Swimming Deep for Big Fish is Nothing New

[Bill Babler]

Git, that is a bit of a different deal.  That is more of a Summer and a Fall bite than this time of the season.  The Dixie Jet is perhaps the best tool for that and it for some reason is not what they want during this period.  That flutter spoon deal is more of a thermocline bite than this is.  As you all know I just love the Dixie Jet, but this is not that.  Sounds like it should be but not.  That falling spoon is just moving to fast in these cool waters for what they want and they have to go to it or chase it.

When your very slow winding and pulling these A-rigs or very slow cranking that swimbait or just fishing the C-tail grub vertically, they don't have to go to speed Mach 1 to catch it.  I really think the falling Jet is just to much speed for this bite.  That's why if you are in the correct water column with the fish, a pause works great on your stickbait.  Most often they take it when it is in the pause mode after you have jerked it several times.

Just like the float-n-fly that pretty much just hangs there suspended with very little to no motion.

Also the spoon bite is really not real good during this period.  This is a swimming bait type of bite.  Not saying they positively won't hit a spoon, but you will catch 10 to 1 on a vertical fished C-tail grub and a Swimbait right now over the spoon.  I did hear last week there was a short spoon bite in the deep docks, but it went South as quick as the weather.  Also heard they  were on a wart and a RK Crawler but no one really did well on those type deals during the 200 tournaments we had here last weekend.  Being a bit sarcastic there.

Now is the time for that very slow rolled swimbait.  Don't hesitate to try it.

[merc1997 Bo]

4 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

I believe in the early 90's Sonny Chafin was one of the  pioneers of this technique.  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.  Sonny at that time fished with Jerry McCutchin out of Warsaw Mo, I believe in both the Heartland and the Redman series, along with Central Pro Am as it got started and this time of the year, that team was deadly on catching White River chain deep suspended bass by swimming a grub deep.

They used a 1/4 to 3/8th. ball head and a 3 to 5 inch C-tail grub to swim to deep suspending fish.  I can remember talking to Jerry and he said they had a coffee can with pre-rigged grubs, said they usually had at least 50 already set up to swim thru the deep tree tops.  Told me if your not losing baits, in the deep trees your not catching fish.  He said you just had to be daring in your approach and let it fall to the last second before you started to swim it back to the boat.

Long cast were as important to them as they are to us today.  They wanted to cover as many deep trees and as much water with each cast as possible.  They weighed in some huge strings of fish doing this prior to the fish kill and even after the kill.

They were fishing the same fish that we work with a stickbait now, but the fish as today at times are not high enough in the water column to take a stickbait.  They swam a grub deep, sometimes as much as 50' for their catches.  Swimming covers much more area than a vertical presentation, and they also did that when they would find fish congregated.

In those days there was 10X the amount of timber that we have now, but they not only worked the timber, they also worked humps and channel swings.  How many of us go out and find a swing or a hump and fish that deep with a swimming technique?  not many I'm guessing.  It works.  Your never after numbers in this type of fishing, more after that one or two big keeper, kicker bites on those locations.  It takes patients and success to fish like this and continue to fish like this.  Most of us don't got it.

With the invention of the A-rig, in modern times both the Fann Brothers and Brent Algeo took this presentation a step further and caught really good bags doing the same thing with the A-rig.  Today in tournaments that allow it, it is usually a winning deal.

I Sundays Anglers In Action derby I saw lots and lots of A-rig retrievers.  Most are 30' telescoping aluminum poles with either a big triple hook on the end or a pig tail to wrap in the wires of the rig.  Most of these are patterened after a golf ball retriever and you just rip the rig out of cedars or deep trees.  I counted at least 30 boats with these on deck.  Most everyone that throws the rig uses extremely light wire hooks that bend out when they are caught.   Depending on how bad the hook is they either bend it back or just replace the bent hook and bait with a new one.  Takes about 15 seconds.

If you have not tried this style of fishing, get your map out, mark some spots and go ply the depths with the A-rig or if your a purest tie on that Chompers C-tail a Yamamoto, or if you  have deep pockets the Keitech paddle tail and see if you can get one of those big old deep Table Rock Bass.

Good Luck

actually, the first folks that i know that began swimming anything in deep trees was dick collier and his buddy jerry, way back in the early 80's.  dick is who taught me the technique.  they used predominately jig and pigs.  it is a deadly technique for big bass both winter and summer.  i turned dick onto using one of my rocker head twin spins to use sometimes in place of the jig.  we also used a big bladed single spin in the winter.

swimming grubs is another adaption of the same technique.  a-rigs work well also, as it more resembles a bait ball passing by.  those that use the right jig heads for either technique avoid being hung up every cast.

one thing that i have been going to as far as swimmers is to use the elaztek minnows.  glue them on and you are good to go without losing a tail off of one every bite.  they seem to as good of tail waggle as keitech or any other brand.

bo

[dtrs5kprs]

The Zman swimmers are hard to beat.

[gitnby]

9 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Git, that is a bit of a different deal.  That is more of a Summer and a Fall bite than this time of the season.  The Dixie Jet is perhaps the best tool for that and it for some reason is not what they want during this period.  That flutter spoon deal is more of a thermocline bite than this is.  As you all know I just love the Dixie Jet, but this is not that.  Sounds like it should be but not.  That falling spoon is just moving to fast in these cool waters for what they want and they have to go to it or chase it.

When your very slow winding and pulling these A-rigs or very slow cranking that swimbait or just fishing the C-tail grub vertically, they don't have to go to speed Mach 1 to catch it.  I really think the falling Jet is just to much speed for this bite.  That's why if you are in the correct water column with the fish, a pause works great on your stickbait.  Most often they take it when it is in the pause mode after you have jerked it several times.

Just like the float-n-fly that pretty much just hangs there suspended with very little to no motion.

Also the spoon bite is really not real good during this period.  This is a swimming bait type of bite.  Not saying they positively won't hit a spoon, but you will catch 10 to 1 on a vertical fished C-tail grub and a Swimbait right now over the spoon.  I did hear last week there was a short spoon bite in the deep docks, but it went South as quick as the weather.  Also heard they  were on a wart and a RK Crawler but no one really did well on those type deals during the 200 tournaments we had here last weekend.  Being a bit sarcastic there.

Now is the time for that very slow rolled swimbait.  Don't hesitate to try it.

I'm sure you are right about that.

I have caught plenty of pre-spawn fish on a spoon in the cedars over the years, but it might be a bit early, and it sounds like the swimbait is a much better choice?

[Bill Babler]

I think for this type of deal it is, but as you have pointed out, there are a bunch of ways to catch them.

[buckcreekmike]

Does this typically involve treetops?  Does  it pretty much have to be in/around trees? Last thing, is it typically trees that top out under water a ways say 25' down in 80' of water, or would swimming around visible trees emerging above the surface work as well. 

[Royal Blue]

17 hours ago, dtrs5kprs said:

The Zman swimmers are hard to beat.

Is that the diezel minnow?  

[balsabee]

Absorbing every word.  Thank you Mr. Babler!  I only wish I had a lot more time to apply it.  Retirement is only 5 years away!

[Bill Babler]

Can be on trees, but at least 70% of the time none are present.  Mostly on Channel Swings and ends.  A lot of time you can see the timber, like now but most that the fish are holding on are not visible.  Also just because there is trees does not mean the fish are on the trees,  they can be anywhere suspended in the area, not tight to the tree at all.  It is kind of like fishing the bridge piers.   You see people right on the pier and they have no idea there is as many of really quite a few moree suspended between the piers in the shade under the bridge as there are on the pier itself.

Here is a pretty good example I fished the AIA with a buddy this last weekend.  He had been down for 3 days pre-fishing and not found much.  I told him I thought I had it covered.  We fished 15 locations Sunday.  He told me he would not have chosen a SINGLE location that we fished.  Had no idea that they would hold fish that far off the shoreline, ever.  We did not get the big bite we needed and the A-rig beat us but we came in 9th. out of 79 teams.  All we needed was that better kicker fish, and we were fishing the right spots for it.  Just did not happen.   We had 9 keeps and 7 shorts, all on a Jewel Xspin and a ball head swimming a 3.8 inch Keitech.

Good Luck

 

[Classic]

Bill - u use braid and a leader on your spinning setups?  Or straight mono or flourocarbon ?