“Fishing from Washington to Alaska with Mister Twister and Mepps Lures with Steve Burress”

Part 3: Stay-at-Home Bass

Editor’s Note: Steve Burress of Winlock, Washington, a member of the Mister Twister pro staff, fishes from Canada to Arizona and even in Alaska using Mister Twister and Mepps lures. This week, Burress will tell us where and how he fishes in his home state of Washington and in Alaska.

Question: Steve, besides the Columbia River, where else do you fish at home in Washington?

Burress: I like to fish Riffe Lake, a reservoir on the Cowlitz River in western Washington. When I’m fishing Riffe Lake, I’ll use the Mister Twister 4-inch Curly Tail Grubs. My favorite colors are chartreuse, white and black. I’ll fish these grubs on a 1/8-ounce jighead, my favorite weight for catching smallmouth. I'll be fishing a Tica rod and reel and catching 6-pound smallmouths.

Question: Why is this reservoir extremely productive for smallmouth?

Burress: Before Riffe Lake was filled, all the timber was cut out of the lake, and the stumps were left. Over the years, as the reservoir’s water level has risen and fallen, much of the dirt under the stumps has eroded, so the stumps and the root balls now look like huge spiders. When the water comes up, the smallmouth will move into those root systems. I’ll cast the grubs around the stumps, and the Mister Twister 4-inch Curly Tail Grubs will pull those smallmouths out and away from the root systems.

Question: How many smallmouths will you generally catch in a day of fishing?

Burress: Some days I’ll catch 20 or 30 smallmouths. Other days I’ll wonder if all the smallmouths in the lake have died because I’m not catching anything. Too, this lake contains largemouths living in the feeder streams that come into the lake. To catch the largemouths, I’ll pitch the Curly Tail Grubs on the bank and drop them into the water next to these root subsystems, because these stumps often will be partially on the banks.

Oftentimes I’ll pull my jig off the bank, letting it fall past or into those root systems to catch a largemouth. When I’m fishing root systems, I’ll be using 6-pound-test PowerPro Line to have more power to pull the smallmouth out of those roots. In this lake, a big smallmouth only will weigh 5 pounds, but there are plenty of them there.