One of the little known and underappreciated pioneers of bass fishing was Buck Perry. Through his lures (the Spoonplug) and his small books, he taught the method of going deep and following the breaklines in the summer to get big bass, and to get them consistently.
Some if not all of that information has now become standard technique for anyone seeking big bass or tournament wins. Back when Perry was fishing, making his Spoonplug and writing, few knew the concept of working deep or had learned the seasonal patterns of bass.
Another angler teaching this method of fishing and an underappreciated but very knowledgeable fisherman and writer was Jason Lucas. Sadly, he disappeared from the pages of Sports Afield many decades ago, long before his time, and before he was properly credited with his bass fishing knowledge and expertise.
Breaklines are known about now, as are the patterns of both largemouth and smallmouth bass throughout the year. Today, as we go into summer or with summer already here, bass are going deep.
In many lakes, this is to a level called the thermocline where the lake levels layer up and concentrations of oxygen start to drop off rapidly. Here bass hang out at the thermocline level, but being structure related, they hang out where the shoreline drop off meets the cooler and yet still oxygen rich thermocline layer.
For Buck Perry, even before the days of a depth finder and that early Lowrance green box, Perry know that he could take bass consistently by trolling his spoonplug around a lake, outlining the area where the depths – breakline – met the thermocline.
Today, you can do the same thing, using depth finders that are better than the side-scanning sonar that allied ships used to find German U-Boats in the North Atlantic some 60-plus years ago.
Today also, the lures (mostly plugs or crank baits as they are now called) are deeper-diving and better than they were in the days of Perry and Lucas. They are plastic, well designed, tuned for depth and keyed for bass.
Couple this with the light lines and better spinning and casting tackle equipment, and you have the best of all worlds in getting to the bass and presenting them with a lure that to them looks and acts like a gourmet meal.
The secret of this fishing is less trolling and more casting, working on spots, in coves and off points that are deep and often show bass with the modern depth finders of today.
Finally it seems, the past secrets of bass fishing as per Perry and Lucas have caught up with the present of technical advances in fishing and boats, and producing fish catches and numbers that are better than ever.
Thank goodness that all of the popular bass tournaments have long ago gone to livewells to hold the fish and catch and release fishing that puts the fish where they belong – back in the water.
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