BIRD BANGING BULRUSHES FROM THE BASS LURES OF FLIPINTHEBIRD

Thursday, July 21, 2011

BIRD BANGING BULRUSHES

by John McKean

Ever adventurous, 26 year old Sandy, a gal-pal of son Sean, ignored my advise to NOT penetrate the bulrushes for better casting position. Had I been even slightly more specific about the 6' black snake that loved to lounge in the cool soft mud therein I wouldn't have felt quite so guilty over the horrific scream, sky high leap, and amazingly gross string of expletives from the pretty little lady! Yet,surprisingly, it wasn't a snake or snapping turtle that put Sandy into total panic but, rather, the struggling critter hanging from her lure. First cast over slop yielded a hefty, bulgy eyed bullfrog!

In fact, my initial tosses with the brand new BIRD had the frogs a-rushin' ! Unless hungry for a big platter of fried frog legs, it's best to take measures to thwart the slop hopping rascals' advances, especially considering the realism offered by this natural looking surface bait! So, over the past several years I've been developing a unique system that focuses maximum fishing time exclusively to big bass.

First of all, most good ponds reside in very fertile farm land and are surrounded with bulrushes, cattails, sedge, and similar tall,thick weeds. My approach is to remain hidden and cast right over these close knit stalks, directly into heavily vegetated water. Never a need to cast too far, yet there is a definate advantage in working a bird TOWARD the shoreline; an injured or stunned, downed real bird will struggle for its life to reach closest land or a veggie " island" rather than seek safety (?) out over depths. And from a fishing standpoint,even the gentle BIRD "splat" on landing is out away from fish holding cover and not likely to spook a wary old lunker.

After touchdown, I still wait a moment for my BIRD to quit rocking (bass seem to love this settling motion!), then give it the tiniest twitch I can muster. Unless gobbled up, I allow a brief pause, then promote a series of two or three consecutive pops. I try to keep it very subtle - any troubled critter in nature will strive with all their might to keep themselves UNnoticed on the surface! However, you can bet that every largemouth in the area WILL be paying attention!

Every twitch on the angler's part, no matter how limited, sends the BIRD's sensitive wings into a cute little breast stroke. After, any subsequent pause creates a rebound reaction of the thin living rubber flappers that seems to draw most of MY strikes! Now, when the lure approaches lily pads, thick weed masses, or just slimy "gunk", retrieve is just a bit faster to allow the BIRD's head to lift, so it'll crawl right on up for a "rest" (ALWAYS picture a hidden monster bass below, looking up with murderous intent and a huge feast in mind!). Thereafter, beware when sliding your BIRD back into a hole or any open water - this is exactly like playing with dynamite!!

Now we come to the crux of my pond/bulrush system. Usually standing at a land base slightly elevated from the lake's surface and peering a few degrees downward over the tops of the bulrushes, I see my BIRD nearing within inches of shore. To get the highly valued lure back (after allowing a final slight pause to determine if hidden holes harbor lurking bass) I give a very hard yank up and backwards (be careful of onlookers, geese, or bird biting bears from the woods!). This is sorta like a fly fisherman's backcast -if he were on steroids! My heavyhanded reverse motion gives a whole new meaning to "Flipinthebird"!! Strangely, the aerodynamic BIRD construction allows it to literally fly up over the bushes to land somewhere behind you!

Yes, I look extremely demented( friends say this is natural to me!) with my arm cranking back flip, but it's far easier to pull a BIRD back to me over grass or gravel than to continually fight the pond side base of tough bulrushes for recovery. By the way, just before the wild rip, if you spy big eyes suddenly appear, lift the lure even quicker to get it froggin' outa there!

Sometimes your " rip n fly" technique may find your BIRD temporarily hung up among thinner tiptops of stalks, but a BIRD proves as snagless out of water as well as it is in slop and can be instantly jiggled free. Also the extremely thick BIRD body makes it about the only lure rugged enough for continuous shore crashing onto tough terrain; just yesterday I heaved mine over jagged stones all morning long -it still looks good as new! You see, the bird BOUNCES, never breaks!

About now the question usually is "But how do I land bass from the wrong side of the bulrushes?!" Well, pal, you're on your own here ! But I'm sure you'll immediately become "one with the plant life"(and bullfrogs, black snakes, and snappers!!) when you realize a six or eight pound largemouth is tuggin' on your BIRD!