The valley fog was just starting to burn off as I eased the boat along a soft current pocket located along an Allegheny River gravel island. The quiet of the chilly morning was soon interrupted.

“That didn’t take long,” exclaimed John Galida, who was fishing from the back deck of the boat. “Moments later, I scooped up a fat 19-inch walleye, a fish that hit on John’s second cast of the day. Galida followed up within the next few minutes with two nice smallmouth bass.

Having seen enough, John’s fishing partner Jerry Swidinski made a slight change in bait color and soon joined in on the action, quickly pulling even with his buddy’s production. By the time early afternoon arrived, and we wrapped things up, the two skilled anglers had boated around 35 smallmouth bass up to 17 inches and two eating-size walleyes.

It was no surprise that all the fish came on John’s signature bait, the Galida’s Grubz, a three-inch grub sporting a wafer-thin sickle tail and a deeply ribbed body.

The names Galida and Swidinski are familiar ones on the local fishing scene. Both are accomplished tournament bass anglers. Galida once owned a popular Butler County sporting goods store, one where the Galida’s Grubz was first marketed, a bait he continues to produce.

Swidinski’s knowledge of local lakes, Conneaut Lake especially, is well respected. He once held the state record white bass from that water.

A few years back, I spent some time on Conneaut with Jerry and marveled at his ability to locate deep water, hard-bottomed humps without the aid of a GPS unit, relying on experience, memory and, I suspect, some shoreline landmarks. Old school.

During that outing, Swidinski pulled a 20-inch class smallmouth off one of those small humps, on a Grubz, smoke in color, if I recall correctly.

I’m blessed to fish around 150 days of the year, mostly guiding folks on the Allegheny and a handful of local lakes. I get to observe anglers of all skill levels.

It’s not an uncommon scenario for one angler to be having a markedly higher level of success than his or her partner, even when fishing the same bait or lure.

Terms like “operator error,” or “it’s not the fish, it’s the fisherman” are often tossed around good-naturedly, aimed at the one not getting bit.

Watching Galida and Swidinski during our recent trip reinforced an opposing notion, that in the hands of skilled anglers the bait or lure need not be the latest, greatest thing to hit the market.

Also, that often you get out of it what you put into it. They were in tune with what the bait was doing as they hopped it lightly along the bottom. No zombie fishing here. Much concentration. Not a lot of idle chit chat.

Even after decades of fishing, they were serious. Not a good day to be a river smallmouth bass or walleye, at least not one within casting distance of these guys.

Twister tail-type grubs have been on the market for many years. The profile was one of the first of the soft plastics to hit the angling scene, along with plastic worms. Such longevity is a testament to the productivity of this shape.

In addition to Galida’s Grubz, over the course of many years I’ve enjoyed great success with Berkley Power Grubs and Kalin Grubs.

During our outing, John and Jerry fished Grubz on light jigheads. Most of their fish came off the bottom, working it along with a lift-drop jigging retrieve. But the bait also works well as a swimbait, up off the bottom with a steady retrieve, incorporating an occasional pause to trigger any following fish.

Twister tail grubs also make great dressings for spinnerbaits and underspin jigs.

For more information visit www.galidasgrubz.com.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle