Entry 191-4

Bass Fishing with Debra Hengst

Part 4: Wild About the Shiner

Question: Debra, you mentioned that you caught one of your keeper-sized fish on the Wild Shiner at the beginning of the tournament. Why did you decide to abandon the Wild Shiner?

Hengst: I originally started fishing the Wild Shiner in this tournament because I was catching bass on it when I was practicing for the tournament. I really thought I’d catch my bass on the Wild Shiner and the crankbait. However, when the weather and the water conditions changed, I had to change with them. When I was catching my fish on the jerkbait, I was fishing the suspending, clown-colored Wild Shiner right up next to the bushes. The bass were in the bushes, and you could see them come out of the bushes to take the Wild Shiner.

Question: How were you fishing the Wild Shiner?

Hengst: I’d cast it past the bush, give it two or three twitches and next let it sit still and suspend. Then I’d give it two or three more twitches and allow it to sit still. The bass would come out of the bush and take the Wild Shiner when it was sitting dead still in the water. In practice, I caught 10 bass using this tactic, and I had one fish that would have weighed 3 pounds or better.

Question: You also mentioned that you used the spinner bait in this tournament. Which spinner bait did you use and why?

Hengst: I used the Premier Plus in the chartreuse-and-white color. I’d vary between the 3/8- to the 1/2-ounce Premier Plus with the Perfect Skirt. The color that seemed to work for me was chartreuse-and-white, and I was using the double-willowleaf blades. The double-willowleaf blades better imitated the bass in Lake Amistad, an extremely-clear lake. Many days, you could see 20-feet deep into the water. During practice, in January, I fished the Colorado blades on the 3/8-ounce Premier Plus. But my confidence bait is the Premier Plus with the double willowleaf blades. I’ve caught numbers of bass on it, and I like the smaller profile of this lure. It seems to fish better on this lake than the bigger spinner baits do.

Question: What type of retrieve were you using, Debra?

Hengst: I was casting past the bushes and then swimming the spinner bait right by the bushes. On the third day of the tournament, I was able to finish off my limit using this little spinner bait, because the bass went on a feeding spree. On the last day, my co-angler had four bass in the live well, and I only had two. So, I changed to using the Premier Plus, and we really started catching bass. The two of us probably caught 15 to 20 bass using that small, compact spinner bait.

We had several double hookups at the same time. By that I mean, she’d have a bass on her line, and I’d have a bass on mine, too. Although we were catching so many fish, we were culling fish for ounces and inches. When those bass went on a feeding spree, we culled three different times. On the last day of the tournament, we were fishing a tremendous school of bass. I knew those bass would stay in that one spot and continue to bite, because this school of fish has been there before.

I found this place on New Year’s Day, and it had such a large number of bass in it that I told myself that during the first day of the tournament, I’d start here and hopefully be able to stay on this site all three days of the tournament. I made myself stay away from that spot from January 1st until February 8th of 2007 because I had so much confidence in that spot.

On the first day of this tournament, we had a 2-hour fog delay. But, I was still determined to make the run to these fish, even though I didn’t know the water conditions, or the temperature of the water. I just knew that with that many fish in the area in January, some of those same bass should still be there in February. Luckily, the water and the weather conditions hadn’t changed, and the fishing held up. I could throw that little Premier Plus spinner bait right past the bush, then bring it by the bush and watch the bass come out and eat it. My co-angler would cast on the left side of the bush, and I’d cast on the right side. We really had a good time watching the bass eat that spinner bait.

Question: What pound-test line were you using on this spinner bait?

Hengst: I used a 14-pound-test Sufix line.

Next: What I Like About Tournament Bass Fishing

Contents:

• Part 1: Where I Found the Fish
• Part 2: Deep Fishing
• Part 3: When to Drop-Shot
• Part 4: Wild About the Shiner
• Part 5: What I Like About Tournament Bass Fishing