Bernie Schultz
Date: March 22, 2021
Venue: Lake Q, a flatland reservoir
Water: Murky to clear, 58 degrees
Weather: Partly cloudy, gusty, high of 72
Pro: Bernie Schultz, 67, Gainesville, Fla. Schultz has fished B.A.S.S. events for 35 years and has qualified for nine Classics. He’s a talented illustrator and writer and an avid collector of antique fishing lures. (See his collection at bernieschultzfishing.com.)
Boat: Caymas CX 21 with a 250-horsepower Mercury outboard, MotorGuide trolling motor, Garmin electronics and twin Power-Pole shallow-water anchors
new under the sun!” King Solomon first said it around 950 B.C., and veteran pro Bernie Schultz, a passionate collector of antique lures, knows that where bass baits are concerned, Solomon’s statement still rings true today. “Today’s lure manufacturers constantly strive to come up with something new and different, but in reality, almost every bait we fish bears striking similarities to lures built decades ago,” Schultz explained. “For example, frog fishing became a so-called ‘hot new trend’ within the past decade, but bass anglers were throwing the hollow-bodied Hastings Weedless Frog way back in 1895. Swimbaits have taken over the Elite Series lately, but their basic design is reminiscent of the 1904 K&K Minnow. Shallow crankbaits are a huge lure category today, but they’re all descended from the Creek Chub Wiggler, dating back to 1916. And those noisy ‘plopper’ surface
