It's a question I ponder often when thinking about the coming bass season... even though the season is still far off as I write this. Boss Hogg is what I affectionately call a smallmouth bass that's over 6 pounds... I catch a number of 5 pounders each season but The Boss has eluded me for some time. I found some new water at the end of last season that fished amazing and my confidence is higher than ever that Boss Hogg lives there.
For the past 5 years or so, my personal fishing trips and nearly all of my guide trips for bass have primarily been focussed on fishing topwater poppers... especially Zudbubbler's, and for good reason. Sure, if you're after numbers of bass, a small streamer or crayfish pattern is tough to beat and occasionally gets a dandy one but there is an obvious trend when I fish with my buddies (and I'm sure they won't mind me telling) that the biggest fish of the day nearly always come to poppers. There's just something about that obnoxious frog clumsily swimming through their living room that is too much for the big guys to ignore.
Allow me to digress a moment... as a kid, there was only one TV show that I could NOT miss, I even recorded the episode's with my tape recorder (this was before the VCR)... it was "The Dukes of Hazzard". You might think I was just in love with Daisy Duke, but that was not the case. My affections were much more focussed on the "General Lee"... that Hemi-Orange 69' Charger with confederate flag on the roof and "01" on the doors. It's funny, even now in my mid 40's I have dreams nearly once a week that I am the proud owner of "The General" and who knows, that day may come.
Anyway, back to fishing. As I was thinking recently about catching Boss Hogg, my mind went to the TV show and how "Boss Hogg" (the character who played the greedy, unethical commissioner of Hazzard County, and arch enemy of the Dukes) was always trying to get them Duke Boys and that General Lee... he'd do nearly anything to "catch em". You can probably already see where I'm going with this so let me get right to my thought process. What is the obvious thing that's going to get Boss Hogg to explode on the scene and put the hammer down this season? The Duke Boys of course... and they'll be the one's in the General Lee trying to make a fast getaway.
So here's a photo of my latest loud popping obnoxious bass popper. "The General Lee"... and it's kickin' up dirt trying to get away from The Boss. This may be the only time that I've ever hoped The General doesn't "get away".
