Big Bass By Starlight
Bass In the Timber
 Editor’s
Note: Ron Smith of Sylacauga, Alabama, hunts the hawgs
in the wood. Oxbow lakes, old farm ponds with standing
timber or big sloughs off a main river system are where
you will find Smith when the sun dies, and the moon
is resurrected.
“I know that big bass like cover,” Smith
explains. “Bass like to be up against logs, brush
or bushes. I also know that they will move into shallow
water at night in the summer to feed on baitfish. Since
bass like cover and food at night, I fish shallow-water
cover for big bass. I believe that so und
more than anything else draws bass to a lure at night.
The big bass hone in to sound like radar finds a ship.
The bass then moves to the place he plans to attack.
And when he hears the lure in his strike zone, he attacks
the sound not the lure. For that reason I like a racket
bait for my after-hours bassing. And my favorite racket
lure is the Lunker Lure with either a black or a white
skirt. I have fished the big Jitterbug at night and
caught bass with it. However, fishing in the cover that
I like to fish, the Jitterbug will often get hung up.
With the Lunker Lure, I can come over logs, hit stumps
and wade through treetops with no problems. Most of
the time the fish will hit  the
lure just as it leaves the structure or cover where
he is holding. If my Lunker Lure comes over a log and
drops off on the other side, the bass will most often
hit just as I begin my retrieve. When I’ve got
a bass on, he’ll usually head for some type of
cover. For this reason, I fish 20- to 25-pound-test
line. I need a line that will not only stop the charge
of the bass but will allow me to work him through the
wood after I’ve got him hooked.
“Some fishermen don’t bass fish at night
because they are afraid that if they do get fish on
they won’t be able to break them free from the
cover to land them. They play games like, ‘I won’t
cast to that spot because I know it is full of brush,
and my lure will probably get hung. If the lure doesn’t
get hung, and I do get a bass on, I’ll never land
him.’ So with that kind of reasoning, the y
talk themselves out of fishing the most-productive bass
waters. Big bass can be caught in the woods at night.
All you have to do to boat a big one is: use a racket
bait like the Lunker Lure that doesn’t hang up
much; and fish heavy line and a stout rod so you can
drag the hawg out of the woods.”
Tomorrow: Secret Night-Fishing
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