The Spoonpluggers Forum

Got the computer back up and running again, and i got this neat message from Ted Walters this morning, and thought it should be shared with all here.

I wish we could hear and learn more from this great man. It is titled "Simple Thinking"


I have spent many hours, days and weeks in the woods near water. I have never seen a bass hiding behind a stump or a tree or a brush pile in the woods. I have personally caught very, very few adult bass in the shallows of any water…only exceptions to that were spawning season or before the season and some spawners were early. Please understand I always tried to leave the spawning fish alone to do their thing. Nearly all my bigger fish caught were from deep water or near the deepest water in the area. My 9 pound smallmouth, I left 5 pounders being caught in 10 feet of water (a shallow movement) to fish the deepest water 24 feet in that area, again deepest water in that area for a mile or two. My 9’s, 10’s, and larger largemouth were always in the deepest water in the area and hours and hours working that deepest water. Same for Teresa, but her largemouth were larger.



I have caught many adult bass in near deep water or deep water…Deep water being below 20 to 30 feet deep.



If I gave any help to a friend, a son who was wanting to catch adult fish of any species, I would advise spending more time understanding deep water and deep water structures or places that adult fish would call “Home” or where they spend most of their time… Most fish I was interested in are predators, and by nature predators sleep most of the time and when waking up go on the feed….when going on the feed all the prey creatures of the waters are aware and go on the alert. Mr. Perry always told me, “If anyone asks me where the fish are in this lake I would tell them they are where things are stable and most comfortable.”



I personally spent years of fishing in the comfortable places; it took a number of years to learn where those places were and teach myself self-control and patience.



Kenny Hyde and John Bales were two that learned the importance of deep water and the extreme importance of patience. Mr. Perry sure had patience.



Frank Hamill

I owe Frank Hamill a lot for taking me under his wing when I was a bit younger. He once told me that I had fire in my eyes and soon after, he would draw me a map of a structure on Pickwick and tell me to go look at it. I did every bit of the homework that he gave me. I could not believe that anyone had the smarts to interpret let alone go about knowing how to fish and find some of these places so far away from the shallows that normally house the average fisherman. Frank would leave a group of adult fish to catch the biggest fish of the school because he knew that the biggest fish would be a little deeper than the rest. The most amazing thing was his patience. It didn't bother him when someone would catch a limit of adult fish and he would take a skunk on that particular day. He would then follow it up with a fish or two of the week that would dwarf any of the rest. He chose to fish with electronics that was hard to see but showed detail and payed attention to what it showed him along with what his lures felt on the bottom. Frank was hard nosed and if you needed yelled at, you got it. It was all to make you better. What he did for me is to open up my mind. Looking deeper, presenting lures deeper, opens up a whole new world. It also builds confidence when you start having success downstairs. Mr. Perry didn't dwell on talking a whole lot about fishing in and around the sanctuary depths. For one, he had a hard enough time getting most fishermen to learn just the basics. And second, he had too much respect for the fish.
Frank Hamill is one of the greatest spoonpluggers out there. He did it with passion and shared what he knew with those few that he thought would do something with it. It is a shame that a motorcycle accident took away his physical ability to fish.
Some of the highlights of being around Mr. Perry when Frank was asking him questions about fishing deeper was listening to Mr. Perrys answers. It was like he would him haw around a little before giving us an answer that would start the brain thinking and you couldn't wait to get out there and do it. John