Spring 2025
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hookset. The two lines can be married with a multitude of knots, such as a uni-to-uni, Alberto, FG Knot or any knot that feels comfortable to tie and secures the union of lines.
TARGET: A good place to start are the main lake points in 15- to 30- feet of water. Specifically, lake points at the mouth of spawning areas such as northwest bays that get the most sunlight and heat up first and faster than others.
BOAT POSITION: You can put your boat in 25-feet, cast up to 15-feet and work the bait back towards the boat. If no results, move the boat out deeper to 30-feet and repeat the process.
RETRIEVE: Keep the retrieve- slow, slower, and slower than that and if you think you’re going too slow, slow down even more. It could be a tricky time; because you cannot necessarily feel all the bites; so be aware if anything “feels” different at all. The rod may just feel a bit lighter or mushier or heavier or different in general.
BIG SWIMBAIT
For those that find the down bait option less than exciting and want to chuck and wind. There is always the giant, shoe- sized, trout-mimicking swimbait. There is a reason that “Swimbait Dreams” is a saying and that there have been anglers that have made their name on this type of fishing – swimbaiting. It is known to attract the biggest of the bigs.
While some anglers keep their favorite swimbait of choice on the low, others are ready to share the bait and the bass that have fell to it. One of those most associated with the technique is Butch Brown known for the Deps Slide Swimmer. Here, we take a look at that option.
LURE: When tying on the Deps Slide Swimmer, there are a few sizes to choose from, such as the 250, 175 or the
Deps Slide Swimmer
145. For quantity of bites, we go to the smaller version – the 145 (5.7 inches) and when on the hunt for that one big girl, we opt for the largest 250 (9.87-inches).
COLOR: As we know, matching the hatch is always a train of thought; but in this case, water clarity is a very big factor. Swimbaits can be a visual thing for a bass – if they see them too well, it can be a turnoff or hindrance. Think of picking a color that is camouflaged within the water clarity. That being said – an easy go-to method for color choice is a trout replicator, if the body of water holds trout.
LINE: A line choice for a Deps swimbait is 25-pound monofilament. Mono works in this case due to its buoyancy which doesn’t pull the nose of the bait down and allows the bass to eat the bait before you give the bad news.
TARGET: Again, main lake points can be targeted and varied depths can produce.
BOAT POSITION: The boat position can be on the shallow side of the point in five-feet of water.
RETRIEVE: From the shallow side, fan cast the point and retrieve from deeper water to shallower water, running the swimbait across the ridge of the point. Repeat at different speeds.
We hope that these two styles of big bass catching will help you put a big one in the boat this season! Tight lines. •
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Deps Slide Swimmer