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FINESSE FUNDAMENTALS
Before you throw away all your ¾-ounce foot- ball jigs and deep-diving cranks, understand plenty of offshore bass are still taken on these baits every summer. Lambert said a crankbait is his go-to when the bass first pull out there.
Where finesse comes in is as the ledge season progresses, or in situations with excessive pressure (tournaments or weekends). It’s in those incidents that Lambert begins going more finesse. The level depends on what he feels he can get away with to still catch a big fish.
“There’ve been some giants caught on drop- shots on ledges, but usually a drop-shot is a limit filler,” said Lambert. “Of course, [Jayme] Rampey showed you can catch some big bags on it (he cranked 24-8 the final day of the Kentucky Lake event solely on a dropshot), but 98 percent of tournaments are still won on big stuff.”
We already covered finesse “big stuff.”
As for the true finesse, Lambert only pulls out the dropshot, if he can see fish down on a ledge that won’t bite – he doesn’t use it to explore a spot. As for his set-up, it’s a No. 4 hook on 6- or 8-pound-test line with a ¼- to 3/8-ounce weight.
“If I’mgoingto gofinesse to get bit, I’mgoingas finesse as Ican go,” said Lambert. “I’m certainly no dropshot guru. Cody Meyer turnedmeonto it and has taught mealot, but it’s somethingI’llbe usingfor theforeseeable future when needed.”
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