A Light Setup for Some Big Bass
Clint Taylor
There are many rivers in Texas that I have fished, but quite possibly the most productive is the Llano River. Nearly every time I have travelled to the Llano River I have ended up with a couple of nice bass, and this was no exception. I was especially excited to travel to the Llano River just south of Mason, Texas, as I had never fished this stretch of water, and I had a new fishing pole to try out. I recently noticed a 5' 6" light action spinning rod at a sporting goods store that seemed to be quite on sale. The combo was a Mitchell 300 series combo that I had a Mitchell 310 spinning reel attached to a nice 5' 6" light action rod. Typically, this combo retails for $69.99, but I found it on sale for $34.99. Quite a steal.
I started out fishing this rod with 4 pound monofilament and a 1/16 oz. Worden's Rooster Tail in a Fire Tiger coloration, quite possibly my favorite lure of all time. This would also be what I would end up fishing with as well, as no more than thirty minutes into fishing I hooked into a nice Largemouth Bass as seen in the picture above. Due to the light setup I was using, it felt like I was reeling in a 15 lb. Largemouth, but in actuality it was right around three pounds. My drag was screaming and about 1-2 minutes later I was able to land a great fish. Although I typically do not fish with anything smaller than a medium action rod with 10 lb. test. However, fishing with such a light setup was a lot of fun.
About an hour later, I would find another pleasant surprise. I saw a section of granite rock jutting out into the water progressively getting deeper and deeper. Features like this are highly favorite by Largemouth Bass so I was no doubted going to give it a shot. On the very first cast that I made I hooked into a small bass...but soon my rod bent like a "U" and I realized this was no small bass. This was another 3 pounder, weighing in just a couple ounces larger than my first big bass. The feeling of such a light rod bending in half and your drag screaming is quite an amazing feeling, as you do not have much control. I’m used to being able to sling a bass into the kayak when I am using 50 lb. braid on a big bait casting setup, but this is the complete opposite. When I landed the bass, I couldn't believe how much fun catching such a big bass on a small rod was.
Using a Worden's Rooster Tail was probably the best lure that I could have picked with the setup that I was using. The water was unusually murky which typically leads me to use a darker lure than a Fire Tiger coloration, but fortunately I made a wise decision for the day in keeping with my past success with this particular lure.
If you ever get the chance, you will most definitely want to head just a little south to the Llano, River and catch some bass... and if I was you, I would try out a small setup like I did; it was a blast.