MONSTERBASS Ambassador Cupcake Coley resides in Southern California where the weather is still a little warm, but the fishing has slowed a bit. The fish are a little confused according to Coley, with fluctuating air and water temps, and the pressure on the few bodies of water that are available to fish are making things a little difficult right now.

“Our waters are so pressured in California,” said Coley. “It’s not like you can just go out your back door and you’ve got a creek or a river or a beautiful lake.” 

"We have ponds that are cement and we have reservoirs and the bigger lakes are kind of hard to get to and you pretty much have to have a bigger boat to get on them. So I’m having to learn to do things a little bit differently, since everything is so high pressure here.” 

The necessity to learn to do things differently is what led Coley to try a new technique, new to her at least.  

“Normally, I’m a big dropshot fan. But in the last 6 months I’ve been really focusing on cranks. A buddy loaned me a baitcaster, and ended up giving it to me and this summer. So I’ve really been practicing my baitcasting skills.” 

A lipless crankbait has been the crank of choice for Coley so far, with the Lucky Craft 500 LV being one of her favorites.  

“I’ve only gotten 8 fish on a crank so far, but that’s what I’m throwing right now. It’s been pretty tough cause I bank fish for the most part, unless my buddies take me out on a boat. 

“If I get out on a boat, then I do whatever the weather calls for that day. But normally I’m a finesse fisherman and I’m just now venturing out into some of the larger baits, especially now that I’m with MONSTERBASS and getting all these awesome baits.” 

Learning a new technique can be quite intimidating for an angler, and that was certainly the case for Coley, who stated that she tried to learn too many things at once back in the spring of 2022. So, she put a lot of the other stuff down and has focused in on the lipless crankbait.  

“It’s a confidence booster when you finally get that first fish on a crank or whatever it is you’re fishing. It definitely got me even more excited that I usually get."  

“My first one was 3 pounds. So I was pretty stoked and all the ones that followed through the summer were 3- to 4- pounds. Right now it’s a little discouraging cause all my local ponds are full of trout, so all the bass are eating trout and it makes it that much more challenging.” 

A lipless crankbait is one of the more versatile lures on the market. You can fish this bait slow or fast, high or low, around cover or in open water and with various different cadences. This versatility, along with exposure to the bait by her friends, is what led Coley to pick one up.

“I tend to fish solo most of the time, but I do have some buddies at the ponds that I’ll fish with or a couple boaters I’ll go out with. And they were all throwing the LV so I was like, ‘If they can do it, I’m going to do it.’”  

“So I just started asking a bunch of questions. And I asked what rods they were using and what reels they were using.” 

During one of these interrogations, one of Coley’s buddies let her try out his setup.  

“He saw me with my setup, which was a little bit lighter and smaller. And he said, ‘Throw my rod.’ And I was like, ‘That’s a Metanium.' And he was like, ‘Ah just throw it.’” 

“And I’m telling you, my eyes just lit up. And that’s when I caught my first 3-pounder on an LV and ever since then I just was like, ‘This is what I’m going to save up for and this is what I’m going to get.”  

The setup consisted of a Phenix Featherweight 7’ 3” Extra Heavy rod with a Shimano Metanium baitcasting reel. 

“Then my big brother who got me back into fishing in 2016 up in Michigan, he tricked me and said, ‘Well what is it you want? Why do you want this? I’m going to get it so I can beat you next summer.’” 

“So of course I gave him all the specifications cause I was like, ‘If he buys it then I can use it.’”

But what Coley didn’t see coming was a Christmas morning surprise.  

“He showed up at Christmas with the Metanium and I just cried, like a child. And I sat there holding my reel for five minutes before they said, ‘Go look in the hallway.’ And I looked in the hallway and there was the Phenix wrapped in a tube. My parents had received it and wrapped it and I just fell to my knees and I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’” 

“And then, like a child, I sat there for 30 minutes while everybody else was opening their gifts and I held my rod and I held my reel and they were like, ‘Are you going to put it down?’ And I was like, ‘Nope!’”  

On a personal note, it was easy to hear the excitement in Coley’s voice as she retold all of her latest adventures. A refreshing sound to an old seasoned bass angler like myself who takes a lot of things for granted. I want to encourage all of you, as I know Coley would, to try something new and keep on having fun out on the water.