Product Review Editor
Part 1
This morning’s e-mail asked a question I’ve heard more than once every now and then. It was from a friend who is aware how long have I been so hopelessly addicted to bass fishing.
“Stan,” the message asked, “do you still remember the first bass you ever caught and what you caught it on?”
I answered this morning’s question the same way I’ve answered the others. It’s simply: “Yes, I sure as heck do!”
But it isn’t simply the memory of how I caught that first bass that is the subject of this column. It’s related to it, but what it also brings to mind is how what I did to get that first one has been a part of my approach to bass fishing ever since. One of the areas where it comes to mind involves fishing tube type plastic lures.
There weren’t any bass to catch near the small wheat farm in Northwest North Dakota where I came into the world. I occasionally got to go after bullhead catfish in a couple of the lazy creeks in this country where the buffalo once roamed.
When my mom and dad wound up losing every darn thing they had---which wasn’t much---during the Great Depression they poked what they had left in a bag or two into the rumble seat of an old Model A Ford coupe, stuck me in there with it, and headed West.
We wound up in the city of Longview, then a community of about 12,000 souls in Southwest Washington State.
This was in 1936 and I was about to enter the 7th grade. One of the first things that got my attention was the sizeable lake right there in the center of the city. My attention really blossomed when I heard the lake contained bass and panfish.
Just because I hadn’t caught one didn’t mean I didn’t know anything about bass. I could read and I’d saved every tattered copy of the outdoor magazines I could manage to get my hands on.
When I read about how bass would smash into a lure it intrigued me. I guess I was born with a near terminal case of the bass fishin’ itch. The first bass I caught out of that Longview lake---the lake’s still there and it’s named Lake Sacajawea---was on a spinner and a piece of fat left on a slab of bacon my mother had dumped in the garbage.
I’d seen pictures and stories about pork rind being used with bass lures. I used a pocket knife to carve a piece of that bacon fat into a crude copy of the some of the pork rind baits I’d seen in the magazines. I hung it behind a spinner and that was the combination that put my first bass on the bank all those years ago.
But as I’ve mentioned, it’s not just the catching of that first bass that I’m thinking about. What’s on my mind is how messing around with that little bit of bacon fat was the beginning of a lifetime spent doing a whole lot of experimenting with a multitude of the various bass baits that were to come later.
Whether you realize it or not, you may have used a lure or two yourself that came about as a result of my work with them. Let me be clear, they weren’t brand new lures, they were lures with slight changes that I had worked out and shared with the lure makers.
If you’re a long time bass nut you’ve probably done your share of lure experimentation yourself. Many have and what I saw a friend do with some of his tube style plastic baits that I mentioned earlier is the subject of this column. I’m convinced that what he came up with sometimes makes an impressive difference in the effectiveness of these fine little baits.
You don’t usually read or hear much about tube baits these days. That figures, I guess, because there’s always a surging interest in those lures that are brand new, lures that just might be the next best thing to dynamite.
Tubes have been around for now for quite a while. Just because they aren’t making the headlines they once did doesn’t mean they don’t still catch fish. They do and if you’ll consider making the simple addition to them I’d like to share with you, they just might do it better than ever.
So what’s the change I’m talking about? It’s to add flash to the rear end of the tube. I’m convinced it helps attract fish when conditions are right. Like I said, this wasn’t my own idea. The first ones I saw were made up by my friend Roger Luce, of Oregon. Roger was doing some guiding at the time. He, like I was to learn later, had discovered that adding that extra bit of flash to the tail end of his tubes could help put bass in the boat. It still does.
Adding the flash to your tube baits isn’t all that difficult. There are a variety of ways to go about it. The one I employ involves using a small weight that’s designed to fit inside the head of the tube. The material used to add the flash that attracts fish is attached to this weight. It’s left long enough so it trails out the rear with the plastic tails of the tube.
So what’s the kind of material you select if you want to add this little fish catching addition to your own tubes? Keep an eye on my next column here at Inside Line. I’ll provide the details on the materials involved as well as an easy way to put them into position to get the job done.
If you enjoy pooping around with your lures as much as I do, I think you’ll find it of interest. If the flash tail tubes get the same results on occasions for you they have for me I know darn well you will!
-To Be Continued-
