JIGGERPOLE FISH FOR SUMMERTIME BASS

Jiggerpoling Produces Miracles

EDITOR'S NOTE: My dad sat in the front of the handmade, cypress johnboat in the hot sun and tapped out a tune with his cane jiggerpole to which the big bass danced. While the burnt orange rays of the new sun painted a golden tapestry across the little ripples made by the tapping cane, my father's fishing skill held me spellbound. An explosion on the water that revealed the savage fury of a 5-pound-plus bass at close range scared me so badly I pulled hard on the paddle I was using to propel the boat down the bank. When I released the paddle and grabbed hold of the side of the boat, I heard the loud, sharp pop as the pole splintered in my dad's hands. Often a big bass would break a jiggerpole when my dad and I fished together many years ago. Jiggerpole fishing, a part of the Phillips' family fishing tradition, catches numbers of summertime bass. However, as in all things when the old gives way to the new, some of the best bass tactics have died out. Fickle anglers often change techniques and search for a new strategy, a magic lure or a better way to catch bass. However, Randy Howell of Demopolis, Alabama, not only has preserved but also has improved the lost art of jiggerpole fishing, which some anglers consider one of the most-productive ways to catch big bass, especially in the summer.

During the prespawn, Howell primarily catches male bass that move into the shallow water first. In the spawn, Howell takes mostly male bass, along with an occasional prespawn female that's swimming into the shallow water to check out the nesting sites. During the postspawn, Howell catches a mixture of both males and females as he does in the fall. Whether fishing in the daytime or at night, Howell catches a high percentage of the bass that strike his bait. The three sets of treble hooks on the Creek Chub lure will hook a bass efficiently when it attacks. Often when a bass simply rolls at the lure, the hooks will catch the fish.

Howell comments, "I keep my hooks as sharp as possible. Then even if a bass just jumps at the lure, I usually can take the fish." Howell's disciples, much like the Biblical disciples, have reported miraculous catches with the gospel preached by Howell and others of like persuasion. Robert Sutton of Gulf Shores, Alabama, who never had fished for bass until he bought a jiggerpole, explained that, "My brother-in-law, who is one of Randy's fishing partners and learned to jiggerpole fish with him, kept telling me stories about the big bass he and Randy were catching with a jiggerpole and insisted I try it." Sutton lives on Alabama's Gulf Coast and primarily fishes a clear, shallow, freshwater lake that doesn't have a reputation for homing big bass. During May one year, Sutton and a fishing buddy took four bass that weighed from 7 to 8- 1/2-pounds each while jiggerpoling. These two anglers also went to a small public lake in the northern part of the state that received quite a bit of fishing pressure, fished with a jiggerpole from their canoe and took two bass that weighed 5- pounds each.

"In less than a year, we've caught and released more than 50 bass that have averaged 3-pounds apiece," Sutton reported. "Not only is jiggerpole fishing a very-productive way to take bass, we catch really big bass using this tactic. Last year we hooked a bass we're convinced would have weighed more than 10 pounds, because we saw the fish when it jumped. We had another angler with us sitting in the middle of our canoe who never had caught a big fish on a jiggerpole. When that huge bass blew up on the bait and then dove for the bottom, our friend tried to horse in the fish. When he did, the pole broke. These poles are tough and strong enough to hold any bass, but they're not indestructible. An angler must learn to use some finesse when a big bass hits while he's jiggerpoling."

Jiggerpole fishing, a lost art form that my father and his father before him practiced successfully on large bass, will work miracles. As a youngster, I learned the gospel of jiggerpoling and saw the miracle-working power of the jiggerpole in the hands of old masters. But I strayed from the truth and followed techniques I considered more productive and more modern approaches to bassing. However, after witnessing once again the power of the gospel of the jiggerpole and the pure, true message of how an angler can tap a big bass out of the cover by the tip of the pole, I once again realized the lost art of jiggerpoling could have potent results today as it did so many years ago.