Entry 185-3

How I’ll Fish the Classic with Mike Wurm

Part 3: My Second Pattern

Question: What will be your back-up pattern for flipping?

Wurm: The spinner bait is hard to beat in the wintertime. I’ll have a willowleaf blade and a Colorado blade on my spinner bait. I get a thicker thump and send out more vibrations in the water using one willowleaf instead of two. I’ll have a little Colorado blade behind the willowleaf and give it a little more thump. But I’ll definitely have that combination of blades for my spinner bait. I’ll spin that spinner bait through the grass and swim it through the standing timber. We’ll have some bass suspended out in that standing timber. I’ll catch largemouth and some really big spotted bass using this tactic.

Question: What size and color spinner bait will you be using?

Wurm: I’ll use a 1/2-ounce, and maybe even a 3/4-ounce spinner bait. The blade will be a No. 5 or a No. 6, and the color will be chartreuse-and-white with chrome or gold blades – because those are the best colors for the type of water at Lay Lake. I’ll experiment with blade color, depending on water clarity. I’ll be fishing the Strike King Premier Plus spinner bait with the Perfect Skirt, so I won’t have to use a trailer with it. Another advantage to the spinner bait is that it’s a really good search bait, when you’re trying to locate bass. If I find fish, I may throw in a crankbait behind the spinner bait.

Question: You mentioned that if you start getting bites on the spinner bait, you may go back to the bass with a crankbait. What crankbait will you use and why?

Wurm: The depth of water where I’ve gotten the bite will determine the size spinner bait I use. If the bite has come close to the bank in water depths from 0 to 5 feet, I’ll probably fish a Strike King Series 3 or Series 5 crankbait. More than likely I’ll choose a Series 5 because I like the bigger profile. But if the bass are in shallow water, I may even go with a Series 4S, which is the same size as the Series 5, except it has that little square bill. Too, I can wallow this lure around in that shallow water.

If I’m getting the bite by fishing that spinner bait out in the standing timber, I’ll probably choose a Series 5 or a Series 6 crankbait to get the bait a little deeper in the water. I’ll try to bounce that crankbait off the standing timber and the stumps. Water color will determine what color lures I use. I may want a Watermelon Shad- or a Chartreuse Rootbeer-colored crankbait. Those new Tour Grade colors in that Series 5 crankbait are really nice. I’ll first try shad colors, and if the bass won’t look at those, I’ll use more bluegill-colored crankbaits. But regardless of which crankbait I fish, the lure will have some white on it.

Question: What pound-test line will you be using with the crankbait?

Wurm: I’ll probably use 12-pound-test line because I can get the crankbait down fairly deep with it and still have a little muscle in the line. I need that strength in the line, if the bass get around stumps and limbs, or they get hung up in grass.

Question: What kind of retrieve will you use with the crankbait?

Wurm: I think the water will be cold, so I’ll be using a slow retrieve. I don’t think we’ll need to be burning a crankbait at that time of year. We’ll reel the crankbait slowly, let it bounce off cover and then start slow retrieving it again. You have to remember that we’re still in a wintertime pattern so the bass will still be a little sluggish, and they don’t want a really-fast retrieve.

Question: If you use the crankbait, how will you keep the bass from throwing the lure, if you get them hooked-up?

Wurm: I’ll try to keep their heads in the water as long as I can. I’ll be using a Paul Elias Signature Rod, a lightweight graphite rod about 7-feet long, because it has a lot of forgiveness built into the rod. This rod is great for fighting bass on a crankbait, and I’ll keep my rod tip in the water, once I get a bass on my rod. Usually in cold water, the bass won’t jump very much, but they do like to stick their heads out of the water and shake them. I don’t want the bass to get its head out of the water. I want to fight the bass hard while it’s still under the water and keep it under control.

Next: Why I’ll Go Wild at the Classic

Contents:

• Part 1: Warming Up Before the Classic
• Part 2: My No. 1 Pattern
• Part 3: My Second Pattern
• Part 4: Why I’ll Go Wild at the Classic
• Part 5: What a Classic Win Will Mean to Me