Three years ago I had a month off from my job for health reasons. During that time, I found a South African Bass Fishing Forum. I had no idea that North American Fresh Water fish were in Africa. It was February, everything was frozen here by me so I spent my free time visiting the forum. I was on there a LOT!
Why did I stay and read the forum? Fisherman were asking questions literally found word for word inside Mr. Elwood Buck Perry’s Spoon-plugging educational materials. So I decided to explain as much as I could.
What’s funny to me was that the major percentage of fisherman were Tournament Bass Fisherman and few if any had heard of Mr. Perry. But honestly that isn’t unusual.
You see as a person who practices "Spoon-plugging", I am as much an alien in my own country as I will be in South Africa. Not many people in the USA have heard of Spoon-plugging either - it's almost as strange as if a spaceship landed in the middle of a World Cup match.
If you look at how you fish today whether in the US, South Africa, Japan - anywhere, Mr. Perry has had some affect in what you do whether you know it or not. Depth Sounders, proving fish STRIKE a bait whether hungry or not, terms like Structure, Breaks, and Break lines, and many other things.
Mr. Perry used the Large-
mouth Bass for his study
fish because it’s the most
sensitive game fish to
changing environmental
conditions. This makes the
large adult Largemouth the
most difficult fish to catch
on a consistent basis. Mr.
Perry later said that if we go
about all of our fishing as if
we were fishing for Large-
mouth Bass all other species
would be caught along the way.
As a “Method”, Spoon-plugging is
an all-inclusive system that works anywhere, anytime, and with any lure (even though there are lures called 'Spoon-plugs') for any species (fresh or salt). Today there is a lot of talk about finding the “Pattern” or “Pattern Fishing”. That is what Spoon-pluggers have been doing for over 60 years. We say that we are finding the correct “Depth” and “Speed”. If we have to Pitch and Flip, we do it. If we need troll (and there are MANY times trolling is the only way to be effective) we troll.
There is really little that I can write that hasn't been written by Mr. Perry himself so when I write about Spoon-plugging it's less about techniques and more about my pursuit to become a better fisherman. A few years ago I wrote a series of articles for our National Newsletter about the trials of putting Mr. Perry’s words into practice. Oftentimes, it's not easy. Other times, what I THINK I understand completely changes based on the experiences I gain with time on the water. And even with all the modern fishing equipment and conveniences, I find that what Mr. Perry wrote more than 50 years ago is just more correct now than ever.
Here is a very good article written by Mr. Perry in 1985. Nothing I could write would be as good as this article.
View Mr Perry's "Basic's of Structure Fishing" here
COMING TO S.A.
Bass Digest/August, 2014