Entry 206-1

Mike Wurm Turns on Clear-Water Bass Fishing

Part 1: What I Learned in Practice

Mike WurmEditor’s Note: Mike Wurm finished 9th in June, 2007, at the B.A.S.S. Elite Smith Mountain Lake tournament in Moneta, Virginia, the highest-finishing Strike King pro. This clear mountain lake had 500 miles of shoreline with no grass, but a large number of boat docks and some rip rap. The key fishing places were the points, the rip rap and the docks. All the competitors knew what the patterns were. A few bass were being taken in the mornings on top water, but that pattern was over quickly as the sun came up. Most of the fish were caught on the points and on the docks. With 107 pros and 107 amateur anglers, Wurm knew this would be a tough tournament.

Mike WurmQuestion: Mike, what did you learn in practice?

Wurm: Before I got to the lake, I had decided I would try and catch one or two bass on the Spit-N-King early in the morning.

Question: Why did you decide that the Spit-N-King might be a good pattern?

Wurm: The shad were starting to spawn on the rip rap in the lake, and the clear water that we had in this lake made the top-water bite almost a sure thing early in the morning. I also knew I could fish the Spit-N-King around the boat docks early and be able to catch a bass. During practice, I learned that I could catch a few fish early on the Spit-N-King, but after the top-water bite was over, I would have to finesse fish with a shaky-head jig and a Strike King finesse worm to catch the bass I needed to catch to do well in the tournament. I also tried a Strike King Premier Elite Jig, but I found that I got more bites on the finesse worm than I did on the jig. I found some key points where I could catch some bass and some strategic boat docks where I found fish holding.

Question: The night before the tournament, what did you decide to do?

Wurm: I had located an area where I could get an early-morning bite on the Spit-N-King, so I planned to go there first. After that bite died, I thought I’d really work the shaky-head worm. I had three or four areas where I had several good bites and caught some nice bass. Bass FishingSo, I decided to set up a milk run to fish each one of these places with the finesse worm after the morning bite died. The lake limit was 14 inches, and I had caught bass up to 5 pounds over spots I’d set up for my milk run. I felt confident that I could catch a limit each day fishing the shaky-head jig with a Strike King finesse worm.

Question: What color finesse worm did you decide to use?

Wurm: Watermelon candy.




 

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