Avid bass angler Mark McDowell experienced a magnificent childhood filled with fishing trips with legendary anglers such as Ray Scott, Tom Mann, Roland Martin and many others.
During the early years when B. A. S. S. was being formed, McDowell’s dad, Bodie McDowell, was a local bass-fishing guru and newspaper journalist in his hometown and became fast friends with Ray Scott.
The younger McDowell reaped many fringe benefits, including a firsthand fishing education from some of the pioneers of the modern bass-fishing tournament scene.
During a recent gathering, McDowell reminisced about the old days and what may have been the first bass caught on a worm at the first BASS event with Scott.
“I can’t say for sure but it’s a pretty good bet, we think so anyway, that the first bass ever caught during one of our tournaments was caught by Bill Dance on a Fliptail worm as he stopped and started fishing right near the blast-off spot,” Scott said. “We watched him catch that bass on a worm just minutes after the tournament started.”
Mark McDowell has been instrumental in the re-emergence of the Fliptail worm, and has used it extensively the last couple of years as he tested the lure in all conditions.
“The Fliptail worm was soft, easy to penetrate with a hook and caught a lot of fish back then,” McDowell said. “We’ve brought it back, and the bass haven’t seen anything like it today and they really love it and it’s performing really well, especially after dark.
“And when the temperatures are scorching like they are right now, I head for the water late afternoon and fish after dark because the bass bite is really tough during the daytime, but heats up really fast after dark.
“I like to leave the house around 7 p.m. and get to the lake and set up in the area I’m going to fish before dark falls. When they gang up on the ledges and drops, I want to be there before dark so that my eyes can acclimate to the dark.”
McDowell uses lights only sparingly, and then just to tie on lures or land fish.
“My best nights have come on the darkest nights with no moon, —the darker the better,” he said. “We’ll fish many of the same spots we fish during the day, but the action heats up at night.”
McDowell prefers magnum worms, and the 9 ¼-inch black Fliptail Big Daddy worm is his favorite.
“I like the large Fliptail worm because it’s bulkier and the black silhouettes better at night, and the bass seem to prefer the darker colors at night,” he said.
And if he runs out of black he’ll use purple or the next darkest shade.
“At night, I like to feel the bottom, so I’ll use a Texas rig with a 5/16- or 3/8-ounce bullet weight so that I can feel when it touches sticks, rocks, whatever may be on the bottom,” McDowell said. “After dark you stand a better chance of catching a big bass, so I’ll use heavy line — at least 17-pound-test.”
He said he’ll sometimes put down his worm, but only to locate a fish.
“Sometimes I’ll slow roll a big bladed buzz bait and draw strikes from bass, and we’ll have a large worm ready if they miss, which they do at night,” he said. “When that happens, I’ll pitch that worm right to the spot and work it real slow, and usually catch that bass.”
Be the first to comment