SPINNER-BAIT TRICKS AND TACTICS OF THE PROS

Woo Daves and Randy Howell

EDITOR'S NOTE: Woo Daves, 57, of Burrowsville, Virginia, has fished the B.A.S.S. trail for 29 years. He won the 2000 BASS Masters Classic and became the first champion of the new millennium. Twenty-nine-year-old Randy Howell of Springville, Alabama, has fished in four BASS Masters Classics and consistently places in the money in tournaments.

Woo Daves reports that this year he's gotten more in-tune with the big Ledgebuster spinner bait. "I've fished with the Ledgebuster for two years, but this year I got to do more fishing without tournament pressure. So, I took the time to learn more about this bait.

"I like the big Ledgebuster because I can fish this 2-1/2-ounce spinner bait and sink it down into 15 to 20 feet of water. The heavier the Ledgebuster you fish, the faster you can pull it at the same depth. And speed gets reaction strikes. Slow spinner baits work great for about two weeks in the early spring. Then the bass start recognizing them and stop biting them. But when that 1 1/2-ounce or 2-ounce spinner bait speeds by them in deep water, they don't have time to figure out it's a bait.

"I truly believe that when you fish with a spinner bait or a crankbait, reaction strikes makes up 90 percent of your bites. To get reaction strikes, you have to make the spinner bait pop off some type of cover or bring it by the bass quickly."

Randy Howell likes to fish spinner baits around fallen trees in shallow water. "This year, I started using a three-bladed spinner bait instead of the regular two-bladed bait," Howell explains. "I like the spinner bait made by Hawg Caller that has three willow-leaf blades. Instead of having two big blades that cause a lot of vibration, this spinner bait has a No. 4 blade on the end, a No. 3 blade in the middle and a No. 3 blade at the head. You can slow-roll this spinner bait over limbs and other structure, and it looks like a small school of baitfish swimming through the cover. Bass will strike at a smaller spinner bait much quicker than they'll strike at a larger bait."

TOMORROW: ALTON JONES AND ROLAND MARTIN