Find the Bait, Find the Bass!
By Livingston Lures Pro Joe Budzinski
from The Fishing Wire
“Lake Conroe on Fire right now, Break out your Deep Cranks”
Big Lake Conroe bass
It is the time of year where a sportsman has to decide to grab a rifle or a fishing rod. Chuck and I chose wisely. We grabbed our Power Tackle Cranking rods paired with our Ardent reels, and went to work.
Lake Conroe, Texas, is on fire right now. The big fish have begun to move up to feed for the upcoming winter months. We drove several areas until we found bait balls being FEASTED upon by feeding bass.
Bass feeding on baitfish
Bait balls are easily found this time of year, but you will need to find the ones being pummeled by bass on your graph. You can see this on your graph or side imaging by the bait balls sporadically broken up through the water column. Massive, uniform schools of bait tend to be the ones that are not bothered by predators.
Bass eats a crankbait
Chuck and I discovered an area of approximately 50 yards of sporadic chunk rock bottom in 14-16 ft of water where the majority of feeding was found. The Livingston Deep Impact 18 with EBS MultiTouch was our weapon of choice. The bass this time of year have shad on the brain, so ensure you set your MultiTouch setting to the third biological Baitfish sound – Fleeting Shad. This was key. Our retrieve was a stop and go retrieve after our Livingston Lures began digging the bottom and/or bouncing off the chunk rock. This retrieve coupled by the EBS Sound on the pause was a great one-two punch.
Do not be afraid to bounce these Deep Impact’s off the bottom to generate strikes. Often I call this technique “planting corn”, meaning the bill of the lure digs into the bottom enough to create a corn row, worthy enough to begin to seed. Your color of choice depends upon water conditions, and lake forage. Get yourself a variety or colors and hang on. This is the time of year you can get your arm broke by a Green Monster!
Fish on!
— Joe Budzinski, Army Bass Angler
Conditions Recap:
Time: 2:30 pm to dusk
Skies: Sunny
Surface temp: 73
Water: Clear
Wind: 1-5 NE
Hooks Rating: 4 of 5