Entry 129-2
Mike Wurm - How I Catch Bass This Month
Crankbait Standby
Editor's Note: Mike Wurm, a 51-year-old professional bass fisherman and a member of Strike King's Pro Fishing Team from Hot Springs, Arkansas, ranks No. 21 on the Top 150 Trail. He's had eight top-10 tournament finishes and has competed in five Bassmaster Classics.
Wurm: Most fishermen choose a crankbait as the first lure to fish with during the fall. You can't go wrong fishing crankbait at this time of the year, however, don't make the mistake of choosing a giant crankbait that goes down 15 or 20 feet. Instead, select a crankbait that will run in 6- to 10-foot-depths like the Strike King Series 3 crankbait.
Fire tiger, shad and crawfish are my favorite colors of crankbaits. In November and early December, the water is really cool, the crawfish are becoming active, and the bass are feeding up. Anytime you can find chunky rock banks, throw a crankbait. Or, if you have wind coming into a chunky rock bank, the crankbait will produce even better. Vary the colors that you fish depending on light and water conditions. If you're fishing around some lay-down timber or stumps, you may want to fish the fire-tiger color to look like a small bream in the area. If you're casting around open boat docks, you may want to try the shad minnow colored crankbait. If you're going down the chunk rock banks, you can't beat the crawfish-colored crankbait. I fish these three colors of crankbaits almost everywhere at this time of the year.
I'll cast crankbaits on 10-pound-test line, and I'll fish with a 7-foot rod with a Quantum PT Energy Casting Reel. I put my rod and reel in action and my foot on the trolling motor to really start moving down the bank. Although I try to cover as much bank as I possibly can, I concentrate on points and outcroppings on the chunky rock banks, the stumps and the logs.
One of the advantages we have this year when we're fishing for bass is the new Strike King red hooks on the crankbaits. I believe the red hooks trigger more bass strikes. Since I want the bass to hit the front of the crankbait to get both sets of treble hooks in its mouth, I'll often take the red hooks off the back of the crankbait and replace them with either a brown- or a bronze-colored hook so the bass will key in on the front of the bait where the red hook is located.
Contents:
- Part 1: Buzzing Into the Fall
- Part 2: Crankbait Standby
- Part 3: The Jig - A Must-Have Fall Bait
- Part 4: The Distance Lure - The Diamond Shad
- Part 5: Don't Go Without a Spinner Bait
