BASS STOPPERS
Catching Bass, Winning Tournaments
Bass Stopper rigged worms. We’ve all fished them. If you’re from the Midwest, there’s a good chance you caught your first bass on them. We all have our favorite color – purple, wine and white, natural, firetail – and we’d buy them a dozen at a time. Then somewhere along the way, we got serious and started reading magazines and fishing tournaments and throwing Texas rigs, Carolina rigs, crankbaits and all the new plastics that hit the market. Well, as the phrase goes, “Everything old is new again…”, the Bass Stopper and Stopper Magnum have made a quiet comeback on the tournament trails and with anglers across the country.
“These aren’t ever going to be the hot bait all the pros are talking about”, Says Jim Sprague, the owner of K&E Tackle, manufacturer of the Bass Stopper rigged worms. “Everyone knows they catch fish and we have a number of anglers at all levels of tournament fishing that are using the Stoppers and Magnums. I have a couple of pros that have called from the trail and needed overnight shipments and I talk with the anglers at the weeknight NBAA trails that cash checks consistently. We don’t do lot of marketing on these worms. Bass Stoppers are great sellers and have been catching fish for forty years. Not many ‘hot’ bass baits can say that.”
The key, says Sprague, is the same as with every lure – confidence. “Every anglers knows that he can catch fish with a Bass Stopper.” Says Sprague, “but they also know they need to adjust their style and slow down their pace and that’s tough for tournament anglers. Here in Michigan the weather has created some tough fishing conditions this year and made the bass unpredictable. When the fishing gets tough due to the weather or to heavy fishing pressure, we always see an increase in our Bass Stopper sales.”
Talk with six different anglers, and they’ll have six different ways they fish a Bass Stopper. Most have one thing in common – fish it slow. The most common technique is to work the Bass Stopper parallel to the weed edges using a slow retrieve and an occasional twitch of the rod tip. Work from the top of the break on down until fish are found and then key into that fish-holding depth.
Two top NBAA anglers, Don Watts and Ben Nielsen have had some great success this year in shallow water with Bass Stoppers. “Ben showed me how to catch shallow roaming bass this year with a Bass Stopper, and it’s really paid off.” said Watts, past NBAA National Angler of the Year. “We throw the open hooked Bass Stopper on shallow flats and jerk the worm, almost like a jerk bait. This seems to trigger reaction bites on shallow roaming fish.”
“My favorite technique was actually taught to me by two great tournament anglers here in Michigan – Jim Wright and Randy Ramsey” says Sprague, “They developed a deep water presentation on clear water lakes that still works great when the fish go deep. The trick is to use no more than a 3/16 ounce weight and make long casts into deep water from the tops of the breaks. Patience really comes into play as you need to let the worm slowly fall. Many times strikes occur as the worm passes through schools of suspended fish. If the worm makes it to bottom, I like to give it a couple twitches, then start a slow drag, being sure to keep the worm on bottom. The light weight is critical here, as a heavier weight digs in on the bottom debris too much. Pull the worm slowly towards where the beak flattens out to the bottom, and pay attention for subtle strikes. Set the hook with long sweeping hook sets to help take up any slack line."
Another top NBAA angler and past Divisional Points Champion, Mark Hewitt, is finding success throwing weedless Bass Stoppers and Magnums at shallow target structure – logs, pads and brush. “The key is making an accurate cast,” says Hewitt, “I’m shooting for the shady sides of logs, holes in the lily pads and skipping under over hanging brush. I like the weedless models in the natural colors for this technique. The weedless hooks let me get in where the big fish are hiding.”
The Bass Stopper has a natural curve to the body that creates a swimming action when retrieved. For this reason, it is recommended anglers use a snap swivel to reduce line twist. The bass Stoppers are never hard to find in the mid west, with virtually every sport shop, chain store and party store carrying them. You can usually find them in a store by their powerful anise scent. If you’re looking for specific colors or styles, you can go to the Angler’s Mart online outlet at www.anglersmart.com or other online stores. You can see the full line of Stopper lures at www.stopperlures.com.
Download Color Chart: Stopper_Lures.pdf
