Over 100 eager anglers jammed into Cozy Diner in Paradise on Wednesday night for the second annual Paradise Bass Club seminar, primed to hear the secrets of a pair of legendary professional bass anglers: Dave Rush of Palermo and Sig Taylor of Clear Lake, with local guru Don Reighley acting as MC.

Both pros have won in excess of 10 boats in competition, along with numerous titles. Taylor holds the distinction of having caught the heaviest three-day tournament total in FLW Tour history.

Rush started the session out by talking about his three favorite presentations for Lake Oroville and other spotted bass-dominated lakes; Dartheading, Senkos, and Dropshotting. For the first two approaches, Rush generally chooses a spinning outfit filled with 6-pound test fluorocarbon line; the line chosen for its sensitivity, sink rate, lack of stretch, and lower visibility. Rods are usually 7 feet in length, with power ratings from 1 or 2.

His favorite plastics for dartheading are zipper grubs, tubes, and curl-tail grubs. Favored colors are usually earth tones, shad imitators, and crawdad imitators. In water colder than 50 degrees, go with a rounded [pea] head. In water warmer than 50 degrees, choose the more bullet-shaped darthead.

For Senkos, Rush goes with Texas-rigging only in heavy-cover situations. Otherwise he favors using a Senko tool to attach a rubber band around the lure's body. From there he usually wacky-rigs it with a size 1 or 1/0 dropshot hook. Adding a bit of chartreuse to the lure's tail can help trigger reluctant spotted bass, and presentations should be extremely slow during cold water periods.

For dropshotting, Rush likes to go with a baitcasting reel, although still filled with 6-pound test fluorocarbon line. Most often choosing a size 1 or 2 hook, he also prefers 6-inch worms. Generally the worms will be wacky-rigged, which Rush feels improves the action and decreases line twist.

Sig Taylor is more of a largemouth bass specialist, and of course Clear Lake is loaded with them. Taylor believes that the more casts he makes with anything, the better his chances become to catch a fish. Reaction baits like jerkbaits, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits are his favorites.

He feels the new "Alabama rig" with its three to six lures attached lures [*legally only three can have hooks] is better for largemouth bass than spotted bass. He also feels that the fish may not necessarily be eating it, but their instinct tells them to kill it even if they are not hungry.

When tournament fishing, be aware of what's going on. If smaller fish are breaking on top, the larger fish will be down below them. If fishing as an amateur or back-seater, he advises to use smaller baits than the pros are going with. Use the dropshot rig frequently, particularly with a four-inch curly tail worm and a light sinker.

The Paradise Bass Club meets the first Monday of every month at Round Table Pizza, and conducts club tournaments on the first Saturday of every month. Call 895-1719 for membership information. [Continued in online version of E-R]