They say "patience is a virtue", and this year, my annual trip to southern Oregon in June for a week of Smallmouth Bass fishing proved this point. Usually this time of year, as we have seen in years past, the Smallmouth well into post-spawn and aggressively feeding. The weather and the water is usually warm, and the early morning topwater bites are something dreams are made of. After a few hours of topwater, we would go to Salt Shaker Worms in the shallow water. This year was different. The weather stayed cooler longer this year, and the water has not warmed up to the normal levels yet. The lakes were high from all the rain runoff from recent storms that finally moved through the area. I knew these facts going in, and had a long time to think about it on the 750 mile drive up north.

As the approaching sunrise started to turn the grey sky to orange in the west, we launched our float tubes on this first day of our six day fishing trip. Of course I had high hopes and my Dad and I had topwater baits tied on to one our rods. I worked the bank and after 30 or so casts, I realized that my high hopes were crushed by my common sense. We were going to have to adjust to the conditions, the fish were not in an aggressive chasing mood. Spinnerbaits went untouched, my friend Mike Nguyen's hand tied white clouser minnow went untouched as he methodically stripped his fly line. I contemplated as I watched several Ospreys put on a show of hovering over the lake and doing high speed dives into the lake, catching trout. The scenery was awesome as always, It was time to find some fish and try to get them to bite. We tied on our favorite Smallmouth bass poison, Big Hammer Salt Shaker Worms in the watermelon colors and the pumpkin colors. We fish these on 4# and 6# spinning gear.

We started looking for more rocks, points, and offshore structure, which we knew the fish should be holding on. We worked these areas with the Big Hammer baits and immediately started to have success. We would pick off a few fish off of an area and the bite would seem to die. We quickly learned that the fish did not want the fast hop of the lure across the bottom like they usually do. They preferred more of a slow upward movement of the bait off the bottom and the slow fall on a tight line. We were even dragging the baits across the bottom with great success. We quickly found out as well that the fish preferred an uphill presentation. I had an idea!! I started to kick to the rocky banks and face the open lake. I tied on a 6" Salt Shaker Worm and fished it weightless. I would cast out to open water and wait for the bait to sink. These baits are outstanding weightless lures and I have had great success on Largemouth Bass using this technique. Once the bait hit the bottom, I would raise the rod tip and let the bait sink. I would work the bait this way all the way in towards my float tube and cast again. Low and behold, we started to catch not only more fish, but bigger fish as well. The feeling of success came by way of the heavy, surging weight of a big Bronzeback every time I set the hook. There were a few submerged humps that we knew of that we kicked out to way off the bank. The water was shallow enough on the top to be able to keep ourselves positioned with our feet. This slow, weightless, uphill presentation worked wonders as we continued to catch quality fish. This was not the fast and furious, chuck and wind fishing we were used to in years past. We had to adapt and use a slow, methodical presentation which required lots of patience. We used the 5" and 6" Salt Shaker Worms. The watermelon colors and pumpkin colors work really well.

Throughout the week, we had the same results in each of the three lakes we fished. The quality of the fish we caught this year were by far our best. I learned something very valuable during this years adventure. Everybody likes to fish fast, but when conditions change, or the fish just arent responding, we need to adapt, and having patience can yield great success.

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