Hey folks, I get askeda lot about pre-spawn,spawn, andpost-spawn fishing. And it’s been veryrewarding for me over theyears and it’s myfavorite time to fish. And all I can say, isknowing where the fishare, is where you’re goingto start catching a lotmore fish and whatthey’re doing. And I live a lot off watertemperature thistime of year. It’s about the onlytime of year when watertemperature means so muchto me because when thatwater temperature startsto hit in that 55° range,I’m going to start hittingthose migration routes,the creek channelsand the ledges,where those fish are goingto start moving into thosespawning flats. You can see behindme right here,there is a flatright in there,and were actually atApache Lake so it’s a big Canyon. So anytime you can find big flats like that back there, it’s a good area for fish to spawn in. So before they move up into those spawning areas, as the water temperature moves up,they are going to starthitting these ledges andthese creekchannels right here,to move backinto these flats. And this is where you’regoing to find some ofthose big females, someof those big males. . Nowhere’s the deal: Themales, a lot of times,will get up in their firstand start making nests. So what happens is even the big females will start roaming up in here after the males have made thenests. You’ll see a lot of folksactually go up into the spawning areas to fish to fish for those little males a lot of times early in the season and that’s when they look real skittish, they’re just making their nests. You get up in there andyou spook the fish off. Well, what endsup happening,is a lot of these femaleswill still be in thesemigration routes. And so this is where we start catching a lot of these big females before they start moving up and actually start bedding. So when that watertemperature hits 55 to 58degrees, it’sa perfect time,and if you pay attentionto the water temperature,it’s the perfect timeto hit these early,what I callpre-spawn areas,these ledges andthe creek channels. Sometimes we don’t havethese deep ledges likethis going intothe back of a flat. Sometimes you’ll have anarea where it’s just flat. At that point, that’s whenthe creek channel is very,very. . Is a very goodarea for you to fish. And what I meanby that is,if you have a flatthat looks like this,you’re going to have alittle cut maybe that goesinto the deeper part ofthe cut that goes into theflats. . The littlecreek channels. And you’ll be able to find those with your graph, and those are the areas you may want to fish. You know? Those 15. . You know, 15 to 5 feet of water areasbefore they go rightinto the flats. Any place where there’s alittle bit of deeper waterwhere they feel a littlebit more comfortablebefore they actually moveup into the flats is agood spot to start whenthat water temperature iscold. Got him!Oh, nice fish. Nice fish. Oh he came off! Thatwas a nice fish. And just before we startheading up into the flats,right on theedge right here. That last bit of thislittle ledge right here. Them moving into the flatsis where that fish waslocated. That’s always a good signbecause you know they’rejust getting readyto move up in there. Good, healthy fish. That’s always a great signwhen you see that becausewhen you get tothe end of that,and they’re gettingready to move up,you know it’sgetting close. You know?Water temperature iswarmed up to that 57degrees, the littlefarther we’ve come back inhere, so that’salways a good sign. It’s funny, becauseit’s 56 over there,57 is coming up just alittle bit shallower. Out there we were fishingin 25 to 30 feet of wateris where theboat was sitting,but we were throwing up onthat ledge where they aremigrating. In here,were sitting in20 foot of water and I’mthrowing up into about 10. So there really, reallystarting to move back. Getting ready already. Oh!There’s another one!They are really startingto move up in there. Come on buddy. Oh, come on. Littlemale Bass right there. You can see thatthere eaten to. They’re getting readyto move up in there,and getting with it. That’s just alittle buck bass. Right here as we arestarting to go into theflats. So they are migratingback there is well,getting ready to moveback up into the shallows. You know pre-spawn fishingis a lot of fun and I wantto go over a few of thelures that I like to usethis time of year, earlyin the pre-spawn when werefishing those ledgesand creek channels. There’s a bunch ofdifferent techniques outthere that work well,like the Carolina rig,things like that. But these are pretty muchmy go-to’s that I seem todo well on, and I’vebeen sticking to them foryears. But first andforemost, of course,is the drop shot rig. The drop shot rig worksyear around, but man,this time of year itworks that much better. You know?And we’ve been verysuccessful on this rig andwhen you’re fishing thosedeeper walls where youhave ledges and you canlet this go down to theledge and falldown to the bottom,it just worksout really good. And we’ve caught alot of fish on it. Now this is the time ofyear that a lot of times,I’ll make my drop shotrig a little bit shorter,you know? To catch these fish with. I won’t use a long leader, I will use a shorter leader, so that is something to remember. I like a quarter ounce long weight, of course when I throw this type of rig,and I’m using a numberone Rebarb hook. Not a 1/0, but anumber one Rebarb hook forthat particular rig. And it worksout really good. The drop shot is alwaysan awesome bait to go to. Now, some of those biggerfish I’ve been catching alot during the pre-spawn,I like to use a jerk bait. And I’ll throw a jerkbait out there on them,and this is the kind ofbait that you want towork. . It’s asuspending bait. I like the suspending jerk baits. You throw it out there, you twitch, twitch. . Pause. . Twitch, twitch. . Pause. . Andthat’s all I do out there. I work it kind of slowthis time of year. Give those big females achance to really get up thereand rip that bait. And they’ll rip itright out of your hand. Bass just eat that thingup during the pre-spawn. You know, when the watertemperature is still realcold, you know,in that 55° range,and your hittingthose areas,a crank bait is anothergreat tool to catch thesefish with. 9 to 12 feet isusually what I like. This is a good all aroundbait for me because whenyou do get up intothe shallow water, it’ll bump off the bottom. . But coming through this water a crank bait is a phenomenal bait. Slow rolling this bait. It’s not fast retrieve,slow roll this bait. 5. 2:1 gear ratio real,10 to 12 test line. And fishing those kind ofareas like we’re fishing,this bait really gets downthere and works well forthem. The other thing is,is the all around jig. When you have a cold frontcoming through during thepre-spawn, one of thethings I love to go to,is the jig. And one of the reasons whyis that you want it reallyslow moving downon the bottom. They’re not hitting quiteas well if they normallywould on a good day, andso any time a cold frontcomes through duringthe pre-spawn,that water temperatureis still at 55, 58°. You can still get intothose migration areas. The reason you have thosecreek channels and thoseledges is. . They likethat deeper water,and you getthat jig there,I like a half ounce jig ora 3/8 ounce jig for that. And that’s what I’llthrow, right there. I like usually a brown,purple natural colors. Okay?So, something toalways think about. All right. The soft jerk bait isanother great tool tocatch thesepre-spawn fish with. Go down and cover a lotof water with this type ofbait. This is still anotherbait. . The soft jerk bait,I’ll move it a little bitfaster during the spawn,when they’re actually upin the water is hittingover 60°, but when it’s 55to 58, 59° in that area,I slow my bait down. So I’ll throw it outthere and twitch,twitch or you know, makeit look like a dying shadfalling over. Give that fish aneasy meal you know?They’re moving up, they’restarting to get a littlebit shallower and they’restarting to get into thosemigration areas. . Thisbait is a great tool tocatch fish with. All right. The other bait that you’veseen us catch a couple offish on that’s just aphenomenal bait this timeof year, and it’s one ofmy almost exclusive typebaits that I love tothrow is that wacky Senko. Man, you cannot beatthe wacky Senko. I use a 5 inchSenko or a Stic-O. Bass Pro makes a Stic-O,one of my favorite colorsis the Houdini andanything with a littlecopper flake in it thatkind of resembles thecrawdads is awesome. So if you find a baitthat’s got a little copperflake into it,you’re great. But love this particularrig right here. We’ve got some bigfish on it today. The big, big fish hit thisthing and it’s just anawesome bait. When the wind is blowingin that pre-spawn,and you’ve got alittle cloud cover,and you’ve got the windblowing and you’ve gotsome waves crashing andyou just don’t know whatto do, becausein the spring,usually we geta lot of wind. One of my favorite baitsof all time, of course,is the spinner bait. I will use the doublewillow leaf in clearwater. And the reason I likethe double willow leaf isbecause you get maximumflash with willow leaf’s. So, you’ll get the maximumflash with willow leaf’s. I use a chartreusetrailer. To try to resemble,somewhat, of a bluegill. You know, for me it worksreally good and it’s beenvery successful forme this time of year. So, you’re lookingfor maximum flash. Now, if you’re indirtier, dingy water,you’re still going tofish this kind of water. You’re going to face thecreek channels in theBluffs going into theledges going into theflats. So if you’re intodingy, dirtier water,then you may want to goto a Colorado blade whichgives you maximumvibration. So these are the few baitsthat I just love to throwthis time of year, andthey’ll probably be loadedup on my deck when I’mout fishing, you know, earlier in the season. so, definitely make sure you got a hand load of these of baits when you get out there. And now you know whatmy favorite baits are tothrow. So, generalizingeverything,you could have three orfour baits hooked up andprobably do pretty wellduring the pre-spawn. You know we’ve gone overthe lures I like to use,now let’s go over the linesize and the rods I liketo use for the differenttechniques were going tobe throwing. For the drop shot,real simple for me. 99. 9% of the timeI’m using a 6 poundfluorocarbon carbon line. I use a quarter ouncelong weight, okay?And I also use a numberone Robo worm. . It’sactually calledRebarb hook. And that’s what I usefor this particular rig. I like a 7 foot mediumaction fast tip rod. And I also like to use aStratic reel which worksout really good. A spinningreel. It’s the 2500 series. And that’s basicallywhat I use right there. It’s a great, great outfitand you’ll catch a lot offish on it, for sure. The only thing with a dropshot that you’ve got toremember withthat light line,is to be sure that you useyour drag on your real. This isn’t somethingthat you clench your. . your. . your. . Yourdrag down with. You want to make sure thatyou actually use the dragon your reel. It’ll help you bring thosebig fish to the. . To theboat. The next rig I. . I liketo throw is of course thatwacky Senko. First of all, you’re goingto need a wacky tool forthe little. . They makelittle rubber O-rings thatyou’re going to haveto put over the Senko. So that’s basically whatit’ll look like when youget it all done. And remember, when youput the O-ring on. . On theSenko or the Stic-O,you’ve got a little flatpiece on that particularstick bait right there. And we call it theegg sack basically. And here’s the front ofthe bait. . The tell of thebait kind of tapers. So you want to make surewhen you put the O-ringon, that you put theO-ring on towards theback. . Which would betowards the taper and. . The back of the eggsack right there. Right is the ribs start. And if you do that, it’llhelp level out the bait alot better. Kind of centerit a little bit,where it falls realnice and natural like. So remember that. The other thing is, isI use a 1/0 Ohner wackystyle hook for thisparticular rig. And all I do when Ihave the O-ring on,is I bring the hook rightup underneath the O-ring,just like so. And I always face thispart, the hook point part,toward the frontend of the bait. And there you have it. I like to throw 12 poundtest fluorocarbon withthis particular baitbecause I’m usuallycatching some real bighogs, and I love it!But. . The one thing I wantto tell you is I use afluorocarbon leader. On the end of that leader,okay my backing line,is the brand-newBerkeley nanofil line. And I love it. I use white. Now they make it in green,they make it in white,I use white. And the reason why isbecause when I throw thisbait out there andI’m letting it fall,because it is weightless. . When I’m letting it fall,my line lays ontop of the water. I can see my line. It almost, you know, I can see it instantly if anything hits it. So what’s really cool is you be a line watcher with this particular kind of line, and you’re going to catch a lot more fish with it. What I like to use for my knot,for my fluorocarbonand the. . the nanofil. . Combine those together. . Is either and Albright knot, or a Uni to Uni knot. Something small. You can find those online as well, to learn how to tie those particular knots. But those are the twoknots that I would use. And I’ll tell you what,this is an awesome line tothrow for thiskind of bait. Anything you’re throwingweightless on a spinningoutfit. It’s made for that. I like a mediumaction spinning rod. 7, 7 1/2 foot rod, and agood spinning reel thatcan handle it. And I’ll tell you what,you’ll do just fine. And like I said. . Ah. . The main, key ingredient,to be in a good wackySenko fisherman in myopinion now, with all thetechnology that’s out,is having that nanofil. I can’t stress enoughgetting that nanofil lineand then tying the leaderon because you can reallysee what’s going on. In the old days,for me to do that,it was really tough forme to watch the line. And so floor carbon isvirtually invisible underthe water, so it’sreally hard to see. So that nanofil reallyhelps us a bunch. White nanofil linefor your wacky Senko. Okay for my spinner baits,what I like to throw,is anywhere from 3/8 ounceto a 1/2 ounce spinnerbait. And I like the goldand the silver bladecombination. Okay?I also like to put thatlittle grub trailer on theend. And I’ll add a littlechartreuse to it for alittle color. That bluegilltint that I like. This time of yearbluegill’s mean a lot to me, so I like to. . to throw that bluegill type. . Anyways. . 14 to 17 pound test line,and I use fluorocarbon,and you want somethingthat doesn’t have awhole lot of stretch to it. I generally use 17 poundtest line on my spinnerbaits now and. . fluorocarbon. Because you want to beable to set that big ol’. . big ol’ thick hookinto the fish’s mouth. If you’re using light lineyou’re going to get a lotof stretch in it. You just not gonnaget a good hook-set. Okay, a 7 1/2 foot mediumheavy rod is perfect forthis bait. That’s what I use. A 7 1/2 foot medium heavy. And a 5. 2:1 gearratio bait cast reel. And you’re ready togo spinner baiting. All right, when itcomes to the jig, okay?That I like to throw. You can throw that jiganywhere from 12 poundfluorocarbon line to 17pound fluorocarbon line. Now that all depends. . Theline size that you use,really for me, depends onthe area that I’m fishing. If I’m fishing wherethere’s a lot of wood or. . You know, cover like that,then I want to throw theheavier line. If you’re in open waterlike on some of thesecanyon lakes, you’repretty much in openwater. . You godown to 12 pounds. But I like a 7 1/2foot heavy rod, okay?With a 6. 2:1 gear ratiobait cast reel for thisparticular rig. That way you canget those fish. Because a lot of timesthey’ll hit and they’llrun right for the boat. You gotta keepup with them. So that’s. . That’s basicallywhat I like to use. Good all around line forme is a 17 pound test lineas well, on the jig. But like I said, ifyou’re in open water,you can downsize it to 12. But I wouldn’t suggestgoing any lower than 12pound testfluorocarbon line. Okay when it comes tomy soft jerk baits,I like to throw. . The lighter the line,the better youcan get away with,but you’re throwing a bigol’ meat hook on thesethings because you wanta big ol’ 4 or 5/0 hook,okay. . on theseparticular baits. So what I do is, withthrowing that particularbait. . I like andoffset shank hook. A lot of guys will throwit with a straight shank,but I like theoffset shank. I like it because it givesme because it gives me abig ol’ bite through thatbig ol’ piece of plasticwhen they hit it. So I’m able tocatch those fish. You can buy them weightedas well if you want to getthe bait down alittle bit more. So this particular baitwould be rigged weightless. But with this particularbait I like to throw aspin casting outfit. . aspinning outfit and. . nota spin cast but a spinningoutfit and a open facereal. I like to use my 2500series Stratic reelsagain, made by Shimano,and then of course uh. . about 10 pound test lineis perfect for this. So if you go with 10pound test. . and make sureagain. . It’sfluorocarbon. . See,fluorocarbon sinks. That’s why we use a lotof the fluorocarbon. Plus, it’s got a lessof more stretch thanmonofilament. So, in saying that, youknow this bait. . It’llhelp sink thisbait a little bit. It’ll just make. . act alot more natural in thewater with thatfluorocarbon line. And with a lot lessstretch in it, you’ll feelthose bites a lot better. So I’ll use a 7 footmedium action rod with thisparticular. . Or you can goto a 7 1/2 if you can findthose rods. Go to a 7 1/2 footrod would be good too. But anywhere from 7, 7 1/2medium action rod would beperfect for this. Uh. . A spinning reel. 2500 series StraticShimano would be great. So that’s what I use forthis particular lure. Now when I’m talking aboutjerk baits. . Jerk bait’sthe same way, my hardjerk baits. . Anytime I’mthrowing a hard jerkbait, a lot of times I’mthrowing that on 10 poundto 12 pound test line. And uh. . Depending on thesize of the jerk bait. . Ifyou’re throwing a littlesmall hard jerk baits thenyou’re gonna probably wantto use a spinning outfit. And with 10pound test line. And I like to use that onthe medium action rod aswell. With a fast tip. 7 1/2 foot, 7 foot rod,and then that Stratic 2500series is a perfect allaround reel for that. Now if I’m throwing thebigger jerk baits. . The 5inch jerk baits, the 6inch jerk baits. . ThenI’ll throw those ona bait casting rod. It’s going to be a 7 1/2foot medium action rodwith a 6. 2 to 1 gear ratioreal and I’m going to use12. . 10 to 12 pound testfluorocarbon line on thoseas well. Okay with the crank bait Ilike to use 10 to 12 poundtest line on thisparticular bait. Remember if you use heavyline with a crank bait,it will not reach itsmaximum depth that it says. So the lighter the lineyou can get away with,the better. But in saying that, thisisn’t the type of crankbait I’m going to throw8 pound test line with. I’ll throw itwith 10 pound,12 pound test line isa great line to use. Fluorocarbon again forthat particular bait. I’m going to use a 7 1/2foot medium action rodwith a 5. 2 to 1 gearratio bait cast reel,and your set to go catcha lot of fish with thisbait. Got’im. We got him. Nice fish right there. Folks. . That’s a goodbed fish right there. He did not likethat Rage Craw. . In his bed at all. Come on. You know you’ll catch a. . a fish like this. . What you end up doing. . just like that. . That’s when they moveup on their beds. You know what I’m saying?So they end upreally. . Getting mean. That’s a good sizemale right there. We’ll get themback real quick. Let them go backto his nest. You know that’s thething. . One thing that’sreal important this timeof year. . Now biologistssay that 68° is theoptimum degree temperaturewhen these fish moveup to make beds. But here in Arizona I’vebeen on fishing beds on58° water. So the thing is, is uh. . You just gotta get up andlook and. . and. . and checkit out when they get earlyin the spring. A lot of it coulddepend on the moon. You know, you getclose to a full moon,the water temperaturemight be 58°,there’s gonna besome fish on beds. And uh. . So the thing is,is uh. . The one lure Ireally love to throw onthese beds is calledthe white. . It’s awhite Rage Craw. Now there’s a lot of times I may have taken my drop shot. . Natural, oxblood red flake worm,throw it in there first. If they’re. . If they goafter it then it’s real easy. But there’s times when you have to really get thefish to be able to. . tobite the bait. . Sometimes you gottacoerce him into doing it. And uh, get them upset and putting this on the bed is the way to go. Bed fishing is something that a lot of people,you know a lot ofthe professionals do,and we all have adifferent way of doing it. I’ve been very successfulat bed fishing and the onething I do know about itis that you need to makesure you backway off the fish. If you’re ontop of the fish, you’re gonna have a tough time catching it because it. . It sees you. Remember that the eyes are on top of the fish’s head basically. They can see up. They look for Osprey and everything coming indiving after themin the water. So if you’reactually too close,you could reallyspook the fish. That’s where,you know for me,over all the yearsof fishing I’ve done,those Power Poles reallycome in handy in some ofthe shallow water,you know, bed fishing. Is because I can drop those Power Poles. We can pull. . pull back, see what the fish is doing. I’ll kick back and I canpretty much if that fishis going to bite or notor whether it’s gonna be atime before I canget him to bite. But you have to be backwhere you can just barelysee the fish. And that’s whywe use white. A white bait’s somethingyou can see from a distance in that shallow water, and that’s what you’re looking for. Watch for it to maybe disappear or watch for the fish to move. I can barely make out the fish when he’s up that close on the bed. You know up. . Up that shallow. I pull that far back. And the farther back you get the better off you are. What I like to throw isa. . I’ll throw a little. . I’m throwing12 pound test. This is one of my favoritepitching baits becauseanother thing is, ifyou’re using a big baitcaster and your overhandcasting and you’re makingall kinds of motion, youcould spook the fish aswell, and it could takeyou that much longer tocatch it. But. . What I like to useis a spinning outfit. That way when I go tothrow out to the fish,I’m pretty muchflipping my bait out. I’m barely making anyarm movement whatsoever. And you want to stay wherethe fish can’t see us so. . You know, you don’t wantto make a whole lot ofmovement. But I’m using 12 poundtest fluorocarbon line forthis particular bait. It’s called a Rage Craw. It’s a 3 inch Rage Craw,it’s what I like to use. And uh. . I’ll throw a 2/0big wide gap offset shankhook like that, okay?Just like so. . I put alittle glass bead on thefront of it. I use a tungsten3/8 ounce,sometimes all use a 1/2ounce but I normally don’tgo any biggerthan a 1/2 ounce,because it makes. . Youknow it depends on howshallow of water you’refishing. . For all aroundfishing 3/8 ounceis my favorite. Tungsten bullet weight. And then of course thebobber stop that I put upon top so that the weightdoesn’t slide way up onthe bait. . Or wayup on the line. So. . All rig it just likeso. . In there you have it. I use a mediumaction 7 1/2 foot,7 foot rod and it worksreally good to catch thesefish. Now the thing is, ifyou gotta remember sightfishing is a lotof fun to do, butit is a vulnerable state,and you want to make surethat you put these fishback after you catch them. Right away. Put them back. And uh. . This ain’t thetime a year you want to goout and catch fishand keep them. Um. . It’s a lot of fun. . This is a lot of. . a funway to catch fish but it’snot a way you want to goout and just. . uh. . Youdon’t want to catch any. You want to catch andrelease this time of year,without a doubt. Let them have babies sowe can go out and have funanother day. But it’s a fun way tocatch fish, for sure. And like I said, there’s afew other baits I like tothrow, but that’s one ofmy mainstays right there. Right?So I can seeit really well. Okay the first thingI do when I see a bed,is a lot of times if yougo over a bed and your. . Your trolling motoris going shallow,and you see a fish. . Instead of stopping rightthere, turning yourtrolling motor around, making all kinds of commotion, you want to be sure that you just drive right on by the bed. Just drive right on by it. The fish might see you, come around and look. . Uh. . And that’s the first thing I do. Just go right on by. And I’ll go by probably about 20 yards, make my turn back around and then that’s when I know I’ve spotted where I’m at. And uh. . I go back. A lot of times I’ll dropmy Power Poles in the water where I’m backed off far enough where I can see the fish. . Barely see the fish. . And I want to assess the fish and see if I can catch it. See what its emotions areand. . Basically every bassis different whenyou get up there. Some will hit yourbait right away. They haven’t beentampered with. Some bass have already been tampered with, with other fishermen, and those fish can be a little bit harder to catch. You gotta remember they’re not hitting out of a feed strike this time of year. They’re hitting moreout of a. . More of a protective type mode where they want anything that comes in their nest out. Crawdads, lizards, you know your little swim baits. Whatever your throwing in that, in that nest is pretty much. . They want out. And that is something else, is anything in your tackle box will pretty much catch these kind of fish. But the main thing is, is knowing what the bass isdoing and how long willit take you to catch thefish. That’s the next thing. I won’t spend timeon officious real,real hard to catch,especially in tournament. I’ll let somebody else ina tournament actually taketime to catch those fishwhile I’m out catching theeasier ones for me unlessthey’re big enough towhere I’m thinking “Man,this is worth sitting onfor a while”. Because their emotionsare totally different. The fish might have tomove a certain angle onthe bed as you’rebringing the bait through,to uh. . to decidehe wants to hit it. And another thing is. . And a lot of folks like tothrow right on top of thebed. . Let me tell you,some of the biggestmistakes you can make. . A lot of times if you splash the bait right on top of the bed. . If you are messing with a half spookyfish. . He spooks off. . Takes a while to start catching the fish. Always throw past the bed and dragged the bait in. And you’ll also notice that the bass will actually turn, and when it sees it coming up towards the. . The nest. . He’ll go right outside the nest to look and see what it is and sometimes whack it before it even comes close to the nest. That makes it foran easy catch. So those little thingslike that are huge. But you gotta rememberthat your bass bed mightbe this big around,but the spot that he’sprotecting is onlyabout that big around. You know sometimes maybeeven the size of a silverdollar. So you make multiple castup in that area if thebass just turns and looksat it coming through theedge of the nest. You know, especially onesthat have been caughtbefore, they may just lookat it as it’s coming by. A lot of times, if youthrow up there and youbring it by and theyjust look at it,then throw it up there afew inches more and try todrag it across. And finally you’re goingto find a sweet spot therethat the bass does notwant it there and you’regonna get areaction out of him. Whether he bites it ornot. . Anytime you can getthe bass to nose up, tome, it’s a catchable fish. So that’s another thingis. . Is. . Is. . Is that’swhen I’ll take the time toplay with them and try toget him. . Uh. . Coercedinto biting my bait. Okay one other thing aboutbed fish and is when Ipull up to a bed and theyhave a male and a femaleand it looks like they’returning in all of that stuff and the males. . you know. . and the female are turning. I’ll a lot of times just leave the bed. I won’t even mess with those fish. They’re so hard to catch. They’ve got other things on their mind. They’re. . They’re in themiddle of what they’redoing, and basically theywon’t even attack anythingat that point. You’re best off justgoing to another bed. Remember, there’s a lot ofother beds you can go to. But uh. . When they’re inthe midst of doing theirspawning, I don’teven mess with them. I just leave them alone. And so uh. . You justmove on to the next bed. Now the difference forme. . And people ask me allthe time. . “Well how areyou catching the femalethen?”Well, that’s not howI catch the female. I catch the female whenthe female is actuallybacked off the nest andyou see the male on thenest protecting,protecting the nest,and the female is justkind of sitting out therewaiting to move up. And a lot of times that’swhen. . That’s when you cancatch the big female fish. But when they’re actuallyon the bed together andthey’re. . And they’reintertwining and doing allof that stuff I don’teven mess with them. I leave him and Igo to the next bed. Got him!I got him. Good smallmouth. Right there folks. Oh. . Wackyrigged to warm right thereon that dark spot,and there he was. Oh my goodness. Come on baby. Smallmouth are justin general tough fish. Look at that. Beautiful smallmouthBass right there. Nose hooked. Perfectly. Smallmouth Bass tend. . Get’im back in the water. . Smallmouth Bass tend toactually spawn a littlebit deeper. And uh. . Sowith that said,a lot of times I liketo throw drop shot in. They just can’tstand that drop shot. But the other thing is,you know you’ll have yourlargemouth up real shallowand you’ll find thesedeeper beds out deeper. What you’re basicallylooking for is the bigblack circles. As far down asyou can see,you’ll see big darkspots down there. Doesn’t mean you’ll always see the fish. But a lot of times if you have a lake that has smallmouth in it, smallmouth tend to like to. . To spawn a little bit deeper than the largemouthdo. And I’ll tell you what,you can have a lot of funwith that. We didn’t evensee the fish. I just threw up to thedark spot, and boom,there it was. So uh. . You know. . You cancatch a lot of. . A lot ofsmallmouth doing that inuh. . in lakes that havesmallmouth. Uh. . Drop shoting inis one of my favoritetechniques for. . forthe smallmouth bed. You know?Like when I goto Lake Havasu,or even here at ApacheLake or Roosevelt if I seethe smallie beds. A lot of times the dropshot is the number oneticket for me. I don’t even have to pullout anything that reallyhas to. . We have to tryto get them to bite with. Normally the hitthe bait right away. So uh. . One other keything that’s reallyimportant about bedfishing and sight fishing,uh. . There’s two keythings that are very hugethat you gotta remember. Number one: a good pair ofpolarized sunglasses is amust. Uh. . You know. . I likethe. . The darker ambercolored type lenses. Some guys like tosmoke in the daylight. Because we have cloudcover and things like thatand I don’t like changingmy glasses all the timeI’ll wear my amber. . Mydarker amber sunglasses99. 9% of the time andI can see just fine. You know I’ve learneda lot about how to readwater and how tosee through it. I’ve done very well I’vedone really well with thisparticular kind of. . uh. . pair of sunglasses. The thing that’s realimportant though that Idon’t think a lot offolks understand is,always make sure you getglass in your glasses. Don’t use. . I don’tuse the plastic lensesanymore. It’s glass. And. . You just get betteroptics with the glass forsure. The other thing that’sreally important about bedfishing is yourboat positioning. So many people don’teven give themselves anopportunity tocatch the fish,even thoughthey can see it,and it’s roaming aroundand looks skittish. Uh. . I like if I can. . Nomatter what. . To make surethat I leave some kind ofa. . uh. . Deep water accessroute to the fish where itdoesn’t feel blocked off. And that’s huge. The other thing is, ismake sure that when thesun’s up that your boatsnot positioned to whereyour shadow’s going overthe bed all the time whenyou’re fishing the fish. Sometimes that’sreally hard to do. But you gotta try to finda way to put your boat inposition where you’renot actually putting anyshad. . Casting any shadowover the fish whatsoever. In saying that, I like tobe sure that when the fishis trying to see me, thatit’s looking toward thesun not toward. . Youknow. . It’s got it’s bestview when it’s lookingaway from the sun. So I try to positionmyself to where the fishactually has to looksomewhat towards the sunto uh. . To even to trysee me any good. Because the sun will helpblind. . Just like you,when looking into the sun,it’s going to blind thefish as well. They won’t seeyou as well. But you want to make surethere’s that. . that. . thathappy medium where youdon’t want to be right inthe sunlight where you’recasting a big shadow overthe fish. So. . That is huge. And I’ll tell you, that’swhere the Power Polesreally come in handy ifyou’ve got a boat andyou’re out. . you’reout bed fishing. Those Power Poles areworth their weight in goldfor this timeof year fishing. I don’t. . I can’t believeI fished this long withoutthem. And it’s so nice to havethem because I can put myboat in position, I canwait for the fish I canwait for the fish torelax. . Whatever I have todo. . And uh. . And actually,I’ve been able to catchmy fish a lot quicker byhaving those. Because you’re not usingthe trolling motor,you’re not hitting yourtrolling motor all thetime. . Trollingmotor is huge. The other thing I wantto say is when you’re inshallow water in youraround some skit. . skittish type fish, uh. . early in the spawn. . It’s,for me. . if I can see thebottom. . I won’t even havemy graphs on. After I find out what thewater temperature is inthe area and things likethat I’ll shut my graphsoff. Because the graphs have atendency to put a ping inthe water as well. I just want to try andbe as quiet as possible. You don’t want to bethumping stuff down inyour boat, or having yourpartner open up his tacklebox lid andslamming stuff down. It’s very importantthat you be quiet. Be real subtle when youget in there and you’ll bebetter off trying toget those fish to bite,that’s for sure. I want to gothrough a few of the luresI like to use whenI’m bed fishing. And of course, this isone of them right here. It’s just a white lizard. You know a 5 to 7 inchlizard works real good. A 6 inch lizard worksreally good on those beds. And I’ll tell you what,for those deeper beds thatyou’re trying to fish,sometimes that little RageCraw is a little bit toosmall for you to see,you go to a little bitbigger bait like this andsee a little bitdeeper on those beds. And it works really good. They can’t stand to havea lizard on their bed,and that worksreally good. The other thing ofcourse. . uh. . I try to getaway as natural as I cansometimes. . I like touse. . This is a GeneLarew salt craw,but I like the orange. . bright orange pincers because I can really see those in light, sandy areas, even some darker type beds where youhave dark beds. You can actually see thepincers really good anduh. . I’ve done really wellwith that particular baitas well. The Senko, a lot oftimes just weightless,I’ll Texas rig that Senko. I won’t. . I’ll use a bigold 4/0 you know. . widegap hook on thisparticular bait and I’llthrow it Texas style. And uh. . Throwit up in there. The biggest fear thata lot of professionalfishermen have is actuallycatching the fish on theside or something likethat because a lot oftimes will swipe at. So I always try to Texasstyle my baits and makesure the fishruns off with it. One thing to learnabout bed fishing,is uh. . You might have afish attacking your bait and you get all excited but that fish, as long as it’s attacking your bait, he’ll probably eat the bait. So you’ve got time, uh, unlike any other time, to be able to make sure that the fish has actually got the lure in its mouth. So when throwing out there,you know especiallyin the tournament’s,it’s so scary becauseyou’re on these big fishand there swiping at itand you want to set thehook. . You know. . Be surethat that fish gets thatbait in their mouth. And uh. . Because you know,you’ll have to throw itback if you catchit on the side. So sometimes you catchthem on the side of thejaw or something and theyswiped at it and theydidn’t quite getthe whole thing. So I always try and makesure that they’re actuallyswimming off with itreal quick off the bed. Now they will sometimesjust hit it and blow itout. But I’m telling you,if they’re doing that,you’re eventually going toanger him enough to wherethey’re gonna. . they’regonna hit it and they’regonna. . They’re going totake it out themselves. The other thing is, isuh. . The jig, of course. When I’m on some beds,sometimes those bigfemales uh. . A littlebit bigger presentationsometimes is what ittakes and uh. . Something alittle bit more bulkierfor them to be a littlemore agitated and a littlespooked about somethingbeing there. . So they’lldefinitely hit somethinglike that. And there’s guys thatthrow swim baits and stufflike that on the bedstoo and that works prettygood. These are pretty much thebaits I use all year longand I’ve won a lot ofmoney doing it so it’s,you know. . Youcan definitely uh,catch a lot of fishdoing it that way too. But those are the fewbaits that I like to throwwhen I’m bed fishingand I can pretty muchexclusively go to thesebaits along with that ragetale craw and uh, and doall the site fishing Iwant to do andhave fun doing it. So it’s a lotof fun but uh,guaranteed there’ssomething in your boxthat’ll work.
About the author
Related Posts
January 13, 2015
Jerkbait Smallmouth Bass

November 16, 2019
Tips on Fishing Murkey or Muddy Water For Bass
February 12, 2015