Hurry up and Wait

Looking back over the ads we sent out, the invites, the e-mails, the blog posts, etc. for our last Ultimate Bass University (the September 15th) meeting, we really sold Bub Tosh short. Yes, he puts on a great show; he is indeed hilarious and should consider a career in stand-up if he just doesn't feel like fishing one day (OK, doubt it'd happen, but he could do it if he wanted to); and of course, he can catch fish. Lots of 'em. Big ones too. But we neglected to mention something.... This guy is smart! An inventive, quick-on-his-feet, MacGeyver kind of smart. A lot of us go out thinking we catch fish on general knowledge alone- that's only a small part of the puzzle though.

Bub walked us through his thought processes for a number of scenarios that force the necessity of improvisation on top of layers of basic fact. Like it or not, it's the constantly thinking and innovating angler who gets the fish. It's in revising a snell knot that'll hold better for a punching set up (now that was a revelation), thinking to shrinkwrap a hook, changing up technique depending on what kind of grass or mat we're on (pennyfoil sounds like a great little jaunt if you want to hop out of the boat to stretch your legs without getting wet). We didn't even get to a thousand other environmental variables that come into play- if we went too much further, we were going to need a slide rule to hammer it all out. So to summarize: the take home message? Wait for it.

Bub's not afraid to work the same spot for "way too long" because he knows the fish are there. All it is, is thinking like a fish and figuring out what they want (who knew there were a thousand ways to present a punch skirt?) , finding the right combination of circumstances, and then.... Wait for it.

As it turns out, the object of the game, with a swimbait or a punch skirt, is not to yank the fish's face off the second you feel the slightest jiggle in your line. The too-early, too-fast hook set is the best way to lose that big fish (and everyone has had the biggest fish ever on the end of the line, only to lose it, don't try to kid). It becomes a game of endurance (mostly mental) to ease to a nice solid hook set position and get that fish right where we want, and then.... Let 'er rip.

It was a great lesson for any number of us out there that night, in addition to all kinds of practical knowledge (and Bub is a storehouse). We had a great turnout with another excellent show from a local youth group- this time Dave Hudson brought his "kids," Venture Crew 998 from Winters (hope those swimbaits are working out for you guys). Awesome bunch, and they now know the proper use of a Zippo lighter, thanks to our illustrious speaker! Mark catered us in fine style with all kinds of great eats, and Kent kept it all under control (well sorta) with a raffle that relieved us of several hundred dollars worth of inventory. We sold a lot of Bub's new Paycheck Baits punch skirts that night- we actually ran out, and thankfully he had a fresh supply with him, so our shelves are re-stocked. Next UBU is October 20th- if you have a group of teen anglers you'd like us to host, drop a line, we definitely want to hear from you!! In the meantime, we look forward to reports of how everyone does with this latest innovation to California fishing- send pictures!