Sportsman Spotlight
Hometown: Union, Mich.
Occupation: Jayco construction
Favorite fish species and biggest: Largemouth bass, 7.2 pounds
Favorite Michiana lake: Long Lake, Union, Mich.
Favorite rod and reel: 8-0 Leviathon Rod and Shimano Antares DC
Hobbies when not fishing: Painting lures and being with family
If you only have one lure and why: Bury Basswood Glide bait, you can fish it most of year and I really enjoy doing it.
Best tip to give a new Michiana angler: If you want to gain confidence in a glide bait, work them like you do Chatterbaits. Reel it and put action in rod tip. Fish it like would a conventional lure and you will gain confidence once you start catching fish.
By Louie Stout
I have said for a long time that Michiana is blessed with a lot of talented anglers.
Floyd Wolkins belongs in that group – not just based on his skills with big baits – but his lure painting talents as well. He does custom painting for glide and wake bait companies who send him expensive baits to paint for their customers.
He’ll do 200 a month for Clutch and Willie Pete Glide baits on top of working a full-time job at Jayco. And that’s not all – anglers from throughout the U.S. send him baits to repaint or paint.
When he’s not painting, he’s fishing big baits on Michiana lakes. Last year, he caught three largemouth bass over 5 pounds and a 6-2. He’s landed two bass over 7 with big glide baits.
Here’s a Q&A we did with him:
MON: How did you get into fishing Glide baits?
WOLKINS: Mostly from watching videos, such as those from Ben Milliken and Chris Zaldain. They’re popular lures down south so I thought I’d try them up here. It’s very addicting and you can catch some big fish with them.
MON: What lakes do they work best in Michiana?
WOLKINS: I’ve caught some really nice fish in Juno and at Duke’s Bridge. They’re also effective on shad lakes where the bigger fish are eating bigger shad. If bluegill is the primary forage, I’ll throw bluegill colors. I fish them around thick weed edges and around docks.
MON: So, it’s primary a shallow water technique?
WOLKINS: Yes, but I’ve caught fish over 20 feet where the bass came up to eat it. I’m usually only fishing the glide bait in the top 2-3 feet of water.
MON: What conditions are ideal for fishing glide baits?
WOLKINS: Wind, and lots of it. Just like you would with a Chatterbait. If you have 30 mph winds, go to the windiest point on the lake and start chucking it. You’ll be surprised by what you might catch. And in the springtime, I will go to a big flat with weeds where females move up first. And in summer, along weed edges. I start throwing it when water temperatures are 45 and warmer. It works all year, but the 55-degree water temperature is magic.
MON: What about smallmouth?
WOLKINS: I’ve caught more in rivers than in lakes, and I fish it just like I would any other moving bait, along seawalls and around rocks. When Steve Martin and I won the Fall Brawl a few years ago, I caught a limit of smallmouth on a glide bait.
MON: What size do you recommend for someone starting out and fishing around Michiana?
WOLKINS: Probably 7”, but I’ll throw 9 “or 10” a lot. The size of fish you can draw to those big baits is unreal. I’ve seen fish that would challenge lake records in our area lakes.
MON: Which bait do you recommend?
WOLKINS: I like Clutch and Willie Pete Custom Baits a lot, and Bury Basswood is one of my favorites. Bury will make you whatever you want and they swim amazingly well. You can find them on Facebook or Instagram.
MON: Talk about your technique.
WOLKINS: You can straight retrieve them like a crankbait or Chatterbait, just a little slower, depending upon the type of bait. Some baits are designed to fish faster, especially the larger ones. I like to reel them and twitch the rod tip to make it dart back and forth so that it looks like it’s trying to escape a predator.
MON: Do you miss many strikes, and does this bait catch little ones too?
WOLKINS: I would say I hook-up with about 70 percent of the fish that hit it. And yes, I’ve caught 10 inchers on it and lots of keeper size bass.
MON: Do you throw it on braid?
WOLKINS: No, 20-pound monofilament. I use Izor Triple XXX Copolymer, but Berkley Big Game is less expensive and works, too. I like mono because of the stretch, and it keeps them hooked. When fighting a fish, I don’t try to play them; I keep the rod tip down and reel them to the boat and don’t want to give them a chance to jump.
MON: Tell me about your wake baits.
WOLKINS: I really like the 6” MTL Bruce Gillis. They’re pricey ($235) and weigh 3.5 ounces, but they’re all hand carved wood baits with a loud knock. I also like the Kersmacks Frog, a three-piece wooden frog. I was fishing lily pads with a buddy who was throwing the standard soft-bodied frog, and I was throwing the Kersmacks in the same places he was, but I caught 90 percent of the fish, and big ones. It’s something different that they don’t see. And there’s no bait on the retail shelf that sounds like that does.
MON: Is there a commercially made wake bait you like?
WOLKINS: 6th Sense makes one called a Speed Wake that is pretty good.