When I was at the swap meet a couple of weeks ago, there was a young man there by the name of Conner McCarthy from Buffalo who was selling bass jigs he makes. I had used some before and they are darned effective if you attach a pork rind or rubber crawdad and fish them deep and slow. He is only 16 but has made those jigs for three years now, selling them mostly at his dad’s tire shop in Buffalo. I’ll bet he makes a big time business out of it, because they are better than any I have ever used. If you are a bass fisherman, call Conner and get one to try. His number is on my website, or you can call the McCarthy tire shop and talk to his mother if Conner is in school.
I also found some really good small-sized spinners good for everything that swims and has fins. They are made by some folks from Brighton, MO. All you have to do to get a couple of them is check the internet for their company… those little lures are also great for smallmouth and rock bass. Add a split tailed thin pork rind to them.
I remember something that happened about 15 years ago when I was fishing an Ozark river with my uncle Norten, the old bass fisherman and guide who caught his first bass in 1929 when he was 6 years old. That day, many years back, he tied on a lure called a “schmoo”. He immediately landed a couple of nice bass, a surprise to me because we hadn’t caught anything in an hour of fishing. I borrowed one from him and fishing those two lures, we just kept catching bass. I have lots of old lures from the 30’s and 40’s that we used when I was a kid, in the 50’s and 60’s. Many of you likely remember them, the lucky-13, bass-oreno, flatfish and lazy ike, didget midget and river runt. Those all were fish catchers, before the first Rapala and rebel lures were made.
I am going to use each and all of them this summer and will let you know what happens. I still have uncle Norten’s schmoo, but this is sort of strange… that day years back we likely landed 15 or so good bass on the lure, and since then I haven’t caught one bass on them, despite using the lure for a half hour or so each time. Norten has been gone for a dozen years, but I still feel like he is there with me at times when I am fishing alone. In 1911, he caught his last bass fishing with me. You can see a picture of him and that final black bass on my website, www.larrydablemontoutdoors. He was 88 years old then.
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| This is the last bass, my uncle Norten ever caught, one month before his 89th birthday on an evening trip in September. To find out more, get a copy of the book, “Ridge Runner, from the Big Piney to the Battle of the Bulge” third printing… revised edition from April, 2024 |
When you have to get up early to go fishing or hunt turkeys, it keeps you from getting to bed early if you have lots of folks to pray for at bedtime. If the list is long, it is hard to stay awake to get to all of them. I have that problem. But I believe a good indication of the kind of human God sees you as, depends on that list, followed up with the last sentence… let Your will be done! I don’t catch fish on every trip and I had a rough year hunting ducks, but I am seeing a miracle in the making in the progress of the Big Piney River Nature Center, which He and I are building in Texas County. When God’s will is done, wonderful things happen and I believe it is happening here. Sometime this summer I will be inviting all you folks to come and see it. I think His will is being done there. There will be no charge, no profit, not even a cash register… just a tribute to some great people from another time and to one of The Creator’s greatest works, the Big Piney River where I grew up.
Write to me at P.O. Box 22, Bolivar, Mo 65613. Or email me at lightninridge47@gmail.com
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