Nothin' Like the Real Thing... but MUCH BETTER~Plastics for Steelies and Bass

I have little room and low tolerance for superficiality in most aspects of life...

Make it right, make it real or just shut up and done the deal~

But fish don't always want a straight shot nor do they always have the conscious-keen-eye to see through the fluff...

That works out quite well for me in the spring.

I lean towards artificials in all of my fishing endeavors. My salmon and steelhead GO-TO is the spoon. My striped bass weapon of choice is the swimmer or surface plug and for bass of the green, landlocked variety... poppers, jerks, or plastics make up the gist of my arsenal...

There are times when a wad of roe, a live shad or pike minnow or a night crawler beckon to 'pinch-hit' for the usual lineup of offerings to the hard hitters of respective species... and spring time in particular is a time when bugs, bait-fish and worms are first-choice on the menu for fish coming out of their sleepy winter slumber.

Off to the river I went. The water was still a bit high and colored up so ditched the fly rod and got back to my roots...

Had the full Himalayan-excursion pack and vest outfitted and ready for any bait or hardware scenario.

I got down to the water where a couple days prior, I'd hooked a 5# chromer blue-back. It was one of those text-book moments that happened right in front of a resting blue kayak and its pilot. The fish exploded out of the water with my gold spoon in her mouth. One cartwheel and two head-shakes later I was on the phone crying to Benny about the chromer that got away... Sometime during our conversation I discovered the reason she got away. My spoon was dangling an empty split ring at its obtuse end. Somehow, the fish (or the fisherman) managed to slip the hook from the ring before or during the fight which never really transpired...

So today, I was well-stocked and oh so prepared to get revenge. Only, one small problem... I reached in to my vest pocket to find a weight and there were no weights. Hooks? I had ONE. Bottom bouncing gear? NOPE! I left my night-crawlers on the kitchen table also.

I had somehow managed to leave most of the 'most-essentials' behind... Here's that making the best of it theme again...

I did happen to have my rod pre-rigged with a float and the one hook I had in possession so I figured that's what I'd be using.

I pulled out one of the bags I did bring, loaded to the gills with puffed plastic, blown foam and molded latex... Corkie? Puff Ball? Spin N Glo? Mad River Flouro's? nah, nah, nah.

Ah SNAUSAGES! actually, Berkley bubble-gum Power Worms, yah that's sexy. Perfect for the dirty water just wish I had some weight to bounce it but I didn't so I rigged up the pink-pearl Worden's DB and the snipped strapped a snausage on the shiney lil #6 Gami' and started browsing the waters. I had crossed the river earlier and decided to make my way back along the only large, sweeping tailout in the area.

I damn near stepped on a 6-7# upriver bright. I tried to retreat and recoup a drift but I'd already sent that fish 2 miles upriver with my shadow.

I saw a spawning hen near the opposite bank so figured there had to be some life around. I tossed the PMESL (poor-man's egg-sucking leech) into the sweep rage of the tailout directly downriver from me and I felt the slam a good two seconds before I watched my bobber drown...

Not a big fish but definitely an upper and purdy one...




I set her free with renewed expectations of bigger and brighter fish but you know what they say about expectations... I later tossed hardware in all the right places but got repeatedly rejected.

Not a bad day at all considering I'd left most of my gear at home...

One of the great gifts of the trip was the renewed confidence in plastic worms for spring trout. Night crawlers are such a pain in the ass... to get, to store, to keep, to thread, to sustain, to cast, to use...



I went home and found all the stuff I had left right where I had left it funny how that works.

The day was young and the sun was shining so I figured on a quick scout to the local pond. Fake worms worked in the river why not feed some to the bass?

I grabbed my trusty RB's, hooks and some lead and was off.

Can't say it was on fire but 5/6 on the first scout of the season wasn't a bad score...





Nothing better than a Bi-fecta except a TRI-fecta... but that may be a week or two away~;)

Gotta love the latex!
M