Here is a look at some of the baits and methods I use on a seasonal basis. There are, of course, several that I did not write about, but this is essentially my approach to bass fishing here in New York.
Although I'm not a huge deepwater guy primarily based on the waters in my geographical area, I can regularly take fish down to about 20 feet....although I too prefer to spend much of my time from the surface to about 12 feet. I could write about this all day, but time won't permit that. Here is a basic overview of what I use to cover the depths I fish from top to bottom.
Surface
Topwater was not always my bag. I forced myself to rediscover it within the last year, and I've become much more adept at it. I relied on it very heavily in my tournament fishing, and it paid off.
Topwater fishing all depends on cover. If I'm working in slop areas, I like a Snag Proof Tournament frog. I love floating worms. There was a time when I used these baits almost exclusively as I targeted slop areas. I could walk the dog with a 6-inch worm like nobody's business, and I credit my largest unofficial New York bass to a floater.
I don't subscribe to the bright colors they come in. I like the plain grape or black/yellow that Johnson Superfloater worms were famous for. Rigged with a 3/0 Owner hook, the bait barely sank when paused.
I also am a huge fan of using a 5-inch Kalin's Grub rigged Texas-style with the tail down as a buzzer in heavily weeded areas. This bait can be devastating and comes through the gunk quite easily.
I go with either a Sammy or Spit N Image in more open areas. The key is an erratic retrieve. Do something different with the bait, not just the typical snap, snap pause.
If there is some chop on the water, I'll employ a buzzbait. This is often a great way to annoy bass into striking. Being effective with buzzers is that I prefer to look for obstacles to bump these baits into. Often, you will get a strike the instant after you smack into a branch or stump. The hesitation of the bait is what triggers the strike.
The last bait I use as a surface bait is a mag willow spinnerbait. I'll wake this bait and burn it just under the surface. In spring and fall, this can be a deadly method to catch active fish.
Except for the plugs and blade baits, I primarily throw all of the other on a spinning rod with 6- or 8-pound Yo-Zuri Hybrid. In the past, I have used 12-pound Silver Thread and up to 25-pound Trilene for grubbing in heavy cover. Nowadays, I go much lighter for fun.
Surface to 6 feet deep
Subsurface can be broken down into several different areas. For my fishing, this means three different columns. The first column is just under the surface to about 5 or 6 feet. Now, many articles I read are broken down to about 8 feet. I differ for the reason that I'll explain later. The Magic 8-foot zone is next. This is where much of my big bass catching occurs, and finally, I have the bottom column. Often misunderstood or too intimidating, the bottom depths of many waters go ignored. Anglers only need to put in a little time to see that this area can be a goldmine.
Once I leave the realm of genuine floating plugs and want to drown a bait, I start with a floating Rapala. I like the smaller models. Although I prefer to twitch them on the surface, I also pop them and pull them. I employ this deadly technique on hot summer nights around matted vegetation. One thing I always do to Rapalas is changing their hooks to Gamakatsu trebles. I'll add a soft plastic jerkbait to this section as I work it just like the Rapala minnow. A 4-inch Sluggo darted on the edges of matted vegetation can be deadly. I can write about this method all day, but you get the point. Another crankbait, and the only ones I throw is the Bandit Footloose. This bait barely dips under the surface when retrieved steadily. It can be devastating in the shallows. I like using it in areas where the weeds grow about 10 inches from the surface. I know the bass are waiting in the weeds to grab something buzzing overhead. The Footloose fills the bill on that. Hooks are OK, and I usually don't replace them.
The only other hard bait I throw is the Fat-free Shad. This crankbait is fantastic. I like both the shallow and deep models. I prefer a firetiger, or bluegill pattern for my shallow fishing as there two colors best represent the forage in my area.
Leaving the hard body baits, my next subsurface choice is perhaps one of the most versatile baits of all. The spinnerbait. Some guys just don't get them, and others throw too much. I rely on a version of this bait that will change with the seasons. In the early spring, starting in February (legal on Long Island), I utilize a 3/8-ounce bait with a single large Colorado blade I call a thumper blade. This blade is at least a size four and goes up to a size six, depending on where I'm fishing. Although it is a big blade, it doesn't give as much lift as a Willow and can be slowly rolled into deep areas. We are talking 5 feet for the sake of this area, but I do use this bait to depths of 15 feet or so at times.
Slow rolling means to turn the reel just so the blade spins and the spinnerbait sinks. It is a prolonged presentation, and it is perfect for ice-out fish that I tend to slam on blades.
As the temps creep up into the 50s, I go to the opposite side of the spectrum as far as spinnerbaits are concerned. The bass are becoming more active here, and I scale my baits down to match tiny creatures. I turn to the beetle spin. Many people write this bait off as a small fish or panfish bait, but it can be a devastating weapon. I like the Branson bug trailer, with looks like a mini Hula grub. It has twin tails and tiny little legs that create a racket. I fish it on light gear for sheer fun, and it covers the 0 to 5ft depth quite nicely despite its light weight.
Plastics: I'm a dedicated soft plastics guy. I've been lucky enough to deal with some outstanding companies. To start, I don't just use any soft plastics. For the last 4 or 5 years, I have only used Yamamoto baits, and small hand pours from even smaller known companies. As far as massed produced baits go, Yamamoto is the best. Their salt system is untouched, and they simply catch fish. There is no need for me to own ten different brands. Hey, I can say plenty of negative things about price and durability, but the baits outperform other brands.
I also use a ton of stuff from Northern Handpoured and GreenEyes Worm Works. The hand-poured stuff is my favorite because of all of the customizing you can do.....extra glitter, salt, garlic, two tones, etc. Genuine California hand pours are a wonder to look at. I can pour a good bait myself, but guys like Chris Aljian from Al's Worms and Tom Kail from Northern are masters and damn good at what they do. They are way beyond basic.
With that being said, my first shallow worm rig is a simple weightless Texas rig in which I employ a 4-inch finesse straight tail worm on a Gamakatsu 2/0 or Owner 2/0 hook. It covers the whole range down to about 10 feet. You can alter the bait and throw on a Senko, Salty Stinker, Craw, anything.
I prefer to skip baits into nasty places. Here is where I find many of my big fish. This type of fishing, to me, is target fishing. I seek a target and fish the target. I don't work the bait back to the boat. I reel in and cast once the bait leaves my projected strike zone.
The next rig I use is a seeker rig. I love both the mojo and split shot rig for shallow water applications. These rigs are essentially shallow Carolina rigs that utilize a weight pegged or crimped on about 15 inches or so about the hook. I favor the Mojo because I don't like to crimp a sinker down on the light lines that split shotting requires. Either way, you get essentially the same result. The Mojo weight comes through grass and rocks even easier than the split shot. The retrieve is simple and slow steady.
Jigs: I would consider jig and pigs to be my strong suit. I cut my teeth on these baits and noticed a significant increase in the size of fish I was catching after forcing myself to use them. These are target baits. Again, I locate a good piece of cover and pick it apart from different angles with a jig. I don't fish it back to the boat. At times I'll swim a jig on a slight slackline (Trav, you know all about that). This can be an excellent presentation when the bass want something that is moving. I rarely fish jigs deeper than 6 feet. I tend to stay with lighter jigs in 1/16-ounce and 1/8-ounce as these are great for slow falling in the trees and bushes. I'll throw a 1/2-ounce or larger jig if I need to punch through heavy cover. I use only my own Micro Munch jigs. Another bait I use just like a jig is the Ika. I love this bait even more than guys cherish their Senkos. The Fat Ika is a big beefy overgrown Ika that fishes like a jig when rigged weightless and Texas-style.
The Magic 8-foot Zone
Ok, here is where we will get technical. Based on my experiences, I believe that more large bass seek out this depth at different times of the year. In the early spring, big fish spawn and then move out deeper. In the fall, they move out a bit deeper from the shallows. They move out deeper to seek a little cooler temperature when they aren't feeding shallow in the summer. My point is that I've noticed that the 8-foot interval is a great place to start explicitly targeting bigger fish. You may not always get them, but you will see that they can be had if you put in the time. I'm not basing this on one or two fish either. I'm talking several hundred over the last decade to prove that this can be a very reliable pattern at times.
I pick apart the 8-foot zone with a small handful of lures. Over the years, one of my favorite intermediate area bait is the Slider worm rigged on a slider head. This bait is not fished like a typical Texas rigged worm. It is swept along the bottom and made to resemble a darter or sculpin, bottom-dwelling baitfish. It is an actual ultralight technique, and it is deadly.
I have a good friend who was in a season-long slump as far as big fish are concerned. Recently, he got wind of this method and has cleaned up with several fish over 5-pounds in the last two or three trips......you know who you are! One of my top four largest Long Island bass fell to a black/grape Slider worm.
I've also taken a liking to the Brewers grub-setup. This is a cast-and-slow retrieve method that works in the 8-foot range. I prefer to use watermelon Brewers grubs with the paddle tail. It gives off a decent vibration, and that tail looks alive.
One method I like is dead sticking. I have caught more bass in the magic zone on this method than any other. It simply relies on a weightless Texas-rigged bait in which you cast it out and kill it. Let it sink to the 8-foot level and wait until something eats it. I've done well with a 5-inch Senko, both Texas rigged and wacky-rigged as deadstick baits.
One surprising method I use in this relatively shallow depth is drop-shotting. This is a technique I relied on this year for fun fishing. I use a basic rig consisting of a Gamakatsu splitshot hook set about 18-inches above an Owner down shot weight. Tungsten doesn't make sense here, especially if you're allowing yourself to lose weight. I use a 3-inch Do-Nothing worm by Green Eyes, a tiny hand-poured fry type of worm. It is fantastic on this rig as it is pretty flexible and had some action just by water movement. I cast this rig out and wait for it to reach the bottom. I use a light 1/16or 1/8-ounce weight. I keep constant pressure on the line to eliminate slack. At times I barely jiggle the rod tip to give the worm a bit of action. A strike feels like extra weight. It is similar to a wacky rig bite in feel, and your response has to be the same, no hookset. Start reeling and lift the rod, and the tiny sharp hook will catch. I won a tournament on Long Island recently with this setup. It was about the only consistent method used all day. I've come to appreciate this scaled-down flounder rig for bass fishing. It is a great way to catch intermediate-depth bass.
Angling the Abyss Deep Water and Bottom coverage
Ok, so we covered the surface and depths to about 10- to 12-feet. The Magic 8-foot zone and all of the techniques there can be used anywhere, so I threw in the 10- to12-foot column. We will venture into an area that many guys just plain ignore. Due to intimidation or ignorance, so many bass fishermen won't delve into deep-water fishing. For this series, let's agree that deep water can be considered at any depth greater than 15 feet.
Once I decide to dedicate my fishing time in deep water, I need to re-evaluate my whole approach. Most of the rods I utilize for shallower fishing are replaced with stouter gear. Some of the lures I choose for the shallows are also changed. Although I like those light-action rods for many fishing applications, I upsize. 6- to 6-foot medium-action spinning rods are my primary choice for deeper water, and I often go for a 7footer. The reason is simple. A longer rod moves more line on the hookset. I'll also use a baitcasting setup for a few techniques as well.
Let's get into the specific methods and baits. If I'm fishing blind, there is no better rig than a Carolina rig without my electronics. I won't get into the details of setting one up as we all know that by now. The Carolina rig is a great search rig. Many people opt for a lizard to tow behind the rig. I like a finesse worm or a soft jerkbait that gives off an erratic action. Slow and steady retrieve is the key. This is one rig that fishes great on a longer rod. I prefer spinning gear with it, though. I think it is more comfortable that way. I won't use a Carolina rig deeper than 20 feet because you lose sensation with it. Sure the use of braid could enhance sensitivity, but I only like braid in a few situations, and this is not one of them. My Carolina rigs are a bit different than the traditional "tie three knots every ten minutes when you break off" Carolina rigs. I use the Carolina Keeper. This plastic sleeve clamps on the line and makes the whole rig a one-knot game.
My next favorite worm rig is the drop shot. This is an excellent rig for deep water bass. Let's face it. The west coast guys have been nailing largemouth and spots in water deeper than 60 feet for some time now. This rig is similar to the one I employ in the shallower situations, except that I add a larger weight to the equation. I work the rig the same way except that I key on pods of baitfish or structure I locate on my LCD. I'll work this rig in conjunction with my electronics trying to drop the rig in areas where I think fish will be. It is, in my opinion, the best way to present soft plastics at extreme depths.
I'm not much of a deepwater jig-n-pig guy, but there is nothing better than the Yamamoto Hula Grub when you feel the need to jig. Here is a bait I use exclusively on baitcasting gear as I prefer a 6 1/2- to 7-foot medium-heavy stick. I like to use a hula head that keeps the bait weedless. Weeds aren't my concern. Rocks are. I lose a ton of baits to the rocks at various places I fish, but you have to be in it to win it! This rig is best fished on a taut line. I need to keep in contact with the bait to feel what is going on. The Yammie Hula is one bait that nobody will be able to duplicate. Sure there are other copies, but none come close.
Leaving the realm of soft plastics, my only entries in the hard bait genre are the Arbogast Mudbug, Rebel Spoonbill, and the Deep Fat-Free Shad. I've always been a fan of the Fat-Free series. These baits are my main duty crankbaits as I use them for all depths. The Mudbug is a unique bait in itself. It has a metal diving lip and resembles a backward swimming craw. I've done surprisingly well with it on Long Island in some of the deeper waters. Both of these baits are great at targeting structure. Their longer lips make them fairly weedless and snag-resistant. I try to bump them off of deep structure if I can. The sudden stop and hesitation are what trigger strikes. I fish these baits on a 7-foot medium-action baitcasting setup.
The Rebel Spoonbill deserves a unique paragraph all to itself. If you can find a suspending version, snatch it up. This is one of those jerkbaits that can be magic when bass are deep and unrelated to any specific cover piece. The spoonbill is a deep diver and can be tweaked to hover in one spot with the addition of sticky weights or suspend dots. I use the bait with my LCD to stick it right on top of the fish I locate. Here is one of the only times I look for bass on my graph. I give action to the bait by snapping the rod tip up and literally ripping the bait forward. If you do this for a good period, you will see that it is exhausting work and can give untrained hands blisters and sores. The result is often worth it as there are times when the bass will be suckers for the technique. You have to remember that you're likely fishing unpressured fish. The method may be less important than the reality of actually getting a bait to these fish. They may bite anything. You just have to put it in front of them. I change the hooks on the Spoonbill to Gamakatsu trebles.
Deepwater Blade baits- To fish areas of moderate depth, I often use a single Colorado spinnerbait that weighs 3/4-ounce or more. Usually, I'm slow-rolling the bait down points. You can be much more effective at this if you tackle the point from multiple directions, not just head-on like most anglers do. A spinnerbait dragged across a point in 20 feet of water is a presentation that most bass have never seen. That is why it can be so effective. I utilize a Colorado blade for less lift than a willow and much more thump. I can barely turn the reel handle and keep the bait on the bottom and still spinning. Don't expect your bites to be rod-jerkers like they can be in shallow water. Instead, you will likely feel an extra mushy weight.
The final piece to my deep water puzzle is the jigging spoon. A Hopkins shorty, BPS Lazer Eye, Silver Buddy, or any heavy metal baitfish imitating spoons are my choice for deep-water cold-weather fishing. This type of bait was made to be used in conjunction with electronics. You have to search for baitfish schools or odd structures. I don't look for fish with my graph when using this bait as I think that is a very unreliable way to fish. If you find the bait, the bass will be close by, whether you see them. I know guys who have their LCDs so tuned in that they can watch their bait on the graph, bump a bass in the nose, and watch it hit. Baitcasting gear again rules supreme, in my opinion. I change the hooks to sharper Gamakatsus. This is a bait that I work in areas deeper than 25 feet. I've done well with it in late November and again in early February through March.
I hope you all enjoyed my top to bottom series. Let the questions begin.
