Published: May 02, 2008 06:02 pm            

BARRY ST. CLAIR: Give bass a fat lip

I’ve got good news and bad news.

The bad news is the best time of the year to sight fish for bass spawning in shallow water is over. The sun grows brighter and hotter overhead with each passing day. Bass are sunlight and temperature sensitive creatures. After they finish their procreating rigors, they move away from the shoreline.

The good news is after finishing their reproductive rites, bass are hungry and willing to chase down and savage lures that mimic their prey. They may be out of sight, but they are not out of the minds of bass fishermen intent on catching some quality-sized fish.

Largemouth bass do not go to the middle of the lake and sulk when spawning is complete. Actually, they do not move very far from the shallows because the shoreline area is where most of their food is concentrated. What they do is move into water that is 8-12 feet in depth that contains some type of structure or cover. They seek these areas because they provide protection from the sun, are typically cooler than unprotected water and allow them the opportunity to hide and prey on forage fish and other food items.

And the best way to catch them in these lairs is to give them a fat lip— bass angler slang for using a crankbait that has a large diving lip on the front of it which allows the lure to reach the depths where the fish are living.

Crankbaits are designed to mimic wounded or injured bait fish or other food items such as crayfish. They trigger strikes from bass for two reasons: The primary one is the lure represents a food item to a hungry fish, and bass are fooled by the size, shape, color or action and strike it.

And the second reason they attack crankbaits is because of a phenomenon called a reactive strike. Even though a bass may not be actively hungry, they will strike a passing object resembling food purely out of instinct.

Many predators exhibit this behavior. A common house cat is a good example. Drag a small feather tied to a string in front of a cat and it will attack the offering every time. Bass, while not quite as predictable as a cat will also exhibit the same behavior. Crankbaits appeal to both of these primal forces in bass behavior and rank as one of the top attractors as a result.

Post spawn fishing can be some of the best of the year. Bass are hungry from expending huge amounts of energy during the reproduction process. Typically, they feed very little during the time they are creating the next generation of bass. But once the rigors of spawning are past, bass feed actively to replace the weight they lost fasting during the spawn.

However, catching post spawn bass with crankbaits is not just a case of chunk the lure into a likely area and then wind it back in. And what is a likely area anyway? Think cover in 8-12 feet of water. Grass lines and stump fields along creek channels are ideal spots to find them post spawn.

Bass in a post spawn pattern can be notoriously picky about what lure they will strike and what action is required to get them to do so. So a certain amount of experimenting with different combinations may be necessary to find what they want. Generally, mimicking the prevalent forage is the best bet. Shad, crawfish or sunfish-colored lures are good choices to start.

There are two ways to fish timbered or grass lined creek channels with crankbaits. When fishing timber, find the creek channels and work a lure along the edges casting parallel as much as possible. With good quality lures costing more than $5 apiece, many anglers are reluctant to fish crankbaits in timbered areas but that is a mistake if catching quality fish is the goal.

One of the most effective ways of getting bass to bite a crankbait in timber is to “bang the wood.” This means cast and retrieve the lure so that it makes contact with stumps and logs.

Cast past a likely spot and then crank the lure down close to the bottom and make it run into the woody cover and then stop the retrieve. If the lure is buoyant, it will slowly rise to the surface much as a stunned bait fish would. Lures that are neutrally buoyant will hover. Let the bass decide which type of reaction they will respond to.

The second method is targeting vegetation edges. Cast parallel to the cover, crank the lure down and then experiment with retrieves. Sometimes a steady crank is what induces strikes. Or work the crankbait in a series of stop and go pulses allowing the lure to make contact with the bottom and then rise slowly or suspend. Either of these techniques can be deadly on hungry bass looking for an easy meal.

Giving bass a fat lip is a fun and productive means of fishing for them. It takes concentration, good casting skills and the occasional donation of a lure. But the explosive arm jarring strikes and aerobatics from quality fish that results from doing it is worth the cost of losing a few lures.

Barry St. Clair is a guest columnist for the Athens Daily Review. His columns appear weekly.

        

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