ABC TRD OK

[Will Wetline]

I remember an older kid who stopped me in the hall and asked, "Do you want a piece of abc gum?" Immediately, I was suspicious - upperclassmen don't deign to speak to those beneath them.

 

"What's abc gum?"

 

"Already Been Chewed!" he yelled in my face. Then he spun me around and gave me a wicked noogie.

 

Chalk that up to a rite of passage.

 

Let's fast forward fifty years and float me on Quabbin Reservoir. The weather had been kinda funky for a stretch and this day was supposed to be cloudy with variable winds. Maybe the smallmouth would like an abc TRD. One great feature of Z-Man's proprietary plastic, ElaZtech, is that dozens of bass can chew on a piece before it needs to be replaced. It's likely the jig will be lost long before the appeal of an ElaZtech bait is gone. I've read that you can remove a TRD from a Ned head jig and put it back on bassackwards for a few more fish.

 

Game plan for the day was to check my milk run of flats, ridges and humps, but I wasn't expecting particularly active late pre spawn smallies (water temps: 55.4º - 56.1º) without sun and wind.

 

At the first location, a sandy, rocky ridge that drops off into deep water, I tried a deep Shadow Rap Shad, a T-rigged Hula Grub and a Biffle Bug on a football swing jig. What they wanted was a TRD on a 3/32oz. Ned head cast from Do-its Midwest Finesse Jig Mold.

 

 

 

At another spot I was really ready for them to go nuts over a Super Fluke Jr. walking the dog a foot under the surface. They ate a Ned rig that was dragged, paused and made to tremble on the bottom at depths of 10' - 20'.

 

 

On a long time favorite rock hump with a precipitous drop off one side, I hoped the smallies would be on top looking for prey. That meant the Fluke or Duo Realis Spin Bait 80 would get 'em, right? Wrong. There were a couple of good fish here but I needed to go over the deep edge to show them a bait. The first took the TRD differently than most of the other bass' bites on this bait: during a pause, I saw the line jump. I reeled down and swept the rod to the side. Remember, when using fine wire hooks (.031) and light line set firmly but don't overdo it.

 

 

She weighed 4.89 lbs.

 

I lost a second fish, another good one. I had been bumping rocks and hadn't taken the few seconds to check the hook. The point had turned. When I got home I stripped to bare skin and gave myself 40 lashes with a 7" Senko for this lapse of diligence.

 

So, in all it was a fun day. There were five smallies landed beside the ones who got their pictures taken. I would have preferred the fish to have been up and active enough to have taken a livelier presentation than the drag-and-pause, but I'll tell you this, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls: When the fish are non-aggressive . . . Ned rules!

 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

You saved the best for last. 

[TnRiver46]

Sweet, nice fish and thanks for the details. We had water temps in the mid to high fifties in knoxville Tennessee this weekend also. But I'm guessing that's because the water is moving fast, but you still figure it would be warmer than Massachusetts. 

[lonnie g]

THATS A NICE DAY ! GOOD LOOKING SMALLIES.