Tips from Bob La Londe on fishing with crankbaits
Through the years, Yuma’s Bob La Londe, an avid bass fisherman, also known as Yuma Bassman and owner of CNC Molds N Stuff, has shared quite a few of his tips for fishing most waters along the Colorado River in the Yuma area, including a good one for fishing with crankbaits. Let me share his thoughts now that weather and water temperatures are warming a bit:
“A crankbait is often the bait of choice for slow fishing days. Chuck it out there and slow roll it back in with the occasional twitch or pause to provoke a strike when you can’t tear it out of the grass or bounce it off a rock or tree branch to do it. Cover a lot of water on a slow day and grind out a limit. You may only get a half-dozen bites on a cold winter day, but it beats staying home and watching TV all day long.”
La Londe has stated, “Sometimes a crankbait can be a HOT bite. That happens when you find a bunch of active feeding fish in a relatively small area. For me, it’s just luck. I happen on a right color, the right speed and the right depth. Other anglers seem to just know. I suspect that is from a combination of experience and study, both on the water and by delving through available materials on-line, in magazines, in books and even here in Jean’s column.”
“There is a crankbait bite that I understand how to work. It’s neither smoking hot or slow, but somewhere in between. You whack a couple bass in an area, and then have a couple chasers that won’t bite. Don’t ask why, but I can tell you how I fish it. There are a couple approaches. Jean Wilson The first reaction of many anglers is to totally change their approach to those fish. Slow down and throw a worm or flip a jig. That may also catch a few, but remember you have active chasing fish. You already caught a couple off that spot. The tiniest change may be just the ticket. First try jerking or accelerating your bait even faster away from chasing fish. If that doesn’t work, try swapping to a very slightly different bait and use the same retrieve you used for those you caught. I have experienced a bite where I’ve pulled a dozen fish off a small area by changing to a lightly different color of the same crankbait after every couple fish caught.”
Try it, you might find success and that’s always a winner!
Fishing clubs
• Yuma Valley Rod and Gun Club: Hope you were able to bring your kids to yesterday’s Annual Youth Fishing and Outdoor Clinic to enjoy the great time with more to do than ever before. Thanks to all the volunteers and club members who were there to help the kids to be sure it was a fun, safe experience for everyone. I’ll report results in next Sunday’s column. Results from the latest Jimmy Phipps Memorial Derby just held will also be included or call Clint Fraser at 580-3231 or Danny Woods at 448-8476.
• Annual Game and Fish FREE Outdoor Expo, Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix: The Expo will continue today until 4 p.m. If you didn’t get to attend yesterday, well worth the trip to take it all in. Visit www.azgfd.gov/expo for details.
• Desert Bass Anglers “The Fun Way to Fish”: Get ready to fish the April 7th bass team “open” tournament at Mittry Lake. It’s a Angler of the Year points tournament for club members in case you’d want to get in on their points competition with dues only $15 a year ($10 each additional family member) to join in the fun. For details on sign up, call Mac or Bobbi McDermott at 726-1984.
• Desert Draw Series Pro/ Am Bass Fishing Club: This club promises to be well worth taking part in with their next “open” bass tournament planned for March 31 at Mittry Lake. Sign up 3/30 at Sportsmen’s Hideaway until 5 p.m. for the draw that will follow. For details, call Michael Obney at 928 750-7081.
• American Bass – Yuma Division: Call Jeff Woods at (951) 824-0553 or Ray Mayo at (951) 616-0372 to become a member of ABA. Hope to have results soon from yesterday’s tournament that launched Hidden Shores.
• Yuma High School Bass Fishing Club: A great way for any high schooler to learn all about fishing for bass. Members of both the Yuma Valley Rod and Gun Club and Desert Bass Anglers assist the kids in providing them with boats and equipment as well as guiding the youngsters in gaining a good share of fishing know-hows. Call Terry Hurt, school sponsor, at 580-6567 or visit StudentAnglerFoundation.com to get started. Any interested high school student will be a part of a exciting year for our next generation of anglers at Fisher’s Landing/Martinez Lake.
This bunch of great young people also help others with their fishing along the way by assisting at local youth events — watch for them in action at the Youth Fishing and outdoor Clinic at Mittry Lake on 3/24 — they are a great help with this event, just one of their many projects — true treasures!
Hunt happenings
• 2018 Becoming an Outdoors Woman Event: If you are interested in BOW, the registration for the April 13-15 workshops event is now open. No experience is necessary and BOW is for women of all ages and fitness levels with the location at Friendly Pines Camp near Prescott. The fee is $250, and that includes lodging in rustic cabins with full bathrooms and electricity, delicious meals and most classroom materials. For a registration packet visit online at www.azwildlife.org or call Kimberlee at 480-644-0077. After this camp, the next one is Sept. 7-9. Be sure to ask about the Scholarships, available to attend the camps.
• The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) has completed its random draw for 2018 elk and pronghorn hunts with results available for those who have a free AZGFD portal account, or by calling the department at (602) 942-3000, pressing “2” and following the prompts. Be prepared to provide a Social Security or Department ID number, and date of birth. This service is free of charge.
Reminder: To open a portal account, visit https://accounts.azgfd. com/Account/Register and complete the required fields. A portal account allows customers to create a secure account where they can view and manage their contact information, as well as their licenses, draw results history and bonus points in their personal “My AZGFD Dashboard” section. For questions about creating a portal account, call the department at (602) 942-3000 and press “7.”
All hunt permit-tags for successful applicants, along with refund warrants for those who were unsuccessful in the random draw, are expected to be mailed to applicants. Check with Game and Fish for information on left over permit-tags remaining.
Some of the leftover elk hunt permit-tags are for Hopi hunt open areas and are available to everyone, both tribal members and non-tribal members, through the first-come, first-served process. A number of leftover elk hunt permit-tags remain for military hunts at Camp Navajo, for those who qualify. For more information, visit https://dema.az.gov/ army-national-guard/camp-navajo/ garrison-operations/camp-navajohunting-information.
Shooting sports
• 4-H shooting sports: For information on a great organization for youngsters, call the Yuma 4-H office at 726-3904 or Stan Gourley at 344-0740.
• Renegade Archers of Yuma: Please give us call — Kevin at 726-0953 or Jean at 247-4450 — if you’d like to shoot the trail of 3D animals at 9 a.m. most Sundays at the Foothills Archery Range. Bring your youngsters for “free” archery shooting instructions — we’ll be glad to assist in their learning (call ahead so we can bring along extra bows and arrows).
• Yuma Trap and Skeet Club: Shoot 8 a.m. to 12-noon Saturdays and Sundays. Tuesdays and Thursdays noon to 4 p.m. matches at Adair Park. Call Bob Avila at (928) 919-0622. For information on the Yuma Young Guns with the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP), active at the trap and skeet range with practice dates and times forthcoming or call Head Coach H. McNutt at 928 580-0918.
• Yuma Territorial Longrifles Club: Regular “open” black powder matches are 1st and 3rd Saturday’s at the Adair Park range at 8:30 a.m. Call Roger Bickel at 726-7453 — ask about .22 matches.
• Cholla Gun Club: Shooting is ongoing at the Adair Park metallic silhouette range — get your firearms in order and join in the shooting. All shooters welcome. Sign-up at 8:30 a.m. for shooting at 9 a.m. sharp. Matches open to the public with instructions when necessary. All firearms must comply with NRA guidelines. Membership in NRA is not required. No belted magnums — cartridges must not result in damage to targets. Small bore defined as .22 long rifle. Ammunition (no .22mags). The club business meeting is 7 p.m. on the 2nd Tuesday now through March at Villa Alameda RV Park. Pistol and rifle matches including a share of black powder, silhouette and vintage rifle matches held the 4th Saturdays and/or Sundays, alternating Tuesdays as well as Wednesdays and Fridays: Call Glenda Graves at (928) 580-0915 for shooting times.
• High Power Rifle and Pistol Club of Yuma: Check with joseph Murek at umpire1@q.com or Gerald Brooker at brookergerald@att.net or call 1-858-349-1311 or call Paul Lerma at 580-7456. Club junior “Whipper Snipers” shooters activities as well as a list of matches are listed on the club web site at hprifleyuma.net. Check it out!
• Yuma Matchmasters: A variety of matches are offered each month at the range, all open to shooters at 7 a.m. with the steel challenge the 1st Saturday, Multi-gun matches the 1st Sunday. IPSC combat matches held the 2nd Sunday with the Cowboy Fast Draw the 3rd Saturday and SASS cowboy matches the 4th Saturday . Interested in Cowboy Action shooting? Call Irene Snyder at (209) 613-4598 or Bob Wiles at 920-2158 with questions.
• Southwest Bowhunters Archery Club: Archery is offered to archers on Sundays with their practice range also open all week. Call Keith Parsels at 782-1097.
Contact Jean Wilson at jeanrenegade@ gmail.com or call 247-4450.