Last summer I went fishing with my friend Bob and another friend. Bob happens to be Bob Jensen, founder of Fishing the Midwest nearly 4 decades ago and a National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame Angler.
Bob and our buddy and I were fishing smallmouth bass. On one of Bob’s initial casts, he made a very long offering and almost immediately hooked a nice bass. Bob’s next cast was similar and yielded another fish. Bob quickly surmised that the fish in the clear water lake we were fishing were probably a bit wary of our boat and that long casts would be a good counter. He continued making long casts and catching nice bass.
Bob started his fishing with a small plastic bait called a Ned Ocho hooked on a small jighead and fished on a 7 foot long spinning rod and reel combination. Bob’s bait color was called “dirt.” The set-up was perfect for making long casts to get Bob’s bait out away from the boat and the smallmouth really liked the “do nothing” action of his bait. You see, Bob would cast the bait out and “let it settle in” while watching the bright color braided line he was using for the telltale tick or other movement a biting fishing might supply. (Bob did have a 6 foot clear fluorocarbon leader between his braid and the lure to minimize spooking any line shy fish). After a few seconds he would move the bait, maybe hop it, shake it, or reel it up a bit. If after a few minutes using this process, he didn’t get bit, Bob simply reeled up and started the process over with another long cast maybe a bit away from where his last cast was. Bob caught the most and biggest smallmouth bass on this day.
I tried different colored Ned Ochos on my line that day and even tried other baits entirely with mixed results. Bob simply stayed with the dirt color Ocho and kept catching ‘em. Scott, our other friend, tried different baits and different colored Ochos too. He finally settling on using a dirt Ocho and fishing it by making long casts away from the boat. Scott, by the way, caught the second most bass that day!
Often when we go fishing, we think of our trip as some sort of puzzle where we have to get all the pieces in just the right places and so we tend to overthink or overanalyze the situation. On this day, Bob merely read the conditions, adjusted his retrieve to meet those conditions, and maybe got a bit lucky by selecting a dirt colored Ocho. Nevertheless, he realized the good thing in his hand and stuck with it. I’m going to try to fish more like Bob this season . . .
As always, remember to include a youngster in your next outdoors adventure!
Mike Frisch hosts the popular Fishing the Midwest TV series on the Sportsman Channel and several other networks as well. Visit www.fishingthemidwest.com to see all things Fishing the Midwest.
