For years it's been said that spring bass strike lizards because they're on the nest eating eggs. That's one of the reasons they hit this lure, especially around the spawning season. But I also think lizards are a very good food item for bass. Of course, we're talking about a salamander, a water-living creature that's similar to a lizard. And salamanders certainly are egg predators during the spawning season.

When you're fishing a lizard around a spawning area, the strike usually is vicious. It's one of the baits we

I fish it two ways: Texas-rigged with the hook buried back in the plastic to keep it weedless, with a rattling brass sinker called a Thunder Bullet. I basically use this rig in the spawning season when I'm fishing shallow cover. Anytime you're Texas-rigging a plastic bait, it's best suited for fishing heavier cover because it's so weedless. Fish it around an area where you suspect fish might be bedding. The fish I'm after with the Texas rig are the ones spawning and feeding in the shallow cover.

The other way I fish a lizard is on a Carolina rig. That rig employs a 2- or 3-foot leader. The one I've been using is Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon because of its low visibility. Your leader is tied to a swivel, which is preceded by a bead and a sinker. I usually use 20-pound Trilene XT for the main line, and a 12- to 17-pound-test Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon leader.

The Carolina rig is particularly useful in areas that are not heavily covered. I use a Carolina-rig lizard on the secondary points -- not in the spawning areas themselves, but where the fish might stack up around the spawning areas.

To Carolina rig, you're basically trying to make the lure swim slowly along the bottom. The advantage of this rig is that the sinker absolutely does make contact with the bottom. The most common terminology for Carolina rigging is "dragging," because basically what you're doing is dragging the sinker along the bottom. The lizard just basically follows along behind it.

I usually drag the sinker with my rod, then take up the slack, drag, then take up the slack. I'm not really trying to hop it so much; you have better sensitivity when you're not pulling the lure and winding at the same time. I pull it and stop; pull it and stop.

I use a Berkley Lightning Rod, the series that has my signature on it, the 701 medium-heavy fast-action graphite model. I mate that with a Tournament Pro 3000 Abu Garcia reel.

The lizard I use the most is a 6-inch Berkley Power LIzard, watermelon with red flake. It looks natural, yet it has good visibility with the flake. Lots of times, I'll dye the tail chartreuse.

Ken Cook, of Meers, Okla., is a former fisheries biologist and one of the top anglers on the B.A.S.S. tournament trail. He has won the BASS Masters Classic and is well respected for his knowledge of fish and their behavior.