Weightless Texas-Rig Plastic Worms at Sawhill Ponds and Coot Lake
How is that for a blog entry title?
A few weeks ago our realtor mentioned that he caught several nice two-pound bass at Sawhill Ponds on weightless, Texas-rig plastic worms. Pictures and everything, but I was incredulous … first because I couldn’t believe there were bass that big in Sawhill Ponds, and second because I couldn’t believe weightless plastic worms would actually catch anything. I’ve never had much confidence in, or success with, plastic worms, but my friend Aron swears by them down in Austin.
A few days later I’m hiking at Sawhill with Jessica (no fishing allowed) when I see a guy lose a bass in the first pond. We talk a bit and of course he is using, yep, a weightless, Texas-rig plastic worm. He was just casting directly into the weeds that have infested many of the ponds and the worm slithered right through. My preferred crank baits can’t go anywhere near those weeds.
So last week my brother and his family are in town visiting and I take them to Sawhill since it’s only three minutes from our house. I rig up the plastic worms, we go to work and … we catch nothing. Maybe a couple bites, but my nephews are losing interest. I take a rod from one of them and head to pond #2. My brother says, “we’ve worn out that spot.” A few casts later, though, I land the biggest bass I’ve yet to catch in Boulder (which, admittedly, is not saying much). But for Sawhill, it’s a very nice fish. There are ten-year old reports on the internet of people catching five-pounders left and right out of Sawhill, but these days, I think this may be about as big as it gets.
Oh yeah, Coot Lake? The next night I take my brother and nephew to Coot and my brother catches a nice bass on the Texas-rig set-up, while Elijah caught a couple of nice ones on a tiny crank bait. My nephew still hasn’t caught anything in two days, so as we’re walking to the car I stop and tell him, “cast here, I can feel it.” Boom, he pulls in a bass. As we say in Family Vance … noice.
