Entry 177-3

Bass Fishing with Mike Wurm

Part 3: A New Love Affair with the Zero

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: You had a really good year of fishing this year, Mike. You earned a berth in the 2007 Bassmaster’s Classic. What else did you learn on the circuit this year?

Wurm: I got in a rut and started trying to fish each lake as though it was the last lake I’d just fished. I’m going to avoid that trap next year and keep my mind more open to what’s happening on each individual lake I fish. I’m going to concentrate on learning what tactic would work best on that particular lake, on that particular week.

When you go to tournaments week after week, getting into a rut of fishing the same lures you’ve always fished is easy. This tactic worked okay, but I know I could have fished better if I’d changed techniques a little more often on different lakes to make adjustments for what was happening on that lake at that time. We tend to want to believe that the lures and methods that have made us successful one week are the same lures and tactics we can count on the next week to produce the same results, although the lakes may be hundreds of miles apart. And, that’s not always true.

To fish better, I have to fish each lake as though it’s a new lake and not rely so heavily on the lures and techniques I’ve used the week before. I need to take the clues I learn on a new lake and rely more heavily on current information on that lake, rather than depending on the knowledge I’ve gathered from the last lake I’ve fished.

Question: What new lures did you try this year, and what did you learn about them?

Wurm: I fished the swim bait more this year than I have in past years. I built up my confidence on fishing that lure. I also fished the drop shot more this year and learned a little more about how to fish it more successfully. However, the one lure that I feel I learned the most about was the Strike King Zero.That lure definitely has earned a new place in my tackle box. It’s a confidence lure for me. This lure has tremendous potential to produce a really-big bag of bass any time you fish it.

I plan to have the Zero on one of my tournament rods every day during the pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn. You can cast this lure, flip it or pitch it, and you can give it a wide variety of action. I think the lure is especially effective during the pre-spawn because if a bass sees it, the fish will eat it. If you put that lure in the right place where bass can see it, you will catch bass.

I fished this Zero primarily on a No. 4/0 Strike King’s Sabre Point Hook with 17-pound-test fluorocarbon line. I like the fluorocarbon line because it sinks at about the same rate as the Zero. I like to fish it with a Cabela’s Gerald Swindle Quantum Tour Edition PT Signature Series Spinning and Casting Rod. This rod’s like a flipping stick, but it has a quicker tip.

Bass Fishing with Mike Wurm

Part 3: A New Love Affair with the Zero

Next: How to Make the Classic

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