Going Nuts!
By Nick Ruiz
Thinking outside the box and straying from the everyday presentation can lead to more fish in the boat, and more tournaments won; as shown by Pete Burillo of Queens NY {left}.
For those of you that regularly read my articles it comes as no surprise to you that in many ways I am a traditionalist when it comes to bass fishing. Many of the presentations I use as well as the tackle might not be classified as out of the ordinary by any stretch of the words. Though recently I discovered that this might be quite a shortfall as far as my trip to catch ratio goes for the simple fact that there are tons of other anglers on the same water that I fish, in many cases fishing the same exact baits I am.
This season I had the opportunity to fish with a fellow New York angler by the name of Pete Burillo, who if nothing else proved to me that sometimes being different, I mean VERY different can be very productive out on the water. His many combinations of unlikely baits and unlikely presentations certainly impressed me as well as illustrated the value of thinking outside the box in a sport where the status quo usually rules.
At this point one might ask, exactly how do I be different. Well I will say for one thing an imagination certainly helps in this particular situation, and sometimes a sixth "bassin'" sense can be a great asset, however for the most part it takes ingenuity. One must remember that despite the massive variety of baits out on the market today, there are a few of them that are extremely popular, in this case I cite the Senko, by Gary Yamamoto as an example. Everyone that is anyone most likely has either heard of or fished this bait at one point or another throughout this past season. That being said, think about how many anglers have used it across the country, let alone on one body of water alone. Mind boggling isn't it? Fish of course, despite how dumb we think they are, will eventually become tired of seeing the same offerings and that bait will be less productive. The truly dangerous, in that sense I mean productive, anglers are the ones that can take what they have learned from seeing other anglers presenting their bait on something hot, and formulate something of their own that the fish have never seen before.
There are a host of things one must contemplate when preparing to stray from the norm. Of these factors, depth, speed, and size I personally feel are the three most crucial. If you know where the fish are, you know what depth they are holding at, and you know the speed that they like the presentation. There is no reason you can't take what you have learned and come up with either a bait or a bait combination that does the same thing, yet is totally different in appearance. I am willing to bet my bass boat that there is always an angler at the ramp after the tournament that "killed em" on days where other anglers figured they had the contest in the bag. Chances are he was doing something similar, yet just a bit different. As I mentioned before, Mr. Burillo is a master of this, and I have seen some of his work, though in fear for my life I am not going to divulge any of the particulars about these creations! However I can give some examples of what I have done in order to break free from the "same old bait" crowd.
Soft plastics are a great place to start trying some ideas out, as they are cheap enough that should you do something that you don't like, you can toss it and start again. Another great factor about these types of baits is that because of their nature they are easy to modify. Clipping or adding isn't very difficult and you can find a particular set up you like, and duplicate it. I have on many occasion have pushed a soft plastic crawfish into a gitzit style tube to create a bulkier, faster sinking bait with a larger profile. I have also experimented with contrasting colors in the latter situation that have made for some serious fish. Another great bait to play with is jigs. Jig and trailer combinations, and what you use for trailers are only limited by what you can dream up. As I said, sometimes you will see something in the water that will inspire you such as either a bait fish, or a crayfish, and at that point you might try to mimic that particular bit of forage. In some cases I have even gone as far to make "hybrid" baits. Clipping limbs from one soft plastic and sticking them on another by using a hot needle to meld plastic. This works well for creating unique color combinations as well as incredibly different looking baits. An example of this might be adding a twister tail to a craw bait. Even something as simple as that not only changes the silhouette and profile of the bait, but also the action and the rate in which it falls. In a sense you can custom tailor your baits to the situation at hand.
Without divulging too many of my trade secrets I have since found one that I think not only looks amazing, but performs just as well, that it's too good not to share with the readers. Many of you are familiar with the now in-style Gary Yamamoto soft plastics, and realize the potential they have in and of themselves. However, by taking a conventional spinnerbait, preferably one with a single, large Colorado blade and removing the skirt, and replacing it with either an Ika, or Fat Ika, you can create a very unique looking bait. I have done this before and have gotten smallies attacking it the likes of which I have never seen. The beauty of this creation is that it's interchangeable. By changing the size of the Ika, you can change the way the bait falls, as well as handles when retrieved. Also, you can immediately switch up color, thus giving you an added degree of customization to your bait. If I may spill my beans for one more second, might I say that slow-rolling may be the best set up yet, as the rate of fall with the large soft plastic body, aside from being painfully slow, keeps the bait in a near perfect vertical fall.
Granted I could go on a bit but then the whole secret behind "Going Nuts" is to be creative. As I said earlier, there really is no substitute for plain old creativity in a situation like this. And if nothing else, by coming up with your own creations, you will set yourself aside from the many others attempting to present the same old thing, day after day on the same lake. This will make any recreational trip more fun than it might have, and in the case of tournament you just might be the guy walking home with that big fat check come weigh in time!
Catch ya' on the water...
