Stan Fagerstrom
04-30-2005, 02:48 PM
Storm Swim Shads
“Great Baits For Big Bass”
By Stan Fagerstrom
Part 2
In my last column I detailed the experiences Mike Pedersen, my longtime friend and fishing partner, and I had on our first trip to famed Anglers Inn on Mexico’s El Salto Lake. I told how Mike had missed his chance at a big one.
I don’t want to leave the impression that trip was a bust because it wasn’t. A visit to Anglers Inn on El SaltoLake never is. Mike did get a bass as large as any he’d ever caught on that first trip. We decided to go back to El Salto the following year, this time in May.
http://www.ifish.net/sfswimshad1.jpg
These little wiggling hunks of plastic are a favorite lure for anglers after big bass in Mexico's El Salto Lake.
That second trip we experienced the kind of bass fishing that has made El Salto famous. The first day out I used a Stan’s Spin spinnerbait to hook one of the largest bass I’ve ever had on. It pulled free right at the boat. About 10 minutes later I had another savage hit on the same lure. That one didn’t get away. When we finally got it onto our Boga Grip scales it weighed 10-pounds, 4-ounces.
That fish turned out to be the largest of the trip, but that doesn’t begin to tell the complete story. The second day out we hit one spot where the guide tied our boat to a submerged tree and pointed out where he wanted us to cast. We caught more than 20 bass, most of them running from 3 to 6-pounds, and we did it without ever moving the boat.
Our third day brought more of the same. I insisted that Mike take the front of the boat so he’d have first opportunity to hit the best spots. It didn’t work. We again got into a spot that was simply loaded with fish. I rigged up with a tilapia colored Outlaw Baits tube bait. Those Mexican bass couldn’t leave it alone. Even when I flipped that salt loaded hunk of plastic just a few feet from the boat, once it touched down a fish had it.
Mike started fishing that same spot with a 10-inch worm. He caught fish, but he lost more that he caught. Finally, just after I’d unhooked one of 7-pounds and another of 8-pounds, he switched to the tube. It was the same story. He hooked ‘em, but couldn’t hold ‘em. He did manage to get one that topped 7-pounds---again the largest he’d ever caught. I wound up with other 5 to 8-pounders to go along with the 10-pound, 4-ounce fish I’d taken earlier.
On our flight back to the Pacific Northwest the two of us pondered why Mike hadn’t been more successful in boating more of the fish he’d had hold of. We reached a conclusion. For one thing, I’d been soaking every one of the baits I used with Smelly Jelly scent. The second difference in our approach was I had been using Power Pro braided line.
http://www.ifish.net/sfwebmike3.jpg
Mike Pedersen, of Longview, WA, nailed this beauty on a Storm Swim Bait.
My pal Mike is a broad shouldered son of a gun. I’ve seen him handle railroad ties that gave me sacroiliac spasms just to watch. I swear I’ve watched the trees along the shoreline tremble when he sets the hook. But Mike, you see, was using monofilament. Fish that stuff 20-feet down while using plastic baits and the stretchiness mono has doesn’t always make for a solid hook up.
Our experience on those first two trips set the stage for the third. We made sure Mike’s reels were loaded with Power Pro. He also had his own jugs of Smelly Jelly scent. And that wasn’t all. The third time around he’d also purchased a half dozen packages of those Storm Swim Shad lures I mentioned earlier.
If you’ve followed developments at Lake El Salto in recent years, you’re aware that Storm swimbaits have accounted for a disproportionate share of slab sided lunkers. If you’ve read some of my earlier columns, you’re aware of expert anglers like Dr. Chris Minnick, of California. Dr. Minnick has caught more than 20 El Salto whoppers that topped 10-pounds. He’ll tell you some of those beauties came on swimbaits.
http://www.ifish.net/sfmiketwo.jpg
Sometimes the bass in Mexico's Lake El Salto hit hard and fast. The two bass shown here grabbed the same lure at the same time.
It didn’t take my pal Mike long to verify everything we’d heard about these fish-catching lures. For starters he boated an 8-pounder. Not long after that he had a 9-pounder in the boat. Those are big bass. They may not be huge by El Salto Lake standards, but friends they’re big if most of your bass fishing has been done in Pacific Northwest waters.
My pal Mike was one happy camper when that trip was over. It left him with a bad case of “Swimbaititis.” Probably the only cure will be another opportunity to throw those heavy hunks of plastic fish-catching dynamite down there south of the border.
Like I said in the beginning, I know they will be the first lures my pal Mike’s gonna throw if we’re fortunate enough to get back to El Salto. As a matter of fact, if you’re headed in that direction it might not be all that bad an idea if you did the same thing!
“Great Baits For Big Bass”
By Stan Fagerstrom
Part 2
In my last column I detailed the experiences Mike Pedersen, my longtime friend and fishing partner, and I had on our first trip to famed Anglers Inn on Mexico’s El Salto Lake. I told how Mike had missed his chance at a big one.
I don’t want to leave the impression that trip was a bust because it wasn’t. A visit to Anglers Inn on El SaltoLake never is. Mike did get a bass as large as any he’d ever caught on that first trip. We decided to go back to El Salto the following year, this time in May.
http://www.ifish.net/sfswimshad1.jpg
These little wiggling hunks of plastic are a favorite lure for anglers after big bass in Mexico's El Salto Lake.
That second trip we experienced the kind of bass fishing that has made El Salto famous. The first day out I used a Stan’s Spin spinnerbait to hook one of the largest bass I’ve ever had on. It pulled free right at the boat. About 10 minutes later I had another savage hit on the same lure. That one didn’t get away. When we finally got it onto our Boga Grip scales it weighed 10-pounds, 4-ounces.
That fish turned out to be the largest of the trip, but that doesn’t begin to tell the complete story. The second day out we hit one spot where the guide tied our boat to a submerged tree and pointed out where he wanted us to cast. We caught more than 20 bass, most of them running from 3 to 6-pounds, and we did it without ever moving the boat.
Our third day brought more of the same. I insisted that Mike take the front of the boat so he’d have first opportunity to hit the best spots. It didn’t work. We again got into a spot that was simply loaded with fish. I rigged up with a tilapia colored Outlaw Baits tube bait. Those Mexican bass couldn’t leave it alone. Even when I flipped that salt loaded hunk of plastic just a few feet from the boat, once it touched down a fish had it.
Mike started fishing that same spot with a 10-inch worm. He caught fish, but he lost more that he caught. Finally, just after I’d unhooked one of 7-pounds and another of 8-pounds, he switched to the tube. It was the same story. He hooked ‘em, but couldn’t hold ‘em. He did manage to get one that topped 7-pounds---again the largest he’d ever caught. I wound up with other 5 to 8-pounders to go along with the 10-pound, 4-ounce fish I’d taken earlier.
On our flight back to the Pacific Northwest the two of us pondered why Mike hadn’t been more successful in boating more of the fish he’d had hold of. We reached a conclusion. For one thing, I’d been soaking every one of the baits I used with Smelly Jelly scent. The second difference in our approach was I had been using Power Pro braided line.
http://www.ifish.net/sfwebmike3.jpg
Mike Pedersen, of Longview, WA, nailed this beauty on a Storm Swim Bait.
My pal Mike is a broad shouldered son of a gun. I’ve seen him handle railroad ties that gave me sacroiliac spasms just to watch. I swear I’ve watched the trees along the shoreline tremble when he sets the hook. But Mike, you see, was using monofilament. Fish that stuff 20-feet down while using plastic baits and the stretchiness mono has doesn’t always make for a solid hook up.
Our experience on those first two trips set the stage for the third. We made sure Mike’s reels were loaded with Power Pro. He also had his own jugs of Smelly Jelly scent. And that wasn’t all. The third time around he’d also purchased a half dozen packages of those Storm Swim Shad lures I mentioned earlier.
If you’ve followed developments at Lake El Salto in recent years, you’re aware that Storm swimbaits have accounted for a disproportionate share of slab sided lunkers. If you’ve read some of my earlier columns, you’re aware of expert anglers like Dr. Chris Minnick, of California. Dr. Minnick has caught more than 20 El Salto whoppers that topped 10-pounds. He’ll tell you some of those beauties came on swimbaits.
http://www.ifish.net/sfmiketwo.jpg
Sometimes the bass in Mexico's Lake El Salto hit hard and fast. The two bass shown here grabbed the same lure at the same time.
It didn’t take my pal Mike long to verify everything we’d heard about these fish-catching lures. For starters he boated an 8-pounder. Not long after that he had a 9-pounder in the boat. Those are big bass. They may not be huge by El Salto Lake standards, but friends they’re big if most of your bass fishing has been done in Pacific Northwest waters.
My pal Mike was one happy camper when that trip was over. It left him with a bad case of “Swimbaititis.” Probably the only cure will be another opportunity to throw those heavy hunks of plastic fish-catching dynamite down there south of the border.
Like I said in the beginning, I know they will be the first lures my pal Mike’s gonna throw if we’re fortunate enough to get back to El Salto. As a matter of fact, if you’re headed in that direction it might not be all that bad an idea if you did the same thing!