DuPage Angler 2.5.2

First Crabby Bass Experience by Phix

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Last Friday, I received a priority mail package from DuPage Angler. I have to admit that I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl about getting boxes in the mail, especially boxes that I know have fishing lures inside. I immediately ripped the box open to find a huge ziplock filled with Big Hammer swimbaits of various sizes and colors and a snack size ziplock with Wacky Bass' custom colored Crabby Bass stick worms called "The Whacker". Some members of DuPage Angler call them "Wacky Colored", Wacky himself referred to them as the color of a sinus infection before antibiotics, and Wilks19, from Crabby Bass Lures, calls the color "Mint". I prefer to call them sinus infection or snot colored, simply because they're funnier (to me anyway). I was WAY too tired to fish Friday, but I was chomping at the bit to get out and try these new lures.

Friday evening, my wife wanted to show me some fancy houses in Addison the night before, and I noticed a pond. I asked her to stop, so I could see if there were "no fishing" signs or not. WOOHOO, the only signs said "no swimming". On the way home, we saw two more ponds that appeared to be okay to fish.

Saturday morning rolled around, and I was staring down the barrel of two vices I just can't pass up; new lures and new ponds. I got to the first pond and went for my warm weather go-to, the vibra-king tube. I worked it around a bit and didn't manage a nibble. I turned to my new bag of baits and remembered reading that Wacky had caught a bunch of bluegill and bass on his custom colored Crabby Bass worm. I quickly pulled one from the bag and immediately noticed how soft and pliable it was. I rigged the worm Texas style, weightless, and threw it out by some weeds. I was a bit leery of fishing the worm this way. Up to today, the only way I'd caught any fish with a worm was wacky rigged. I remembered reading what Wacky Bass and Goofyfisher had posted about letting the worm settle to the bottom, then twitching it, pausing, and twitching again. By my third cast, I had my first fish on. The bass inhaled the Crabby Bass worm on the initial drop. I set the hook, battled it to shore, took a picture, and released it.

I worked my way around the pond, tossing the Crabby Bass Whacker into and around any weeds I could see. About half way around, I picked up my second bass. This one hit the lure in between twitches. I CPRed the bass and decided to keep working the area I was in. At this point, I decided to try wacky rigging a Big Hammer. Looking back, I didn't really give the Big Hammer much of a try, because I was so excited to be catching fish on the Texas rig finally.

I switched back to the Crabby Bass worm and continued around the pond. I was now running out of time, so I decided to head for another pond that was about 100 yards away. Once there, I started tossing the Whacker into shady spots, under trees, and into weed beds. I wasn't being patient enough for this technique to work, since time was running out. I told myself to slow it down and cast the worm under a willow tree, counted off ten seconds, twitched it once, then BOOM. Something nailed it! I set the hook and started reeling. This fish had to be bigger than the first two. Once I got the fish to shore, I noticed two things; it was bigger than the first two, and it had blasted the worm so hard that it was nowhere in sight. I took a picture and put the bass back, and then I noticed my snot colored worm floating under the shade of the willow tree. 

My hour was up, so I headed for the car, elated at how well the Crabby Bass worm had worked. Call it whatever color you want, I think I'll start calling it "bass catcher".

Thanks Wacky Bass, DuPageAngler.com, and Crabby Bass Lures for a fun morning of fishing and catching.

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