The following is a cut-and-paste from my weekly column in print and online in the Killeen Daily Herald...

Killeen Daily Herald | September 10, 2023


EASY ON THAT HOOKSET!



Most Texas have become all too aware of the negative impacts which this summer’s high-pressure dome has had on our lakes, our lawns and even our spirits.

The truth is that a high-pressure dome sets up over Texas every summer. This summer’s event was longer and more consistently present than those of an average year, so we took note of it.

Being a glass-half-full kind of guy, I would like to point out at least one positive thing about our summer high pressure system — it makes for predictable fishing.

When we experience uninterrupted runs of weather as that high pressure sits atop Texas, the fish generally do the same things at the same times and in the same places day after day, only varying from that mode when a wrinkle in the weather transpires.

Our most recent wrinkle in the weather occurred two Sundays ago on Aug. 27, when a weak cold front moved in from the northwest, dropping about a quarter inch of rain in some spots, cooling us down through the following Wednesday and shifting our winds to the northwest over that same span of time.

Up until that front came in, the white bass I had been targeting on Belton Lake would begin their topwater feeding within minutes of the same time each morning for the preceding three weeks. Once that front came through, the fish scattered, showed no patterns, and did not regroup until the winds returned from the south the following Thursday prior to the Labor Day weekend.

This week, we enjoyed a continuation of that pre-Labor Day weather pattern, and the fishing, once again, became quite predictable.

Looking ahead, we are facing another cold front’s arrival on Tuesday, and as we head toward October, those fronts will become more frequent, each dropping the temperatures a bit more as they roll through.

Right now, we still have opportunities to cash in on the runs of high-pressure weather between the fronts. Such was the case this week.

Some generalities about fishing (which I did exclusively on Belton Lake) this week — first, the early bird definitely got the worm. The majority of Belton’s white bass population is feeding heavily from just before sunrise until about 8:15 a.m., after which that spree shuts down hard and fast.

Next, targeting topwater activity was by far the best-producing method.

My go-to tool (and that is what I think of lures as — tools), was the Cork Rig (see www.WhiteBassTools.com) with the largest streamer available paired with it. That streamer is gray and white in color, tied on a #2 long-shanked streamer hook with lead barbell eyes used for weighting.



CAPTION: A weighted popping cork and some of the hand-tied lures I use to imitate young-of-the-year shad fry in late May and June.


As I have described numerous times in this column, the cork rig allows a lightweight, shad-imitating lure to be flung long distances when paired with the weighted popping cork on the opposite end of the leader.

Now, here is where the rubber meets the road. No matter what lure you choose for fishing on topwater for schooling white bass, I have found that my clients and I will hook and land far more fish by not setting the hook when these schooling fish follow and strike.

I know for many of you that seems counter-intuitive or even unbelievable. However, if you can form a mental picture of what I am about to describe, I think you will see why this is the case.

Let us use my cork rig as an example (although the same is true if you are using a Rebel Pop-R, a Storm Chug Bug, a Berkley Choppo or a River2Sea Whopper Plopper).

When white bass (or hybrid, or largemouth, or smallmouth) feed in schools on the surface, they are herding bait toward the surface by getting beneath them and then working in a semi-coordinated effort to force them against the surface.

Once there, these fish will drive them across the surface using their superior speed to overtake and eat these baitfish (typically, threadfin shad). The shad escape by going down, and the gamefish try their darnedest to prevent that.

So, rarely when you are fishing for schooling fish will you be fishing for just one fish at a time. Once you cast and begin your retrieve, whatever commotion your chosen lure makes will serve to draw small breakaway pods of fish away from the main school.



CAPTION: As the shad grow throughout the summer, I increase the size of the presentation accordingly. These flies will be my choice for August, September, and until the topwater ends in October.


When multiple fish pursue your bait, they are all competing for it. Oftentimes, two or more fish will lunge forward toward the Cork Rig’s streamer at the same time. To avoid colliding with one another, the fish will, at the last moment, veer away. Sometimes during this evasive maneuvering one or more fish will make contact with your lure, be it with their mouth, snout, head, side, etc.

As they do this, they will often create a boil of water or even throw droplets of water or a spray of water up into the air. This looks and feels like a bite, but it is not.

Now, here is the key. Do not miss this part. If you set the hook as you see this visual cue, you will almost certainly miss not only the fish most hotly pursuing your bait, but, your hookset will also cause your lure to rocket some distance away from the entire breakaway pod of fish. When these gamefish sense the prey (the Cork Rig’s streamer) is evading them by speeding away, they will simply break off the chase and find an easier target.

So, you just got one strike, missed it, jerked your lure away from its pursuers and now have no further shots at fish prior to reeling in and casting again.

Now, had you just kept steadily working that same bait as you were working it prior to the strike occurring, you would still have a shot at having a third, fourth, fifth or even sixth fish from that pod surge forward and take additional shots at your lure.

Two things which add to your success as you resist the urge to set the hook on schooling fish are long casts and sharp hooks.

By making long casts completely over the school of fish seen churning on the surface, your lure is exposed to more fish per cast, and you give fish more time and distance to pursue your bait and make a successful swat at it.

Sharp hooks help ensure hook penetration in the absence of a hookset.

You are going to have to trust me on this one. Give it five tries the next time you run into schooling fish.

See how many fish you catch. Then, go back to your eye-crossing, boat-rocking hooksets and gauge the results for yourself.


Find Cork Rigs and a selection of Streamer colors and sizes here: CORK RIGS

Bob,

This little front & N. wind we had totally shut the T/W bite down on Belton today. Didn't think it would be enough to impact the T/W pattern so dramatically.

Yessir, I actually postponed the trip I had scheduled when I saw that forecast. White bass are pretty change-averse -- kinda like people LOL!

Great info, thanks for sharing!

Nice post. Thanks for sharing.

x2