Zara Spook Tutorial

[papajoe222]

I ran accross this as I was cleaning out some old files and thought I'd share it.

 

Speaking solely from personal experience, nothing is more exciting than to witness the explosion of a bass on a top-water lure, especially if that lure is a ZaraSpook.  Of course,  I prefer that it’s my Spook that I’m witnessing, but  you too can master presenting  this awe inspiring lure with a lot less effort than most readers think.

For those uneducated, a Zara Spook is a cigar shaped plug with a line tie just under the nose of the bait.  Originally it was a wooden bait, but has evolved into a complete line of plastic baits in different sizes, vibrant colors, with and without rattles. You could fill a tackle box with all the different  variations. I know because I have.  The bait has no inherent  action of it’s own. The action is imparted by the angler and this is the reason many anglers haven’t  added this awesome fish catcher to their arsenal.

I don’t  know where the term ‘walk the dog’ originated, but I’m guessing that whoever coined it was fishing a Spook when they did. When worked as intended, the bait will change direction from left to right and back with little or no forward movement.  Worked in that manner it is an excellent target bait and imparting the action isn’t all that difficult to master. I’ll get to how to work the bait in this manner in short order.

In my opinion however, this bait really shines when it comes to calling up fish.  No other bait I’ve tried has the characteristics to elicit strikes from fish twenty or thirty feet away. I’ve had fish in twenty feet of water rise to strike one and I’ve also witnessed a fish chase one down from ten yards away on more than one occasion.  There’s just something about that side to side movement that is irresistible to Mr. Bass.

As with most any artificial bait there is more than one way to work this bait and that is where it’s versatility comes into play.  Luckily for us these are just variations of the basic retrieve.  A Zara Spook is worked with the rod, not the reel AND it’s worked with slack line. Those are the two factors most anglers have difficulty adjusting  to.  After a cast is made and before the bail is closed or the handle of your baitcaster is turned, raise your rod tip from 9 o’clock to around 11 o’clock. This will add the initial slack in your line that is necessary to start it walking.  Now, without reeling, drop your rod tip back to the 9 o’clock position and snap it back up to somewhere between 11 and 12 o’clock.  The bait will dart to one side or the other. Now drop your rod tip and take up just a little slack with your reel and repeat the same motion and your bait will dart in the opposite direction. Continue dropping the rod, picking up some slack and snapping  the rod tip up and you’ll be walking that dog like a pro in no time.

Now for the variations I mentioned.  The biggest involves moving your rod  to the side or down versus in the manner  I described above. The reason you want to learn the walking technique as I described  is because it forces you to focus on the rod movement and the slack line.  Making the transition to either side or downward rod jerks is much easier than attempting to start with either of those retrieves.  The second biggest variation involves the amount of line you move when snapping the rod.  The more line you move, the more distance the bait will move.  If you want to keep the bait in one general area, short quick snaps will do the job and that is the way to really entice a fish holding tight to a piece of cover. If you want to cover an open area of water quickly, a longer and softer jerk of the rod will move it further to the side and toward you.

[tbone1993]

From my experience spooks tend to have a limited length of travel. Faster twitches of the rod tend to make it swim very fast while long drawn out twitches make a wider pattern.  The most devastating thing about a spook is that literally anyone can fish a spook. Unlike a jerkbait the spook is almost idiot proof.