Tossing our offerings toward an underwater island in Lake Anna, my friend and I slowly pumped our live shiners back over the deep offshore structure. Sensing a fish biting, I set the hook and felt heavy throbbing on the line.
After a raucous fight, my partner thrust our landing net towards the thrashing bass, but alas, the hook pulled free. The fish floated on the surface for a brief, stunned moment, then dove back into the deep, dark water. We estimated the bass at well over 11 pounds from its length, which appeared to be 2½ feet long.
That Lake Anna bass was the biggest largemouth I have ever hooked in my life. It dwarfed 8 pounders I’ve taken. And I’ve never come across another one close to it since. If I ever do, chances are it will be with live bait on the end of the line.
If you’re introducing a newcomer or youngster to the sport, bait will almost guarantee enough action that they’ll like fishing and want to get more involved in it. Then gradually they can work into lure fishing and fly casting.
As the big bass described earlier shows, bait often fools the largest specimens of our most popular gamefish. Most people know how to fish minnows. Here’s a rundown on three other excellent baits to use this coming spring. All of them are great choices for the Shenandoah River.
Madtoms. Also called “stonecats,” these small catfish can tempt any good-sized gamefish, but they’re especially effective on smallmouths in rivers. A few bait shops occasionally sell them, but for the most part you’ll have to catch your own.
Find riffle areas in rocky rivers and streams and search for them by slowly lifting up rocks. You can either scoop them up with a small net or place a milk carton painted black inside next to the rock and they’ll usually swim into it.
These baits are hardy and can often last through catching several fish. Better still, they are not attractive to small bass, so almost every bite you get will be from a good-sized bronzeback.
Hook them through both lips on a size 1 or 2 hook. Since they head for the bottom, no weight is needed. Cast up and across and allow the tom to dive and drift with the current. If no strike comes, reel in and repeat.
Hellgrammites. These ornery-looking critters are the larval forms of the Dobson fly. Measuring one to three inches, they’re found in rocky rivers and streams and are terrific baits for smallmouth, largemouth, panfish, catfish and trout. Use one to two-inchers for trout and panfish, bigger ones for bass.
These baits can be captured around the same rocky, riffle areas in streams and rivers where you find madtoms. Lift rocks and scoop them up with a small dip net or have one person spread a seine out while another lifts rocks upstream, loosening the baits so they drift down into the mesh.
Store hellgrammites in a container with leaves, bark, sticks and just a small amount of water on the bottom. Use size 2 to 6 hooks and thread the point beneath the “collar” on the insect’s back then out the other side. Add one or two small split shot for weight. Try fishing with and without a float, to see which works best.
Crayfish. Few gamefish can resist the scurrying action as well as the taste and scent appeal of these crustaceans. They’re good baits for bass of all species, plus panfish, trout and catfish.
Ponds and streams can both harbor crayfish, which are often found under rocks and debris or simply burrowed in the mud. Baiting a minnow trap with bread or meat will attract them, or you can use a dip net or can with holes in it to catch them.
Lift logs and rocks in shallow waters until you spot a crayfish, then put the net or can behind it. Push a stick in front of the crustacean and it will scurry backwards into the container. Crayfish can be kept in a foam cooler or bait bucket with a small amount of water and wet leaves.
Pierce crayfish through the tail on a size 1/0 to 4 hook and either drift fish or cast the bait to cover such as rock piles, points, eddies, docks, islands and drop-offs. If the water is deep, add a couple of split shot for weight.
Award-winning outdoors writer Gerald Almy is a Maurertown resident
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