Palmetto Fly N' Fish: New Year Begins - 24 Hour Fishing Success!

Last Day, 2018: I wanted good year-ender, but the fish had other ideas. No fish caught.

First Day, 2019: 5 fish in hand, in a short time, and 3-4 strikes that failed hook up.

Location: Fly Lab II, aka, small pond

Region: SE United States/South Carolina Midlands

Water conditions - dingy clear

Weather conditions - overcast, occasional drizzle
Stabilizing after several days of rain, and unsettled frontal weather

Air temps - mid 60's

Water temps - cold

Structure - on drop off to bottom

Tackle and Method

Medium light spinning outfit

4# test

4" soft plastic worms, in blue, electric blue and black shad

Method: finesse weightless

Target: 1-2 lb. largemouth bass, aka "rocket bass"
(I call em rocket bass because they 'rocket around' and jump out of the water several times when hooked)

New Years Pond, High Water

Both days, the method was the same - small finesse worm on light line, weightless on the drop.

One day nuttin' - the next, score!

I like this weightless finesse method. My fly angling friends will be happy to know it is pretty much the same as fly fishing a wet fly. You cast, then hold the rod tip up at about a 45° angle. This lets the bait fall for the countdown on a tense line - not tight, but hanging on the drag of the line itself.

As often as not the fish take the lure on the initial fall, so you have to be ready.

If they don't take it, you let it settle down to the bottom and take up the slack line without moving the worm. After a count of about 10, raise the rod tip with a sharp twitch to get the worm off the bottom, then let it glide back down again on the tense line. Add a few "strips" and twitches of the rod tip along the way. Easy does it - it doesn't take much in Winters' cold water.

I call it a Lift and Glide retrieve.

Sometimes the fish take it on the bottom, once it has settled - I can only guess these fish were following it on the initial fall, and waiting nearby. But this is not the usual way.
More often, they take it after 2 or 3 of these lift-glide cycles, as it drifts back down.
I fish it all the way back, too.... I've had strikes within a few rod lengths of my position.

So, since this is so much like fly fishing, well, ... you folks can stop sending me hate mail for betraying the fly fishing fraternity by flirting with ....{{{{ gasp }}}}, worm fishing!

Airetail Action Worm, Electric Blue

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The Airetail worm was a standout performer. I got hits on other worms in dark blue, and black/shad. But once this one started catching the fish, I never took it off. And it kept on giving; battered as it was, it hung in there.
And I like the color - a light, clear purple, heavy with blue metallic flake.

The Airetails are unique in that they have an air chamber molded in that helps the worm stay up and above the bottom at rest. I've always liked this idea, and cant understand why these aren't more popular than they are. They're a little pricey, compared to Walmart, and not widely available. Combined, this probably keeps them out of the limelight.

I only know of one source: www.f'ishcandy.com

And this site seems a little quirky, at last visit.

I hope I can get more....

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The extra wide gap hook (EWG) has to become a standard in this worm-work.

I attribute the several missed fish to the straight shank Sproat hooks I had pre-rigged in the worms. The hooks had been in the worms from several years ago, when my last, half-assed attempt at soft plastic worm fishing went bust.

These hooks were wrong back then, just as now, because of their hook gap... or, rather, lack of it. This is something I didn't know much about back then. And I didn't really think about it this morning.

"They'll be alright," I said to myself. "They're plenty strong, not rusted, and a hook, is a hook. Right?

Don't worry about all that 'bass hook' jazz."

Maybe my resolution for 2019 should be to stop talking to myself. Or, at least stop listening.

The problem with this too-small hook gap is that this condition doesn't allow the worm to compress and move out of the way on the hook set... the worm fills the hook gap, instead.

This means you set the hook, but the point can't push free to stick into the fish's bony jawbone. The fish has a mouthful of soft, chewy worm, but you end up snatching the thing from his mouth - that's it.

After three times, I got the idea.

NOTE: EWG and offset worm hooks from here out.

As Mike Head would say..." If it aint broke, don't fix it."

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I've found that 4 lb soft mono is not a good choice for this work of catching small pond bass. It is thin, so it doesn't have much water resistance. But its a little too light and wispy and sometimes gets into trouble with spooling casting these relatively weightless baits. I'm gonna switch it to a 6 lb mono, and add a fluoro leader.

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I got bit on nearly every cast, though....until about 10AM.
Then I had to work in fan cast style, and quarter-section the drop-off in 45 degree angles.
But, such a change from the day before. What a difference 24 hours makes.

We have a few more days of rainy conditions and mild temps this week, and a clearing session on Saturday. With luck, late Saturday and Sunday will be another good opportunity.