It’s Never Too Hot or Too Cold to Catch Bass Using New System.
New Method Violates Old Theories, Snags ’Em.
By Tom McNally
You will not believe this (and that’s is to be expected) but Elwood (Buck) Perry of Hickory, NC., has developed a system that catches bass, anywhere, anytime.
Those old saws “They’re not biting” and “You should have been here last week ”are meaningless. Under the Perry system, it is never too hot or too cold to catch bass his way, nor is it too early or too late; and atmospheric pressure is something you forget, along with those wicked northeasters. Bass do not always feed, but they will always strike.
Proof Is Offered
Proof? Well, the other day Perry, Don Nichols, Bob Mummert and this reporter fished Pistakee Lake in cold rain and whipping wind, we caught five bass over 3 pounds each, hooked and lost three others estimated at 3 to 6 pounds, and boated a northern of 8 pounds. No one else brought in fish!
The day before Perry accompanied Chicagoan Ted Busse. Busse was skeptical at the outset, but later said Perry’s system was the “greatest thing since Christmas”. In a few hours on Pistakee they landed 17 bass, including two 6 pounders. Last Thursday Perry and his wife fished Lake Marie for the first time, and in 1½ hours caught six bass, two over 5 pounds.
No one ever believes what they hear of Buck Perry and his method called “spoonplugging”, until they see it. So Perry tours the country and goes fishing to prove spoonplugging is the one sure way to catch bass.
The system, which Perry perfected over a period of 30 years, is based on five controllable factors that make game fish strike. They are depth fished, and speed, size, color and action of lure.
Because he couldn’t buy a lure that would do all he wanted, Perry designed his own. The former engineering professor at North Carolina State came up with the spoonplug, which looks like shoehorn that has been stepped on by a horse.
Goes Down and Stays
But in spite of its comical appearance, the lure goes down and stays down.
The depth worked depends on the size of the lure. The smaller lure runs 4-6 feet, and the larger sizes go deeper to a maximum of 20 feet. Several colors and finishes are available, with copper, brass, and nickel generally best. Yellow is good too.
Perry offers an entirely different concept of bass fishing, proving that largemouths are school fish that migrate. When you catch one in the shallows, it’s because they have gone there to divide and feed.
Near Quick Drop-off
Ordinarily bass are in “sanctuaries” or holes, particularly in winter and summer, where the water temperature is “comfortable”. Here the water will be clean, and there’ll be a quick drop-off nearby to deeper (escape) water, as well as a convenient migration route to the shallows where food is abundant. Find these “sanctuaries” and migration routes, and you will catch bass.
Here’s how to do it. If you know bass are sometimes caught in an area, check it out by casting along shore as usual, but use a fast steady retrieve. Under bright conditions, use a bright lure; under dark conditions, a dark one. This is opposite to what most fishermen do.
If you do not catch bass, start casting to deeper water. Let the lure sink, and on clay points and sand bars be sure it digs into the bottom the full length of the retrieve. A spoonplug will stand on it’s nose and dive into the bottom, sending out puffs of sand or mud.
Anchor and Cast
The same thing can be done better and faster by trolling. Once the bass are located, the boat can be anchored and you can cast to take your fish. Often these “sanctuaries” produce a bass on every cast. In hot weather, when most fishermen are claiming bass are sluggish and inactive and want slow moving lures, troll spoonplugs with your motor wide open. Troll slower when it is cold. Perry’s logic in this is simple.
“A minnow, which is what most lures represent, hardly moves when he’s cold” says Perry. “ But when it’s warm, he’s like a bullet”.
The other day we were zooming over Pistakee, yet we caught fish, including white bass which we shook off hooks and released. Many fishermen have criticized Perry and Nichols for fast trolling, until they see their stringers!
Bats 1000 in Casts
The Perry system of locating bass eliminates unproductive water, and at times there will be miles of fish barren shoreline, with all the bass of an area congregated on the end of a bar. To prove this once to a group of doubting newsmen, Perry took them to a hole and in 33 casts nailed 33 bass. Another day Nichols caught 43 lake trout at a Canadian lake while other fishermen brought in four!
In two days of fishing at Pistakee, Perry proved that there are three “year classes” of bass there. One batch averages 1½ pounds, another 3 pounds, and a third group consists of 5 and 6 pounders. This means spawning failed some years, perhaps due to severe cold snaps that moved fish off the beds. He believes Illinois bass are underfished (he means undercaught) and are “dying by the thousands of old age.”
