Bass Fishing Jun - Jul 2021 | Page 8

FIRST CAST : JUSTIN ONSLOW

the brilliance of bronze

Ispent the first 28 years of my life in Ohio — a state fairly synonymous with smallmouth bass fishing as long as you ’ re actually talking about Lake Erie . I went to college in Northwest Ohio , not far from those famed waters , and spent a little time even further north visiting friends in Wisconsin . On one such trip , I opted to do a little fishing for musky , walleye and , yes , smallmouth .

But even given the region of the country in which I grew up and spent my formative adult years , my first love was always chasing big green fish , thanks in no small part to my grandfather , who had been taking his boat to the same small lake in eastern Ohio for three decades and who introduced me to the thrill of hunting largemouth . I much preferred the smaller inland lakes in Ohio and the chance to catch a 5- or 6-pound largemouth to an opportunity to catch a 6-pound smallie out on a flat in the middle of Lake Erie . Ah , the naivety of youth …
It wasn ’ t until I moved to Tennessee some five years ago and got a taste of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers and the many additional rivers , streams and creeks in the state that house smallmouth bass that I began to appreciate brown fish in much the same way . These days , I ’ d almost rather go to Dale Hollow in search of a 6-plus-pound bronzeback than anywhere else to hunt a double-digit bucketmouth . Almost .
You hear it a lot from Southern touring pros who get a chance to chase smallies when the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit turns north in the summer months : Once you get that itch , there ’ s almost nothing that can scratch it .
This issue is dedicated to those anglers , and to the anglers who haven ’ t had a chance to catch the smallie bug yet . It ’ s a tribute to the big brown fish we love to catch from Alabama to Wisconsin to California . As you turn each page , may the sounds of screaming drag and the splashing of acrobatic smallmouth fill your ears and your imaginations .
From the cover shot by Eric Engbretson to Ken Duke ’ s masterful storytelling in the Last Cast , this issue is packed with enough information to make your next smallmouth excursion the best one yet . Sean Ostruszka walks you through the wonderful world of spybaits . Tyler Brinks gives you the skinny on skinny-ish water tributary fishing up North . And if down South is more your flavor , Joe Sills breaks down the best ways to catch monster smallies in the great tailraces of some famed Southern reservoirs . To top it off , a true master of his craft , Kevin VanDam , provides decades of knowledge fishing jerkbaits in our recurring Masters Series on page 62 .
You often hear a familiar refrain from pros fishing unfamiliar waters : A bass is a bass . To some degree , that ’ s painfully accurate . But if you ’ ve ever hooked into a smallmouth on a spinning rod and light line , felt the pull and the head shakes , experienced the heart-stopping moment that bronze beauty breaches the surface in a fit of fury , you know that to be only half true . A bass is a bass , but a smallmouth is a smallmouth . And there ’ s nothing quite like a smallmouth .
justin onslow , managing editor
6 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | JUNE-JULY 2021