December 13-14...topwater Time!

[Al Agnew]

I'd never fished that river before, so when Zipstick called and invited me for a couple days of fishing while staying at his lake house, I jumped at the chance. The river has a reputation for nice largemouth and big spotted bass, with a few smallmouth in the mix, but while Zipstick had fished it during warmer weather, his experience on it during the winter was limited. Still, Zipstick being my old winter fishing guru, I had no doubts he could put us on some fish.

I was to meet him at the boat ramp at 9 AM, but he called me on my way to tell me he was already fishing, and had already caught a 4 pound largemouth. He said to honk when I got to the ramp, and he'd come and pick me up.

As I was loading my rods and tackle into the boat, he checked the water temperature. 51 degrees. He said it was quite possible that we'd catch some fish on topwaters. I was skeptical.

We started fishing our way down the river, and got into our first flurry of action in a run with fairly strong current around a log jam, picking up several nice spotted bass on hair jigs. By nice, I mean fat 14-15 inchers. In the bluff bank below, we continued to catch spots on jigs and jerkbaits. I switched to a deep diving crankbait and caught a 15 incher. Switched to a spinnerbait and caught a couple. The next bluff hole continued the same way. And so it went the rest of the morning, and up into the early afternoon under bright, sunny skies and moderate wind. In one bluff pool, Zipstick was fishing a jig when he hooked a heavy fish. When it stayed down deep, out of sight, for a long time, swimming mostly in wide circles, he knew it wasn't a bass, and said it would be a big drum. He was right, the bulky drum would have probably weighed seven pounds or better. On the next cast, he caught another one, a little 14 incher. And a little farther down the pool, he caught the third one, another big one, probably 5 or 6 pounds.

The next bluff pool was deep, and in deep shadow. Zipstick said it was time to break out the topwater, and proceeded to tie on one of his home made ones, which he naturally calls a Zipstick. I was still a bit skeptical. Yes, the bright sun might have warmed the water a little, but the cool wind probably had kept the temperature down, and besides, this pool was deep in shade, with icicles hanging off the bluff...

On his third cast, a small spotted bass came up and daintily took the walk the dog lure.

Probably a fluke, I thought, and then about four casts later, he brought another one to the boat. Ah, they're only little fish, I thought. The next fish he caught was a solid 15 incher. I put on a Sammy 85!

In that 200-300 yard stretch of deep, rocky water, we ended up catching about 15 bass on top, with at least that many more coming up and hitting the lure without getting hooked. You had to fish them slowly, with frequent pauses, and often the fish would swipe at it multiple times before getting hooked. But the action was about as fast as you'll find in the winter, and Zipstick topped with the best spotted bass of the day, a pig of a 17 incher.

When we reached the end of the stretch of bluff, we decided to go back and fish it again. And because it looked like a good walleye spot, we put on deep diving lures and trolled our way back up. I had on an extra deep diving Pointer, while Zipstick was using a Bandit. I almost immediately caught a 20 inch walleye, and then a couple of small spotted bass, before Zipstick caught the only smallmouth of the day, a 13 incher.

Back at the head of the pool, we put back on the topwaters, but the magic was gone, and we only caught a couple more little ones as we worked our way back down the pool. And by the time we reached the end, the day was getting close to being gone as well. With seven miles to go back up the river to the ramp, we decided to call it a day. On the way back up, we kept seeing eagles, which would fly ahead of us, until at one point we had a gathering of at least 30 eagles soaring in a big flock. We reached the ramp, loaded up, and headed to an Italian restaurant for dinner.

That night at Zipstick's house, we debated what to do the next day. Our choices boiled down to fishing the lake, fishing a different stretch of the river, or going to a different river a little farther away. The lake was tempting, given the 6 pound plus bass Zipstick had caught on it the day before I arrived. But given the choice, I'll take river fishing most days. And I'd fished the other river numerous times, so when Zipstick left the final decision up to me, I opted for the different stretch of the same river.

The next morning, when we arrived at the ramp the sun was already partially obscured behind high, thin clouds, and it was barely above freezing. Zipstick checked the water temp, and on this stretch it was down to 47 degrees. He even commented that the topwater bite was probably not going to happen today.

The sun soon disappeared entirely. Zipstick caught a few largemouth in the first spot we fished on jerkbaits, including a nice 16 incher. I caught nothing on the jig. Next spot, Zipstick caught some more on the jerkbait. I caught nothing on a jerkbait, crankbait, and spinnerbait. The next few spots, neither of us caught much of anything.

"Well, if I'm not going to catch anything, I'd just as soon do it on topwaters," he said, and put on the magic Zipstick. First cast...you guessed it, a 14 inch spotted bass. This time I didn't hesitate, I dug out the Sammy. In the next half hour, he caught a dozen or so, and I caught...nothing. The day was half over and I was skunked so far. So in desperation, I begged him for one of his Zipsticks. He only had one more with him, but he gave it to me, and I started catching fish.

And so the day went. I continually tried other lures, including all the old standbys, hair jigs, jerkbaits, spinerbaits...and caught exactly zero fish on them. Meanwhile, Zipstick had one more trick up his sleeve, a Bomber Long A with a secret to it that I won't divulge...also fished on the surface. He kept catching fish. I only caught fish when I was using his Zipstick...but ONLY on rocky banks. Wood was totally devoid of fish, even logs on rocky banks!

In one spot, a deep, almost dead backwater behind a small gravel bar with no visible cover, I had several fish come up and swipe at the Zipstick. They were crappie! They wouldn't quite take it, so we both put on small suspending jerkbaits, and proceeded to catch at least 15 nice crappie. We released them until I finally realized that I wouldn't mind some fish in the freezer, so we started keeping them, but we only caught four more before the action ceased. So I kept the next couple of 13 inch spotted bass we caught, figuring six fish would make a meal for me and Mary.

There were a lot more eagles, and a couple of flocks of turkeys, and like the day before, no other anglers at all. I had one more big bass come up for the topwater, but it didn't quite get hooked, so probably our best fish were 15 or 16 inches. But the action remained steady, if not spectacular. And what was amazing was that topwater was the ONLY thing working. I'm sure the water temps never rose from the 47 degrees we measured that morning.

Dang it, now I'm going to have to make myself some of Zipstick's Zipsticks, and that means carrying more tackle even in the winter!

[cwc87]

Great report Al. My partner fished it Wednesday and had a great day too. I'm headed to that river soon!!

[Mitch f]

Great report, I've always been amazed with the way that lure works....the simplicity, the size, the color and lack of weight...basically a stick of light wood. But I've watched him whack em countless times when you swore topwater was done a month ago.... I trade him out jigs for them. I'm so happy you guys had a memorable trip! Cool river with a diverse catch. Fun fun fun

[fishinwrench]

Were the spots full of worms?

[Al Agnew]

Nope, no worms, I'm glad to say. I keep a lot of spotted bass, but if they have visible worms in the fin membranes and gill cover membranes, you gotta figure the meat is full of them and they're not worth taking home. These were all clean fish.

[Al Agnew]

Great report, I've always been amazed with the way that lure works....the simplicity, the size, the color and lack of weight...basically a stick of light wood. But I've watched him whack em countless times when you swore topwater was done a month ago.... I trade him out jigs for them. I'm so happy you guys had a memorable trip! Cool river with a diverse catch. Fun fun fun

Yeah, he left me with the one I was using. I've got a couple of his old ones from when he was making them to sell. We talked some about the lure and the situations when it works the best. He said that the people he's guided in both the summer and the late fall always ask him, after they caught fish on it during the fall, why he didn't have them using it in the summer. He would tell them that in the summer LOTS of things work, so while that lure works, too, other lures are easier to use and usually work just as well. But when the water gets cool, the other lures usually DON'T work while that one does.

I'm really kinda kicking myself that I haven't keyed onto this before now. You know how much I love fishing walk the dog topwaters, and I'm convinced that in the summer, they are one of the best lures you can use in very clear water, and in my opinion a better lure to use than the "naturalistic" jigs and soft plastics that a lot of anglers swear by. And I also have often thought that in the very clear water we often encounter this time of year, the same thing might hold true. We all know that even hair jigs don't work all that well when the water is super clear, while if it's anywhere over 40 degrees the small jerkbaits will usually catch a few fish even in very clear water. If the fish are active enough to come to a jerkbait that's sitting there about five feet deep at most, might not they come up to a surface lure if it's also just sitting there and moving seductively but slowly? And maybe...the surface lure closes the deal because they can't see it as well. One comes swimming up to a jig sitting on the bottom, and they can examine it and see every little thing about it. But it's like looking at something under a light, as opposed to looking at something with a strong light behind it where you have to squint. The thing you're looking at against the strong light behind it is more difficult to see details. That's what fish are seeing when they are looking at something on the water surface against the sky, sun, etc. You can get fish to take stuff they can see well, or we wouldn't be catching any fish on hair jigs in clear water. But if they are active enough to be seriously looking for something to eat in clear water, the thing that just gives them the impression of something edible is more likely to fool them than the thing they can see every tiny detail.

As for the Zipstick, it is not as easy to walk perfectly as the store-bought lures, so he said that a lot of the people he guides never get the hang of walking it, especially the slow way you have to do it in cold water. But by its very nature...small, drably but lightly colored, made of wood so it doesn't splat the water on the landing quite as much as some of the hard plastic lures, and with no rattles, it's a finesse walk the dog topwater by its very nature...perfect for clear water and somewhat sluggish fish.

I'm going to do a little experimenting and see if I can come up with a variation on the design that I like.

[Greasy B]

Interesting report, quirky river, quirky fish.

[LittleRedFisherman]

Very interesting indeed, "that" river sounds like a good one...lol. Great report as always, makes me wanna head to the river right now!!

[Mitch f]

Always pay close attention to a highly motivated fisherman who makes his own lures from scratch!

[fishinwrench]

No signs of any Whites or Hybrids I guess?