Largemouth bass don’t get as much respect in Central Oregon as some of their finny brethren. Trout purists scoff at bass gear and tactics, but I think the great thing about largemouth bass is you can throw them something that resembles nothing they’ve ever seen before and they’ll eat it. At least once.

One evening when I was 14 and supposed to be hard at my homework, I went down to the pond and tried what looked like a yellow rubber octopus on a leadhead jig. On the first cast, I caught the biggest bass I’d ever hooked, and for the next 30 minutes I landed one fish after another.

I still have that lure, but it hasn’t accounted for a single fish since that night 25 years ago. The word got out, I guess.

I’ve caught bass a lot of different ways, but there are three techniques that have put more excitement in my boat than anything else.

It’s hard to beat a plastic worm. Slide a bullet sinker up the main line and tie on a 1/0 Daiichi Fat Gap hook. Rig the plastic (My favorite colors are motor oil, purple or black) with the point hidden to ride weedless. Cast to the shore or some structure and bring it back slow. When you feel a tap, drop the rod tip and set the hook hard on the next grab.

Another favorite method is with the fly rod. I’ve used poppers and bunny leeches, but I like fishing a mouserat best. It’s made of deer hair trimmed in the shape of a field mouse, with leather nubs for ears and a long skinny tail.

You’ll score with topwater flies when the sun is lower in the sky and fish are close to the surface. Cast it to the lily pads or to a log that the bass are using for cover.

When a bass decides to eat a mouse, it doesn’t just sip it off the surface, it smashes the little critter. You’ll probably see the grab as the bass opens its mouth to inhale the fly.

From a boat or the opposite shore, cast to a grassy bank. This isn’t the time for finesse. If the mouse splashes down, so much the better. Now make it swim. That little tail is wiggling and the legs are kicking. Pause for a moment to let the mouse take a breath then start up again.

One overcast summer afternoon, I cast a mouse pattern from shore and watched a bass streak from cover 15 feet away to grab it when it struck the water. He’d been tracking it in the air. And he never paused to wonder what a mouse was doing way up in the sky.

That one moment still epitomizes the thrill of bass fishing. The lure doesn’t have to make sense, it just has to trigger the ”eat it now” impulse. That’s what I like about spinnerbaits. As far as I can tell, the spinnerbait resembles nothing that bass are used to eating. But it has a blade for flash, beads for noise, and rubber legs for motion.

I like to retrieve it along a weedbed or a stand of grass or tules. In deeper water, let it sink, and watch the line for the grab that you’ll sometimes get on the drop. Bounce it back over the bottom on a slow retrieve or crank it hard. Sometimes bass like to chase their food.

My new favorite spinnerbait is by Mack’s Lure. Developed by The Master Caster, Stan Fagerstrom, Stan’s Spin uses a deep cup Colorado blade, a metal flake rubber skirt, a red hook, a red eye, and what they call a Flash Lite blade. The Flash Lite helicopters on the drop and spins in tandem with the Colorado blade on the retrieve. Because of the helicopter action, this spinnerbait should draw more strikes on the drop than any other I’ve tried.

Central Oregon’s best largemouth bass action can be found in Crane Prairie Reservoir, Davis Lake (fly-fishing only), Prineville Reservoir, Haystack Reservoir and Krumbo Reservoir. For more information on lakes with largemouth, pick up a copy of Sun Publishing’s Fishing Central Oregon and Beyond.

Some of our finest trout lakes have too many bass in them. Illegally introduced into Davis Lake, for instance, the bass have hurt the fishing there.

Last year, Jerry Garrity, a trout fishing friend, spent an inordinate amount of time up at Davis Lake. He phoned and said he wanted me to come and pick up a fish he’d brought home. It was a filleted five-pound largemouth he’d bagged with a bunny leech pattern. I don’t need anyone to catch fish for me, but Jerry insisted and the Lewis family dined well that evening.

Wherever you catch your bass, consider keeping a few to fillet, bake with mayonnaise and bread crumbs, and serve with wild rice and treat with the respect due this fine fish.