Winter 2021
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lure get within inches of the top of the brush. You can get that perfectly dialed in. For fish that don’t want to move much to each, that’s huge.”
A big key to being able to do this is knowing how to set up your Livescope in terms of how far out to project the sonar.
“When I’m crappie fishing, I’ll run it at 30-feet and get right over them so I can put the jig on their nose,” said Shuffield. For bass, I’ll see guys run it at 60-feet, but they’re getting right on top of the fish. I like to run it at 80-feet with a jerkbait and 120-feet with an Alabama rig. This way I can stay really far away.”
Another key, according to Shuffield, is practicing with casting distance. It’s one thing to know a brush pile is out there, it’s entirely another to know how far to cast past it to get the jerkbait or A-rig down to it, because it typically won’t show up on the electronics until 65- to 70-feet.
“A big thing – get really good with your casting distance,” said Shuffield. “I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even look up anymore. I can stare at my electronics, see the brush and cast without ever looking up because I know exactly how far to cast by feel.”
FISH REACTIONS
“You’d be shocked.”
That was Shuffield’s response to seeing fish react in real time on Livescope. And not just seeing
fish, but seeing how often they
come up to look at your lure and
not eat, especially in winter.
“You’ll watch them come up
on a jerkbait so many times like
they were going to kill it and eat,”
said Shuffield. “Before, you’d have
to let it sit five, six, seven seconds
never knowing if a fish was there.
Now, I know it’s there or not, but
more importantly, I can watch the
fish react.”
Shuffield said watching the
fish react has taught him a ton
about a bass’ behavior and the
importance of doing something
different to trigger bites.
Sometimes he’ll watch the fish
come up time and again and never
eat a motionless jerkbait, but
trying different twitch cadences
will prompt a bite. Or perhaps they
won’t touch the jerkbait, but they’ll
eat the A-rig. Or vice versa.
“It’s gotten to the point where
I can watch a fish react and know
whether or not I can catch that
fish,” said Shuffield. “It may just
be a switch in retrieve or lure, but I’ll be pretty sure. That’s a huge advantage that anglers never had before.” •