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By Al McGuckin
In my little universe around Oklahoma, April is as much about soft plastic lizards as the Easter Bunny and the Masters at Augusta National. In fact, while the Chinese Zodiac calendar spotlights 2018 as the “Year of the Dog” -- I’d like to go ahead an officially nominate April as forever being bass fishing’s “Month of the Lizard.”
Like my Carhartt raingear, I don’t leave home in April without several bags of soft plastic lizards during this often rain-soaked month centered on various phases of the annual spring spawn.
And don’t overlook it the rest of the fishing season, either.
Yet, you’d be hard pressed to find a professional bass tournament in recent years where a lizard was credited with being the winning lure, or even playing a huge role in the victor’s creel.
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By Al McGuckin
The greatest professional bass angler of all time got his start while casting topwater lures at summertime bass as a young teenager while walking the shoreline of School Section Lake where his grandparents lived in Central Michigan.
Not much has changed in 40 years for Kevin VanDam. When asked recently to choose just two lures all anglers should consider having in their summer arsenal – he chose a topwater walking bait and a deep diving crankbait.
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By David A. Rose
When I daydream about catching bass, my initial vision is of mist rising off a lake’s dead-calm surface, followed by the most primeval eruption as a big bass attacks my topwater lure.
And while that feeling of exhilaration is the very reason so many anglers love catching bass that way, there could be a major problem when it happens… the impulsive quick hookset comes so naturally that we end up pulling the lure away from the fish’s face before it’s gobbled it up. It’s happened to all of us. But it doesn’t have to be as common of an occurrence.
Three primary factors influence your topwater success once a fish has committed: your chosen line, hooksetting technique, and rod in your hand.