I
ntroduced
to fishing by
his dad, Sean Beach has never had
a bad day of fishing
in his life. He has
been kayak fishing
for over 10 years and
tournament fishing
on and off for the last
seven. After feeling
the bug, he decided
to get serious the last
two years. During
these two years, he
has been able to get
two wins with several
top-10 finishes.
Drop shot
One of his biggest accomplishments has been qualifying for the Bassmaster Kayak Series championship the last two years – one at Lake Murry and one at Lake Fork.
Here he shares with us his wintertime tactics for kayak bassin’.
WB: Thinking of highland reservoirs, which area do you search for winter bass?
BEACH: I focus a majority of my time, in the winter, on the high percentage stuff like main lake points, wood, rock, and docks, if available.
WB: What are the five main lures you would use to find winter fish and how would you work those?
BEACH: The jig, drop shot, spoon, A-rig, and Ned rig. When I work a jig, I will typically just drag it slow – no hopping. I want to make it as easy a meal as possible for the lethargic bass. I throw my jig on a 7”4 medium-heavy rod with 12- to 15-pound straight fluorocarbon. A dropshot is typically a Yamamoto Shad Shape worm and the Ned-rig is almost
Ned rig
®
Spring 2025
always a Z-Man TRD. The new Yamamoto three-inch fat Senko is fished very similar – usually just dead stick them. It seems as if these fish (winter bass) don’t want anything erratic, these simple baits produce for me consistently. I throw the drop shot and Yamamoto Shad on the same rod a 6”10 medium-light 10- to 15-pound braid to 6- to 10-pound fluorocarbon. Normally, I throw an A-Rig in all water column levels. I have my best luck in the mid or bottom columns. Sometimes, I will slow roll it. I use a 7”- to 7’6” heavy-action rod usually with 20-pound fluorocarbon. When using a spoon, I throw a Duh Spoon in the Morning Dawn color or the Electric Chicken color in a 1 3/4-once to get it down quick to the schooling bass, I’ll jig it pretty aggressively. I have found that
throwing it on a 7’
to 7’4” heavy-action
rod with 12- to15-
pound straight
fluorocarbon works
best. This set up, I
find I loose very few
fish.
WB: What key structure would you check to find fish?
BEACH: As
someone who
hasn’t jumped
into the LiveScope
game yet, I use my
Down Imaging and
Jigs SpiodineStscatnhattohloaovke for
big rocks or wood
on them, if I can’t
physically see it
from the bank. Fish
pull really tight to cover this time of the year; so just finding the structure, is a good step in locating the fish.
WB: What depth do you check for the bass?
BEACH: I like to check all depths because there are always some fish in the shallows and some deep. Most of my time will be spent 20-feet or deeper. I believe a majority of the fish will pull out deeper water to chase bait or just sit on the bottom.
WB: If you only had two lures to use which two, what would they be and where would you use them?
BEACH: Jig is my number one lure to use in the winter with my go-to colors are Green Pumpkin 1/2-ounce either Keitech or Bass Union in brown and purple, paired
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