WiNtertiMe bass
a suspending rip bait with a long pause becomes my weapon of choice.
After starting the day with some sort of reaction bait, i try to fish it as long as i continue to get a bite every hour or so. as a tournament fisherman, i know reaction fish this time of year are usually above average in quality and since i only need 5, if i think i can target those fish and catch a limit then i’m on the right pattern. Unfortunately, reality usually sets in by about 10am at the latest and if there was a reaction bite, it dies off about then. if i was unable to locate the reaction bite, then after the first hour of light you will usually find me targeting deeper fish. to do this, over the last couple years i have found myself reaching for one of three rods. The first is a 7’4” 3 power dobyns
extreme spooled with 8# fluorocarbon. i will have a 5” Senko wacky rigged with a nail weight in the nose. it gets fished similar to a jig, or in place of a jig with a constant shake of the rod tip on slack line as i slowly retrieve the bait. This is a bait that has produced some real quality fish for me over the years. another rod will be a 7’ 2” power dobyns extreme and 6 # fluorocarbon rigged with a Jackal Flick-shake and a 1/8 or 1/16oz head fished very similar to the Senko. This bait seems to produce more fish but not the consistent quality of larger fish like the Senko does. The third rod will have a standard 1/8 to 1/4 oz dart head with a smallie sweet beaver. all the colors are natural looking whether it is smoke, green pumpkin, watermelon or really, any variation of those.
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