This Week @ Bass Edge

Classic champ goes soft on top

The plastic frog disappeared below a violent disturbance in the shallow vegetation. To anyone watching, it would have seemed an eternity before Boyd Duckett set a deep bow in the rod. Bathed in the amber light of a warm Alabama morning, Duckett released the fish and exchanged a few words with his fishing partner.

“Everybody wants to set the hook quicker than they need to, and like any piece of plastic, especially an unweighted piece of plastic, a bass is probably not going to drop it,” the 2007 Bassmater Classic champion explained. “They’ll hold a worm under the water for a long time and somehow fishermen have patience for that, but with a topwater frog they want to set the hook right away. I’ll let the fish hit and load the rod for me. You can actually let them swim with it for a long time. If you ever try to shake them off in practice, you’ll learn that.”

Duckett says he “loves to fish frogs,” and Lake Eufaula is a perfect place with it’s abundance of shallow flats and vegetation. He fishes the plastic frog throughout the year, except for in the winter.

“It’s a good topwater bait even when the bass don’t seem to be feeding primarily on top. And it’s pretty easy to fish; just look for vegetation number one, but it really doesn’t have to be vegetation. Just find shallow flats or wood cover and throw it around any object you see.”

Eufaula’s shallows are also likely to produce strikes of a more toothy nature. It wasn’t but a few casts later that a four-foot gator was snapping at Duckett’s frog. But soon after, he dropped his rod again, paused and set the hook.

Braided line is Duckett’s choice for extracting bass from the type of cover he typically fishes frogs over. He uses a 5/0 wide-gap hook.

“With a frog, I fish a pretty heavy action rod. The key is to have a lot of backbone with that braided line, because if they take you down in the milfoil or lily pads, you are going to need a lot of winching action.”

Though the plastic frog is a favorite, Duckett also employs a number of plastic baits on or near the surface throughout the year. Another favorite is the Jerk Shad.

“I like to throw it when the fish are suspended. A lot of these deep, clear lakes, like Smith Lake or Martin Lake here in Alabama or Table Rock in Missouri. The big (spotted bass,) early in the year -- January, February and March, prior to the spawn -- will get over places where the main river channel swings over near the bank. They’ll suspend over 80 feet, but they’ll be 15 feet down. They stay out there because that is where the shad schools run through.”

Many anglers will throw the Jerk Shad or Fluke around heavy cover, but Duckett uses these styles of baits mostly on schooling fish. He is a little more attentive to color when fishing soft jerkbaits.

“I stay with the shad, white, albino, Tennessee shad … the natural baitfish colors. I am normally fishing it in open and clear water. I think bass have a pretty keen eye and color becomes a pretty big.”

In the open water, 8- to 10-pound fluorocarbon is his line of choice. Duckett prefers soft jerkbaits that are scented. He says the modern designs have been much improved.

“With some of the Powerbaits and definitely in the Gulp products, the downside in my opinion in the history of the baits is that they really made some bad products. When I say bad, they had little or no action. As a result, fishermen, in order to get a strike from a largemouth you have to provoke the strike. Bass would never give the bait a chance. The positive side to the Gulp especially, is that if a bass ever puts its lips on it, he won’t turn it loose.”

Baits designers are now putting soft jerkbaits on the shelves more to Duckett’s liking, with more natural action.

Duckett rigs his soft jerkbaits with a 5/0 wide-gap hook with a heavier wire to add weight. He lets the bait sink, jerks it so that it darts to one side and lets it sink a bit more before making it dart again.

“I really don’t like to fish it with a swivel like some people do. That looks a little unnatural to me. When I want to fish it deep, I just use a push-in sinker, and put it in the center of the body so it continues to fall straight.”

In the spring, and during early and late summer, the floating worm becomes a valuable tool. Duckett rigs it much in the same way he does a soft jerkbait. Around heavier cover, going to a heavier rod and line often becomes necessary. The approach to color is entirely different.

“With floating worms I throw wild colors. It probably doesn’t matter as much to the bass as it does to the fisherman. They’ll eat black and they will eat bubble gum, so I’d rather throw bubble gum because I can see it three to four feet under the water. When it disappears I know a bass has it.”

Anglers who have yet to embrace the variety of soft topwater baits available have a treat waiting for them. Not only are they effective bass catchers, the strikes are often very visible and dramatic.