Fishing insight

Learn to sight-fish like a pro

There’s nothing more thrilling than finding a big bass hovering over a light spot in shallow water. It can only mean one thing this time of year: The fish is guarding a bed. So you cast and you cast. The bass, however, either ignores your bait, or it swims off to deeper water and waits for you to leave. So you leave, but for the rest of the day, visions of that bass stay in your mind, and you wonder what you could have done differently.

Sight-fishing can be the most frustrating type of bass fishing, but as pro Bernie Schultz of Gainesville, Fla., proved during a Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on Arkansas’ Beaver Lake several years ago, targeting spawning bass can be a surefire way to put a heavy limit in your livewell. The key to a successful day of sight-fishing not only has to do with your ability to actually find those spawning fish; it’s as much a test of your patience as your talent as an angler. Schultz demonstrated both virtues with a 5-pounder that helped him claim second place in the tournament.

“I missed that fish on the first cast of the day,” he said. “I threw my lizard in there and it ate it, but when I set the hook, the bass had already spit it out.”

Schultz, however, didn’t give up. Experience taught him that he still had a shot, so he spent the next two hours casting a variety of baits to the bass. His persistence paid off, and he finally put the fish in his boat.

“Bedding bass can be some of the easiest fish to catch, or some of the hardest,” Schultz said. “You never know which one it is going to be until you start working on it.”

Is it catchable?

The key to successful sight-fishing not only lies in your ability to actually see bass before they see you; it also hinges on the bass themselves. While some are as reckless as an 18-year-old snowboarder, most tend to be fickle creatures that may or may not be willing to eat a lure. How can you tell? Schultz says you never really know if a bass is catchable until you try, but there are some clues that will help you determine the mood of the fish.

Tyson pro John Crews of Jetersville, Va., a rising star on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, says how a bass reacts to the presence of your boat will be a good indication of how it responds to a lure. Although he tries to avoid moving too close to a bedding bass, sometimes it’s inevitable.

“If the fish either stays in one spot or stays close to the area as your boat moves through, there’s a good chance the fish is catchable, but if it takes off running, you may not stand a chance unless you leave and come back,” Crews said.

Schultz, who grew up sight-fishing for largemouths in the clear lakes of Florida, will often spend a minute studying a fish before he makes a single cast. That not only tells him whether or not he stands a chance of hooking the bass, but it can also offer clues as to the best bait, the best angle to work the fish and the general mood of the fish.

“If it’s running other fish away from its bed, that’s a good sign,” Schultz said. “That means it is aggressively defending its bed, but if it’s so busy chasing away bluegills, it might be too distracted, and it may never have a chance to find your lure. Bass that won’t leave a bed – ones that are locked on – can be easy to catch, but again, you never really know until you try.”

The good news, adds Schultz, is that the mood of a bedding bass will not only change, but it could also turn into a completely different animal on the next cast. That’s why it’s so important to stick with a fish, even if it shows no interest at first. Both anglers will spend as much as two hours working a single fish, particularly if it’s hefty enough to boost their standings.

Get into position

Once you locate an area likely to hold bedding bass, or if you’ve actually spotted the ghostly shadow of a largemouth finning over a telltale light spot on the lake bed, it’s critical to approach it in a manner that won’t spoil your chances. Instead of easing across a spawning flat with the help of his trolling motor, Schultz will allow the wind to push his boat. When he does locate a fish, he often continues past it 10 or 15 yards before he swings around and starts working the bass.

“One thing you want to do is avoid using your trolling motor,” Schultz said. “The sound and the disturbance caused by the prop can really throw the bass off and spook it enough so that it is less willing to bite.”

He also pays close attention to the angle of the sun. Not only can the direction of the overhead light help you keep track of the fish better, it can also serve as a way to stay hidden from a bass. Crews stresses the importance of keeping your shadow or your boat’s shadow from crossing over the fish. That’s a sure way to run a bass out of an area.

“If you put the sun at your back, that fish will have a much harder time seeing you,” Schultz said. “If I can position myself with the sun at my back, I will, but most importantly, I don’t want to get blown across the territory of the bass I’m working by the wind.”

Once he locates a bass he wants to target, Schultz will swing his boat around so the sun and wind are in his favor, and he’ll often ease an anchor over the side. By getting set up before he starts working a particular bass, Schultz can direct all of his attention on the fish without becoming distracted by other factors.

One thing you should never do, agree Crews and Schultz, is block a fish’s escape route. In other words, if a bass is bedding tight to the shoreline, avoid placing your boat between the fish and deeper water. Instead, come at the fish from the side, allowing it the freedom to retreat if it wants to.

“You never want to make that fish feel uncomfortable,” Schultz said. “That’s where a lot of guys go wrong. Another common mistake is making too much noise. I always have a talk with my partners before I start targeting bedding bass about how important it is to stay still. Have all of your rods and tackle ready so you don’t have to open and close storage boxes or move around to get the right rod. Be ready before you find that fish, or move away, get prepared and then come back to work the fish.”

Prime baits

Both experts agree that what you use to catch bedding bass is far less important than how you use it, but both Crews and Schultz almost always use soft-plastic baits.

“Tubes, lizards, creature baits, trick worms and soft-plastic stick baits like a Kinami Flash will all work,” Crews said. “You really don’t know which one will work best until you try it. Sometimes, if the fish are really aggressive, just about anything you throw in there will draw a strike, but I’ve had to switch colors, sizes and lures before I finally caught a bass. Sometimes they like a vertical fall, and sometimes they prefer a bait that falls horizontally. Every fish is different.”

Schultz typically keeps a tube, a lizard and a soft stick bait rigged and ready when he’s sight-fishing, and like Crews, he says that each fish tends to react to each bait differently. One bedding bass may grab a Kinami Flash as it shimmies toward the bed while the next one may ignore that bait completely. That’s why Crews keeps several lures in different colors, sizes and styles on the deck of his boat. His selection typically includes a light-colored tube (yellow, white or pink), a darker tube (either green or brown), a light and dark Kinami Flash, and a natural-colored lizard. Those bright colors not only trigger a defensive instinct in bass, but they also help him keep track of his bait as it rests on the bottom.

“It’s pretty common for the bass to take the lure without me ever feeling it,” Crews said. “By watching the lure, I’ll know to set the hook when it disappears. Sometimes, the bass just swims over it, but most of the time, when the lure disappears, it means the fish took it.”

Hard baits sometimes work, and Schultz will occasionally throw a Rapala 13G floating minnow, allowing it to sit motionless over the bed. Like a lizard nose-down in the bed itself, that floating Rapala will trigger a defensive mechanism and draw a vicious strike.

Leave it alone

If nothing you’ve tried draws a strike, pack up and leave. But first, make a mental note of the area and the exact location of the bed. Both Crews and Schultz will let a bedding bass rest for an hour or more, but when they come back, they keep far enough away from the bed so the bass never knows they are there, and they make long, accurate casts.

“By staying well out of sight, that bass never knows you are there, and that can make a huge difference,” Schultz said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve been able to catch a bedded bass by leaving and coming back.”

Schultz sums up the key to successful sight-fishing by saying that nothing will teach you how to catch bass on beds better than old-fashioned experience. The best sight-fishermen know when to work a bass and when to skip it and look for another one. That’s the sort of thing that can’t be taught. The only way to really get good is to do it often.

Top tips

• Take your time.

• Watch the fish for a minute to check its mood.

• Avoid making noise and sudden movements.

• Cast beyond the fish, and bring your lure to it.

• If the bass moves off, drop your bait directly in the bed.

• Avoid “lining” the fish – that is, laying your line across the top of the fish.

• Allow the bait to sit motionless.

• Change colors, sizes and styles of lures.

• Don’t give up.

• If at first you don’t succeed, quit and return an hour or more later.