“A Saltwater Solution For Freshwater Bass”

Part 1

I had to slide my glasses down my nose and squint to see what I was doing,

The sun hadn’t quite made it up over the Sierra Madre Mountains that towered around the beautiful Mexican Lake. There would be plenty of light in another 15 minutes. Right now I was eager to get the big hunk of plastic I was fixin’ to feed the bass rigged up and ready.

I was departing from what is often standard procedure where early morning fishing on Mexico’s El Salto Lake fishing is concerned. The dawn’s early light is usually the best time to take bass off the top wherever largemouth are found. I’ve boated enough El Salto fish early in the day to know that’s just as true at this famed bass fishing paradise as it is in countless other bass lakes.

But that’s not what I had in mind this morning. My friends at Outlaw Baits in my former hometown of Florence, Oregon knew I was headed for El Salto. They had provided me with some big plastic grubs they wanted me to try.

There's nothing about largemouth bass fishing that "always" applies.  Be that as it may, it's an accepted fact that the very largest bass often grab really big baits.  That's exactly what the one I'm holding here did.

These baits, they were 8-inch curly-tailed grubs, had actually been made for saltwater fishing. The plastic used in their construction is about twice as tough and hard as that you normally find in grubs designed strictly for freshwater use.

Saltwater plastic baits better be tough. If they aren’t those toothy critters that frequent the sea rip ‘em up big time in very short order. Jeff Staggs and Tony Tantalo, the president and vice president respectively of the Oregon bait-making company, were interested in how their big grubs would work for largemouth. I welcomed the opportunity to try them in what is probably the best bass lake ever known to man.

Here's a close up of the Outlaw Baits 8-inch grubs.  These durable grubs were made for saltwater fishing.

I was just as curious as Jeff and Tony. I wasn’t the least bit concerned that the overgrown hunk of plastic I finally managed to get hooked up Texas Style would be too big for El Salto bass to tackle. One of the top-producing baits there for years has been a 10-inch plastic worm.

I had mixed emotions about the hardness of the plastic. I really didn’t know how that was going to work. Would the bass hang on as long as they would with a softer bait? Could I expect to get a solid hook set after having to drive my hook free of the tough plastic before it could sink into the mug of the bass that grabbed it?

It didn’t take long to find out. Our guide, and he was one of the best of the capable Anglers Inn guide crew, pulled our boat up within casting distance of some submerged trees.

“Donde?” I asked. The guide pointed to a cluster of limbs that jutted up out of the water a bit off to the right. I flipped the big grub into a small opening near the center of the cover, then stripped line from my level wind reel to let it fall straight on its drop to the bottom.

The distinctive tap-tap of a fish came almost as soon as the grub touched down. I hesitated half a heartbeat, then snapped my rod back. Fish on!

Well, let’s reconsider that “fish on” part. The bass had been there for a couple of seconds all right, but I hadn’t got a solid hook up. It was off as soon as it was on. I reeled in to find the grub balled up on the shank of my hook.

The hook I had been using was a Gamakatsu EWG 5/0. That hook had worked great with larger soft plastic baits I’d thrown before at El Salto. I wasn’t sure it would get the job done with the sizeable upper body of the big and durable Outlaw Baits Grub. I snipped the hook off the braided line I’d been using and replaced it with a Gamakatsu EWG 6/0.

I figured that the larger hook would give me a better shot at getting a solid hook up.

Did it work? Catch my next column and I’ll give you the details. I’ll also tell you why I’m hoping I can talk Jeff and Tony into marketing this big saltwater grub in a softer plastic for freshwater bassing.

I don’t have to guess if it will work for big fish---I already know!

go to part 2

 

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