Winter 2023
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I’ve found some days when the El Salto bass still love the Plopper and others when they prefer the slightly different noise of the Berkley Choppo.
I intend to try some others like the Deps Evoke and the Wounded Ploppin’ P, too. Even within a single family, the different sizes may produce different results from day-to-day or from hour- to-hour.
The 90-sized Plopper is a very different bait than the 110, which in turn is very different than the 130.
Similarly, if you’re catching fish on a six-inch Basstrix, you might get more bites with a four-inch model when things slow down. Conversely, a seven-incher might produce more and/or better bites. Sometimes that slight change in profile or vibration makes a world of difference.
FIND NEW WATER
Once the cat is out of the bag on a new lure, and several generations of bass have been exposed to it, you may never get that “just married” feeling back again – unless you think about that strategically.
Within just about every fishery, there are areas or populations of fish that don’t get the same pressure or the same exposure. If you can find them, whether by banging
into a backwater you find on Google Earth or penetrating a thick stand of trees or vegetation, there’s a chance to get that loving feeling back.
Find new places, experience the bite again like it’s the first time you’ve tried it.
Finally, don’t hesitate to resuscitate a
once-hot lure that has fallen out of favor.
By the time everyone things it has “gotten
too popular” to fish, you likely have a group
of bass that have no idea it ever existed. •
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