Tag: the minimalist fisherman

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

The jon boat was finally ready, loaded, and trailing behind me as I sped toward my favorite canal. It was the fourth week of April, and even though it was a little brisk at 65°, it was comfortable. The only thing that made me uncomfortable… was the clouds up ahead.

But winter had finally released its grip on spring, and with the slight increase in warmth, life had to be stirring beneath the surface of the water. Clouds or not, I had to check. Within 55 minutes, the ramp came into view. I slammed the truck in park and walked over to the water to see how things looked…

Then the sky tore open.

Not a rumble. Not a flash. Not a drop of rain. Just a brutal, bone-deep crack of thunder following a streak of lightning so clearly visible it made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up.

I didn’t launch the boat.

Instead, I cussed, got back in the truck, and drove all the way home. “What a flippin’ waste of two hours,” I mumbled… but about halfway through the drive, something changed. I went from sulking to planning. When you’re a father of five running two businesses, there aren’t many days you get to fish. So, my options were to be sad – or be flexible.

I opted for the latter. Dropped the boat, grabbed a different Base Box, a backpack, rigged two simple rods, and drove to a nearby group of small lakes with shoreline access. If I hadn’t… I never would have caught her…

Sometimes the best days begin with a little flexibility.

Fishing Flexibility

In a nutshell, fishing flexibility means this: don’t force it.

The scenario above is true – you’ve experienced it yourself. We make plans to fish a certain lake, a certain way, for certain results. God laughs. Heartily. Then tells us otherwise. If we can pay attention to these signs – to our surroundings – we can usually make better decisions. Decisions that will make us safer, make us look smarter, and, in truth, help us catch more fish.

Rain? I’ll fish it. Clouds and even a bit of distant thunder? I’ll fish it. Lightning?

I’m out.

Don’t put yourself in a position where you are the tallest, most attractive thing on the lake – unless you’ve always dreamed of transitioning into a lightning rod.

“My pronouns are cooked / goose.”

Flexible Fishing Techniques

Leaving the canal was hard – not only because it meant I’d have to wait to explore an area I know holds big fish, but because I had to adjust how I would approach the fish at the next location. I had to pick somewhere I could take cover quickly, which meant staying on foot. This limited the rods I could carry, and so two bank fishing techniques got the early-spring nod:

1. Fling-a-Ding

I love throwing YUM Dingers around, but the problem with Flingin’ a Ding is that they have very little weight. They’re durable, cheap, and they catch fish – all good – but they look dead unless you impart some action into them. There are several ways to do this, but the easiest is to put your Dinger on a Reaction Tackle Weighted Wacky Jig.

Even in clear water, it seems like bass focus on the bait, not the weight. They’ll inhale your Frankenstein’d hot dog like it’s a gourmet offering! I’ll still opt for internal weights and super-light wacky hooks in pits with 500-foot visibility… but in semi-clear water like this, I don’t feel like I’m missing fish because of the exposed weight. Plus, the hooks are nasty, and the weight adds a pulse to the Dingers that is otherwise nonexistent. Very important. Very effective.

The color white (or in this case, a more subtle smoke / pearl laminate) is perfect for overcast days as it creates a soft glow in the water. At times, it’s the best thing you can throw.

2. The Crowbar

The Crowbar is a combination of the components listed above: a Z-Man Goat Toad, a Trokar Magworm EWG with a bait keeper, two internal rattles inserted with the Rattle Snaker tool, and a floating bullet in front of your uni-knot to keep things ultra-muckless on your 40-pound Seaguar Gold leader.

This setup was developed to pry big, mean bass from thick, heavy sludge. It’s a battering ram with a fishing license – like calling in an airstrike to deal with a raccoon problem. Brutal, yes – but effective.

The single hook delivers a much better hookup ratio than a frog hook – especially when you consider that the extra weight of the solid ElaZtech gets flung in the air less than a hollow-bodied frog. The legs give you the ability to buzz or pause. You can twitch, hop, skip, and everything in between. The fluoro is less visible and abrasion-resistant if you want to work around stumps and laydowns.

I could go on, but the bottom line is this: The Crowbar is an extremely versatile topwater presentation that I will leave tied on from the time the water hits 55° until the end of my season. Period.

It’s a flexible technique for the flexible fisherman.

So yes, it can be frustrating… but if you focus on improving your flexibility – becoming a flexible fisherman – you’ll make better decisions, safer decisions, and make hay.

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

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