John's Journal...

The Snagless Sally and Uncle Josh: A Lure Marriage Made in Bass Heaven for Summertime Fishing

Snagless Sally Meets Her Frog

Click to enlargeEditor’s Note: These two deadly weed-bed lures – the Snagless Sally and the Uncle Josh Pork Chunk – form an unbeatable combination for catching bass in the summer.

For years, the SnaglClick to enlargeess Sally was a mystifying, captivating, alluring lady that captured the heart of many a fisherman. She was a beautiful thing with her silver and gold accessories, yellow skirt and two arms to ward off any who might want to dissuade her from her course. As she swam through the lilies and the bushes, she shimmied and shook with such a rhythm that she could call a hawg bass out of its shady home into the bright sunlight just to take a bite of her.

Then one day, Snagless Sally noticed someone who was quite ugly invading her terrain.He had a white front side with a pot belly and a light green back with dark green freckles on it. But when he came through the lilies, the treetops and the bushes with his long tentacles streaming behind, bass just couldn’t resist his action. For awhile, there was a feud between the Snagless Sally and the Uncle Josh Frog over who would be the ruler of the weed bed and just who could bring the biggest bass to the barb. But as often happens in love and war, the two adversaries became friends and hooked-up to make one of the deadliest lures on the American fishing scene – the Snagless Sally with an Uncle Josh pork trailer. The lady got the bass’ attention with her flashing blades, brightly-colored beads and shimmering skirt. And when big bass saw Uncle Josh waving at them as he went by holding onto Miss Sally, the fish, which just couldn’t stand that much excitement, would attack the lure. Click to enlarge

The Snagless Sally with an Uncle Josh pork trailer has been one of my favorite baits since the beginning of my bass-fishing career. One time when I was a boy, my dad got tired of my trying to cast and hanging my lure in everything from the bushes on the bank to the top of his straw hat. He said, “Boy, I’m going to give you a bait that will catch all the bass you want to catch.” He tied-on a Hildebrandt Snagless Sally, reached into a jar of juice, pulled out one of those green pork frogs and attached it to the bait. “Now, son, you just throw that ole bait anywhere you want to throw it,” Click to enlargePop instructed. “As long as it gets into the water some of the time, you’ll catch bass on it.” I knew Pop was trying to give me a lure that would prevent him from having to spend so much time paddling to the bank to get me unhung. But what I didn’t realize was the truth in what he said, “If you keep this bait in the water some of the time, you can catch fish.”

And that’s the most-important key to effectively fishing the Sally and the Frog. You don’t have the bait in the water all of the time. As a matter of fact, the lure will produce more bass if it is out of the water at some time during the retrieve. If you will cast the bait deep into the brush or the stick-ups, drag it over the structure, let it fall in a hole in the structure, swim it a little ways, allow it to crawl out over some more structure, swim it a sine more, crawl it out on top of another piece of cover and continue to swim it back to the boat, you will probably catch more bass than if the bait stays in the water all the time. And I learned early that the Sally and Frog combo is the most fish- anywhere lure in my tackle box, because this bait will walk through weeds, around stumps, off the bank, through treetops, under limbs, over rocks and anywhere else it’s possible to cast a lure. This makes the Sally and the Frog one of the most-deadly river baits in America today. Also the lure is just as potent in brackish water as it is in gin-clear, spring water.

For more information on the Snagless Sally, visit www.yakimabait.com. to learn more about the Uncle Josh Bait Company, go to www.unclejosh.com.

Tomorrow: The Snagless Sally vs. Shrimp for Bass

Check back each day this week for more about "The Snagless Sally and Uncle Josh: A Lure Marriage Made in Bass Heaven for Summertime Fishing"

Day 1: Snagless Sally Meets Her Frog
Day 2: The Snagless Sally vs. Shrimp for Bass
Day 3: Fishing the Snagless Sally in Various Structure
Day 4: Snagless Sally’s Family Tree
Day 5: Uncle Josh’s Family Tree


 

Entry 513, Day 1