowing you to see takes that you never would otherwise, something that neutral and negative summertime bass like to do.

When choosing worm style for the bass with this presentation certain rules did apply. When the bass were totally off a straight-tail Power Worm seemed best. When the fish were neutral a paddle-tailed Power worm provided maximum vibration with a slow retrieve, but to shake things up, a swimming tail Power worm style was good for aggressive fish. Which brings us to the hot-bait of the week and certainly one you want for sure in your box. It's the brand new Bungee worm from Berkley (www.berkley-fishing.com/home.cfm) and with its slender, tapered body, the Bungee worm imitates a live nightcrawler through it's unique recoiling action. Available in 4 inch and 7 inch sizes for most worm fishing applications we found the 4 inch size to be the ticket, with blue fleck being the colour. In fact, this presentation hooked the largest bass we had seen all week, one that used a huge boulder as his lair. As luck would have it though, the monster smallmouth jumped and threw the hook, something that rarely happens on a slider jig. These new Bungee baits also have the added appeal of new Bio-Salt, a special flavoring that simulates the salt content of live prey fish and catch a variety of fish like crazy, just not bass.