Catching Bass In Clear Water

[Mike Worley]

Bass fishing has been good in shallow water this week with lots of Largemouth bass feeding on crayfish in less than 5 FOW. The lake has really cleared up with 16' visibility in many areas. If you can find colored water the fishing is much easier but the bass are still feeding even in the clear water in very shallow on the rocky points and coves that have crayfish present. The trick is to not spook the fish before you can catch them. Be sure to try and keep your boats shadow off the areas you are trying to fish. This means you must try to keep the wind on your back and the sun on your front, this is not always easy but with the water as clear as it is it's one more thing to consider if you are going to be successful in catching fish. Light clear line is also important fluorocarbon line or braid works best with 4 - 10 pound test. Try to make long casts down the bank with your stick baits, crank baits or jigs. Work with the wind. You will be able to get closer to the fish on windy cloudy days. I find that tilting up the outboard motor and using a drift sock to slow the boat down while keeping the boat as close to the shore as possible with the electric trolling motor works best. This technique calls for some preplanning and you need to be in stealth mode to make it work in other words don't move around in the boat and don't make noise. There are a lot of big fish in shallow water and they are easily spooked. The closer you are to shore the less visible you are to the fish with a much reduced boat Shadow. Locating areas that have crayfish present: look for fist size chunk rock (boulders or shallow ledges are a plus) Crayfish seem to like points for spawning. Crayfish are present all year round in Bull Shoals Lake and are the preferred forage of all species of bass. Bass will eat just about anything but will feed on crayfish whenever they are present. If you remember being in a area where you saw bass spook out of clear shallow water they were probably in there for crayfish make a mental note that it's a area that holds crayfish and work it when conditions are right. I like to use a suspending stick bait or a crank bait like a Wiggle Wart or a very light (1/16-1/8 OZ) swimming type jig presentation for a reaction bite. A 4" swimming minnow on a 1/16 jighead or a Hulagrub on a 1/8 jighead do a pretty good imitation of a crayfish or minnow when trying to escape and will trigger reaction bites. Try to use as light of line as possible I use 4 - 6 # florocarbon for the swimming jigs.

[rps]

Thank you.

[Bill Jr.]

Mike,

Thanks for all of your reports. They are full of tips which I am very appreciative. I do use this type of technique with cranks or spinner baits, but never targeted parallel very shallow with the jig.

I have a question on jig/craw trailers. My fav is actually a 5/16 Eakins or 3/8FB PB&J with a little larger craw that is very lifelike and really can't get away from green pumpkin. I just think that it is better in the ultra clear water. With the lightweight jigs are you using something like Chompers stand up jigs with a 4 or 5" hula grub?

Again, I really appreciate the time you spend on your reports.

[Mike Worley]

Mike,

Thanks for all of your reports. They are full of tips which I am very appreciative. I do use this type of technique with cranks or spinner baits, but never targeted parallel very shallow with the jig.

I have a question on jig/craw trailers. My fav is actually a 5/16 Eakins or 3/8FB PB&J with a little larger craw that is very lifelike and really can't get away from green pumpkin. I just think that it is better in the ultra clear water. With the lightweight jigs are you using something like Chompers stand up jigs with a 4 or 5" hula grub?

Again, I really appreciate the time you spend on your reports.

Jigs & trailers cover a lot of territory. I have used a just about anything that resembles a crayfish or minnow. Hula grubs on a 1/8 jighead is a good choice as well as a 4" swimming minnow in smoke or motoroil on a 1/16 jighead. Keep in mind that we are talking about very clear / shallow water in this topic and getting a reaction bite so a swimming type presentation is going to work better than trying to get a bass to pick up a slowly worked heavier jig which is a different presentation.

[Guest]

Swimmin Minners!

What kinda 1/16oz jighead? weedguard?

[Mike Worley]

Swimmin Minners!

What kinda 1/16oz jighead? weedguard?

I like 1/16 OZ jigheads with a light wire 2/0 or 3/0 hook. I don't use a weed guard for this presentation. Just try to keep it swimming along paralell to the bank in about 3' - 5' of water along a med to steep chunk rock bank with the point being the highest precentage area for bites.