“Fishing in the West with Tony Giallombardo”

Part 2: The Double-Whammy Top-Water Bait

Editor’s Note: Tony Giallombardo of Tempe, Arizona, a competitive bass fisherman since 1995, fishes the American Bass Anglers (ABA) tournament circuit, the U.S. Angler’s Choice bass-tournament circuit and the AllStar bass-tournament circuit. This week, Giallombardo will tell us how and where to fish at this time of year in the West when temperatures are still hot.

Question: Tony, what do you use to catch bass early in the morning, late in the afternoon and on cloudy days?

Giallombardo: I use a different rig than most people. I combine the Mister Twister Top Prop with a Mepps Comet Mino. I take the treble hook off the Top Prop and replace it with a size 3 or 4 Comet Mino. Then I cast out the Top Prop using a steady retrieve. Sometimes I’ll use a pause-and-twitch type action, but I primarily work the Top Prop with the Comet Mino like most fishermen work their buzzbaits. The bass either believe that the Comet Mino is chasing something on the surface or that there’s more than one minnow in the school.

I don’t know exactly what the bass are thinking. I just know when they see the commotion on the surface and spot the minnow, they attack. I prefer to fish this rig close to the shoreline, making the bass come up from the bottom to attack this lure.

Question: Do the bass mainly attack the Top Prop, or do they primarily eat the Comet Mino?

Giallombardo: Most of the time the bass eat both the Comet Mino and the Top Prop. I’ll generally start my day fishing with this lure combination, switch to jigging the Little Wolf spoon and then before dark, change back to the Top Prop and the Comet Mino combo lure. I fish this combination over water 15- to 20-feet deep. I’ve seen bass come up from the bottom to attack this combo bait on the surface.

Question: What color Top Prop do you use?

Giallombardo: I like the greenish-scale-patterned color, which I think is called Firetiger. I fish this lure on the same line I fish my spoon – 10- or 12-pound-test line. Sometimes I’ll even fish it on line as heavy as 14-pound test. I’ve caught bass that would weigh up to 5 or 6 pounds using this lure combination. This combo lure is effective because I’m the only person in my area fishing these two lures together. Because the lures are created for two-different purposes, no one else has thought to combine these two baits to create a super top-water bass bait. Sometimes I use the spinner attached to the Comet Mino. But most times I take the spinner off the Comet Mino when I’m attaching it to the Top Prop. Of course, I keep the spinner, so I can fish the Comet Mino alone if necessary.