Stan Fagerstrom
07-31-2003, 10:15 AM
“A Way With A Wobbler”
By Stan Fagerstrom
Part 2
In my last column I told how effective red and white wobblers can be for largemouth bass when presented in the proper fashion. This time around let’s look more closely at the type of wobblers I’m talking about and what to do with them for best results.
The wobblers I’m writing about are red and white, candy-striped affairs with a copper finish on the inside. They are 2 ¼- inches long and weigh a ½-ounce. I suppose there are other wobblers out there that will work as well, but the ones I’ve found most productive were marketed by National Expert lures. I’m not aware that this company is still in business. I take very good care of the few of their wobblers I have left.
http://www.ifish.net/sfwobclose.jpg
There's nothing fancy about this red & white metal wobbler. Even so, on some waters it can be dynamite when fished properly for largemouth bass.
I fish these wobblers with a casting outfit and 10 to 12-pound test line. On the Columbia River sloughs, as well as some other spots I’ve fished, you could cast and reel such a wobbler all day without getting so much as a bump. It had to be manipulated just right to get attention. The right way was to cast parallel to the shoreline. I let the wobbler sink until I felt it tick bottom, then hopped it up with a little flip of the rod tip and let it sink again. I did this throughout the entire retrieve.
Sometimes bass grabbed the wobbler as it dropped. Other times they smacked it as I hopped it up off the bottom. They paid no attention to a steady retrieve. The lure had to fall and hop all the way back to get results.
Letting the lure tick bottom resulted in its share of hang-ups. These wobblers came with a triple hook attached to a split ring on the hind end. I found I could get away from much of the snagging problem by using wire cutters to snip off one barb of the treble, leaving only a double hook. If you choose to do the same, be sure the barb you snip off is the one that hangs down as the lure swims.
I’ve experimented with a variety of trailers for these wobblers. I’ve tried single hooks dressed with bucktail. I’ve attached different pork strips. None of those additions were worth a toot. The bass simply didn't want my wobblers with a lot of trimming. They chose to gobble them just as they were.
I realize there are other bass fishermen who sometimes use metal wobblers. I was on hand years ago when young Stanley Mitchell flabbergasted the experts and won the Bass Masters Classic using a Krockodile metal spoon that’s marketed by the Luhr Jensen folks in Hood River, OR. Be that as it may, few bass fishermen spend much time fishing metal wobblers the way I've described. Most tackle boxes I have a chance to look over don't even contain one.
http://www.ifish.net/sfwobdoub.jpg
I've usually done best with a wobbler by hopping it up from the bottom and letting it fall back again. That's why I removed one hook from this treble. Having the remaining two hooks point up when the lure touches bottom cuts down on the number of hang ups.
I also learned that good as these wobblers were on the Columbia River backwaters was no guarantee they would be equally effective elsewhere. I eventually built a home right on the shore of one of Western Washington’s most productive bass lakes. I lived there for more than 30 years and my bass boat was in the water about 60 feet from my front door year around. I fished my metal wobblers there from time to time. I never did catch many fish with them. They were tops on the Columbia backwaters, but of dubious distinction at my home lake.
There’s nothing fancy about red and white wobblers. They don’t have the glitter and flash of some of the more expensive bass lures. But now and then they turn out to be just what those big-mouthed boogers want.
Will they work on your favorite bass waters? I don’t know. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. But I do know this: Every now and then they can be hot when fished in the fashion I’ve detailed and that you’re missing a bet if you don’t give ‘em a try. How are you gonna know if they’ll work unless you do?
Like I said in the beginning of this two part series, I sure don’t understand all I know about either largemouth bass or the female of the species **** sapiens. But I do know this: Get too set in your ways of dealing with either one and you’ll get your butt kicked one way or the other. Try something new now and then. Give those red and white wobblers a shot in your own fishing. Throw ‘em parallel to the shoreline and use a hop ‘n drop retrieve all the way back to the boat.
You just might wind up getting the same kind of surprise I did that evening on a Columbia River log pond a long time ago.
By Stan Fagerstrom
Part 2
In my last column I told how effective red and white wobblers can be for largemouth bass when presented in the proper fashion. This time around let’s look more closely at the type of wobblers I’m talking about and what to do with them for best results.
The wobblers I’m writing about are red and white, candy-striped affairs with a copper finish on the inside. They are 2 ¼- inches long and weigh a ½-ounce. I suppose there are other wobblers out there that will work as well, but the ones I’ve found most productive were marketed by National Expert lures. I’m not aware that this company is still in business. I take very good care of the few of their wobblers I have left.
http://www.ifish.net/sfwobclose.jpg
There's nothing fancy about this red & white metal wobbler. Even so, on some waters it can be dynamite when fished properly for largemouth bass.
I fish these wobblers with a casting outfit and 10 to 12-pound test line. On the Columbia River sloughs, as well as some other spots I’ve fished, you could cast and reel such a wobbler all day without getting so much as a bump. It had to be manipulated just right to get attention. The right way was to cast parallel to the shoreline. I let the wobbler sink until I felt it tick bottom, then hopped it up with a little flip of the rod tip and let it sink again. I did this throughout the entire retrieve.
Sometimes bass grabbed the wobbler as it dropped. Other times they smacked it as I hopped it up off the bottom. They paid no attention to a steady retrieve. The lure had to fall and hop all the way back to get results.
Letting the lure tick bottom resulted in its share of hang-ups. These wobblers came with a triple hook attached to a split ring on the hind end. I found I could get away from much of the snagging problem by using wire cutters to snip off one barb of the treble, leaving only a double hook. If you choose to do the same, be sure the barb you snip off is the one that hangs down as the lure swims.
I’ve experimented with a variety of trailers for these wobblers. I’ve tried single hooks dressed with bucktail. I’ve attached different pork strips. None of those additions were worth a toot. The bass simply didn't want my wobblers with a lot of trimming. They chose to gobble them just as they were.
I realize there are other bass fishermen who sometimes use metal wobblers. I was on hand years ago when young Stanley Mitchell flabbergasted the experts and won the Bass Masters Classic using a Krockodile metal spoon that’s marketed by the Luhr Jensen folks in Hood River, OR. Be that as it may, few bass fishermen spend much time fishing metal wobblers the way I've described. Most tackle boxes I have a chance to look over don't even contain one.
http://www.ifish.net/sfwobdoub.jpg
I've usually done best with a wobbler by hopping it up from the bottom and letting it fall back again. That's why I removed one hook from this treble. Having the remaining two hooks point up when the lure touches bottom cuts down on the number of hang ups.
I also learned that good as these wobblers were on the Columbia River backwaters was no guarantee they would be equally effective elsewhere. I eventually built a home right on the shore of one of Western Washington’s most productive bass lakes. I lived there for more than 30 years and my bass boat was in the water about 60 feet from my front door year around. I fished my metal wobblers there from time to time. I never did catch many fish with them. They were tops on the Columbia backwaters, but of dubious distinction at my home lake.
There’s nothing fancy about red and white wobblers. They don’t have the glitter and flash of some of the more expensive bass lures. But now and then they turn out to be just what those big-mouthed boogers want.
Will they work on your favorite bass waters? I don’t know. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. But I do know this: Every now and then they can be hot when fished in the fashion I’ve detailed and that you’re missing a bet if you don’t give ‘em a try. How are you gonna know if they’ll work unless you do?
Like I said in the beginning of this two part series, I sure don’t understand all I know about either largemouth bass or the female of the species **** sapiens. But I do know this: Get too set in your ways of dealing with either one and you’ll get your butt kicked one way or the other. Try something new now and then. Give those red and white wobblers a shot in your own fishing. Throw ‘em parallel to the shoreline and use a hop ‘n drop retrieve all the way back to the boat.
You just might wind up getting the same kind of surprise I did that evening on a Columbia River log pond a long time ago.