“Catching Bass, Walleye, Northern Pike, Crappie and Muskie with Greg Haut”

Part 2: Slop – Home of the Timber Doodle

Editor’s Note: Greg Haut of Waukesha, Wisconsin, tournament bass fisherman, also guides in central Wisconsin for bass, walleye, northern pike, crappie and the occasional muskie. “I guide for any species my clients want to catch,” Haut says.

Question: Greg, what is slop?

Haut: We refer to really-slimy, weedy regions like snot grass, eel grass, lily pads and duck weed, like where a lot of our fish concentrate, as slop areas.

Question: Why do you like the Mepps Timber Doodle when you’re fishing slop?

Haut: I can cast it a country mile in the slop or across the slop, and it’s totally weedless. Too, this bait really imitates a frog. I like to swim the Timber Doodle pretty fast across the slop. When I slow it down at the weed edge, the Timber Doodle will sink and flutter down toward the bottom. Many times the bass will attack the bait as it falls. When fishing the Timber Doodle in really-thick cover or slop, use a fast retrieve to elicit a strike from the bass. When you reach the weed edge or go just past it, slow down the Timber Doodle and fish it like a falling bait, letting it flutter to the bottom. Using this tactic, you can catch the fish in the slop or holding on the edge of the slop.

Question: What pound-test line do you use?

Haut: The thickness of the slop determines the type of line I use. Sometimes I’ll use line as light as 30-pound test, and other times I’ll fish with 50-pound-test line. But I’m primarily fishing the PowerPro line. When I’m throwing 30-pound-test line, I’m fishing the new Phantom Red PowerPro line around more open-type grass. When I’m using 50-pound-test line, I’ll be fishing really-thick weeds. Even a 1-pound bass that gets on the line can pick up 8 pounds of weeds, so you’re actually pulling the weight of a 9-pound bass.

Question: How do you set the hook when you fish in the slop? Do you set the hook when you see the strike, or do you wait to feel the fish before you set the hook?

Haut: I watch the bass strike the bait, but I don’t set the hook until I actually feel the bass on the line. This is the point at which many people miss bass when fishing the Timber Doodle. If you set the hook on the strike, you’ll generally miss the fish. But if you wait until after the strike, and you see the line moving away, you know the bass has the lure in its mouth. Then you can set the hook and catch the bass.

Question: How do you get the bass out of the slop?

Haut: I raise my rod over my head and reel as fast as possible. I use high-speed Quantum Burner reels and a 7-foot, 6-inch heavy-power St. Croix rod. I want to get the fish up and out of the slop as quickly as possible and then bounce the fish like a thrown rock skipped across the surface.

Question: What color Timber Doodle do you like?

Haut: I like the frog color the best, but I also fish a lot of black Timber Doodles. In clean lakes with clear water, I’ll be fishing a silver-colored Timber Doodle.

Question: How did you start fishing the Timber Doodle for bass?

Haut: When I was about 13- or 14-years old, I saw a Timber Doodle in a local bait shop and decided that the bait should catch a lot of bass. I purchased one and discovered my assumption was correct. I’ve caught a number of nice-sized bass, northern pikes and muskies on the Timber Doodle. This bait doesn’t discriminate. It will catch any fish that swims in the lakes I fish.

Question: Do you fish primarily for muskies, northern pikes or bass when you’re fishing the Timber Doodle?

Haut: I’ll primarily be fishing for bass. However, I’ll catch northern pikes and an occasional muskie while fishing for bass because all these fish concentrate in the same types of areas, and they all like slop. I caught my biggest muskie that was 43-inches long and weighed 20 pounds in 3 feet of water.

Question: When you’re fishing, what will be the breakdown on the number of bass, pike and muskie you’ll catch?

Haut: Of course, there are a number of factors to consider. On a good day of bass fishing, if we catch five bass, we’ll generally catch two pike. But catching a muskie is rare. I haven’t figured out a pattern on how to catch muskie. I guess they just bite when they want. I generally catch muskie in August.

Question: What is it about August that causes muskies to eat the Timber Doodle?

Haut: The muskie are holding in that shallow water where I’m fishing for bass at that time of year. I generally can’t find the muskies on the lake until August. However, when I’m fishing in August, they just seem to show-up. This August, we caught a 40 incher.

Question: How long do the muskie stay in shallow water?

Haut: They usually remain in the waters I fish from August to mid-September.

Question: What do your clients say when you take them out for a day of bass fishing, and one of those big muskies eats a Timber Doodle?

Haut: They usually say, “Thank you, Greg.”

To fish with Greg Haut, call (262) 385-2245, email greg@thehautdoors.com, or visit www.thehautdoors.com.