“I’ll use green pumpkin more than the others
because it is such a universal color,” explained
Ashley. “It works in stained water or clear water.
Black is for stained to muddy water, and sapphire
blue for when it is super muddy – I mean like
chocolate milk!”
fishing,” don’t tell that to Casey Ashley! It
remains one of his mainstays – and not just for
old times sake!
Shaky Head Worm
He assembles his own spinnerbaits, using
premium components and hand-counting the
number of beads he needs between tandem
spinner blades to make certain that he has
sufficient blade separation to keep them
spinning at even the slowest retrieval speeds.
Once upon a time, the plastic worm was a
bass fisherman’s staple. Today? Not so much…
unless you’re “old school!”
“The shaky head is the worm rig I rely on most,”
said Ashley. “There aren’t many tournaments
where you can take a shaky head worm and
win fishing that single bait every day of the
tournament. But it does help me catch key fish
and, if nothing else, finish out a limit.”
The Zoom Trick Worm is his worm of choice,
and his supply consists of four proven colors:
green pumpkin, watermelon candy, green
pumpkin purple, and Bama Bug.
“I do like to get on Google Earth and check the
lake out. That will tell you a lot, including where
the docks are…If it’s a recent picture, you can even
tell where the channel meets the bank and which
banks are flat or where the dirty water is entering
and whether it is muddying the back of the creek
or the whole (creek arm).” – Casey Ashley
Spinnerbait
If the spinnerbait no longer defines “power
He has tapped into its nuances and versatility.
His favorite colors? “Old School” white and
white/chartreuse, of course!
See the 006 issue of Big Bass Monthly for
more on Casey Ashley’s spinnerbait approach.
“If you are trying to change baits and change
colors all the time, it just adds more confusion,”
summed Casey. “Fishing is 85 percent mental,
and the bulk of the ‘mental’ part is confidence.
If you are not confident in what you are doing,
you are already behind the 8 ball. I have tackle
that transitions in and out of my storage
compartments, but these are the four lures that
never leave my boat.”
Then he flashes a smile as famous as his fishing
prowess. “I guess anywhere I go, I can pretty
much fish out of a plastic grocery sack.”
BBM
Big bass monthly | Page 16