Part 1

You’d think fishermen wouldn’t complain as long as they are putting fish in the boat.  It can and does happen.

Consider, for example, a professional bass angler competing in a major tournament.  He doesn’t want anything but bass messing with his lures.  Time is of the essence in tournament competition.  The bass tournament competitor who has to fool around bringing something like a big catfish to the boat, then getting the darn thing unhooked, is losing valuable minutes that can make the difference between winning and losing.

I bring this up because of an experience I had recently while fishing in Mexico.  My companion on a trip to Anglers Inn operations on both El Salto Lake and Lake Mateos was Bob Schmidt.  Schmidt, of course, is the general manager of Mack’s Lure.  I especially wanted him to get a look at the bass action in these Mexican waters.  In recent years Lake El Salto especially has provided some of the best bass fishing ever.

Bob Schmidt shows one of the dandy bass he took on a June trip to Mexico's El Salto Lake.

As regular readers of this column know, I have fished El Salto Lake a number of times.  Bob, who is too busy running a successful company to do a whole lot of fishing, was getting his first look at it. 

Things started out at El Salto about as I had expected.  Our first morning out we had bass busting our surface lures in good shape.  Things slowed down once the morning surface action was over and our Mexican guide fired up the outboard and headed for deeper water.

Once we eased up to where submerged trees stuck jagged fingers up out of the water, he muttered “Plastico” and indicated the direction he wanted us to cast.  I rigged a 5-inch Senko Wacky Style and turned in my boat seat to see how Bob was doing.  He had a hand full of Smile Blades and it was obvious he was planning to use one or another of them along with whatever plastic bait he selected.

“Looks like you’re fixin’ to use a Smile Blade,” I said. 

“Yes I am,” he replied.  Then he explained why.  His reasoning ties in with what I mentioned in the beginning.

 If you read the beginning of this column carefully, you’re aware I said bass fishermen taking part in tournament competition didn’t want to mess around with fish other than those they could take to the weigh in stand.  Turns out my friend Bob has been hearing much the same thing from walleye pros around the country.

“Stan,” Bob said, “one of the complaints we get from walleye pros now and then is that they just catch too many bass while using our Smile Blades ahead of their bait while fishing tournaments.  They don’t want, of course, to have to take time away from their search for walleye when a bass comes along.  I just thought I’d see how a Smile Blade and a worm work for these Mexican bass.”

Using a Smile Blade ahead of a plastic worm didn’t come as a surprise to me.  I had done the same thing a couple of years ago on a trip to El Salto.  And while I didn’t set any records, I did get a couple of fish on a day when the fish were hard to come by.  As it turned out, Bob rigged and fished his set up a bit differently than I had.

Here's what Bob used to take most of his bass out of both Lake El Salto and Lake Mateos.  Note the blue Smile Blade he used on his leader ahead of a Swimming Senko.  The bass in both Mexican lakes loved this combination.  It accounted for most of the bass we put our boat.

I cast my Wacky Rigged Senko up next to one of the submerged trees.  I missed a fish as the lure dropped.  About that time I heard my Bob holler “Got him!”  I turned to watch him battle a 3-pounder up close enough for the guide to slide his net under it.  Part of the plastic bait he’d been using dangled from the big mug of that fish.  And there just in front of it and sparkling in the morning sunlight was the blue colored Smile Blade Bob had slid onto his leader just ahead of his slip sinker.

I was to hear Bob holler “Got him!” again and again over the next few days at both El Salto and Lake Mateos.  Remember now, I’m the guy who has been fishing for bass for half a century and then some.  My friend Bob hadn’t been in a bass boat in years.  But before that morning was over he not only put the most fish in the boat, but had the largest of the trip to go along with it.  Every darn one of them, except for the fish we took off the top early on, came on his Smile Blade and plastic bait set up.

There’s more to the story.  It includes the day after the one I’m talking about when collectively we put 19 bass in the boat on 20 casts.  Once again it was a plastic bait used behind a Smile Blade that got ‘em.  I’ll supply the details that you’ll be wise to try in your own bass fishing in my next column.  Watch for it beginning Sept. 15.

-To Be Continued-