It’s nothing new to many anglers out there, but my cousin and I accidentally discovered (as kids) a new (new to us at least) platter that Lake Vernon bass go crazy over. It is best served during that time during an evening fish where the lake goes glassy-smooth, and the sun is just starting to set. This magical time is known to me as the ‘Happy Hour’ of fishing.
It all started one evening (some 2o years ago) when we were fishing in a Lake Vernon bay for bass and pike. My cousin and I had just purchased some floating rapala minnow lures and we were amazed by their life-like action as we reeled them in. They even caught some nice bass while we trolling in the afternoon.
The real magic happened later that night.
I made a long cast on the outside of some lily pads and watched the blue, minnow-shaped lure land on the calm water. When I began to reel it in, I noticed I had a tangled mess of fishing line dangling from my reel. While, I was clearing up the mess on my reel, the lure had been slightly moving on the water’s surface from my untangling movements. Suddenly, a surfacing bass engulfed the blue rapala and I had to bring it in without using my reel.
My cousin and I looked at each other in disbelief and quickly deduced that it was possible to cast our floating rapalas and then delay reeling them in. During this delay we would tug slightly on our lines to let the lure look like a struggling fish ‘stuck’ on the mirrored surfaced of the water. Many bass that summer (and some pike) fell victim to this floating rapala meal plan. Floating jointed rapalas worked as well.
My only word of caution was to be wary of circling seagulls. We had a couple of close calls with those critters.
What do you like to fish when the water is like glass? Comment Below.
Bill Anderson – Muskoka Outdoors
For monster pike on Vernon in the calm……12″ suick….black or perch twitch float..wait…………..bang! You can get them well over 40″ like that, but it hard on the back muscles.
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I recall very memorable evening with a somewhat similar lure – a jointed topwater propbait.
I could do no wrong that evening.
The lure was never that hot again, any time I tied it on…
Coincidentally it was at on one of the many shield lakes up in the Sioux Narrows, ON area. Though not exactly in your neck of the woods, it certainly shared some of the same latitudes.