Entry 129-5

Mike Wurm - How I Catch Bass This Month

The Distance Lure - The Diamond Shad

Mike WurmEditor'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: To be really honest, you can't go fishing in the fall without a spinner bait. Spinner baits are ideal for fishing in the fall because they look and act like a shad. The shad is often the number-one bait of the bass during the fall when he's not feeding on crawfish. The real trick to fishing a spinner bait in the fall is to cast it to any type brush or cover that you see, and instead of fast-retrieving the bait to the side of or above the cover, actually crawl the spinner bait through the cover. Now, if you're fishing a lake that has vegetation in it, and that vegetation hasn't died-out yet, the spinner bait is the lure of choice to swim over and through that vegetation.

Boat docks are another great place to fish the spinner bait. Don't hesitate to cast the spinner bait as far back under a dock as you can possibly cast it. You may even want to pitch or flip the spinner bait under those docks. Also use the spinner bait to fish isolated cover. You may be going down a bank on the back of a creek and see one small twig about 20 yards off the bank that's sticking up out of the water. Many anglers would motor on past that twig and never give it a second thought. But, isolated cover like that is exactly what you're looking for when you're fishing the spinner bait. Run that spinner bait by that cover and get ready for a bass attack.

Mike WurmMy favorite spinner bait is Strike King's Compact Spinner Bait. I like the smaller head with the weight located underneath the skirt instead of on the head of the lure. By putting the weight further back, you still can cast the Compact spinner bait as far as you can a bait with a heavier head, but it has a much smaller profile as it comes through the water.

One thing that I do is to paint the collar of my spinner bait red with a red magic marker to give the spinner bait a little red sheen to it as it comes through the water. The collar is that little rubber-band-like device that holds the skirt onto the hook. By painting that collar red, I'm giving the bait a real subtle tinge of red right at the spot that will be the gills of a baitfish. I like the new red hooks used in the new spinner baits by Strike King, also. I believe that the red color signals to the bass that the bait fish is injured and will cause a reaction strike from the bass that you may not get without the accent of red on your spinner bait. Always make sure you have a spinner bait tied on anytime you're fishing in the fall.

Mike WurmIf you'll carry these five lures I've suggested this week, have them ready to fish at a moment's notice and use them around the type cover where they're the most appropriate, I promise you'll catch more fish this fall than you have in past years.




 

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