Find and Catch Bass Year-Round with Top Bass Anglers
Day 3: Larry Nixon on Understanding Structure and Water Color and George Cochran on Creek Fishing for Bass
Editor’s Note: Professional bass fishermen must catch bass year-round. Here’s what they say about their best bass-catching tips.
Larry Nixon: Structure and Water Color
Look for small isolated pieces of cover different from everything else you see along the shoreline or away from the bank to find bass. If you locate an underwater log sticking up 10-feet off the bank, and you catch bass off that log, search for that same type of structure somewhere else on the lake. More than likely you’ll find another bass holding on that same type of cover elsewhere. I’ve found that this tactic works best to find the most bass in the shortest time. Consider water color as a factor when you fish to catch more bass. Dirty water will tell you that the bass are holding shallow. The cleaner the water, the deeper you can expect to find the bass. You can eliminate a lot of water and catch more bass quicker, if you know whether to fish in shallow or deep water.
George Cochran: Creeks and Small Spinners
To locate bass, I always start fishing in the shallow water in the backs of creeks where bass tend to feed on crawfish and minnows. I’ll start at the back of a creek and fish out of it, because very-few people fish these areas. Therefore, these bass have had less fishing pressure than those in other sections of a creek. Also, if I come from the back of the creek, I’ll present my lures from a different direction than most other anglers do. Most fishermen fish from the mouth of a creek toward the back. Use a small 1/8- or 1/4-ounce Strike King spinner bait to catch more bass. This lure can quickly cover water and allows you to fish through, around, over and into any type of cover.
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