“Minnesota’s Mark Gomez Fishes Mister Twister and Mepps Products”

Part 4: Fish the Mepps Aglia for Bass

Editor’s Note: Mark Gomez of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, in the Minneapolis Metro area, is a tournament-bass fisherman and vice president of the Minnesota B.A.S.S. Federation Nation, the amateur arm of B.A.S.S.

Question: Mark, I understand you fish the Mepps Aglia for bass.

Gomez: That’s right. Thank goodness most bass fishermen don’t think about the Mepps No. 2 Aglia as a bass bait. However, it’s an old bait my father-in-law has used for years. When I started bass fishing with my father-in-law many years ago, he used the No. 2 Aglia to teach me how to bass fish. I fish the Mepps Aglia on 8-pound-test line with spinning tackle in clear water when the weather warms-up, and the bass want to chase baits. The Aglia swims about 1-foot underwater. I prefer to use a 6-1/2-foot medium-action rod and fish the dressed Aglia with the squirrel tail.

I’m convinced the Mepps Aglia will catch anything that swims. Although I’m primarily a bass fisherman, I’ve caught sauger on the Missouri River fishing the current breaks with an Aglia. Too, when I lived in Wyoming, the Aglia was one of my standard trout baits. I also fish the Aglia around pencil reeds just coming up to the surface. I like to cast the Aglia into the pockets of pencil reeds, and if the bass are concentrated there, they’ll attack the Aglia almost as soon as it hits the water.

If I see baitfish moving, I’ll immediately pick up my rod rigged with the Aglia and cast it to that school of baitfish. I’ve tried throwing a plastic worm to the baitfish before and haven’t gotten a bite. But then when I’ve cast out the Aglia, the bass seemed to really eat-up this bait. The Aglia is productive for catching a limit of bass because it has a good flash. When bass are chasing baitfish, this lure’s hard to beat.