I have been given a gift, a gift called life and part of that gift has been that I was born in the Ozark Mountains in north Arkansas a scant quarter mile from the banks of the Spring River. Fishing and hunting were as much a part of life as going to school and sometimes more important (a view not shared by everyone, especially my folks and teacher). I felt as though the adventures to be experienced while hunting and fishing were the fabric of which life was woven. I was an adult before I realized that not everyone hunted and fished and that was an awakening for me. How could anyone go through life without the excitement of chasing a baying squirrel dog through the autumn forest in pursuit of a gray squirrel that just went up a hickory tree, standing on the bluff overlooking the river watching the long green fish with the red eyes which would instantly disappear if they discovered your presence, watching a group of whitetails bounce across a frost covered field or running through a covey of bobwhite quail in the dark.
Though the youthfulness of the past has long departed, the vivid memories of the many outdoor adventures remain today. I often go back to the things that I learned as a youngster to remind me of what to do in a certain situation today. I recall a day spent on one of the bigger creeks which run into the Spring River while fishing with crawdads. I had caught the crayfish out of the creek but I did not think I had caught as many fish as I should have. I still had two crawdads left in my coffee can when I decided to end the day. I threw the contents of the can into the water, watched the crawdads swim backwards with claws extended while being suspended between the surface and the bottom of the crystal clear stream. Suddenly, two smallmouth bass exploded from under the rock ledge and inhaled the crustaceans right before my youthful eyes. This was one of the holes where I had fished earlier in the day and the fish surely didn't respond like that when I tossed a hook baited with a crawdad towards their lair. What had made the difference? Considering the fact in my young mind I decided that it had to be that I was fishing with a heavy lead sinker and my bait was not presented in a natural fashion. I immediately changed to fishing live bait with a light wire hook and no sinker. The results were rewarding and this is one of the things that I still put into practice today. When conditions are right, I even fish artificial bait like soft plastic worms, tube baits, twitch baits, frogs and about any other bait with as light a head as possible. At times I use a one-sixteenth weighted hook. This lets the bait hit the water with a soft plop and then make a slow descent. Most of the time a fish will hit the lure while it is slowly sinking, the same way the red-eyed, green colored smallmouth hit the crawdads that summer day long ago. Live bait fished this way is deadly even on big fish. I have watched this over and over in the clearwater lakes and streams across the country and if you are not catching fish when you think you should, consider removing all or most of the weight that you are fishing with and give your bait a more natural presentation. You may need to switch to a spinning reel with a long, light to medium action rod, but the rewards will be worth the effort.
reprinted by permission of Paxton Media Group
