Blackie And His Baits
November 20, 2008
Part 2
Bass fishermen know how important it is to watch what a surface lure is doing. Now and then you’ll find a bait where listening is equally necessary.
That’s how it was with the Cordell Red Fin. I didn’t do squat with this lure until the friend I wrote about in Part 1 of this story showed me just how important sound was. That friend was the late Charles (Blackie) Lightfoot, of Conroe, Texas.
At the time I first met him about three decades ago Blackie was pulling his bass boat all over the country. He represented PRADCO Lures and at each stop he showed the area’s top bass anglers how best to use PRADCO baits. I wound up fishing with him at different lakes in both Washington and Northern California.
Sounds Like a Red Fin
As I related in my previous story, the Cordell Red Fin was Lightfoot’s favorite lure. That wasn’t hard to understand once I got a chance to see what he did with it. But it eventually dawned on me that what I was “hearing” the lure do was just as important as what I was “seeing.” When I throw the Red Fin today I can make the bait do everything from a samba to a waltz, but that ain’t gonna mean zip unless it’s producing the right sound in the process.
One of my favorite fishing guides is Steve Fleming, of Oregon. Steve operates Ma-Ha Outfitters out of Fossil. He guides anglers on Oregon’s John Day River. In the spring, summer and fall he also takes clients to a small private lake that’s loaded with largemouth and bluegill.
I mention Steve because on one trip I had occasion to demonstrate to him just how important it is to get the right sound when a Red Fin is on the end of your line. I had told Steve this before we went out. Once we started fishing Steve was on the oars of the drift boat he uses both on the John Day and his private lake. I had made five or six casts before I managed to manipulate the Red Fin as is required to get the sound I was after.
“There,” I said after I made the lure talk, “that’s the sound I’ve been talking about, Steve. Once I start getting this lure to do that all the time is when I’ll start getting hits.” The words were hardly out of my mouth when a fish boiled beneath the lure. From the size of the swirl I knew it had been a good one. I let the bait rest a couple of seconds and then twitched it again. Wham---fish on!
The How-To
That largemouth turned out to be about 8-pounds. Steve will tell you it’s one of the better fish he has seen come out of his dandy little private lake. So just what does an angler have to do to get the right movement and sound from the Cordell Red Fin? The first thing is pay attention to boat position. I like to point my boat right at the cover I want to fish. I don’t want any boat movement.
I don’t, for example, usually even tie on a Red Fin if I’m fishing out of the back of the boat and the guy on the troll motor keeps moving all the time. I won’t because I know it’s usually a waste of effort. The only way I can get the movement and sound I’m after is when my line runs straight to the bait.
Once you get your boat positioned properly, cast to or beyond the cover you want to fish. Leave it alone until the ripples from the splash are gone. Now point your rod tip toward the water. Begin working the lure with short, sharp flips of the rod tip. Pause between flips. Listen to what the lure is saying. When it’s done just right the lure has a distinctive blurp. Don't be in a hurry. Slow down.
Don't use big sweeps of the rod tip. The twitches have to be sharp, but the rod movement has to be short. Try to make the lure do its thing without moving toward the boat. Load your reel with 12 or 14-pound line and use a rod that has a fast, flexible tip.
I’ve had excellent success fishing this bait with 20-pound Power Pro braid. If the water is on the clear side I use a leader the length of my rod along with it. If the water is murky I tie direct to the braid.
One of the keys to getting the right sound is to watch the position of the lure. Try to time your rod twitch when the head of the lure is laying at an angle to you. Again, if your timing is right you'll hear the sound I'm talking about. Pay attention because this is a lure that demands your complete concentration.
If you have these fine lures, don't just throw one out there and crank it back. Do so, as I did far too long, and you’ll get the same sorry results I did in the beginning—no takers. But it's dynamite once you develop the proper sound-producing technique.
Favorite Models
Red Fins come in several sizes. The one I'm talking about is the Number C08. The lure is 4½ inches long and weighs 3/8th-ounce. Blackie Lightfoot’s favorite color was gold. It was his number one choice wherever he fished around the country. He’d often run a strip of red paint along the belly of these lures. Another of his favorites was a silver shade.
PRADCO has changed its lure production procedures over time and neither of the exact shades Blackie liked best is still available. But some are close. You’ll find one now that’s a gold shade and the red strip along the belly is already there. You’re not going to go wrong, of course, if you select a shade that matches the color of the baitfish in the waters where you plan to use it.
Certainly action is important in a surface lure, but on some baits so is sound. Follow the procedures my friend Blackie Lightfoot showed me for fishing a Cordell Red Fin. Sooner or later you’re a cinch to discover just how true that is.