Category Archives: Bass Fishing

Bass Fishing Information

Keys To Catching Georgia Bass E Book Series

The Ebooks below are each about one lake in Georgia. Each one contains twelve chapters, one for each month of the year. For each month there will be a map of the lake with ten bass fishing spots on it, GPS coordinates for each and a description of how to fish it and what to use.

There is also an introductory section with a little information about the fisherman that gave the ten spots and how to fish them. The fishermen include area guides, professional bass fishermen from the area and local fishermen that fish the lake often. Their tips on lures and fishing methods will help you catch bass any month of the year.

You can read the books on your computer, ebook reader and smart phone. You can also print out the whole book or a chapter to take with you on a fishing trip – click the link below the list for instructions.

Book 1 – Clark’s Hill Lake – ISBN# 978-1-940263-00-7

Book 2 – Lake Lanier

Book 3 – West Point Lake

Book 4 –

July Night Tournament At Lake Sinclair

On Sunday eight members of the Flint River Bass Club showed up at Lake Sinclair at 4:00 AM for our July tournament. We fished until noon, trying to get off the lake before it got too hot and the crowds arrived. After weigh-in we spent some time cleaning up the ramp area.

After eight hours of fishing, some in the dark and some in the light, we weighed in 22 keeper bass weighing about 39 pounds. Some were caught on lighted boat docks before sunrise and others hit around docks after the sun got up. It rained on use a little just before daylight and the clouds helped keep us from getting too hot.

Donnie Schafer had five bass weighing 8.99 pounda for first. He said he got one on a top water bait and the others hit a jig head worm around docks. Bobby Ferris had a limit of five bass weighing 7.45 pounds for second and said he caught a lot of bass around docks on crank baits before daylight. I managed to catch two bass weighing 7.44 pounds for third, and my 5.13 pound bass was good for big fish. Tom Tanner placed fourth with four bass weighing 6.04 pounds.

Jordan McDonald fished with me and we started around the steam plant. I was throwing a spinner bait and he was casting a worm as we worked around the lighted bank, fishing grass and rocks. He missed a strike on the worm then I felt one hit my spinner bait and missed it. A few seconds later Jordan landed a keeper near where I had missed the bite.

We then ran up to some lighted docks a local fisherman had told me were good and started fishing them. The first one we worked neither of us got a bite on worms or a jig and pig. Then I cast a crank bait under the light and hook, and then lost, a small bass.

We fished that area for a short time and started to leave but it started raining. I did not want to run around in the dark and the rain so we kept fishing, and I am very glad we did. After working back to the first dock we fished I threw a jig and pig under the light and got a hit. When I set the hook I started yelling for the net – I could tell it was a good fish. When it jumped I knew it was a big one.

Jordan almost fell out of the boat getting the net in the dark. We could see a little from the dock light but when the fish got near the boat we could not see it. I turned on my cap light and it gave us enough light to see the fish and Jordan netted it for me.

A few minutes later, just as it started getting light, Jordan got keepers on back to back casts under the same light. Then we fished places where I thought bass should be holding for four hours without catching another fish.

At about 10:00 AM I threw a jig head worm to a seawall and caught my second bass. Although we tried hard until quitting time neither of us managed to catch another keeper bass.

After weigh-in we were pleasantly surprised to find the ramp had little trash around it. We expected there to be lots of litter since it was a holiday weekend but we quickly picked up all the trash in the parking lot, ramp area and grass around it.

How Can I Catch Post Spawn Smallmouth?

Y ou can catch big post spawn smallmouh on top

Pop post-spawn bronzebacks on top

By Dan Johnson
from The Fishing Wire

Bedfishing smallmouths is a blast, but for the adrenaline junky in all of us, nothing beats the rush of busting beefy bronzebacks on topwater poppers. This big-fish, post-spawn pattern is guaranteed to make your heart skip a few beats, and it’s happening now on lakes, rivers and reservoirs across the Bronze Belt.

Minnesota bassin’ ace Scott Bonnema knows the drill. Decades of chasing smallies across the continent have taught him the finer points of the popping program, including key locations, killer baits and winning presentations.

“It’s a classic situation,” says Bonnema, whose tournament travels crisscross the northern half of smallmouth territory each season. “After smallmouths leave the beds, you can catch numbers of smaller fish near the bank, in depths of 3 to 8 feet, on a variety of presentations.”

Windmilling 2-pounders is fun, but bigger bites await a bit deeper. “Groups of larger fish stage in the 10- to 14-foot zone,” he explains. “They feed aggressively, and when the surface is calm, topwater poppers are a fun and effective way to target them.”

To tap the bite, Bonnema looks for structural complexes rich in rock and gravel, lying just outside the spawning grounds. “I look for humps, points and islands connected to shore, up to ¼ mile out,” he says.

A good sonar and GPS combo is key to finding prime post-spawn structure, and for pinpointing sweet spots such as fish-holding irregularities. While traditional down-looking sonar aids the search, Bonnema believes new side-scanning options really lift the curtain on what lies beneath the waves.

“I use Humminbird’s Side Imaging, and have found it a priceless tool for surveying structure and mapping out plans of attack,” he says. “I can scrutinize rock formations in incredible detail, and create tracks following the outline of the structure. One of my favorite features, though, is the ability to locate and create waypoints for boulders that stand out from the rocks around them.”

He explains that rocks ranging from football-size up to Volkswagen proportions all attract bass, but individual rocks that are larger than the prevailing rubble can be dynamite. “Picture a suitcase-size boulder surrounded by footballs,” he says. “Even though smallmouths may be roaming an entire reef, they’re instinctively drawn to the larger object, and often use it as an ambush point.”

When his side-scanning sonar reveals one of these super-sized treasures, Bonnema simply slides the display’s cursor over it and marks a waypoint for future exploitation.

While it’s a time-consuming process, thorough recon can pay big dividends for years to come. “The rocks aren’t going anywhere, which means prime areas can produce smallmouths season after season,” he says.

To keep structure straight for the long haul, he recommends marking it with appropriate icons. “Use a fish, skull and crossbones, whatever helps you remember something about the spot. I mark really good areas with the first-aid icon, because I know I can go there and get healthy in a hurry.”

GPS breadcrumbs guide his final approach and boat positioning. “Using the directional arrow on my GPS, I can idle within casting range of a key boulder or group of rocks, without ever running over the fish,” he says.

Taking the process a step further, he notes that Minn Kota’s new i-Pilot Link system-available on the Terrova or PowerDrive V2-makes the trolling motor, Humminbird sonar and LakeMaster digital GPS map collaborate to steer whatever course you desire. “Being able to focus on fishing while your electronics handle the boat is amazing,” he says.

No matter how you chart your course, stealth is important to avoid spooking skittish smallies. “Keep your distance and fire long casts,” he cautions.

Gear-wise, Bonnema wields a 7-foot, medium-power Lew’s Tournament Speed Stick, paired with a matching Speed Spool low-profile casting reel. Monofilament line gets the nod, thanks to its buoyancy. “Fluorocarbon sinks, dragging the popper down and ruining the action,” he explains. “I like 12-pound Sufix ProMix, but Siege and Elite are top options, too.”

On the business end of the line, a loop knot tethers his topwater. “With a loop, the lure moves freely, and spins a little when you pop it, creating just the right splash,” he says. “You lose that with a tightly cinched connection.”

There are poppers aplenty, but Bonnema favors baits that produce an enticing combination of gurgle and spray, like the 2¾-inch Rapala X-Rap Pop or 3½-inch Skitter Pop, in shades of silver, gold and chrome. “Natural finishes work wonders, but sometimes the bass want something a little different,” he says. “When that happens, the X-Rap clown pattern is a good bet.”

The presentation is straightforward-though not without its tricks. For example, pops and pauses beat continuous popping. To pop like a pro, make a long cast over the target area. Let the bait sit until the ripples fade away, then give it a couple quick 6-inch pops, imparted by sharp, sideways twitches of the rodtip. Pause again for five to 10 seconds, add another pop or two, and repeat.

Ultimately, the ideal number of pops and duration of pauses depends on the whims of the bass at the moment. “Experiment to find the right cadence,” Bonnema advises. “Keep in mind that when it comes to pauses, patience equals bigger fish.”

When you get it right, explosive strikes are the reward. Which brings up another pivotal point in the process-setting the hook.

“Strikes are startling, and your first reaction is to rear back and set the hook,” he begins. “But that’s a good way to lose the fish. Instead, when a bass blows up on your popper, lower your rodtip toward the fish, reel as quickly as you can to take up slack, and don’t set the hook until you feel the weight of the fish.”

If a bass misses the popper, it’s likely trying to tell you something’s not quite right with your presentation. “There was something it didn’t like,” Bonnema explains. “Make slight adjustments with lure color and size until the bass get your bait in their mouths.”

If you can’t seal the deal despite such tweaks, it’s possible the bass just aren’t in the mood for dinner on the ceiling. “Think positive-at least you know they’re down there,” Bonnema offers. “Throwing something different, like an X-Rap XR10 jerkbait, can light them on fire.” The twitch-pause of a slender, suspending slashbait is also deadly on post-spawn smallies, but that’s a story for another summer day.”

March Bass Fishing On Alabama’s Lay and Aliceville Lakes

Lay Lake Spotted Bass

I love writing magazine articles about fishing – at least the research part of it. I always learn new things about lakes I have fished for years when I get a chance to go with other fishermen on Georgia lakes for articles for Georgia Outdoor News and Georgia Sportsman Magazine. Even more fun the past two years has been fishing Alabama lakes I have never seen for Alabama Outdoor News.

Alabama has an amazing variety and number of lakes. Last year on a Saturday I drove to Tuscaloosa and met Steven Fikes to fish Aliceville, a fairly small lake on the Tombigbee River right on the Mississippi line. It is mostly river with a lock and dam that flooded huge areas of swamp sloughs and flats.

I was surprised the water temperature was 58 and the bass were already moving in to spawning areas. Although the river was as high as Steven had ever seen it, from the torrential rains on Friday, we still found clear water in some of the backouts. We managed to catch 14 or 15 bass on spinner baits and rattle baits around grass beds. The biggest two were right at three pounds each.

The next week in March last year, I went over on Thursday and drove back to Lay Lake just south of Birmingham and met Brandon Ligon for another article. Lay is more similar to lakes here, with points, coves and big water. But unlike lakes here grassbeds are everywhere in the shallows. And the spotted bass that abound in the lake get big. Lay Lake is on the Coosa River and Coosa River Spots are known for being big and strong.

The second place Brandon and I stopped he quickly caught a three pound plus spot. I had been sitting in the bottom of the boat taking notes but that fish made me get up and start casting. I immediately hooked a strong fish that took off toward deep water. It pulled so hard I was sure it was a striper or hybrid but I never found out, it pulled off.

The next cast I made I hooked another fish that almost ripped the rod out of my hand. It made a run that made my line sing in the water. After a long hard fight I landed a spot just over three pounds. Brandon caught another spot close to four pounds and a largemouth before they stopped feeding. Those four bass weighed over 12 pounds total.

We fished the rest of the day and I landed one more big spot and Brandon got three more. The smallest bass we caught all day was the 2.5 pound largemouth. All the others weighted between three and four pounds. Brandon said it was not unusual to see a five bass limit of spots in a tournament weighing 20 pounds. Those are quality bass.

The water temperature at Lay was more like here, with most areas around 50 degrees. Of course there was still snow and ice in shady areas around the lake and one creek we went in had 44 degree water near the back. I am sure if the snow had not hit and the water had been warmer we would have caught more fish.

Georgia lakes are great but there is something special about the river lakes in Alabama.

What Is A Jig Head or Shaky Head Worm?

Jig Head Worms: The Appetizer Bass Can’t Pass Up

Jig head worms have been around for many years but have gotten very popular the past few years, for a very good reason. They catch bass, especially in the fall.

If you asked a bass fisherman about “shaky head worms” a few years ago, your only response was likely to be a shake of the head saying no. Today you would have a hard time finding a bass boat on the water without a shaky head rig in it. It is one of the most popular ways to catch bass right now.

Shaky head worm rigs have many different names but the most descriptive is “jig head worm” since that is the basic rig. Fishermen have used worms and other trailers on jigs almost as long as there have been fishermen. But this system got real popular a few years ago with the introduction of jigs with big hooks, made especially for bass. It seems to catch bass when nothing else will work.

A jig head worm is simply a ball jig head with a plastic trailer on it. Most tackle companies make them now under a wide variety of names. They come in all kinds of shapes and colors and some have special ways of attaching the worm. Light wire hooks from 1/0 to 4/0 are common.

On a basic jig you thread a worm on the hook Texas style, with a quarter inch of the head of the worm against the jig and the hook inserted back into the worm to make it weedless. Some jigs come with a spike or small spring behind the eye of the hook. On them you put the head of the worm on the spike or spring then stick the hook into the worm body. This setup keeps the worm from balling up on the hook when you set the hook.

The reason a jig head worm is so good is it makes the worm stand up. Unlike a standard Texas rig, the tail of the worm sticks straight up from the bottom, looking like a baitfish or other bass meal feeding along with its head down.

Watch a jig head in clear water and you will see the trailer stand up when the head hits the bottom. It will fall over but falls much slower than a Texas rig. Some jig heads have a flat surface to make them stand up better, and some are a mushroom or football shape that is supposed to make them stand up when pulled.

A finesse type straight-tail four inch worm is the most common trailer to use and fishermen have their favorite colors. But other trailers work great, too. A bigger worm like a six inch straight tail worm sometimes draws more strikes. And don’t hesitate to put a big worm, up to 10 or 12 inches long, on a jig head that has a hook big enough to handle it.

Creature baits like the Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver or the Berkley Little Chigger Craw that imitate crawfish are especially good in the fall. Bass are feeding up for the winter and crawfish are one of their favorite foods. The jig head makes the crawfish imitation stand up and be more visible to the fish.

When jig head worms first became popular most fishermen cast them on a spinning rod and light line. They were a finesse way of fishing with one-eight ounce heads, a four inch worm and eight pound test line the standard. And that still works. But don’t hesitate to tie a jig head worm on a bait casting outfit spooled with 12 to 15 pound line. And use bigger three-sixteenths to one quarter ounce heads with bigger, heavier hooks.

Fluorocarbon line is the standard for jig head worms since bass usually have a long time to inspect the bait. And this bait works best in clear water, so the invisible line helps you get more strikes. Some fishermen use braid line but tie a two to three foot fluorocarbon leader to it. If you go that route it is best to use a swivel to attach the two lines since braid will cut fluorocarbon.

Trailer colors are your choice. It is hard to beat a standard black worm in any color water but darker colors tend to be better in stained water. Try clear colors like watermelon in clear water. And dipping the tail of the worm in a chartreuse dye like JJs Magic will add a flicker of color bass like.

For craw trailers dark colors work well in stained water but try to match the color of local crawfish. You can find them at night in the shallows. Their eyes look ruby red when hit by a flashlight beam. Some lakes have very dark, almost black crawfish. Other lakes have populations with brown to almost red coloration. Match your bait to the color of the food the bass are eating when possible.

Jig heads shine on hard bottoms from clay and gravel to hard mud, so these kinds of points and banks are some of the best places to fish them. Since crayfish live in clay and hard mud bottoms and around rocks where they make their burrows, working a jig head with a crawfish imitation where they live is deadly in the fall.

Let your bait hit bottom and sit for a few seconds, then slide it along like a crayfish crawling along. Suddenly hop it like a startled crayfish swimming off. When it falls back it will stand up with claws raised and waving, just like the real thing. Bass will eat it up.

Also try a worm trailer on these hard bottoms but fish it a little differently. The name “shaky head” comes from one of the most popular ways to fish a jig head worm. Let it hit the bottom and sit for several seconds. Then tighten up your line and shake the rod tip, making the bait dance in place.

You don’t want the bait to move across the bottom, you want it to stay put and vibrate and shake. This is especially effective in clear water where a bass might sit and look at a bait a long time before hitting it. Give the fish a reason to eat the bait by shaking it in one place.

Jig heads don’t come through chunk rocks very well but are great around them. When fishing rocks like riprap use a very light head, as light as you can throw on your outfit and fish effectively in any wind that is blowing. Crawl and hop it over the rocks. The light head is less likely to get hung but expect to lose jigs when fishing rocks.

Round jig heads come through wood better than some other shapes. When working blowdowns or brush piles use a light head and fish slowly. If the jig gets hung up try popping your line. Put some slack in your line, pull it to the side with your hand while tightening up with your rod tip, then let the line pop free of your hand. For some reason this often frees a jig head that is hung up in brush.

Bass hang out in brush and other wood cover so you need to fish it. Fish very slowly with your jig head. Let it fall to the bottom by the brush and sit, making it work most effectively by keeping the trailer up and off the bottom. Fish the outside edges first with your jig head; you are less likely to get hung up.

When a bass takes a jig head worm you will sometimes feel a “thump” as it sucks the bait in, but often you won’t feel a hit. Watch your line for any slight twitch of sideways movement. Raise your rod tip carefully and tighten your line before hopping the bait. If you feel any weight, set the hook. Or, if you don’t feel anything, if your line is slack, reel up some of the slack and set the hook. A bass is probably swimming toward you with the bait. It doesn’t cost anything to set the hook so if in doubt set it.

Driving a nail into a board is much easier if you tap it with a hammer rather than trying to push it in. Sticking a hook in a bass’s mouth is the same way. Try to pop the hook rather than making a sweeping hook set. Most jig heads come with light wire hooks so they penetrate the bass’s mouth better and you don’t need to rock the boat when setting the hook.

When using heavier line don’t set the hook too hard and be careful fighting the fish. The light wire hooks can straighten out. Set your drag a little lighter than normal so it slips a little on the hookset. That will lessen the likelihood of a bent hook and also keep you from breaking the lighter line when you set the hook hard.

Give a jig head worm a try. Call it anything you like but keep one in the water and you will catch bass when other baits fail.

Hot Summer Fishing On Lake Sinclair

Lake Sinclair bass caught on a jig head worm

When does it get too hot to go fishing? For me, last Thursday at noon! I had met Mike Reid at Lake Sinclair to get information for a Georgia Outdoor News article and it was pretty comfortable when we started at 5:30 AM. But by 9:00 the sun was getting hot and the bass were smarter than us – they had quit biting. We gave up and put his boat on the trailer just after noon.

It was still dark when we started so we hit some lighted boat docks. Mike quickly caught a nice two pound bass on a top water plug. As the sky started to lighten up we moved to some grass beds and caught several fish on top. Mike had seven or eight to my two but one of mine was by far the biggest, at 2.5 pounds. Most were just keeper size.

We fished some more grass beds and caught several more fish. I had another 2.5 pounder on a jig head worm and Mike caught a couple in that range on top. We both got several smaller keeper bass. Sinclair seems to be full of 12 and 13 inch bass.

At about 9:00 we moved out to the riprap on a bridge and both got two more keepers. Then we started running spots, marking them on a map for the GON article. On one Mike got the big fish of the day, a skinny 3.5 pound largemouth.

Mike is in the Air Force and is a very accomplished fisherman for his youth. He is just 24 but he won the Bassmasters Weekend Series tournament on Sincair this year and won one of those tournaments on Clark’s Hill last year. His job working on severely damaged aircraft keeps him on the move and he is out of the US a lot, so he does not get to fish as many tournaments as he would like.

Although the hot sun ran us off the lake early our best five bass weighed just under 12 pounds. If there had been any breeze to cool us we might have stayed longer, but with no air moving it was miserable.

Bass will hit in the heat and fishing early and late in the day is a good tactic for bass right now. Night fishing will get better over the next few weeks as it gets hotter, too. It will be much more comfortable fishing in the dark.

How Can Research and Planning Help Me Catch Bass?

Chris Zaldain likes a swimbait

Research, Pre-Planning Help This Pro Find Bass

For second-year Bassmaster® Elite tournament angler Chris Zaldain, finding bass on lakes he’s never fished before involves a lot more than casting his favorite lure and hoping it lands in front of a hungry fish. The Yamaha Pro actually starts “fishing” a new tournament lake with hours of Internet research and map study weeks before he ever arrives at the water’s edge.

In the process, Zaldain, 28, formulates not only a Plan A on how he intends to fish during the competition, but also a backup Plan B, and sometimes even a Plan C. It’s a system that works, too; the California native has notched two top 10 finishes and collected a check in five of the first six Elite events of the 2013 season.

“The prior planning is definitely a major part of my preparation, and it’s been part of my bass fishing for years, but I’ll be the first to admit I still sometimes feel intimidated when I first look at some of the lakes we fish and see how big they are,” laughs Zaldain. “In California, most of our lakes are much, much smaller than what we fish in the Elite Series, so I make myself do more research than I’ve ever done before.”

Among the types of information the Yamaha Pro looks for are the results from past tournaments. The weight and size of the fish from those tournaments helps him determine seasonal patterns, as well as learn what to expect during his own tournament. Low weights, for instance, often indicate potentially tough fishing conditions, which in turn help him make certain lure choices.

“From the basic seasonal pattern, I study a lake map and try to pick one particular area of the lake where I’ll concentrate,” continues Zaldain. “I choose an area that embraces maybe 25 miles of the lake, and I want it to have as many different structure and cover options for the bass as possible. I want it to have rocks, wood, weeds, boat docks, points, coves, channels, and dropoffs, for example.

“The more options this area has, the more likely I will find them in that area and not have to run up and down the lake looking for them. I will spend my three official tournament practice days learning as much about that single area as possible.”

Zaldain’s Plan A evolves out of this practice; his Plan B is usually totally different and often based on a possible weather change that may occur during the tournament. This is exactly what happened to the Yamaha Pro during the May Elite tournament on Georgia’s West Point Lake.

“I’d never been on West Point before, but from my research as well as from my practice, I thought a swim bait would work well there, and it did the first day,” explains Zaldain, “but heavy rain and high wind the next day killed that bite.

Several times during practice, however, I had seen a lot of fish following my swim bait, and I thought I could also catch them with an extremely slow presentation with a plastic worm and light line.

“That became my Plan B, and while it was completely different from my original fishing plan, it worked and I was able to finish sixth. I always try to anticipate a change in bass behavior during a tournament week, and changing lures, often to a worm or jig, is usually part of that alternate plan.”

Zaldain likes to begin his practice fishing with a soft plastic swim bait, which he prefers over a spinnerbait as a search bait. The lure has its strongest action with a fast retrieve that allows him to cover a lot of water quickly. He believes it also offers another advantage in that few tournament pros use swim baits to help them locate bass so the fish don’t see many of them.

“Swim baits are part of my confidence package,” smiles the Yamaha Pro, “so they’re also part of Plan A whenever I can make them fit.”

Fishing Lake Tobesofkee

Have you ever been to Lake Tobesofkee? Less than an hour from Griffin, Georgia, Tobesofkee is a 1750 acre lake owned by Bibb County. It is just west of Macon, about five miles from the I-475 and Georgia Highway 74 interchange, and there is good access although it is expensive to launch a boat.

I was there last week late one afternoon to get information for a Georgia Outdoor News article. I am always amazed at the number and size of bass this small lake can produce. In less than four hours Davey Montford and I landed six bass ranging from one to four pounds. And to make it more exciting, three of them hit topwater baits.

We started fishing at about 5:30 PM and stayed until dark. The fishing often gets even better after dark but we needed to head home. The lake is ringed with very nice houses and many of the docks along its banks have lights that attract baitfish and bass.

The lake is big enough to run a bass boat with no problems. The biggest problem there is the pleasure boat traffic. It is small enough that it is hard to fish during the day on nice weekends. But it shines early in the morning, late in the afternoon and at night.

Davey caught an 8.5 pound bass there last January in a club tournament and has weighed in five bass limits breaking the 20 pound mark several times. He marked ten spots to fish that will be on a map in the magazine in July. Some of them are deeper daytime holes but several are grass beds where we caught the bass on top.

Plan a trip to Tobesofkee one week day afternoon for some fun fishing. And there is an excellent restaurant right on the water if you want to eat dinner. Davey says they have good seafood and I agree!

What Is Figuring Out A Bass Pattern?

You need to pattern bass to have a catch like this in a tournament

Good bass fishermen can pattern bass. That means they can catch a few bass and figure out what the bass are doing at that time on a lake. They can then go catch other bass in similar places with similar baits. For example, if a good bass fisherman catches three bass off blowdown trees on three different points, he will start running from point to point casting only to blowdown trees, using the same bait the first three hit.

Several years ago Fritz, a friend from Des Moines, visited the last week of February for some fishing. We hit Sinclair twice, Jackson once and spent our last day on West Point. A pattern gradually emerged that worked on all four lakes and helped us put bass in the boat.

Fritz goes by the name “Learning To Fish At 40” on my internet site since he took up fishing when he turned 40. I call it his mid life crisis. He is very smart and has read a lot on fishing, and has taught me some things! He looks at fishing in a different way than I do, with a fresh perspective.

We started fishing “places” at Sinclair that February, places I remember catching bass at that time of year. We tried lots of places with a variety of baits including crankbaits, spinner baits, jig and pig and worms.

After about half the first day was gone Fritz said “Do you realize every bass we have caught hit a jig and pig on rocks near deep water. So we started concentrating on those types of places using a jig and pig and caught a good many bass the rest of that day and the next day on Sinclair. We tried some other stuff, like fishing into the coves behind the points, but the bass just were not there.

It had been unusually warm and by Monday it was almost like spring. We went to Jackson and started on the same pattern from the day before, and caught fish. Buy that afternoon we saw the water had warmed so we started fishing into the pockets behind the points, too, and catching a few bass off wood cover. That had not worked the day before or that morning.

We had a good day at Jackson and decided to go to West Point the next day. A hard cold front came through and temperatures were dropping fast. But the pattern held, and we hooked some nice bass on rocky points and the wood cover behind them. We ended the day with me catching a 7.5 pound largemouth on a jig and pig out of a blowdown and Fritz catching a four pound bass, his best to that point, out of another blowdown.

Last Saturday night at Jackson Niles Murray and I fished the Sportsman Club tournament. We started on my favorite point near the dam but all we got was a spot that was too short to keep. At about 6:45 we ran up to the mouth of Tussahaw Creek where Niles has caught some fish the weekend before and started working the area.

At 7:20 I landed a good two pound keeper spot on a main lake point with some rocks on it. It his a jig head worm. Niles caught a short bass and some bluegill on his crankbait. About an hour later we had worked up the bank to another point with some rocks on it and I got another keeper spot, then Niles got one on his crankbait.

It was almost dark so we kept fishing up the bank, fishing around the coves and working all the cover we came to. At about 9:10 we had worked out onto another main lake point with rocks and, guess what. I got another keeper spot! At that point we decided to concentrate on that pattern but did not catch any more fish.

I wish I had caught on to that pattern quicker. We wasted a lot of time fishing in coves and other places where there were no bass. If we had started jumping from point to point earlier I think we could have caught more fish. By full dark the fish had stopped hitting on points, it seems.

The bass may have started hitting on that pattern again later in the night but we stopped at 12:30 AM. I have seen this type pattern in the past, where bass hit pretty good from 6:00 PM until about 9:00 PM then a lull with no bites until after midnight. It seems to me the fish need to adjust to full dark before they start hitting again.

In the tournament 15 members and guests fished for seven hours to land 17 bass weighing about 24 pounds. It was a very tough night and no limits were caught. Six people did not have a keeper bass.

Tom Tanner won it all with two bass weighing 4.66 pounds and his 3.14 pound spot was big fish in the tournament. My three weighed 4.36 and gave me second place, third went to David Fryer with three keepers weighing 3.70 pounds and Brent Terry got one keeper weighing 2.64 pounds for fourth place.

A word or warning. If you go to Jackson late in the afternoon, use some good sense and stop skiing and tubing when the sun sets. And turn on your running lights. It is dangerous and illegal to be out there after sunset without your lights on. Last Saturday official sunset was at 8:14 PM and it gets earlier each day, and the game wardens know the exact minute each day. We saw several boats get tickets and they even warned us because we had covered the back running light with a cap to keep it from blinding us while fishing. You could still see it but it was not bright enough and the game wardens stopped and “talked” to us.

Follow the law or take a chance of getting a ticket.

Finesse Fishing for Summer Smalmouth

Jeff Kreit with a smallmouth caught finesse fishing

Finesse Tactics Often Best for Summer Smallmouths

Yamaha Pro Jeff Kriet shows a nice smallmouth that grabbed a drop-shot rig on South Dakota’s Lake Oahe. The finesse approach is just the ticket for clear water smallmouths.

On a recent trip to South Dakota’s Lake Oahe, often described as one of the nation’s premier smallmouth bass fisheries, Yamaha Pro Jeff Kriet left most of his fishing tackle in his truck. He didn’t forget it; he knew he wouldn’t need anything except two spinning rods and a box full of small soft plastic lures. By day’s end, he’d caught and released more than 30 smallmouths.

“For me, summertime smallmouth fishing in clear water means using finesse tactics, not heavy tackle,” explains Kriet, a veteran Bassmaster® Elite angler known for his expertise with light lines and small lures. “Once the water begins warming, the fish normally move a little deeper and for some reason also become a little more choosy about the lures they’ll hit.

“My own favorite presentation is a drop shot, in which the lure is located about a foot above the sinker, because it allows me to keep that lure in the strike zone as long as I want to, and it looks completely natural in the water.”

Among tournament pros like Kriet, the drop shot has become an extremely popular bass fishing technique because it also works in both shallow and deep water and brings strikes when other presentations fail. Kriet, in fact, admits he always has a drop shot outfit on his boat deck wherever he’s competing.

Slow is the way to go

Kriet says that a slow retrieve with gentle movements usually works better for smallmouths in clear water.

“I start with six pound test fluorocarbon line on a medium action spinning reel,” explains the Yamaha Pro, “and generally tie either a 3/8 or 1/4 ounce sinker at the end of my line. Then, about 12 inches above the sinker, I tie a small No. 1 hook and thread on either a thin four inch plastic worm or some other lure that looks like a small shad.

“After I make a cast, I let the sinker reach bottom and then slowly drag it along until I reach some type of cover, like rocks, or logs. Then I just let it sit there and barely shake my rod to make the lure move. I really think the key to drop shotting is not over-working the lure with a lot of hops and jumps. The lure is not intrusive and the bass aren’t frightened by it the way they may be by larger, noisier lures.”

At times, summer smallmouth may also be suspended, and when Kriet sees them this way on his depthfinder, he usually fishes the drop shot vertically by simply dropping the lure straight down to them. Frequently, smallmouth either hit the lure as it falls, or they follow it to the bottom and then strike.

“One of the common misconceptions about a drop shot is that it is strictly a deep water technique,” Kriet continues, “but I frequently fish a drop shot in water less than five feet deep, and I know some pros who tie their hooks just three or four inches above the sinker and fish in water only a foot deep. Even rigging this way keeps the lure above the bottom, which allows bass to see it clearly.”

The drop shot rig uses a weight of 3/8 to 1/4 ounce about 12 inches below a number 1 hook, rigged with a 4-inch plastic worm or small plastic shad.

Another misconception about drop shotting, he adds, is that constantly shaking the lure will make it appear more natural to smallmouth, but in reality, just the opposite is true. In most instances, just barely moving the lure is more effective.

“I always shake my rod with a slack line so the sinker stays in place on the bottom and only the lure moves,” concludes the Yamaha Pro, “and I just barely twitch the rod instead of really shaking it like I sometimes do with a larger jig. The lure is going to be moving even when I’m not shaking the rod, due to water currents, and that’s the way a real minnow or shad behaves.

“When you fish a drop shot this way, just dragging the sinker slowly along the bottom and barely shaking your rod tip, it really becomes an easy way to fish for summer smallmouth, and best of all, it’s also one of the most effective ways to fish that I know.

“That’s why, when I see clear water in the summer, I know I can leave the rest of my tackle in the truck.”

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