LIP GRIPPER TACTICS
This smallmouth smacked the snooze
button one time too many. PHOTOS: COURTESY JEFF LITTLE
I lob a rock through the inch-thick ice
Alarm Clock
BLADE BAITS THIS CHILLY WINTER AND FALL BY JEFF LITTLE
A
t 4:53 a.m., my alarm clock blares a piercing staccato. My face contracts
with a frown as I clumsily swat at the snooze button. By the time my feet hit the cold floor, my grimace has subsided. I grin, knowing that it’s Saturday and I’m about to provide a wake up call to reservoir small- mouth and walleye.
24 … KAYAK ANGLER FALL/WINTER 2010 WAKE THEM UP WITH
that prevents me from launching. I’m in the kayak quickly, paddling toward the first ex- ample of vertical rock structure. My bathy- metric map shows a creek channel slam- ming into a steep shoreline, protected from the cold northwest wind. My kayak zig-zags back and forth over
the precipitous drop from 12 feet to 26 to 43, and back again. The depth finder rap- idly jumps between the three distinct hard surfaces. I pitch four marker buoys over- board, showing me the top edge of the creek channel’s rim. The smallmouth, walleye, white perch
and crappie suspended below remain in a winter slumber. A 3/4-ounce blade bait plummets once I free spool. Bam! The braided line stops abruptly. The heavy lure has reached one of the many closely stacked rocky contours. I lift it no more than four inches and drop. Lift, drop, lift, drop, lift, drop. With each, I feel the crisp thud of lead, metal plate and treble hooks clanging loudly. I think back to the alarm clock’s irritating sound, maintaining the ca- dence as I jig. Then the thud fails to come. Something has slapped at the snooze button. I lift
again, but this time four feet instead of four inches. The weight of a big walleye throbs heavily. The fight lasts a long time, as this angry fish struggles to stay in bed, 40 feet below.
Then, the thud fails to come. Something has slapped at the snooze button. I lift again, but this time four feet instead of four inches. The weight of a big walleye throbs heavily.
The vertical jigging blade bait tac-
tic does not discriminate. Multi-species days are common with this bang-rock- until-they-lose-their-cool presentation. Smallmouth prefer depths in the 15- to 30-foot range. Crappie gravitate toward bridge pilings. White perch can suspend anywhere, but the schools are quite vis- ible on any depth finder. Find some verti- cal rock structure, drop down a blade bait and wake ‘em up!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52