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Crankbaits in
the Stumps For Big Spring Largemouth Bass
By Capt. Mike Gerry |
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Is there any
largemouth bass angler that doesn't love spring? It’s the
time of year that the bass are hanging in the stumps as they
are looking for hard bottom area’s to finish the spawning
process. An important unique way to fish these areas is to
pull rattle baits or crank baits through the stumps but
doing this requires some finesse fishing with your
crankbaits.
Crankbaits as we
all know have very sharp treble hooks and in order to pull a
crank bait through stumps you have to pull the bait with
finesse, using the tip of your rod to control how the bait
"bumps the stumps." A slight movement from 3 o’clock to 12
o’clock has an enormous effect on the movement of the crank
bait, it changes the baits depth, and the position that the
treble hooks run as well as the speed of the bait. |
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Rattle Baits: |
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If the stumps are
deeper, like 5 to 7 feet, there is no better bait than a
rattle bait. You can work rattle baits in deeper stumps by
working them over the cover and letting them drop into the
areas between the stumps. All you do is stop the retrieve
momentarily and the bait will drop. Then, with just some
careful tip control, you can do this without hooking the
stumps. This method allows you to maneuver this very
effective bait for fishing in hard cover. When the stumps
are in that 4 to 6 feet of depth and not showing over the
top of the water a rattle bait is just about ideal.
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The retrieve after
the drop needs to be sharp and quick to allow the rattle
bait to run nose down and pop over the stumps without
hanging up. This is important because if the nose of the
rattle bait hangs lower than the rear treble hook the bait
will easily bump and jump over a stump. This is one time
that I do not increase the size of the rear treble hook. I
want it to run nose down and sometimes with an increased
size rear treble it prevents this nose down attitude that
I'm looking for. However, it is a good time to increase the
size of the front treble this just by pure dynamics weights
the front and the nose runs lower than the rear. You can
also accomplish this without changing any hooks by using
weighted tape on the nose so it lies nose down. |
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Crankbaits: |
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When the stumps
are shallower or the tops show above the water working a
shallow running crank bait is just the ticket. The challenge
here is to bump the stumps with the nose of the bait without
hanging up. You can accomplish this by holding the rod tip
at or about 3 o’clock and when you feel it start to grab the
stumps just raise the rod tip to 12 o’clock, this lifts the
crank bait over the stumps in a nice constant retrieving
motion. This again is finesse fishing with a crank bait so
work it slowly retrieve it at a steady rate and use the tip
to control the crank bait in and around the stumps. |
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There are several
companies that make crank baits that will work in this
situation; all you need is a crank bait that rises slowly
and has curved or round lips, as they bounce off the stumps
or rise over them with very little effort. Some crank-baits
have more lift or more buoyancy than others, finding an
effective crank-bait in this situation is the key.
Experiment with your crank baits. You will find that the
ones that lift the fastest when stopped catch more fish in
this situation and are easily worked through stumps. This
technique is very effective in catching fish for a couple of
reasons. The first being most people don’t do this. And the
other is, in stumps its just a different look than most
people fish, so you have a bait that presents itself
differently than they are use to seeing. No doubt that this
is different but if you become an efficient stump fishermen
with crank baits you will reap the benefits that many others
haven’t been able to. |
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Editor's Note:
Capt. Mike Gerry
is the owner of
Fish
Lake Guntersville Guide Service and a top
professional largemouth bass guide at Lake Guntersville, AL.
He has written many articles and has been published in
Outdoor Sports in the Southeast, The Sportsman's Journal,
Great Outdoors Magazine, Alabama Outdoor News and many
others. Mike is a Pro Staff member for several leading
fishing tackle manufacturers and is on the Stratos Boats Pro
Staff. His 35 years of fishing experience on Lake Guntersville make him the
"go to" guide to fish that area. |
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