In my more than 50 years of fishing in Florida I have seen some strange things. And decades ago when I was in college I had a roommate who's parents lived on a private spring fed lake in central Florida. Probably one of the cleanest lakes you will ever see. Water so clear and clean I used to drink from it. Great bass fishing to. I could go there in afternoon or evening and catch 20 to 30 bass by sundown. 

 

The only way onto that lake is through the residents who live on it. They have to allow you to pass their house and access the lake. If you don't know anyone on it, you ain't getting in. But one man did legally and the residents could not stand it. An outsider on their lake and taking fish home for food. Say it isn't so! Those residents protect that lake religiously to this day. If I could afford it, that one lake would be the place for me to finish out my life if only... But you gotta have a million dollars to even get a slice of that lake.

 

But in college, my roommate introduced me to his parents and we all were friends for years so I had free open access to that lake anytime I wanted to fish it. But, I had to follow their rules. I could not bring my own boat. No ramps. I had to use their boat. And I could not keep any fish. I was expected to release it back alive no matter what the size. I was told hanging on the wall in just about every house on that lake were large mounted bass and the dad of my roommate told me the lake record was 17 pounds. (And folks, this is the same lake I had my biggest bass experience on when it dried up into just the deep holes.)

 

Well one day I am over there fishing in their canoe out behind their house and this man shows up and slides his weird boat into the water from a sliver of road access down into the peninsula I access the lake from. That northern side of the peninsula was smaller than main lake and more shallow and mostly covered in lily pads. Clear open water accounted for maybe 30% in that area. Heavy dense vegetation.

 

So as this man gets into his round boat. It looked like a kitchen bowl. No motor. No keel. Never seen anything like it before or since. A round metal boat about 6 or 7 feet in diameter. He paddled his way into the middle of the lily pads. He was about 150 feet away from me doing his thing. I'm not having much luck that day, not like him anyways. His way of fishing was unlike anything I had ever seen. Where do people learn to fish that way I wondered. But it was working.

 

So I began watching this man fish. He was catching them. Had a stringer full of good size bass- sure to tick off the residents.

 

What this man was doing was bizarre to me at the time. He had one of those large wooden topwater like 1940's or 50's red and white minnow looking thing, and he would cast that lure into an open hole in the lily pads. He never retrieved it. He would let it sit there motionless. After a few minutes, he would barely twitch it. Let it rest again. A few minutes later he'd come back and twitch it again.

 

I saw him pull out this yellow and blue spray can to spray something onto that lure and then toss it back out there. As I am watching him twitch it in one spot, I saw the wake of a bass swimming just under the lily pads making a beeline straight for his lure. Like the pied piper this guy was calling the fish to him. Maybe the fish had never seen anything like it either because it was sure working a whole lot better than what I was doing.

 

And I went over and talked to him for a few minutes, but he would not tell me what his spray was. So after a bit I beached the canoe and walked up into the house because I knew the old man had a large telescope on tripod at the living room's large window overlooking the lake. So I went inside and asked if I could use the telescope.

 

So while listening to the anger of the resident spewing about the fish being taken and some stranger in their lake I was watching him through the telescope bound and determined to see what he was using on that lure. Turns out it looked to be WD40. Say what?

 

What can I say. That man had just taught me something about bass fishing that has stuck with me all these years. Now I never fish that way because its no fun to me. I like swinging away. But that guy still bugs me to this day.

 

I try and imagine bass pro's fishing that way. I've never seen anyone fish like the pied piper calling the fish to him from long distances away. I watched one fish swim fast under the lily pads for more than 40 or 50 feet or so. Calling the fish to him like whistling for a dog or something. I learned something and never repeated it myself.

 

I wonder how do people learn to fish that way? They surely did not get it from the pro's. They swing away too. Who casts and leaves the lure alone to go take a break or something and come back and barely twitch it and then go take another extended break before repeating it until the fish come? Its like he's not even fishing when the lure is just sitting there motionless for minutes at a time.

 

He was expending the least amount of effort and cleaning my clock on the catching and his were bigger fish too. Learn something everyday.

I’ve got a friend that does something similar, but his choice of bait is a 4” glide bait. He will let it sit forever between twitches and picks up some good fish doing this.

 

I’m patient, but not THAT patient. 

You are a good storyteller, Triple F, and you've got good stories to tell too. Thanks for this one!