Spring Lizard Tips
We've rolled through the winter holidays,
Halloween, getting stuffed on Thanksgiving, red noses of
Christmas, cheers on New Years. We've done the obligatory
Valentine's Day chocolate and roses thing.
Now it's Spring! The time a young man's fancy
turns to...lizards!
Lizards are synonymous with spring. Fake
ones work even where bass never encounter live lizards or
salamanders. One reason may be lizard baits simply resemble
something packed full of protein and easy to catch! Another
reason may be that lizard baits fit the instinctive profile of
low-down, bottom-scrounging varmints that bass kill whenever they
intrude on bass spawning grounds. But, the only reason that truly
matters to us is that bass hammer lizards hard in spring! No
wonder anglers like to fling spring lizards!
THEY WORK EVERYWHERE!
A few years ago when Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits
introduced two new models of lizards (7" and 4"
inches), sales were slow to take off even though field research
showed the lizards to be great fish-catchers. Nevertheless, our
lizards went through critical bouts of re-engineering, improving
the body, belly, legs and tails on each design iteration.
Nowadays, we are glad we went that "extra mile" to
ensure our fish-catching lizards rank among the very best lizards
anywhere!
CAROLINA RIG
Traditionally, lizards go on Carolina rigs. Just
make a leader with a hook on one end and a swivel on the other.
Then string a sliding sinker and bead on the line above the
swivel. This lets you slither lizards all around fairly open
water from shallow to deep.
YOU FISH THE SINKER (not the bait) with a
Carolina rig. The sinker controls everything. The lizard just
hangs around and does nothing except follow the sinker. The
weight of the sinker controls the fall speed, the crawling or
swimming action, and the bottom-bouncing attraction. The sinker
makes noise on hard bottoms, and puffs up clouds of silt on soft
bottoms.
NEVER DROPSHOT
I'm telling you, never dropshot the BIG 7"
lizard on heavy gear so it plays a deadly game of peek-a-boo with
bass in the tops of new vegetation in spring. Dropshotting
lizards just won't work. And if you do get it to work, never tell
anybody. They won't believe you.
Never ever dropshot the BABY 4" lizard in
rock or gravel beds for smallmouth. After all, lizards are for
largemouth, not smallmouth. Right? Don't let the dropshot weight
rap against hard bottom, don't mend slack line so the lizard
glides and darts down to bottom, never pull it back up slowly so
the line barely tightens up - and wait for a bite. You just won't
get one.
TEXAS RIG
Any place the cover gets too thick to pull
Carolina rigs or dropshots, you are better off to Texas rig a
lizard. In heavy weed, brush, or wood cover, use a screw-in
Florida Rig (or a toothpick-pegged bullet weight) that is heavy
enough so the lizard will penetrate and drop straight through
thick cover - and hold on!
 In medium to light cover, fashion an
unpegged Texas rig same as you would make a Carolina Rig except
put the weight and bead on the leader BETWEEN the swivel and
hook.
JIG 'N LIZ
Lizards go great on jig heads. I like to adorn
them with little lizard superhero capes made from worn-out tube
baits. Got any torn and tattered old tube baits? Just cut the
skirted tails off. Pull them down over the lizard's neck. Then
slip the caped crusader onto a jig head. And no, our lizards do
not have a big "S" emblazoned on their chests.
Fling lizards this spring. Big bass will thank
you for your cooperation.
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