A couple of years ago, I wrote a column for Bassmaster.com about culling a bunch of bulky, redundant tackle from my pro touring arsenal. My goal was to significantly reduce the excessive number of baits and soft plastics I was carrying to eliminate clutter from my tackle management.
I dedicated myself to the cleansing process for several months, cleaning out my shop, truck, boat, dozens of large storage bins and tackleboxes. I removed lures I had not thrown in years because they were just in the way. The result was a more organized shop, more space in my truck, a lighter boat and a far more efficient flow to find the tackle I needed quickly.
During that time, I had to carefully evaluate certain lures I considered to be “window baits.” These are lures that only work for very short periods of time or in specific parts of the country. If you have these lures at the ready when that specific bite window opens during a tournament, you can rocket to the top of the leaderboard in a hurry.
To some degree, they are like trick plays in football. The idea is to catch the competition off guard with a sneaky window bait they don’t have handy.
After my tackle cleansing was finished, I ended up keeping five must-have window baits that I always carry. I might go a couple of years without using them, but if I find an open window with them, they are worth their weight in gold. Just knowing that other anglers may not have immediate access to these particular window lures provides a huge advantage.
Rattling the window
I’ll start with lipless rattlers, a.k.a. rattle traps. Obviously, a lipless rattler is a common staple from December to March on grass lakes in the South. However, through the years, I’ve noticed traps tend to be put aside after March. For that reason, I keep a box of these baits in my boat at all times because that rattling window can open back up at any time.
I remember catching some big bags of bass in May on an Aruku Shad at Lake Fork at one of the Bassmaster Texas Fest events. I was fishing a very shallow shellbar, and the lipless Aruku Shad was the only lure I could fish over the bar efficiently.
After the event was over, I discovered pretty much no one else was throwing a trap in that event. We were at the trap capital of the world in Texas, but a lot of the noisy rattlers had been put away for the year.
I have also done well on the smaller Aruku Shad Jr. in the fall on Ozarks impoundments. Fall is another time when the lipless window opens by surprise. From those two events, I learned to always keep a trap box in my boat because you never know when that lipless bite window is going to pop back open.
Old school paddling
Having grown up fishing in South Georgia and North Florida, I was raised on bass fishing with a paddletail worm. As a kid, my first worm fishing was done with a Zetabait Ding-A-Ling paddle tail. Granted, swimming a paddletail worm is certainly a window technique for the weedy waters of Florida and South Georgia. However, I have caught them pretty well on Lake Hartwell with a paddle tail as well.
At the time, Hartwell had been in a drought, and a bunch of dog fennel had grown up around the bank. When the water came back up, it flooded the fennel, and the bass were spawning in it. The window opened for an incredible paddletail worm bite. Those Hartwell fish thumped that worm like they had never seen one before. So I carry a few bags of antique Ding-A-Lings in case another off-the-wall paddletail worm opportunity happens.
Plopper mania
When the window for a plopper-style lure fires, it can take you from zero to hero in a hurry. And that window can open at any time — from the bitter cold of winter to the blistering heat of summer.
The thing that still puzzles me about ploppers is how fickle that window can be. The bass will smash that bait for two hours one day of the tournament, and then the window never opens again – even in the same areas with the same conditions. It can be a maddening window to chase, but it doesn’t keep me from making sure a box of ploppers is always under the lid.
Window wakers
I learned the power of a wake bait years ago with old Long As and Redfins. The primary window for wakers is the prespawn and postspawn on clear-water reservoirs. Some of my favorite wake bait lakes include Hartwell, Lanier, Norman and just about anywhere in the Ozarks. It also has a sneaky time and place in current and in tailraces. I’ve even pushed the waking window at the upper Mississippi with success.
Over the last two decades, there has been a multitude of modern wake baits to hit the market. They are more durable, ride higher in the water and create better wakes. I still have a few old Long As, but my go-to these days is a SPRO Zero Minnow 130. It casts far, accurately, and tracks true to produce a solid wake.
Shaking a ‘minnow’
The last window bait I still carry is a box of Johnson Silver Minnows. Yeah, I know, this one is kind of a stretch, but there is a tournament day coming when I’m going to smash them on a Johnson Silver Minnow and no one else is going to have one.
Much like a paddletail worm, a Johnson Silver Minnow is a throwback to my childhood. I’ve had some crazy good days on that lure while just fun fishing. Its best window is during the shad spawn in heavy vegetation when bass have already wised up to swim jigs and frogs – but they have not seen a Silver Minnow. The Minnow produces an erratic, flashy action in and around vegetation that shad-spawn bass can’t handle.
I carry the Silver Minnow in a 1/2-size in the standard colors of silver, gold and black. I usually tip it with a twin-tail grub or some kind of worm tail.
Go ahead and laugh at my version of “shaking a minnow,” but the first time I catch a big bag on a Johnson Silver Minnow in a tournament, don’t come asking me for one!
