TREBLE TROUBLE
PLOPPING DOCKS WITH WATSON
The Key: The Right Rod
I
t’s not that James Watson neces-
sarily wants to do it, but, some-
times, the fish simply will eat a
River2Sea Whopper Plopper better
than a buzzbait.
“Let’s face it, I can maneuver
my Tackle HD buzzbait around
docks a lot easier than a Plopper,”
says Watson. “But as you’re going
down the bank, you can determine
if the fish want one over the other
on a given day. If they want the
Plopper, then you need to get it in
there.”
He’ll employ this technique on
docks around the country from
August to Thanksgiving, and the
scenarios can be endless. Around
where he lives in the Ozarks,
52
Watson encounters docks that
seem to have as many cables as
they have boat slips. And treble
hooks love cables.
That’s where having the right rod
is essential, not only for getting the
lure in but also getting it out.
“Most people use short rods
when fishing around docks,” says
Watson. “I like a long one, like the 7-
foot, 8-inch Cashion JW Ploppin rod,
because it allows me to not just cast
over cables but also reach high
enough over them to help get my
lure back.”
Getting a Plopper back over a
cable is a challenge, but a long rod
makes it far easier. Plus, while fish-
ing around all those cables, at some
point you’re going to get bit, and
having the extra reach of that long
rod makes it easier to lift fish up and
over them.
“Using a shorter rod, I’ve seen
plenty of times where the back
hook of that Plopper gets caught on
the cable as guys try to lift in a
fish,” says Watson. “Then you have
a real mess.”
Two other keys are the right line
– Watson uses 65-pound-test
Maxima braid on a Bass Pro Shops
Johnny Morris Platinum Signature
8.3:1 reel – and the right mindset.
“Pro DeZigns in Missouri has
been wrapping my boats for years,
and they’ve absolutely saved them
because some guys are not willing
to do a little fiberglass touch-up,”
says Watson. “Guys like me are. You
have to be bold enough to try and
put your bait in places others won’t.
Sometimes that means dinging up
your boat or tying it up to go in and
retrieve your lure.
“The payoff is often a really big
bass that no one else was ever
going to catch.”
FLWFISHING.COM | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | APRIL-MAY 2020