Bananas and the Elvis Rig

On the Water With the Coaches

Me - “What is that? Is that what I think it is? Is that a…banana?! What the hell man?!”

Andrew Tripp – “It’s just a banana. Why?”

Brian Divelbliss – <shaking his head> “Dude, that’s a big no-no. Don’t you know? No bananas in the boat…ever.”

Me – “It may seem like an unusual nautical superstition, but back in the day when trade ships sailing from the Caribbean & Spain started to disappear, legend has it that only the curved, yellow fruit would be found floating amongst the wreckage. It led seafarers to believe that the bananas had caused the ship to sink, consequently leading to more rumors back at dock and throughout the seas.Bananas were blamed for venomous spiders, ethylene gas explosions, snakes, mechanical failure - you name it, they were just an omen of bad luck. You can’t bring that thing in the boat…or even near it. I don’t remember his name, but last person who brought a banana in my boat spontaneously combusted. He just went up in flames without warning. We had to push him in the water so the whole boat didn’t burn up. Nice guy. We still never talk about him.”

Brian – “Yeah man. There’s only one group of people more superstitious than fishermen.”

Tripp – “Who’s that?”

Brian – “Athletes.”

Me –  “I’m just going take this banana, put it in the bed of the truck, and go wash my hands.”

I’ve always liked the athletic fields at U-32.

It’s funny how rippin’ across the lake at 65 miles-per-hour can erase mistakes and get the adrenaline pumping. Setting up on my usual run I settled down in a spot and we broke the rods out in order to try our hands at largemouth fishing. With three guys in the boat, the conversation flows easily, as do the topics. Andrew picked up the first fish of the day – a 2.5-pound largemouth and naturally, the conversation turned to athletics. I’ve known Andrew Tripp colloquially for a few years now as a track coach for U-32 High School in East Montpelier, and Brian Divelbliss is the former varsity football coach at the school. Brian was also kind enough to tie me some marabou jigs – which were excellent until they were piked. He has been out with me a couple of times over the years getting an introduction to the baitcaster.

Tripp, on the swim-jig bite

The Intro to Drop-Shotting

Over the past couple of weeks, Lake Champlain’s resident bass population has headed towards deeper water. Sure, you can continue to chase them shallow, but this time of year I like heading out to 15-25 feet of water in order to establish more consistent patterns.   Anyone who fishes Champlain will tell you that if you can find yellow perch, the bass aren’t far behind. On the southern end of the lake and out suspended in even deeper water, alewives tend to be more prevalent. There’s a lot that has been written about how large schools of giant smallmouth will follow the schools of open water alewife, just gorging on them. I’ll save the forward-facing sonar debate for a late time. I’ve gotten familiar with the alewife on the southern end of Champlain as well, and while it’s not nearly as deep there’s a reason that a lot of anglers throw white bladed-jigs and spinnerbaits all summer long.

Chunky! Both of us!

Up north, I personally like the perch pattern and for the past 20 years or so, it has never let me down. Large schools of yellow perch typically hang out in 20(ish) feet of water where you can find a hard bottom with some significant weed growth. They’re opportunistic feeders and if there’s any kind of minnows swimming around you can be sure that they’re going to picking a few of them off as easy meals. Woes betide the perch that fail to check theirrearview mirror for the bass that are also there. A four-pound smallmouth will think nothing of engulfing a yellow perch that that has failed to remain aware. Fortunately for the perch, if the bottom is rocky, resident smallmouth are splitting their time chasing them as well as crayfish. In all cases it’s a lose-lose situation for the bait and a certain victory for the bass.  

Everyone can use an assist from time to time.

I was able to take some friends as well as my high school team out over the past couple of weeks and as the fish have transitioned out deeper the drop-shot technique has really started to shine. With that in mind I hooked both Andrew and Brian up with setups of their own and got to work.

It’s not worth being too picky about what you use for a drop shot lure. Some guys like ‘this’, others like ‘that’ and still more prefer the ‘other thing’. I’ve been fishing it long enough that some of the baits I’ve loved in the past are no longer even made. (I’m looking at you ZOOM Bait Company. Bring back the fluke-tailed goby!). But, I digress.

I eschewed the drop-shot the past couple of years - time to re-familiarize myself with it.

Despite being a loyalist to some of the more commonly used baits, over the winter I picked up a few of those ‘fuzzy’ baits to try. You know, the dice with the skirt material threaded through them as well as some similar baits of the more ‘stick’ or ‘ned’ variety. They were cheap, I was intrigued and I know of at least two anglers who made me a believer last year before they became all the rage. It’s one of those rare times where I’ve gotten on the bandwagon when it was still cool to do so. After plucking a few on my more typical baits I reached into the day box and produced them.

The hypnotizing glow of electric sex.

“The Elvis rig. Viva Las Vegas.” (Yeah, we all chuckled about it for few minutes.)

If you though that the Senko was a stupid bait 25 years ago…if you thought that the Ned rig was just another fad a decade later, well…let’s just say I won’t be dismissing anything that comes down the pipeline in the future. Yes, I own a few Whopper Ploppers as well, but that’s a totally different scenario.

Pay no attention to the man peeing in the background.

I put one on and tossed it out there – all neon yellow with black tentacles waving in the current. And, I hooked a giant smallmouth. A few minutes later, I hooked another. It wasn’t long before all of us were throwing some version of a drop-shot and experiencing success. While we didn’t turn the lake on fire it was at least consistent enough for us to keep our heads in the game.

Simple and effective, it should always be an option.

By the way, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that U-32 high school is looking to add bass fishing to its fall sports schedule – and the guys are looking for coaches. More specifically, coaches who can also act as boaters. I’ve got it on good authority that after a year absence, Hartford is back with a team, Lamoille Union is looking for coaches and a bit surprisingly, Stowe is hoping to field a team. (If you’re interested I’d suggest calling the athletic directors at the school of your choice to inquire more).

Back at the launch I dropped the lift gate of my truck to see the afore mentioned banana and handed it to Tripp.

“Shame…Shame…Shame…”

“Here, you can eat this now.”