Supersize your spoon to get a big bass

June 29, 2008 06:14 pm

— In today’s fishing world BIG is better. It has been said numerous times that big fish like big baits. One of the hottest lures on the market today for catching big bass is a Nichols 5-inch spoon. If you want to target the really big bass (three pounds and way up) you need to supersize your spoon.
People aren’t the only ones who want their meals supersized. Bass on Lake Fork prefer supersize meals.
This week David Nichols and I met with veteran bass guide on Lake Fork, Rick Loomis. Dave and I came armed with his new 5-inch supersized spoons. Nichols chose his new 5” Lake fork Flutter Spoon in the silver, shattered glass hologram finish for maximum reflection. I’ve never seen a lure that reflects so much light.
This is the first time I’ve had to fish this heavy 1 1/8 oz. spoon. It flutters and drops fast to the bottom. Nichols also brought along a gold shattered glass spoon in a hologram finish and his 3D metal flake spoons in the blue shad and bar fish design which is green with gold flakes.
We launched at the Minnow Bucket and headed up Big Caney to search for bass on inundated road beds, humps, ridges and extended points. Loomis mostly targeted bass in the 25 to 35 foot range. Every time we stopped, Loomis kept his eyes on his Lowrance graph searching for bass. Loomis said, “I’m looking for a group of fish. If you get a bait in there they are gonna bite it. Baitfish is an option. If they are there, fine.” I asked Loomis about using Carolina rigs. Loomis said, “If bass are six foot off of the bottom, a Carolina rig won’t get them. A spoon can swim at any depth and be brought up to the fish. A spoon is so much easier to fish. I can maintain the depth and keep it in the strike zone.”
Our first stop was on a deep hump (25-30 feet), way out in the lake. After graphing the area and only seeing scattered baitfish and bass, we moved on. Our next stop was on a deep roadbed. Again, we didn’t find the bass bunched up, so we moved back to the hump we had previously vacated.
Loomis motored back and forth over the hump while viewing his graph. Loomis said, “I’ve found that there will always be a key spot on a hump or ridge, like a point protruding off of the ridge. Once you find the key spots you can go back and graph the key areas. At times the fish may not be there, but you can return later and find them stacked up on the key spot.” Suddenly he spotted a group of bass suspended at 22 feet in about 28 feet of water. Loomis slung a buoy about 15 feet away from the school.
“Cast the spoon out and let it hit bottom. Then crank your reel six times and keep your bait at that level,” Loomis instructed.
Nichols was the first to hook up with a big bass. A few minutes later I stuck a good one, and then Loomis did. The action was fast and furious. Bass were ranging from three to five pounds.
I’ve never caught bass on a 5-inch spoon, especially bass suspended six feet off of the bottom. We caught about eight bass before the school scattered. Then we moved back up the lake toward the dam. We continued to catch bass throughout the morning as we stopped on more humps and deep points. Every time we stopped, Nichols caught a big bass. He seemed to have the right touch that day.
One of Loomis’s best spots was an extended point that dropped off into 30-35 feet of water. I hooked and missed a good bass, and Nichols hung into a lunker. Nichols said, “I was reeling my spoon in and the stopped it with about 25 feet of line out.” That’s when a 7 ? pound bass engulfed Nichols’ 5-inch spoon. Five minutes later Loomis landed a five-pound bass on the Nichols spoon.
When you have fished your lure through the key spot and begin a quick retrieval back to the boat, be sure to stop your bait and let it flutter. At times a big bass will follow your spoon all the way to the boat. When the bait suddenly stops and flutters it will often trigger a strike. That is exactly what happened to Nichols and resulted in him catching the largest bass. Loomis had just instructed us on this deadly technique.
We fished till noon and reluctantly left, but the bite had fallen off. Between us we caught about 15 bass and hung and lost four more.
Loomis is one of the best deep water structure bass guides on Lake Fork. He is a very good instructor in the fine art of reading a graph. He doesn’t stop unless he sees catchable bass. We stopped at seven locations and caught bass on all but two.
A lot of fishermen will tell you that suspended bass are hard to catch. But you give Loomis a 5-inch Nichols spoon and he will prove them wrong.
Rick Loomis can be reached at 903-383-3050. His email address is: rloomis@koyote.com or rloomis@peoplescom.net . You can visit his website at: www.rickloomis.com .

Jerry Miller can be contacted at: gonefishing@suddenlink.net