Bait Watch
by Drew Clark

The new killer saltwater bass bait has been found and once again saltwater anglers have turned to their freshwater brothers for help. Minnow crankbaits, swimbaits and spinnerbaits have all had their turn in the hotseat but it's time to let the light shine on the new kid on the block. And it really is a new kid - Sunrize Tackle's freshwater line, Assalt, has produced the Salt Shaker Worm - new for 2004.

The Salt Shaker Worm has a truly unique shape, much like that of a rat's tail. Thick and fully bodied at the head it quickly tapers down to a thin plastic whip tail, with such a thin diameter that it literally quivers constantly when held. The action in this bait is truly incredible and the fish think so, too. Heavy concentrations of salt create good weight, enough that it can be thrown weightless and show off a considerable wobbly horizontal descent if one is so inclined.

Looking over the worm it's immediately obvious that the strength of this bait lies in slow presentations with a good healthy amount of twitching. That whip-tail is begging to crack in the face of a spotted bay bass and kick start the bottled fury that these fish reserve for their spectacular fights. Weightless fishing, as mentioned, is a recommended tactic on the Assalt website but local experimentation has shown that getting this bait to the bottom with greater haste has large payoffs.

A favorite method is to rig Texas style with a 3/8 oz lead, red or clear bead and a 3/0 EWG worm hook. The worm fits like a glove on the 3/0 hook leaving the entire tail to work it's underwater mojo completely unimpaired by wire. Because saltwater bass usually strike with all the subtlety of a freight train it's not a matter of detecting the strike and setting the hook, the real concern having the rod jerked out of your hands. Hold on tightly and use both hands.

A weedless approach, something not used often enough in California saltwater areas, has provided access to areas boats can't get to and kayaks often avoided. Eelgrass is a commonly targeted zone for bay bass as the kelp forests are known to hold the wily calico bass but both areas provide equal amounts of potential frustration with hang-ups and lost lures. Going weedless, as with the Salt Shaker, provide the chance to get in deep with the bruisers.

Until now this was a kayak-anglers secret. Kayak anglers, by their very nature, tend to be experimenters, constantly looking for another way to take advantage of their stealth and maneuverability. This technique is tailor-made for kayakers.

Locating the larger eelgrass beds is not difficult with either good maps or a sonar, and if you don't have eelgrass any heavy structure will provide similar results. Borrowing a technique from the kelp forest called "pot-holing" one can find areas of dense weeds and drop straight down into it. Vertical jigging will often find very large fish hunkered down in a protective stance - they will strike out of aggression and the sting of the hookset will having them wishing pacifism was more in their nature. In shallower waters where even the small shadow of a kayak could disturb the fish this bait can be 'hopped' through dense grasses, over submerged docks or rock piles without the high risk of snagging a hook. We've caught many, many large bass skittering this bait across sandy areas, as well - it seems to work most anywhere. And here's the kicker, this isn't just a hot technique/bait combination for catching lots of fish, it's a hot technique/bait combination for catching big fish. Lunker bass love this lure. A 7" or 9" version of this plastic would do especially well in the kelp forests off shore - hint hint Sunrize Tackle!

This technique is a great way to begin opening options of weedless worming to a saltwater repertoire and get anglers thinking, experimenting and hopefully finding the next hot lure.