Blackie And His Baits
August 21, 2008
Part 1
The strike caught me with my drawers at half mast. Even though I’d been expecting it, I wasn’t fully prepared when it came. Perhaps that was just as well because when I did snap my rod tip up and back the fish was solidly hooked…and she was a dandy.
When I finally got her up close enough to get hold of her jaw it was obvious she was in the eight-pound bracket. I held her up while my partner shot a quick picture. Then I unpinned the hooks from the worn lure she’d crushed and eased her back into the water.
When my heart finally quit thumping I paused as thoughts came pouring out of my head as if an unseen hand was emptying a pitcher filled with memories. I have some of those thoughts every time I look at that much used lure I mentioned. Those thoughts aren’t only of the lure; they are also of the valued friend who taught me how to use it.
The friend I’m talking about - and some of the anglers who read this feature are going to know him - is Charles (Blackie) Lightfoot, of Conroe, Texas. What treasured memories I have of when our trails crossed. I’ve written about him before. Blackie, you see, turned out to be one of the best bass fishermen I’ve ever met. This is especially true when it comes to using the lures like that on which I’d just caught the eight-pounder.
I write this story with a heavy heart. It’s hard for me to write that my friend Blackie is no longer with us. Back in July he finally lost the battle he’d been fighting with cancer for a long, long time. Gone he may be, but he will be in my heart and thoughts every time I eyeball the lure I mentioned.
The lure Lightfoot showed me how to properly manipulate was a Cordell Red Fin. When I first met Blackie he was traveling the country for the PRADCO folks who market this lure. He’d tow his bass boat from one area to another around the nation. At each stop he’d get together with prominent bass fishermen. He invited the bass anglers he met to go fishing with him. 
Once they were on the water he’d show them how to use the lures PRADCO was marketing. Remember now, here’s a guy who was fishing bass from one end of the country to the other. He fished a variety of lures under countless conditions.
Be that as it may, Blackie wound up favoring one lure more than any of the others. His favorite of the bunch was the Cotton Cordell Red Fin. I shared a boat with Blackie on lakes in both Washington and Northern California. Once I got a chance to fish with and him it was easy to understand why he was so fond of this particular lure.
Lightfoot was an artist with the Red Fin. He nearly made the thing talk. I'm serious. I'm convinced a primary reason for this lure's effectiveness is the sound it makes when it is worked just right. If it's done properly, the lure makes a distinctive sound as it is manipulated. The sound is hard to describe. It’s different than anything I’ve heard similar lures make.
The key to getting this sound is to twitch the bait with short, sharp flips of your rod tip. And don't just flip the lure the first few feet of the retrieve. It needs to be done all the way back to the boat.
I say this for a reason. I don’t know how many times I’ve had fish boil under this lure, but not hit. If that happens, don’t make the mistake of yanking back on your rod before you’re certain the fish is there. It’s a little bit like striking when a fish boils at a Zara Spook or a buzzbait. Be sure the fish is there, then strike.
One of the reasons I mention this is that time and again I’ve had bass boil at a Red Fin once or twice without actually hitting and then come back a third time to really crash it. It’s not easy to stay cool when this sort of thing happens, but it pays big dividends if you can.
With most lures you eventually discover it's just as important to know what you shouldn't do with them as what you should. This is especially true of a Red Fin. Avoid, for example, overpowering the lure. That's the most common mistake you can make with it. I know because it’s what I did until Lightfoot corrected me.
I my next column I’ll get into more of the specifics on how the Red Fin must be manipulated to make it effective. If you don’t already have some of these baits in your box, now would be a good time to remedy that mistake. You’re missing some great surface action if you don’t.
More to come!