Plowing the Grass Prairies at Night
 This
article begins by talking about buzzbaits in grass at night,
which is MOST deadly! Everything it says about buzzbaits applies
equally to spinnerbaits in grass at night, just that it's harder
to "steer" spinnerbaits at night - because of loss of
eye contact with the bait. You do not lose eye contact with
buzzbaits at night! So if you desire to use the following
techniques, learn them first with the buzzbait, then master them
last with the spinnerbait!
Buzzbaits
The night's abuzz! In summer, many sections of lakes and ponds
may get completely topped off with weeds. If you are lucky enough
to find sections that have 6 to 12 inches of clean water over the
tops of weedbeds, they can be effectively fished with a number of
lures at night, including a Jitterbug, a buzzbait and a
spinnerbait. Many times however, there is often a lot of floating
and stringy stuff that makes it difficult to use the Jitterbug or
spinnerbait without fouling in that junk. Maybe you can handle
this by day, but it is pretty difficult in the darkness.
Bulldoze a buzzbait. But, you can bulldoze a buzzbait through
this surface stuff! They are fairly weedless with their
protective wire arms and upright single hooks. It all starts with
the cast. You must concentrate on your hand-eye coordination. You
need to anticipate the buzzbait flight trajectory as best you can
at night. Think baseball - don't cast like Willie Mays putting a
pop homer over the fences, instead make a powerful line drive to
short center. You need to engage your reel and begin turning the
reel handle when the buzz is decelerating and arcing through the
last few feet of air before it hits the water. Done, properly,
your lure should not whiplash back or anything, What should
happen is the buzz splashes down, and if you engaged the reel
right, the buzz will be gurgling instantly and moving towards
you. If you don't do this, your buzzbait will sink, even if only
for a second, and get glopped in the weeds. Just don't stop
turning the reel handle. You've got to keep 'em coming and plow
them steadily through prairies of grass as if they were miniature
bulldozers. Every so often, you may lose the chatter as the buzz
blade picks up weeds. Firmly rip the rod tip to try to shed this
stuff when you detect it, but never pause the retrieve - just
keep it coming even when you rip it. If you keep this aggressive
bulldozing approach, the buzzbait will make it pretty far across
the surface before its fish-calling chatter can be silenced by
the soft green smother. Every time you get it back to the boat,
you must remove any trace of green fuzz that may have nestled
itself between the blade's butt and the rivet. Not fun to do, is
it? For weeds, I do not like to use any plastic or metal beads on
the arm in front of the buzz blade. It keeps turing more freely
and it's easier to de-weed this way.
Beating roadblocks. If you keep up this buzzin', bulldozin'
approach, you'll be plowing a fish-calling path through this
stuff. But, you'll be faced with many thick, floating patches
that seem certain to stop your progress. Fear not! First, you
have a good chance to get a strike as your buzz comes close to
such patches. Second, you can jump the buzzbait right over such
roadblocks. Just start lowering your rod tip and wind the line so
it is nice and tight. When the buzz is 6-12 inches away from
crashing into the roadblock, then reel quickly and control-swing
the rod tip up so that the buzz jumps up and over the weedy patch
without fouling. As with all fishing tactics, practice makes
perfect.
Spots in the grass. You'll have bass blasting you whenever
your buzzbait approaches any heavier than usual growth, weed
ridges or clumps. Also, look for weed bowls, which are slight
depressions in the tops of the weeds that provide fishable bowls
of water within the weedy expanses. Cast up onto the far side of
the weed bowl, engage your reel and start cranking the handle
before the buzzbait even hits the water. If you don't, your
buzzbait will bury right into the weed canopy, and you are
wasting your time. But if you did it right, your bait will land a
few feet back into the weed canopy, and you just burn it over the
weed rim, into the slightly deeper bowl. Expect to have a bass
slam your buzzbait as it clears the weed rim. If not, expect to
get hit again just as the buzzbait reaches the near side of the
bowl's perimeter. Just an instant before the buzzbait plows
head-first into the thick rim, expect a bass to trounce it! Of
course, points and cuts along the weed bed edges are obvious
spots too.
Spinnerbaits
All of the above applies equally well to spinnerbaits. All the
night grass tactics for a buzzbait apply equally well to
spinnerbaits in grass. But it requires an extra level of night
fishing expertise to keep them as weedless as a buzzbait in these
kinds of grassy conditions. The spinnerbaits are harder to use in
heavy grass at night because you obviously can't track them by
eyesight as easily. Nevertheless, here are some additional tips I
hope you can use for night fishing in grass with spinnerbaits.
What lead head shape? Try the classic bullet nose spinnerbait
at night. It has a streamlined, pointy nose that makes it one of
the best head shapes for fishing WEEDS.
What blade for grass? You will often hear people recite a
theory about the Willow being a better grass blade because it is
more streamlined and therefore more weedless. Quite honestly
though, no matter what blade I tie on for grass, they all get
mummified in green, including Willows. Try this at home. Overlay
a size 5 Colorado on top of a size 5 Willow. Now do you really
see that much difference in the pointy end that catches the
grass? Do you think a few millimeters more or less will matter to
that choking grass? I don't think so. There is also a second
theory that a Colorado emits a stronger vibration that attracts
bass better in areas of poor visibility, such as thick grass.
Most people also say that a single Colorado blade is better at
night, especially one called a Deep Cup Colorado blade that has a
cupped edge on the blade. The thing about the single Colorado is
that it thumps - and you can fish it slower which is better at
night. But especially in hot water, I have also caught plenty of
night bass on single Willows and many varied tandem blade combos.
You decide.
What colors? Again, common talk is to use black skirts at
night, but I have caught many bass at night on white skirts too.
This has nothing to do with whether it is a full moon (bright) or
new moon (dark) either. So try them both. There is no rhyme or
reason that I could ever figure out. If they're hitting white,
then that's right. If they're hitting black, then stick with
that. When they like black, try dark purple or purple/black, they
may like THAT even better!
Bulky Bodies. At night, sometimes it can be good to bulk up
and slow down a night spinnerbait (or buzzbait) with a pork frog.
Try it sometime. I often achieve the same effect (bulk, slowness)
by taking OFF the rubber skirt entirely, and supergluing a big
fat solid white or black double tail Hula Grub in place of the
skirt. The bulky body and double-twisty legs can add to the deal
at night.
What about wire arm length? Most of the spinnerbait arms that
you will see are pretty long. In grass at night try the
following. When no one is looking, take a pair of needlenose
pliers to a single blade long arm bait. Bend the long arm
straight down about an inch or more from the tip so that the
blade now sits on a bent piece of wire behind the
"regular" part of the arm. You've accomplished two
things: 1) you've effectively made the wire arm an inch (or more)
shorter, thereby making a more compact lure that snakes through
grass better, and 2) more importantly, the "regular"
part of the arm will now protect and deflect weeds up and over
the blade and the swivel. You may also want to fold back the eye
loop so that the swivel hangs a bit better too. I think
you'll get the "hang" of it, okay? The modifed arm also
works during the daytime in grass too, but helps best at night
when you totally lose the "eye-to-lure" contact that
helps so much spinnerbaiting in grass by day. Just try this
modification - and keep it quiet. It's our little secret of the
night. |
