Entry 177-2

Bass Fishing with Mike Wurm

Part 2: You Don’t Have to See Them to Catch Them

Editor’s Note: Mike Wurm of Hot Springs, Arkansas, has fished the Bassmaster Circuit since 1991. This past season, he brought in a one-day stringer of five bass that weighed a total of 32-pounds and 4-ounces.

Question: Mike, when you caught that bag of five bass that weighed 32 pounds, 4 ounces on a Texas-rigged Strike King 3X Centipede, how far were you casting?

Wurm: I was casting between 50 and 60 feet from the boat. At times, I was casting only 25 to 30 feet. This kind of fishing is very exciting, when you’re using 10-pound-test line and a spinning rod. I was casting the 3X Centipede by trees and stumps where the female bass were either spawning or about to spawn.

When I’d get a bite and set the hook, it was like, “Wham, bam, thank, you ma’am.” My rod would be bent, my drag would be squalling, my foot would be on the trolling-motor throttle, and I’d start chasing the bass. I’d also have to turn my boat toward the fish because I knew the bass were going to wrap themselves around a tree somewhere.When the bass would go around a tree, I’d put my rod tip around the tree and let the bass pull the drag. I only lost two fish the whole tournament. I had one bass break off, which was my fault because I pointed my rod tip at the fish and didn’t use the backbone of the rod to fight the fish. The other bass just jumped off my hooks. There was nothing I could do to stop him.

I hadn’t used my trolling motor to chase the bass down because I couldn’t force them out of the trees like you’d normally do if you were using heavier line. Once I could get my line off the tree the bass had wrapped me around, then I could play the fish and get him back to the boat. The technique was as much about chasing the fish with a trolling motor as it was about hooking fish on the 3X Centipede.

Question: Most people use 50-, 60- or even 70-pound-test line when they’re fishing around trees. Why did you choose to fish with that 10-pound-test line?

Wurm: The water was just so clear that I felt that I had to use the lighter line to keep the bass from seeing the line. The water was only about 5-feet deep, and I could see the bottom. That’s extremely-clear water to be fishing any line heavier than 10-pound test. I also chose this pound-test line because it allowed me to present the bait with a much- softer presentation much-more accurately. By using that 10-pound-test line and a spinning rod, I could get the boat in the water really quietly and not spook the bass I was trying to catch.

Question: What else did you learn at that tournament that will help you be a better fisherman?

Wurm: I realized I should have taken more time during the practice days to find more bedding fish in that same area because I knew the fish I was catching were replacing the fish I’d already caught, instead of my having new bass to fish for in a new area. If I could have found a few more fish during the practice days, I believe I would have placed in the top-5 of the tournament.

This tournament was strictly a bed fishing one and if you didn’t have beds to fish, you weren’t going to do well. All the fishermen who did well in that tournament were fishing for bedding fish. Now, I’m not that great a bed-fishing fisherman, although, I did find some bedding fish in practice. Once I started catching those bass on the 3X Centipede, I felt like I could fish without having to see them, even though I was fishing for bedding bass and not the traditional bedding-fish tactic where you see those fish and catch them.

Bass Fishing with Mike Wurm

Part 2: You Don’t Have to See Them to Catch Them

Next: A New Love Affair with the Zero

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