Category Archives: How To Fish

Fishing the Ned Rig

Tips on fishing the Ned Rig
from The Fishing Wire

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the Ned Rig is one of the hottest techniques in bass fishing these days. Just a few years ago though, this ultra-finesse setup was known only in the backyard of its birthplace in the Midwest, and when Z-Man brought the Ned Rig to the bass fishing mainstream six years ago, most serious bass anglers laughed at the idea of using ‘crappie jigs’ to target bass. The technique has now proven its worth, racking up multiple tournament wins and helping cash countless checks, and today, you would be hard-pressed to find a tournament bass angler who didn’t have some variation of the Ned Rig on-hand.

Nonetheless, while many anglers have picked up on the Ned Rig due to its simple ability to produce bites in tough conditions, most are still not maximizing its effectiveness due to a few simple – and easily corrected – misconceptions or errors in tackle selection and technique. Below is a list of missteps we see time and again from our customers that limit their success of this technique.

1. Using Hooks That Are Too Big
Initially, many anglers scoffed at the small, light wire size 1 and 2 hooks on our Finesse ShroomZ jigheads and labeled them ‘crappie jigs’ that weren’t suitable for bass fishing…until they actually tried them. The fact is that you will get more bites and maximize the effectiveness of ElaZtech finesse baits by using a jighead with a small, light wire hook, whether it’s one of our Finesse ShroomZ or a jighead made by another manufacturer.

One of the main reasons why the Ned Rig works so well is because of the buoyancy of our ElaZtech material. At rest, the baits stand up off the bottom and move ever so slightly, even when deadsticked. On the fall, the buoyancy allows for a slower, more horizontal, sometimes spiraling descent.

A larger hook can not only weigh down the bait and cause it not to stand up properly, but it can throw off the balance of the rig and cause it look unnatural in the water.

Moreover, the ElaZtech material is extremely soft and limber, much more so than conventional soft plastic materials. The portion of the bait with the hook running through it is stiffened by the hook shank itself, but the section behind the hook is completely uninhibited and moves freely and naturally. The more material behind the hook, the better action the bait will display in the water.

In fact, Midwest pioneer and Ned Rig namesake Ned Kehde routinely uses tiny size 6 hooks in his fishing. Ned is the most meticulous note-taker and documenter of his fishing efforts, and his logs reveal no problem with hooksets or thrown hooks with these tiny hooks. We selected size 1 and 2 hooks for our Finesse ShroomZ as we felt it was a healthy balance between allowing for plenty of bait action and lift and offering a product that consumers would not be uncomfortable using for bass fishing.

Of course, there are times when a larger or heavier hook is beneficial, like fishing around cover or in heavy current when more pressure is needed to horse in fish. That is precisely why we created the NedlockZ, which features the strongest size 1 and 2 jig hooks known to man, and the Pro ShroomZ, which utilizes a strong size 1/0 custom hook. Day in and day out, the lighter wire hooks of the Finesse ShroomZ get the nod, as they simply provide better bait action and get more bites.

2. Using Tackle That Is Too Heavy
When we say that the Ned Rig is an ‘ultra-finesse’ technique, we mean it! Chances are that many bass fishermen may not even own a rod that is suitable for a Ned Rig. Due to the light weight and diminutive size of a Ned Rig, spinning tackle is a must. Spinning rods designed for shaky head, drop shot, or split shot techniques may be suitable, provided that they have a very light tip to accommodate the small hooks of the Finesse ShroomZ jigheads. Other anglers have employed trout or panfish rods, which probably are a better choice. Several manufacturers, like Lew’s for instance, have designed technique-specific Ned Rig rods to help anglers match the right rod to the rig.

Generally, rods should be light or medium-light power with a fast action and a very soft tip.

While standard 2500 or 3000 size bass reels will work fine, we have found that smaller 1000 size spinning reels usually reserved for trout or panfish are even better, as they are built to handle fine diameter lines. In addition, the smaller spools on 1000 size spinning reels take up less line with each turn of the handle and enable anglers not accustomed to this technique to slow down their presentations.

Though some anglers opt for fluorocarbon line, light braided line of 10 lb. test or less is better as it allows for longer casts with very lightweight jigheads. Tying on a light fluorocarbon leader is always recommended.Just as important as tackle is the drag setting. Due to the small hooks on the jigheads that work best for this technique as well as the light wire they are deliberately built from, much lighter drag settings than bass fishermen are accustomed to are required.

One common complaint we get about our Finesse ShroomZ jigheads is that the hooks bend out on big fish; however, the bottom line is that if you are straightening hooks, then your tackle is too heavy or your drag is not set light enough.

Many bass over 10 lbs., pike over 20 lbs., and redfish over 30 inches have been caught using these jigheads with appropriate tackle, so they’re plenty strong to catch big fish.3. Using Too Heavy a JigheadWhen we get asked which weight jighead to use for the Ned Rig, we always tell people to use the lightest jighead possible. Fish routinely hit the Ned Rig on the fall, and if you’re using too heavy a jighead, the bait will plummet past the fish straight to the bottom. A lighter head will simply keep the bait in the strike zone for longer and will allow for that tantalizing, slow descent that makes the Ned Rig so effective. A lighter head also hangs up less on rocks and helps keep the bait out of grass or algae that lines the bottom of many lakes.

There are certainly occasions where a heavier 1/6 or 1/5 oz. head is necessary, like in depths of greater than 20 feet or in significant current. Day in and day out, a lighter head will simply produce more bites. For general shallow water lake or pond fishing in depths of 10 feet or less, the 1/10, 1/15, and 1/20 oz. jigheads should be your mainstay.

4. Throwing Away a Bait After a Few Fish
We can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen a novice Ned Rigger toss an ElaZtech bait after catching a few fish on it. This may seem counterintuitive, but ElaZtech finesse baits actually get better with age! After being chewed on by a few fish, the flexible material starts to exude salt and takes on a softer, spongier feel with a slimy coating that is irresistible to fish. Small rips or tears from teeth limber the bait up even more.

Many diehard Ned Riggers go as far as to gluing worn baits onto their jigheads or even tying them together with thread. Others stretch their baits before using them to eliminate some of the salt and give them the sought-after spongy texture, while others soak the baits in water to achieve the same effect.

5. Fishing Too Fast
Most bass fishermen love power fishing and love fishing moving baits. There’s just something exhilarating about covering ground with a ChatterBait® bladed jig or swimbait, yanking bass from thick cover with a flipping stick, and having a bass smash a topwater plug is equally exciting – not to mention that’s how most tournament anglers are fishing these days, and bass fishermen are quick to mimic their techniques even on recreational outings.In our mind, fishing the Ned Rig is just as much – if not more – fun and exciting, though the excitement comes from the sheer number of bites you get and the fight on light tackle – not to mention out-catching just about everyone else on the water!

The key to generating all of those bites is to slow down your presentation.This takes discipline, especially when using lightweight jigheads. Let that bait sink all the way to the bottom. Deadstick it for a few seconds on the bottom before hopping, dragging, or swimming it. Drag it very slowly along the bottom and then let it sit again. Doing all of these things truly maximizes the effectiveness of the ElaZtech material, allowing it to work for you whether the bait is slowly spiraling through the water column or standing up off the bottom and moving ever-so-slightly at rest.

6. Setting Hooks Too Hard
Just like tackle and drag settings must be adjusted to account for the small, light wire hooks used with the Ned Rig, so must hook setting techniques. Most bass fishermen are accustomed to hard hooksets while power fishing, but setting the hook hard with the Ned Rig is counterproductive and can result in bent or pulled hooks.

The hooks used on our Finesse ShroomZ jigheads are made from light wire and are very sharp out of the pack, a combination that leads to easy hook point penetration with very little pressure. When setting the hook, simply reel tight and lean into the fish, loading up the rod. Just a little bit of pressure is all that’s needed to firmly embed the hook in a bass’ mouth.

To that end, maintaining a sharp hook point is critical when using the Ned Rig. It is always wise to carry a small hook file when fishing the Ned Rig to touch up those hook points after a fish catch or dragging the hook across a rock. We prefer a small diamond hook file, the type used more commonly by fly fishers to sharpen tiny hooks meant for stream trout. It really is amazing how much of a difference keeping a sharp hook point can make.

7. Using Baits Made From Materials Other Than ElaZtech
While this point may sound entirely self-serving coming from a manufacturer like Z-Man, it is perhaps the most important note on this list. Sure, the small and simple profile of the Ned Rig has a lot to do with why it gets so many bites, but the ElaZtech material is just as important. As noted above, the buoyancy and softness of ElaZtech are keys to providing the absolute best action, both on the retrieve, on the descent, or at rest. In addition, the material’s durability presents a superior value, but more importantly, keeps you fishing rather than re-rigging when the bite is on. And with a Ned Rig, you get a tremendous number of bites, making durability even more important!

This importance of using ElaZtech baits truly cannot be overstated, and we hear this nearly every day from customers who have experienced this for themselves. Case-in-point, here’s a note we received recently from a customer: “I have to admit, after recently learning about and deciding to try the Ned Rig, it just wasn’t working out. Of course, I was ripping a standard Senko in half and using a mushroom-shaped swimbait head. What a joke – I couldn’t figure out how people were actually catching fish on it. I was at a local retailer and saw the TRD and the Finesse ShroomZ heads and bought 2 packs of heads and 4 packs of plastics and set out for my tournament the following day. I AM A BELIEVER!!! What a difference! I am so impressed, I caught so many fish doing something I had never done before. Best part – one single bait lasted all day. To top it off, I ended up winning the tournament by over a pound.

“While we routinely read in tournament reports about professional anglers using other non-ElaZtech plastics on their Ned Rigs, most of this can be chalked up to sponsor obligations and conflicts that prevent them from using or mentioning Z-Man baits. The fact is that we’ve shipped product directly to dozens and dozens of tour-level anglers with conflicting soft plastic sponsors over the last couple of years, including overnighting baits to tournament locations at the last minute on multiple occasions. And, the most dedicated and diehard Midwest finesse anglers are still using ElaZtech virtually exclusively.8. Limiting Yourself to Certain Bait ProfilesAgain, this last point definitely may come across as self-serving, but we feel it is absolutely worth mentioning, nonetheless.

The 2.75″ Finesse TRD is far and away the most popular Ned Rig soft plastic, and for good reason – it flat-out catches fish. However, anglers are shorting themselves by having a few packs of TRDs on-hand and figuring that they have their Ned Rig bases covered.

Like other types of soft plastic fishing, there are many Ned Rig profiles that work at different times of the year or under certain conditions. Most any small soft plastic bait can be used with the Ned Rig; in the Z-Man line alone, the 4″ Finesse WormZ, Finesse ShadZ, Hula StickZ, 3.75″ StreakZ, TRD TubeZ, Slim SwimZ, CrusteaZ, 3.5″ GrubZ, TRD HogZ, TRD CrawZ, TRD MinnowZ, TRD TicklerZ, and TRD BugZ all complement the Finesse TRD as part of Ned Rig system. Each of these baits offers its own set of advantages and can be utilized to match predominant forage in different fisheries.

One advantage of the Ned Rig is that it works so well on pressured fish, but keep in mind that fish can become accustomed to and resistant to certain profiles that are over-utilized; when the bite slows down, mix it up by switching to a completely different profile to show the fish something that they may not have seen.

If you read Ned Kehde’s frequent entries in the Finesse News Network, you’ll see that he consistently relies on the Finesse WormZ, TRD MinnowZ, TRD HogZ, and Finesse ShadZ while fishing in Kansas reservoirs. Z-Man finesse bait designer and Bassmaster Classic veteran Drew Reese, along with several tour-level anglers like Z-Man and Bassmaster Elite pro Jeff ‘Gussy’ Gustafson, feel that the Hula StickZ gives them a better shot at connecting with larger fish on a regular basis. A group of finesse devotees in Texas have seen their catch rates increase by adding the Slim SwimZ, a diminutive swimbait, into the mix, while northern anglers have recently latched onto the TRD TubeZ as a go-to finesse bait. We could go on and on, but the point is that having several different profiles on-hand and experimenting with them in various situations will undoubtedly help up your success with Ned Rig!

Where and How to Catch Lake Sinclair Bass

Note – this was written before Georgia Power closed nd tore down the power plant

February Bass at Sinclair

with Todd Goade

Cold winter weather always puts a damper on bass fishing in February on most of our lakes. Bass go deep and school up tight and don’t eat much. But Lake Sinclair is an exception to that rule. The warmer waters from the steam plant make it the most popular lake for club and other tournaments this month.

There is a good reason so many tournaments are held on Sinclair in the winter. Bass are more active because the water is warmer and also because of the currents created by the steam plant intake and outflow as well as those generated by power generation and pump back at the Oconee dam.

Sinclair is a 15,330 acre Georgia Power lake on the Oconee River. It was dammed in 1953 and the lake is ringed with cabins and docks. Almost all docks are on posts and many have brush piles around them. There is a lot of grass in the lake and it still attracts baitfish this time of year although it is brown now. There are sandy pockets and banks, rocks and wood cover to fish.

When Plant Harlee Branch, the coal fired steam plant, is taking in water to cool its boilers, current near the mouth of Little River around the bridge and intake moves upstream. In Beaverdam Creek release of warmer water from the boilers not only heats the lake, it creates a strong current around the discharge, under the bridge and downstream.

When the power plant at the Oconee Dam is generating current a strong flow comes down the river. When the turbines are reversed and water is being pumped back into Oconee there is a strong current going up the river. This current also affects the creeks and will reverse the flow in Little River, too. The strongest effects are from the mouth of Little River upstream.

Most of Lake Sinclair stays stained in February with Little River often the muddiest area. Near the dam, Island and Rock Creek almost always remain clear. Those creeks down the lake are also less affected by the warm water so are usually the coldest water on the lake. So you can fish shallow relatively warm stained water or colder clearer water within a few miles.

Sinclair is usually one of the top three lakes in Georgia for numbers of tournaments reported in the Georgia Bass Chapter Federation Creek Census Report, with over 80 tournaments reported each year. In recent years Sinclair has been one of the best lakes for numbers of bass with over 20 percent of anglers catching a five fish limit. But the bass are small, with an average weight of about 1.5 pounds and an average tournament winning weight of about 10 pounds.

Todd Goade remembers the first bass he ever caught and it turned him on to bass fishing. He was eight years old and caught a six pound bass on a topwater plug in Missouri. That would turn on any fisherman, especially a young fisherman.

Most of his life Todd lived in Tennessee where he fished with local clubs and the pot trails. When he moved to Georgia in 2002 he quit fishing for a few years but got back into it in 2005 and started fishing the BFL trail, the HD Marine Trail, Boating Atlanta and others.

Over the past few years Todd has been very consistent in tournaments, placing in the money in many of them. Last year he finished 3^rd overall in the Bulldog BFL point standings and in 2006 was 7^th in the HD Marine point standings. Last February he finished in the top 20 at Sinclair in the BFL and needed just one kicker fish to finish much higher.

“There are always some shallow fish at Sinclair,” Todd told me. He prefers to fish Sinclair shallow this time of year and likes to go after them with lighter tackle and smaller baits than most anglers use. Finesse fishing will catch lots of bass on Sinclair most winter days and will often get you in the money in tournaments.

For fishing Sinclair this month Todd has a variety of baits rigged and ready. He will have a small jerkbait like a Pointer on a spinning rod with eight pound test line, a Texas rigged Zoom Finesse worm and another Finesse worm on a 3/16 Spot Remover jig head, both on eight pound line, a crankbait like a Bomber 7A or a Bandit Flat Maxx and a small spinnerbait on 10 to 12 pound line and a Carolina rigged Zoom Baby Brush Hog or six inch lizard. He will also keep a Flexit Spoon ready for deep jigging if he spots bass holding on deep structure.

Todd prefers to fish in eight feet of water or less and will often be sitting in 12 to 15 feet of water fan casting a point or working a bank. Although the bass are shallow they will usually be on cover and structure with deep water nearby. He likes main lake banks and points or banks near creek channels that drop off fast now.

Current will position bass on structure and sun will position them on cover, according to Todd. He likes banks and points where the current is moving and will concentrate on brush, docks and rocks when the sun is bright. This time of year Todd says he does better on sunny days.

Todd and I fished Sinclair the second Sunday in January, a tough day for us and others, based on the weigh-in of three clubs at Little River that day. He showed me the following places he likes to catch fish on Sinclair in February and they will hold fish you can catch, too.

1. N 33 11.211 – W 83 17.476 – The bank above the steam plant intake drops off fast has overhanging brush and rocks along parts of it and the pockets have grass in them. Todd likes to fish along this bank and often catches a limit of keeper size bass here.

Start on the point above the mouth of the intake on the right and work upstream to the next main lake point. The channel swings in near the big upstream point and the deep water is good. You will be sitting in 12 to 14 feet of water along most of this bank. The water is usually stained in this area and is warmed by current coming up the river. When water is being pulled into the steam plant current will run downstream.

Cast a Texas rigged Zoom Finesse worm under the overhanging brush to the rocks and also work it around any grass you see. Todd likes a green pumpkin worm and will dye its tail chartreuse. Work it with short hops and jiggles, trying to hit any cover along this bank.

If water is moving and the bass are more active, cast your jerkbait close to the bank and work it back in short jerks. Try several cadences until the bass show you what they like. The colder the water the slower you should fish the bait with longer pauses between jerks.

2. N 33 11.351 – W 83 16.242 – Run down the lake past the mouth of the river and watch for the first cove on your left. There is a big mesh satellite dish on the point. Go into the pocket downstream of this dish and start fishing before you get to the first dock that has a green metal roof and several PVC rod holders on it.

Fish down this bank with your Texas rigged and jig head worms, casting to the bank between docks and working under the docks and around the posts. When you get to the third dock you will know you are in the right spot if you see a big UGA emblem on the dock and house and the walk going up from the dock has little UGA helmet lights and a sign that says “Dog Walk.”

Fish that dock and the grass just past it. You can run a spinner bait through the grass and work your worm rigs around it, too. Todd likes a small white spinner bait with silver blades. He fishes this cove to the dock with the US flag on it and stops since the water gets real shallow past it.

3. N 33 11.330 – W 83 15.679 – Across the river is an island and just downstream of it a marked hump. There are three danger buoys on the hump and three PVC poles, two side by side. Stop straight out from the PVC poles in about 25 feet of water and fan cast your crankbait as you ease in toward the poles. You can cast to the top of the hump and it is very rough here. Try a worm along the bottom, too.

If you have a GPS on your boat you will see a point running out from this hump and that is where you want to stop and start fishing. You can see the point on a good map, too. The contour lines will be close together and that is a key Todd looks for this time of year. That shows a fast dropping bottom and the fish hold on those kinds of places.

4. N 33 09.806 – W 83 13.802 – Head down the lake to the big island just upstream of the mouth of Reedy Creek and the airport. There is an old quarry under the water on the upstream side of the island and the bottom is hard clay. Stop on the outside point of the island in about 20 feet of water and work around the point, casting a crankbait up shallow. Try to hit the bottom with it.

After working the crankbait back off a little and cast a Carolina rig or other worm rig here. There is a good brush pile in 12 to 14 feet of water that often holds bass. They will hold in the brush and run in to feed. Probe the brush carefully with all your worm rigs.

5. N 33 09.752 – W 83 13.973 – Idle over to the center of the upstream side of the island. You will see three points, the one you just left and two more. Stop out from the center point and you will be in the quarry in very deep water. Fish the center point here with your crankbait, then probe for brush in 16 feet of water.

Todd likes a half-ounce lead on his Carolina rig and usually has a 24 inch leader. He will drag the green pumpkin lizard or Brush Hog with dyed tails around and through the brush, working it slowly and feeling for any resistance. The bass will be sluggish most days in the cold water.

6. N 33 11.106 – W 83 12.509 – Run toward the back of Island Creek and watch for a bright red barn on the left side before you get to the power lines. Start on the point just upstream of the pocket with the red barn and work around the shallow pocket to the dock with a green slide on it. The bottom drops off fast and it is rocky, with docks and brush along it.

Fish your Texas rigged worm or jig head worm here, hitting rocks and wood cover on the bottom and also fishing around and under all the docks. Todd says this is a good place to find bass pulled up to feed this time of year. He will hit this place and others several times during a fishing day since fish may move in to feed anytime during the day. You just have to be there when they are feeding.

7. N 33 10.775 – W 83 12.444 – Running down the middle of Island Creek back toward the river, watch on your left for a flat point with a seawall around it. There is a house sitting way back from the water but nothing out on the point. Across the creek you will see a big brown brick house and just upstream of it a green roof dock.

On a line between the point and green roof dock, out in the middle of the creek, is a hump that comes up to about 18 feet on top. There is brush on it. Todd will stop here and jig a spoon on this hump, especially if he sees baitfish or fish near the bottom with his depth finder. It is close to the creek channel and often holds a school of fish. He says he will not spend a lot of time here but does check it out.

8. N 33 09.568 – W 83 12.765 – Near the mouth of the creek on your left is a small island sitting close to the bank. A long shallow point runs off it toward the middle of the creek. Todd stops his boat just upstream of the island, lining up the trees on the upstream side of it with the red top dock on the bank behind the island.

Sitting in 15 feet of water he will cast a crankbait all over this point, covering it with fan casts. He will also try his jerkbait here as well as worm rigs. This long underwater point is typical of the kinds of places winter bass hold on Sinclair and the water is clear enough here they will come up for a jerkbait.

9. N 33 09.448 – W 83 12.700 – Downstream of the island a big cove runs from the island to the main lake point between Island Creek and the river. About in the middle of this cove is a long shallow point running out to deep water. It has a sharp drop off on the downstream side.

Look for and old high boat house roof with no sides and a gazebo on the bank near it. There are swift gourds on a pole near it. Just downstream is a gray roof dock with a boat ramp just upstream of it. The point runs out with the downstream sharp edge right at the ramp. You can see this point on your GPS or map, too.

Todd starts way out on this point and make long fan cast across it with crankbaits and jerkbaits. Try to hit the drop from several angles. Then work your worm rigs across the point and down the drop for fish that are not very active.

10. N 33 08.296 – W 83 11.535 – Run down to the dam and start into Rocky Creek. On your right is a point between the river and the creek. There is a Georgia Power park and pavilion on the bank here. This point runs way out shallow and Todd starts way off the bank with his boat in 15 to 16 feet of water and casts his crankbaits up toward the point. You will be casting to water about eight feet deep.

Try to bump the bottom with your crankbaits. Todd likes a fire tiger coach dog pattern for his Bomber and will usually throw a pearl and chartreuse or blue back Flat Maxx. Those baits will dive deep enough to bump bottom in eight feet of water so you will cover the depth many bass will feed this time of year.

Check out Todd’s spots and try his methods on Sinclair this month. There are many other similar spots you can then find and fish. You should catch a lot of keeper size bass.

Stream Smallmouths in Spring

Locating Stream Smallmouths in Spring
By Alex McCrickard, DGIF Aquatic Education Coordinator
from The Fishing Wire

Anglers across Virginia and other mountain states often associate spring with trout fishing season. Mountain streams are typically in prime flow conditions during this time of the year, and spring hatches have the fish feeding regularly. However, trout shouldn’t be the only fish on anglers’ minds during this time of the year.

Spring also coincides with great opportunities to target smallmouth bass as rivers across the Allegheny and Blue Ridge chains warm up from the winter months. Water temperatures warming is a thermal cue that triggers increased metabolism and activity of smallmouth bass, creating excellent fishing conditions across the state for bronzeback enthusiasts.

River Conditions and Smallmouth Biology
On average years during late winter, water temperatures climb out of the 30s and into the 40s on rivers and streams across the state. As winter transitions to spring, water temperatures will continue to increase into the upper 40s and 50s. Smallmouth bass will react favorably to the warming trends and these fish will move out of the winter holes and into transitionary water in mid to late March.

By late March, smallmouth can consistently be found holding in the middle of the water column behind mid-river boulders and along the edges of current seams where fast water meets slow water. These fish can also be found holding along ledges, drops offs, in riffles, and even along the banks.Mid to late March signals the beginning of pre-spawn activity for smallmouth bass.

Spawning typically begins in late April and continues all through the month of May on our Virginia rivers and streams. During pre-spawn, smallmouth can be very aggressive as they get territorial and put on weight for the spawning season. These fish actively ambush smaller forage fish and crayfish during this time of the year. Late March and April can provide for exciting fishing during the pre-spawn feeding frenzy.

Smallmouth bass are benthic spawners; males build nests in clean substrate including gravel, pebble, and cobble bottom. Males are cued to start this process when water temperatures climb into the 60s. These fish often seek out softer currents in 2 to 6 feet of water behind boulders, logs, or other obstructions when choosing spawning sites. Male smallmouth will dig a depression into the river bottom before spawning with a female.

After the spawn, males will stick around and guard their nests from aquatic and terrestrial predators. Spawning success is highly dependent on spring flows. High, muddy water from heavy spring rain events can impact smallmouth bass recruitment and spawning success.

Because smallmouth are benthic spawners, high water in the spring time can wash beds out or cover them up with sediment, impacting recruitment and leading to variations in abundance of certain age classes within the population.

Spring can often coincide with high flows on rivers and streams across Virginia. Late winter snow melt and early spring rains can sometimes put rivers at flood level stages. Make sure to exercise caution during this time of the year and check the flows before you head to the river. In these high flows, smallmouth will orient to cover where they don’t have to fight super strong currents to find food. Even in high, muddy water, smallmouth are looking for meals and can be caught with a little persistence and determination as long as the river isn’t in flood stage.

Tactics and Techniques
It can be best to cover water when fishing for pre-spawn smallmouth bass. Floating the larger rivers during this time of the year is a great way to accomplish this, just remember to wear your personal flotation device. If you are wade-fishing smaller to medium-size rivers, don’t be afraid to do some hiking to cover ground on foot.

The pre-spawn bite is best approached by fishing subsurface minnow imitations in late March through April. Make sure to have some crankbaits on hand in a variety of colors during this time of the year. Rattling lipless crankbaits or noisy lipped crankbaits can be productive when the water is high and stained. The Rat-L-Trap causes commotion that attracts spring bass in these conditions. Soft plastic swimbaits like the Keitech Swing Impact Swimbait or Sassy Shads work well and sink deep quickly when fished on a jig head. Flashy spinnerbaits also entice strikes from spring smallmouth in stained water conditions.

The author pauses during a float trip to fish from a mid-river boulder on the James River. Waffles, his trusty fishing dog, loves catching Virginia smallmouth. Photo by Walker DalesWhen fly fishing our larger rivers, consider stripping streamers on a 250-grain full sinking line when the water is high and off color. The full sinking line gets your streamer down quickly when in heavy current. In average flows, you will be able to get away with a sink tip on our larger rivers and simply a floating line on our smaller to medium-sized rivers. The Half & Half is my favorite pattern to fish this time of the year. Chartreuse and white, tan and white, or olive and white are good color combinations. This bulky pattern pushes a lot of water and draws in strikes from big pre-spawn bass.

Clouser minnows and Chuck Kraft’s Kreelex are good “go-to patterns” during this time of the year. The flashy profile of the Kreelex does a great job of attracting smallmouth in high, stained flows. Doug Lane, local guide and owner of Angler’s Lane fly shop in Lynchburg, mentioned that “one can expect to catch some of the most aggressive fighting smallmouth during the pre-spawn weeks of March and early April. Chuck Kraft once told me the key is to work one’s fly more slowly than one is accustomed to in the summer. This nugget from a wise fishing guide, the first full-time river smallmouth guide in Virginia, makes tremendous sense when you consider that the water is somewhat cooler, and the fish are often removing your presentation away from the area they are looking to spawn in.”

Also consider carrying large articulated streamers in your fly box during this time of the year. Remember, it pays to cover water during this time of the year, especially if you are floating. It’s important to target the right habitat, like mid-river boulders, ledges, drop-offs, or the tail-outs of mid-river islands, as you float downstream.

Topwater flies and lures will become more productive as summer approaches and April turns to May. Sometimes the bite can be tricky during the prime spawning month of May. During the spawn, smallmouth can sometimes refrain from eating actively. However, there are certainly fish to be caught in May as some smallmouth will spawn earlier than others. All in all, spring offers a welcome change from the slower fishing that occurs during the winter months. Strongly consider adding smallmouth to your list of favorite species to target as the trees bloom and the grass grows.

Fishing Pickwick for Smallmouth, Largemouth and Meanmouth

I went to Pickwick in northwest Alabama for my May Alabama Outdoor News article and fished with Cody Harrison. April Fools Day fooled us with high winds, strong current and cold weather but Cory showed how well he knows the lake and the habits of the bass there.

He landed two smallmouth in the 3.5 to four pound range, a largemouth that size and a pretty “meanmouth” bass a little smaller

Pickwich has largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass and they sometimes mate, especially smallmouth and spotted bass. That hybrid is common enough it is named a “meanmouth,” it has the colors of a smallmouth but they are brighter, and they have a tooth patch on the tongue like a spot. And they fight like crazy.

Cody likes some current in the river and said when the dam is releasing somewhere between 20,000 and 70,000 cubic feet per second of water it is good. Lower and the fish don’t bite very good, higher and it is hard to fish. The day we fished the release was around 90,000 CFS!

All his fish hit a bladed jig fished in current eddies along main river gravel banks. The fish were getting ready to span in those places. It was a fun but long trip, the longest I make doing these articles. We were in the corner of Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi, a long way from Griffin!

Catching Ice-Out Crappies

Catching Ice-Out Crappies in Northern Lakes

From Northland Tackle Pro Joel Nelson
from The Fishing Wire

It’s been an odd spring, and for that matter, and even more peculiar winter. Open water in the southern part of the northern states has been around for a few weeks, while in the north, there’s still ice, albeit a poor version of it, clinging to memories of a winter that wasn’t.

Early season panfish bites are a rite of spring, typically happening in mid-late April for most northern lakes. This year due to the unseasonably warm weather, I’m happy to say, we’ll probably have some bonus time in my state, Minnesota, with crappies already snapping in the shallows.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when tracking down a good spring crappie bite.

Water temperature is a key contributing factor to everything crappies in the spring. Cold nights below freezing, cool-water runoff from melting snow, and heavy cloud cover can all contribute to the death of a seemingly un-killable bite. As black-bottom bays and rock-laden shorelines store what solar energy they can, crappies flood to the shallows as water temps hit 45 degrees and above. In most of the lakes I fish, this seems to be as close to a “magic number” as I can find in helping to predict not only locations, but mood of the crappies I’m after.

Anything much off that value, and shallow water crappies become much more rare and hard to find. Even after locating them, you just don’t see the large congregations of fish that are willing to eat like you do in the 45-50 degree range and above. That said, spring is a roller coaster of conditions in northern states, full of false-starts, short intense feeding periods during warm weather, and then eventually spawn and post-spawn behavior. Your best bet is multiple trips that allow you to track changes in water temperatures, such that you don’t hit before the front end, or after the spawn.

Regarding location, when warm water is scarcer in the early season, those shorelines that are even a few degrees warmer can be full of fish. This is true even when they lack good cover, provided you’re fishing the warmest water in the lake and it’s still early. Black bays on the north side of a lake are a good start, and don’t hesitate to fish shallower than 5 feet, especially in systems with poor clarity. Even as water temps rise into the 50’s, fish remain shallow, feeding on baitfish drawn to the warm water and emerging life that’s brought on by warm afternoons and an even more aggressive sun angle.

Cover is king for pre-spawn crappies, and while any wood or timber is good for finding them, brush is better. An isolated log or stump may hold a few fish, but large concentrations of fish will be found where they can bury themselves within and along brush piles. Unfortunately, most anglers miss the bonanza by fishing only around the edges, rather than within the heavy cover. Occasional fish are to be had this way, but to do well in these situations, you’ll need to be prepared to fearlessly fish inside of the heavy stuff, not just around the edges. For that reason, especially in darker, more turbid water, I’ll fish 8lb test mono or heavier, as small jigs and small line are an exercise in brush-fishing frustration.

In northern natural lakes with broad and shallow shorelines, timber can be hard to find, so crappies focus on bulrush and pencil-reeds for cover. Whether wood or vegetation, getting in the middle of it seems to pay dividends.What to use is an important factor during this time of year, with water temps again dictating presentation and lure selection. Especially early, the temptation is to fish fast and cover water to find larger schools. Just coming out of winter, locations can be a mystery, and bobber-fishing shallows is simply too slow for most anglers.

That said, especially during the early season, crappies will rarely chase to eat moving baits presented on the edges. Fish with floats, and use meat. Crappies are carnivorous little beings, and you’ll be surprised how savagely they’ll strike a minnow offered on a jig with hair, tinsel, marabou, or flashabou. This larger profile requires some aggression, and hookups seem much more sure as crappies are required to fully inhale such a presentation.

Keep in mind however, that bluegills which can be found in the same areas this time of year, are less likely to be able to eat such baits. I have been pleasantly surprised by large perch, especially when fishing backwaters bites, that will be more than happy to eat a 1/32oz jig with a minnow.

Plastics bites are still to come, but typically require warmer conditions yet. It’s unfortunate that minnows are best fished when your freezing fingers would otherwise want you to use artificial bait-only, but it seems like warm weather and glove-less hands are about the best predictor on when to start looking to retrieved plastic presentations. For this reason, bring bait until moving presentations readily out-perform more stationary live-bait options.

It’s a great time of year to be on the water. Wait till a warm afternoon, and pick apart the shallows until you find some fish. Keep it simple, have fun with it, and save the ultra-serious stuff for later.For more fishing tips, visit www.northlandtackle.com.

Tips on Catching River Run Walleyes

Tips on Catching River Run Walleyes in Spring With Northland Pro Chip Leer

How to catch river-run spring walleyes

Winter’s waning moments signal the start of an annual rite of spring, as schools of spawn-minded walleyes surge upstream in rivers across the continent. Don’t let the cool water temperatures fool you, the spring run can produce some of the year’s best fishing for walleyes and sag-bellied saugers.

Team Northland Pro Chip Leer of Fishing The WildSide knows the drill.“My favorite fisheries are good-sized rivers flowing into larger bodies of water, like the Detroit River on the western end of Lake Erie, or the Rainy River at Lake of the Woods along the Minnesota-Ontario border,” he says. “Walleyes from the main lake congregate around the river mouth in late winter, then swim upstream to spawning areas—thereby boosting the walleye population into the stratosphere.”

To find fish fast, Leer often begins his walleye quest at the river mouth and works up from there, prospecting prime lies like channel edges, eddies and all sorts of likely-looking seams and current breaks.“Virtually anything that breaks the current or otherwise offers walleyes an opportunity to rest or feed is worth a try,” he says. “Main-channel holes rank high on my hit list. Holes are magnets for fish moving up and down the river, and often ‘recharge’ throughout the day as fresh waves of walleyes roll in.”

A variety of tactics take spring walleyes, from three-way rigging to trolling crankbaits along the bottom. For Leer’s money, vertical jigging is hard to beat. “You can jig from an anchored position or while slipping down-current, using your trolling motor to keep the line vertical,” he says.

Leer’s go-to leadheads include Northland Fishing Tackle’s Slurp! Jig, UV Whistler Jig and round-head RZ Jig. “These jigs hold live bait and plastics in place, and allow me to get a solid hookset,” he explains. “That being said, the relatively new Swivel-Head Jig is an up-and-coming choice. I like the way the jig’s rotating hook gives live bait and plastics more action than traditional fixed hooks.”

Leer recommends tipping your jigs with a flavorful artificial trailer like Northland Fishing Tackle’s IMPULSE Paddle Minnow, Smelt Minnow or Ringworm. “Three- to 5-inch baits give walleyes a target in the low-visibility conditions common in spring rivers,” says Leer. “For added scent and taste, skull-hook a fathead or shiner minnow on top of the plastic bait.”

For best results, Leer advises keeping your jig strokes on the down low, especially early in the spring run. “Slow and methodical lift-drop moves tight to bottom trump crazy ripping maneuvers,” he says. “Some days, holding the jig still, within an inch or two of bottom, gets the most bites. As the water warms up and walleyes gravitate to shallow water near the bank, pitch your jig toward shore and experiment with different dragging, swimming and pendulum presentations,” he says.

Tips on Fishing the ChatterBait JackHammer

Tips on Fishing the ChatterBait JackHammer from Winning Pro Anglers

The Original ChatterBait bladed jig had already made a sizeable splash in the professional bass scene when in 2017, Z-Man and Japanese lure maestros EverGreen International collaborated on what would quickly become the single most coveted tournament bait in America.

Three years later, the Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer still sits at the top of the game.

With a major collection of tournament wins and dominating performances already to its credit—including the Bassmaster Classic and other elite events— the ChatterBait JackHammer has worked its special blend of magic once more, this time at the January 2020 FLW Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit event at Sam Rayburn Reservoir.

On day one, Z-Man pro Grae Buck hoisted the largest bass of the event—a 9-pound 8-ounce heavyweight that engulfed a ½-ounce green-shad-color ChatterBait JackHammer dressed with a Z-Man RaZor ShadZ™ trailer.

Eventual tournament champion John Cox credited a black-and-blue Z-Man ChatterBait for its clutch performance. After fishing the first three days with a crankbait, Cox’s pattern for staging prespawn bass fell apart. Grinding through the final day, he ran to a pair of favorite trees, where three 2-3/4-pound bass ate Cox’s ChatterBait in succession. A cool $102,500 payday rewarded the Florida angler’s choices.

Further proving the JackHammer’s mettle for heavyweight largemouths, third place finisher Darold Gleason relied on a ½-ounce B-Hite Delight-color ChatterBait JackHammer to elicit bites from shallow, prespawn bass. Meanwhile, keying on isolated cypress trees, tenth-place angler Jon Canada called a chartreuse-white JackHammer his primary lure.Z-Man pro Grae Buck lipped the tournament big bass, a bruiser 9-8 largemouth caught on a ChatterBait JackHammer.

At Rayburn, two more elite ChatterBait programs yielded top-20 paychecks. Z-Man pro Miles “Sonar” Burghoff notched a respectable 18th place finish thanks to a JackHammer; Burghoff might have risen much higher in the ranks, had a submerged tree not punctured his hull on day-2.Weighing a total of 41-pounds 3-ounces, fellow Z-Man angler Buck leaned on his big bass and three solid limits to earn a respectable 19th place finish. Buck, a standout collegiate hockey and fishing star during his days at Penn State University, worked a ChatterBait JackHammer around and through mats of submerged vegetation.

“I was keying on massive patches of hydrilla up in 4 and 7 feet of water,” said Buck, who won the 2019 Bassmaster Eastern Open on a Z-Man Finesse TRD™. “The key to triggering bites was to rip the bait free each time it contacted a hydrilla stem. Even when I’m fishing the bait in open water, I’ll pause or give it one rodtip twitch every so often. Seems like every time you make the bait ‘hunt’ a little or change direction, you get bit.

Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ”One amazing thing about the JackHammer is its ability to produce more vibration and thump and a bigger footprint than its physical size might suggest,” Buck noted. “I think when you put a RaZor ShadZ on the back, the whole package looks like a gizzard shad. But when bass move up close to it, the lure isn’t intimidating. So you get both powerful attracting cues and lifelike physical attributes that result in big bite after bite.

The JackHammer has now produced my two heaviest largemouths to date, and a lot of really big smallmouths.

“Burghoff, an exceptional, versatile angler who lives near the shores of Tennessee’s Lake Chickamauga, fished a similar ChatterBait pattern, with a slight variation in retrieve. “At Rayburn, I threw a ½-ounce JackHammer in a neat pattern called ‘Bruised Green Pumpkin,'” he said. “The head is highlighted in blue fleck and the skirt includes a few blue silicone strands added to a green pumpkin base. It’s one of the really unique colors that helps set the JackHammer apart from other bladed jigs.

“Like Buck, Burghoff employed a Z-Man RaZor ShadZ trailer (green pumpkin) and also concentrated on dense stands of submerged hydrilla. The anglers each fished near drains—Texas terminology for the back ends or pockets of feeder creeks.

“I often fish a JackHammer with what I call a yo-yo retrieve,” Burghoff noted. “You’re lifting the ChatterBait and letting it freefall back to the bottom. Each time you do this, you’re presenting fish with an opportunity to react, to bite something that’s vulnerable.”Although Z-Man ChatterBaits have been touted almost exclusively as shallow water tools, Burghoff also likes to ‘yo-yo’ baits like the JackHammer and new ChatterBait Freedom CFL Football on deeper ledges.

“On the Tennessee River lakes, I fish a ChatterBait all summer in those offshore situations,” he adds. “I’ve caught bass in up to 25 feet of water. Where others might fish a crank or a hair jig, I’m throwing a ¾- or 1-1/4-ounce JackHammer, giving fish a different look. The lure’s a lot more versatile than people realize.

“Miles “Sonar” Burghoff says a ChatterBait can also be a great tool when fished yo-yo style on deep structure.

Where and How to Catch October Bass at Lake Oconee, with GPS Coordinates

October 2015 Oconee Bass

With Cody Stahl

Die hard bass fishermen love October. Pleasure boaters are mostly off the lakes so you don’t rock and roll all day while fishing. And a lot of part time fishermen are in the woods hunting or stuck in front of a TV watching football so there is a lot less pressure on the fish. A great choice to take advantage of these things for an October trip is Lake Oconee.

Oconee is a Georgia Power lake in the middle of the state. It is lined by golf courses, houses and docks. There are so many pleasure boaters on a summer weekend day it can be tough to fish. Right now bass are responding to cooler water temperatures and less boating activity by feeding.

Cody Stahl is a senior at CrossPoint Christian Academy in Hollonville, near Griffin, and loves to fish. His father Chad is a well-known tournament fisherman on the Berrys’ trails and won the Berrys’ point standings two years in a row. He has taught Cody well.

Last Novemer Cody and his partner Tate Van Egmond won the BASS High School state championship at Eufaula. They came in tenth out of 134 teams in the BASS High School National Championship on Kentucky Lake this past spring. Cody plans on picking a college with a good fishing team next year to attend.

Cody loves bass tournament fishing so much he changed schools two years ago to attend a school where he could form a team. His dad took him to night tournaments on Jackson starting when he was seven years old so it is in his blood. Oconee is one of his favorite lakes, especially in October.

“By the end of September the cooling water is making the shad move into the creeks and the bass follow them,” Cody said. The old adage “find the bait and find the bass” definitely applies on Oconee this month.

“Active creeks are the best,” Cody says. He likes to find a feeder creek that has a good ditch in it and fish it from the mouth back until he finds where the bass are feeding. Once you find that area is should be consistent in other creeks, too.

A wide variety of baits will catch bass right now on Oconee and Cody will be prepared to throw a lot of different baits. He has a Texas rigged FishHog Angry Beaver, a Zoom Baby Brush Hog and a FishHog JigSaw jig and pig ready to pitch to shallow cover. For faster fishing a #6 Shadrap, Chaqtterbait and RC 1.5 square bill is on his deck. And he always has a Spro Frog to throw to grass and shallow wood.

Both a buzzbait and a spinnerbait are good for fishing faster around any kind of shallow cover. These baits allow him to fish docks, grass, wood and rocks as he works from the mouths of the creeks all the way to the back.

Cody and Tate took me to Oconee in early September to check out the following places. Shad were just moving into them and fishing was tough, but we caught a lot of throwbacks and Cody landed three good keepers. Bigger fish will be on these spots much better now.

1. N 33 25.184 – W 83 14.243 – Going down the river past the Old Salem Campground on the left the river makes a turn to the right. On the left bank, an outside bend, there are a lot of rocks and small pockets that attract shad and bass early in the morning. There is a gray dock with white post on a block seawall just upstream of a small pocket.

Start in the pocket just downstream of the dock with buzzbait and spinnerbait and fish upstream, working the wood, rocks and docks. Fish around the point into the small creek upstream of the dock. Cody likes a white three eights ounce Terminator spinnerbait with two sliver willowleaf blades and a Booyah black or white three eights ounce buzzbait.

Hit any cover you see and also cast right against the seawall. The curves and changes in the seawall are key spots. Pitch to the docks, too. Wind blowing into the docks and seawall makes this and other spots better if it is not too strong.

2. N 33 25.807 – W 83 14.571 – Back upstream a double creek enters downstream of the campground and the swimming area is on the left going in. Stop on the point between the two arms, across from the swimming area, and fish to the right, into that arm of the double creek. There are rocks on the point and it is one of the first places the shad and bass move to as the water starts cooling.

Start on the point with your boat in about eight feet of water, a long cast from the bank, and fish a buzzbait and crankbait on it. Cody likes a crawfish colored Shadrap and a squarebill in shad colors. When you get past the point to the cuts on that bank and with other cover on it, cast a frog, buzzbait, chatterbait and spinnerbait to it.

There is a big blowdown on the bank past the first small pocket and Cody lost a good three pound bass right at the boat from it. It hit his chatterbait on the end of the tree. Don’t hesitate to work a chatterbait through the cover like this. Cody likes a three ounce black and blue bait.

Fish all the way around the back of this creek. There is a good ditch in the back and I lost a two pound bass almost right in the back that hit a worm under an overhanging bush. Cody likes overhanging bushes like you find here and bass will often hold right against the bank under them.

3. N 33 25.648 – W 83 15.290 – Across the lake there are some condos on the upstream point of a creek with an old dam across it. Go to the corner of the riprap at the condo docks and start fishing. Cast your Shadrap and spinnerbait on the rocks and try topwater early in the morning, too.

Fish through the gap and work the back side of the riprap, then fish the docks and other shallow cover on the left back in the creek. Don’t hesitate to fish very shallow cover like the brush pile on the island with the “Traffic Island” sign on it back here.

A shad color frog is good on the thick shallow cover and your jig, Brush Hog and Beaver are all good when pitched very shallow, especially around dock posts. Cody rigs his Baby Brush Hog in watermelon red or black and red on a quarter ounce sinker and skips it to the cover. He rigs a black and blue or dirty pumpkin beaver the same way.

4. N 33 25.017 – W 83 14.550 – Going down the river the big inside bend on your right has some good docks to fish on the downstream side. Go around the point and stop at the first dock. It has a black canvas top. The house for this dock is way back in the trees.

The bottom at the first couple of docks is soft but turns to hard clay past them. There are some rocks on the bottom, too. Fish each dock with jig, Baby Brush Hog and beaver. Also pitch a chatterbait under them.

Many people fish only the front of docks and Cody says this is a mistake. He always goes in behind them and fishes the back side and walkway, too. He skips his baits under them and works them back, hitting every post.

Cody is very good at skipping or skittering a jig under docks and says the rod action is critical to do this. He prefers to flip docks with an ALX Rods IKOS series Promise 7 foot rod because he says it has the prefect amount of tip on the rod to flip and skip docks,

Between the docks throw your crankbaits, chatterbaits or spinnerbait. Shad move down this bank in October into the small creek it leads to. Cody will fish all the way to the back of the creek and then fish back out the other side, hitting the docks and banks between them.

5. N 33 24.817 – W 83 13.495 – Go down the river past the island on the left and around the bend to the second creek on the left. A marina is back in this creek in a cove to the right and the creek goes to the left. Stop on the left bank of the main creek just upstream of a long point with grass down to the seawall. The creek narrows down at this point.

Just upstream of this point are three small docks. The bank is fairly deep with overhanging bushes. Start fishing at these small docks, hitting each one with jig, Baby Brush Hog and beaver. Also skip a chatterbait or frog under the overhanging bushes and pitch a soft bait under them, too.

Fish down this bank until you stop seeing shad or catching fish, then jump across to the other side and fish those docks to the point of the marina cove. Try to hit every post of each dock.

6. N 33 24.531 – W 83 13.914 – Go back up the river to the next creek upstream of the one in hole 5. It is a smaller creek downstream of the island and has a good ditch and docks to fish, and there are overhanging bushes, too. Start at the third dock on the left and fish to the back of the creek.

Cody likes docks with five feet of water in front of them but says most of the fish he catches are three feet deep or less, so don’t hesitate to fish very shallow docks. Fish all the posts. It takes longer to get in behind them to fish the back side but it is worth it. Also fish the shade on this bank.

7. N 33 25.228 – W 83 14.608 – Go back up the river to the big point on the left, across from hole 1. This long point gets a lot of wind blowing in on it and has a hard bottom. There is a lot of brush in the water from bushes that have been cut to clear under the trees to clear the bank.

Stay out and fish a crankbait, spinnerbait and beaver all along the bank. Run your faster baits between the brush in the water but fish the brush in the water thoroughly with your Baby Brush Hog. Fish all the way around the small pocket on the upstream side of the point and the upstream side of the pocket has brush, too.

Wind helps on this point and in other places if it is not too strong to make boat control difficult. Wind stirs up the water, breaks the surface and moves baitfish into the area. All those things make the fish bite better and makes it more difficult for them to identify your lures as fake.

8. N 33 25.039 – W 83 14.256 – Across the river from the point in hole 7, just downstream of hole 1, is a small creek that splits right in the back. There is a blue canvas cover dock on the downstream point of it and one brown shingle boat house on the left bank going into it. There are four docks in this small creek.

Start near the upstream point and fish the left bank to the back, then fish the dock on the point in the middle of the split and the ones on the other bank, too. Cody says the left bank is usually better in October since it is a little deeper and has overhanging bushes to fish.

9. N 33 24.339 – W 83 15.597 – Go up Lick Creek until you see the first bridge ahead of you. On the right before the creek turns a little to the left is a small creek with light gray siding house with a black canvas top dock just inside the point.

Start at the dock, fishing it carefully, then work to the back of the creek down the left bank. There is a seawall with rocks in front of it along this bank and it holds fish. The little points on the seawall are usually best.

There is a pond back in the woods above this creek that feeds it and water flowing into the creek attract bass. Fish all the way to the ditch in the back and fish the cove in the back of it. Also fish the first three docks in the back of the creek on your right going in.

10. N 33 24.410 – W 83 15.724 – Going up Lick Creek a big creek comes in on the right just upstream of the one in hole 9. Go into it and stop at the dock on the right with a black canvas top and red Adirondack Chairs on it.

Fish this dock and all the others going into the creek. Run a spinnerbait on the seawalls between the docks. In the back on the left side is a small pocket with a blowdown in it. Fish the blowdown with a frog, Cody got a keeper out of it the day we fished. Also work it with Baby Brush Hog, beaver and jig.

All these places are good right now and give you examples of the types of places Cody catches October Oconee bass. They are in a compact area so you don’t have to burn much gas to fish them but you can run all over the lake and find many similar creeks where you can use this pattern to catch bass.

Predicting Muddy Water At West Point

Muddy water makes bass fishing tough. Bass tend to get very tight to cover and not move much. It is like us in a heavy fog, we like to stay in familiar places and not run around and get lost!

My Garmin Panoptix has confirmed this. In clear water I see bass holding near but not down in brush and just over rocks and stumps. In muddy water they are down in the brush and right against rocks and stumps.

Bass still have to eat, though. They can be caught, especially if the water has been muddy for a couple of days and they have gotten used to it and have gotten hungry.

A bright lure that sends out sounds in the water is usually best. I will be fishing a bright chartreuse spinnerbait with chartreuse blades and skirt. A rattling chartreuse crankbait will also be used as will a black and blue Chatterbait, the bait I caught the three-pounder on at Neely Henry in the mud. Even my jig and pig, a black and blue one with bright blue trailer, will have rattles in it. And I will fish all of then slowly and tight to cover.

I home something works for me at West Point!

It did, somewhat. I caught three keeper spots on my chartreuse crankbait, three on the jig and ig and one on a dark Trick worm on a shaky head. My best five weighed 10.18 and gave me third out of 28 fishermen!

The Salty Ned Rig

The Salty Ned Rig, with Captain C.A. Richardson

Captain C.A. Richardson believes the ‘Salty Ned’ shines during the toughest conditions.

Ladson, SC “We call it the ‘Salty Ned,’” quips exceptional inshore guide, Captain C.A. Richardson. “A lot of days, it’s even better than livebait.”

In recent years, as Richardson and other intelligent inshore anglers recognized the parallels between freshwater bass tactics and those for redfish, seatrout and other saltwater species, a fresh approach began to emerge.

“We followed the evolution of freshwater finesse techniques and the rise of the Ned Rig for smallmouth and largemouth bass,” says Richardson, the brains behind Flats Class TV and University. “It made perfect sense that similar methods and baits could excel in saltwater for a lot of reasons.”

While cold-fronts, heavy fishing pressure and other adverse factors often make bass tough to catch, these same dynamics can have a multiplier impact on saltwater species. “From the first day we experimented with a Ned Rig under cold, bluebird skies our results spoke volumes. Three little baits—a 2-3/4-inch Finesse TRD™, TRD TicklerZ™ or TRD CrawZ™— on a 1/10-ounce Finesse ShroomZ™ jighead are all you really need to continue catching fish when conditions turn tough. With water temps in the high 50s and low 60s, we start fishing a Salty Ned around December 1 in Florida and catch fish with it all the way through the first half of March.”

Richardson, who today focuses much of his redfish, trout and snook efforts on the fertile though popular waters between Tampa to Fort Myers, believes a Salty Ned easily outfishes previous-era finesse baits like a 3-inch stingray grub or a small bucktail jig. On some days even a live, juicy shrimp or strip of cutbait can’t equal the appeal of a soft, buoyant ElaZtech® bait on a small jighead.

“Even for a novice or someone accustomed to using shrimp on a jighead, it’s an easy-to-fish bait that also eliminates pinfish and other nuisance biters. Admittedly, you’ll often catch smaller reds, trout and flounder, but you certainly won’t lack action.“The buoyant nature of ElaZtech and the mushroom-shaped jighead make the bait pivot and float tail-up off the bottom when you stop your retrieve,” says Richardson. “These baits are the perfect match for so many of the small creatures eaten by inshore predators—marine worms, shrimp and other invertebrates as well as sea horses. The upright posture of a TRD on a jighead shows fish a lively morsel that moves with the slightest underwater current—even when you’re not moving your rod at all.”

A Z-Man Ned rig remains affixed to Captain Greg Peralta’s inshore rods at least eighty-percent of the time, all year long.Like its freshwater counterpart, fishing the saltwater Ned Rig is all about keeping the bait close to the bottom, letting its buoyancy and soft, active composition do the heavy lifting. “We might fish the Ned a little more aggressively in saltwater,” notes Richardson. “The best presentation I’ve found is to let the bait sink to bottom and then shake the rodtip to make it quiver. Give the jig a 6- to 12-inch pull, pause and then reel slack and repeat. You’re making the back of the bait quiver; when you stop, the bait pivots and goes tail-up.

With a bait like the TRD TicklerZ or TRD CrawZ, you’ve also got little appendages that undulate subtly in the current. The bait never really stops working for you.”Even while fishing high-pressure zones like Tampa Bay, Richardson says the Salty Ned remains a non-threatening presentation to which fish react positively. “What’s also cool is you can sight fish for really spooky reds up on clear shallow flats because the bait touches down with such a small, compact signature.” To fish the Salty Ned on featureless flats, in depressions on flats and bends in creeks with deep holes, Richardson rigs one of the aforementioned Z-Man TRD baits on a 1/10-ounce Finesse ShroomZ jighead. He spools with 6-pound test braid and a 50-inch leader of 15-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon. Wielding a medium-light to light action 7-foot spinning rod, he can cast a light jig close to 30 yards.

For fishing around heavy cover or docks, Richardson switches to abrasion resistant monofilament line and a Pro ShroomZ™ Weedless jighead.The TRD TicklerZ quivers subtly, even at rest.

Summer Catches “Although we primarily finesse-rig in the winter, I’d argue with my guide buddies that even in the warmer months, when spooky, pressured fish won’t hit a faster-moving reaction bait, I can still get bit with a Salty Ned,” Richardson offers.It’s a notion shared by Charleston, South Carolina based Captain Greg Peralta, a now-retired guide who still fishes almost every day of the season. “Several years ago, we started fishing a Finesse TRD with a 1/5- or 1/6-ounce NedlockZ™ jighead and found it to be a super productive coldwater and post-coldfront bait. But when it got warm, we kept fishing the Ned Rig to see when they’d stop biting it. They never did.”

These days, Peralta says he fishes the Salty Ned about eighty-percent of the time. Particularly when the water gets warm, Peralta prefers a slightly more aggressive retrieve to entice a reaction. Keeping his rodtip low, Peralta gives the bait a hard snap, followed by a pause. He describes the cadence as similar to working a jerkbait.Z-Man Trick ShotZ on a NedlockZ HD jighead.

“Snap and give slack,” he explains. “The lure will pitch or roll left or right, showing fish alternating flashes of dark and light. Color becomes a critical factor because flash is a key indicator of something alive—dark on top, light on the bottom. It’s why I choose colors like The Deal in clear water. As clarity fades, I go brighter with patterns like Hot Snakes—still has that dark-to-light transition, but with a louder chartreuse belly.

”Peralta notes that the length of the pause between snaps depends on conditions. “Colder water, coldfronts and when the barometer is switching from low to high, I go with a longer pause. Because fish typically strike after the snap, when the bait is descending, I like using high-vis 8-pound braid. You don’t always feel the bite on the rodtip; you’re watching your line for a pop or a sudden acceleration.

“I can’t say the TRD looks like anything they eat. The action you give it just instinctively makes fish react to and bite it. But it’s so versatile, durable and buoyant you can fish it almost anywhere. I can even throw it on top of an oyster bed or other gnarly areas in a foot of water. The bait’s buoyancy largely keeps it out of trouble. But it also works for fish hunkered down in 15-foot holes. Catches all three of species—redfish, trout and flounder— with regularity; what we call a Lowcountry Slam.”Texas angler Chris Bush fooled a rare 30-inch seatrout with a Finesse TRD on a NedlockZ jighead.

The Speckled Truth Even while redfish and snook garner much of the spotlight, select anglers like Chris Bush place the highest esteem on seatrout of trophy proportions. This past September, Bush, who authors a blog called the Speckled Truth, caught a monster 30-inch trout from Upper Laguna Madre, Texas. Stuck in the fish’s jaw was the bait Bush describes as possessing “magic appeal.”

A PB&J or The Deal-pattern TRD rigged on a 1/10-ounce NedlockZ, says Bush, has proven itself when the water’s warm and seatrout aren’t responding to traditional presentations. “A Ned Rig has been really effective when other baits aren’t—when there’s so many baitfish in the water that trout aren’t looking for huge meals, but for selective opportunities. Same deal under heavy fishing pressure. The fish are just chilling, feeding opportunistically for short windows. That’s when it’s so effective to put a little TRD down there and sort of invade their personal space.

“I give the bait one or two hard twitches and let it fall back to bottom. I try to maintain contact with it at all times, because these big, sluggish trout don’t thump the bait aggressively. Rather, they sort of sit on it, and all you feel is a sudden weight on the line, almost like you’re hung on the bottom.Bush adds that the smallest 3.5-inch Trick ShotZ™ rigged on the same jighead, at times, yields equally productive results as the TRD. “Fished on light tackle in the most grueling situations, these little bitty baits just seem to have a magic appeal for really big trout.”

About Z-Man Fishing Products: A dynamic Charleston, South Carolina based company, Z-Man Fishing Products has melded leading edge fishing tackle with technology for nearly three decades. Z-Man has long been among the industry’s largest suppliers of silicone skirt material used in jigs, spinnerbaits and other lures. Creator of the Original ChatterBait®, Z-Man is also the renowned innovators of 10X Tough ElaZtech softbaits, fast becoming the most coveted baits in fresh- and saltwater. Z-Man is one of the fastest-growing lure brands worldwide.

About ElaZtech®: Z-Man’s proprietary ElaZtech material is remarkably soft, pliable, and 10X tougher than traditional soft plastics. ElaZtech resists nicks, cuts, and tears better than other softbaits and boasts one of the highest fish-per-bait ratings in the industry, resulting in anglers not having to waste time searching for a new bait when the fish are biting. This unique material is naturally buoyant, creating a more visible, lifelike, and attractive target to gamefish. Unlike most other soft plastic baits, ElaZtech contains no PVC, plastisol or phthalates, and is non-toxic.

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