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Go Slow, Fish a Drop Shot or Finesse a Crank

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Go Slow, Fish a Drop Shot or Finesse a Crank

Nick shares with us some bass fishing techniques which will help all of us during the spring fishing season.

Go Slow, Fish a Drop Shot or Finesse a Crank

Take these suggestions and you may boat more bass in early spring Nick Ruiz holds a largemouth. After suffering through 2002-03's ice-laden, super-cold winter, you're probably eager to get back on the water and feel the first strike of an early-spring bass. However, regardless of where you fish, targeting bass just after ice-out and before the warmth of spring takes over can be a very daunting task, but you can catch fish at this time of year. Here are a few suggestions you can use to put more cool-water bass in your boat.

Slow down

As you all know this winter was particularly harsh. Nobody was spared from the snow, ice and cold stuff. This will have a direct effect on bass fishing. First off, because ice will be melting off much later than it usually does, all normal bass behavior, such as prespawn, spawn and postspawn, will be slightly pushed back on the time table. Another fact to remember is that this spring water will be much colder than you're used to at any given time. This means you'll have to make several changes to successfully target early-spring bass. The first thing will be to slow down and downsize your baits. These are the keys to effectively targeting bass in April. Just like the dog days of summer when water temps soar and daily air temperatures climb into the high 90s, bass are going to be lethargic now. Chasing down a speeding Rat-L-Trap or spinnerbait is not very high on their list of things to do.

In fact, slow, opportunistic meals are going to be a mainstay of these fish well into late April, or until the water temperatures start into the high 50s and low 60s. With that in mind, and if your state allows you to chase bass now, here are a few rigs to use to cash in on the early bite:

Carolina cranking, finesse style

Though you might file this one under the "you've got to be kidding me" heading, the finesse Carolina crankbait rig has been employed on various tournament circuits and by guides for some time. By Carolina rigging a crankbait, you essentially get the same effect as a drop-shot rig (described next page), but in this case horizontally rather than vertically.

The principle of keeping the bait in the strike zone for longer periods of time is the basis for both of these rigs. By having your crankbait Carolina rigged, you are able to actually swim a floating crankbait up and down in the same spot a number of times, thus giving bass a longer opportunity to strike. My springtime selection of baits for this tactic will be smaller, very buoyant floating crankbaits.

The Mister Twister BigySmal as well as some of Predatek Crankbaits' offerings fill the bill quite nicely. However, your favorite small floating crank will do just the same. It's important to use a floating crankbait as that is what gives this rig its action. You let line out, let the bait float up a few feet, then dive it back down to where the swivel will meet the sinker. The bonus is you can do this as many times as you like without moving the physical location of the rig.

Assuming you know how to Carolina rig, here is basically what I do to make this a finesse rig: Begin just as you would with a regular heavy worm Carolina rig, then simply downsize your line/leader setup to 6 or 8-pound test, and downsize your Carolina sinkers to perhaps ? or three-eighth ounce (a ? ounce will be fine if you are fishing particularly deep water).

Your swivels will also need to be smaller than normal as larger terminal tackle items will usually have an adverse effect on the action of your baits. As far as where to fish this rig, my personal favorites are stumps and other hard cover on the lake bottom, as well as any drastic change in depth such as a submerged bluff wall. By being able to move the bait vertically as well as horizontally, the sky is really the limit as far as finding structure to fish this bait.

Another important point is to not hesitate when it comes to trying this approach in places where you have traditionally caught bass on other baits. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised with its result. As you probably surmised from reading about this technique, it requires a lot of patience, however, the rewards I feel are most definitely worth it. Author Nick Ruiz used this rig around this time last year to catch "tons of fish." Though it has been used by saltwater anglers for many, many years, using the drop-shot rig in freshwater is fairly new. The idea is simple: a small finesse worm or similar offering attached at some length up the line, with the sinker below the hook. Seems simple, right? It is, and that's why it's so effective.

Most of the baits we use for bass are based on some degree of movement; however, with the drop-shot rig, you have the ability to select what depth you want your bait to sit at. This means your bait can remain in the strike zone for an indefinite period of time, utterly critical when it comes to lethargic, early-spring bass. Now, you're probably wondering where the "super" part of the rig comes in.

Most drop-shotting tackle you've probably seen is based around the concepts of "small" and "finesse," which is great when targeting bass in 6 to 10 feet of water where cover is present and bass are active. However, in this case, we will be in far deeper water, say 15 to 30 feet.

What I will do is take a sinker as heavy as a ? or three-eighth ounce and use it with my drop-shot rigs. Many of the sinkers that are specifically designed for this tactic are very light, sometimes as small as 1/32 ounce, which is fine for shallower water and active fish. But in this case we need depth, and we need it fast. The heavier sinker will get the rig down to where it needs to be — a deep stump field or submerged main lake hump — much faster than one of conventional size.

As far as baits, I will use nearly the same sizes I would on a conventional drop-shot rig. I will generally use a smaller, more natural offering, such as a Mister Twister Hellgrammite bait or 3-inch finesse worm. However, in this case your imagination is the only limit, since any smaller natural offering will do.

I use the Twister Mite because of its low profile and meatier head, which allows for better drop-shotting. Hook selection will vary by the size of the bait but I generally use a size 2 or size 4 wide-gap worm hook.

Go with either 6 or 8-pound monofilament, and while using a superline is tempting for sensitivity, I feel that the lower line signature of mono is critical in a finesse presentation such as this. Because a lot of times the rig will be fished close to the boat, I feel that the mono gives plenty of sensitivity, especially when kept on a tight line.

Finally, I use your garden variety run-of-the-mill bass casting sinkers. Because there are really no specialty drop-shot sinkers made in larger sizes, I will generally stick with a conventional lead casting sinker tied on with a palomar knot. Since snagging is usually not an issue — the water you will be fishing with this will be generally snag free — I don't get concerned with the breakaway feature found on other drop-shot sinkers.

Check your state's regs first before drop shotting; some don't allow placing the weight under the hook.

There are fish in the lake

The key to landing spring bass, regardless of the rigs you fish, is to slow down. I can't tell you how many anglers I've seen come in after being "skunked" and inform me through clenched teeth that "there ain't no fish in that lake." Actually, there are fish in the lake and chances are those anglers raced their baits right past some of them. Slowing down, downsizing and paying attention to detail is the key to getting these cold-water bass to bite. With the two rigs above, don't expect bone-crushing, full-on strikes that you are used to in the late spring and summer.

Strikes will be very subtle and often times nearly impossible to feel. Again, attention to detail, and a little bit of patience will have you boating bass when your buddies are just drowning lures!