DOUBLE DIPPING SPOONS
Where to Fish in the Summer
EDITOR'S
NOTE: You can have your cake and eat it too. Charlie
Ingram, a bass fisherman on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula,
Alabama, on the Georgia/Alabama border, practices catch
and release when he fishes for bass. But he also takes
home a mess of crappie for the skillet on almost every
outing. Ingram has developed a technique for bass fishing
that allows him to catch big bass and large crappie
at the same time. The bass go in his back livewell,
and he shows them to his buddies at the marina before
he releases them. He puts the
crappie he catches in his front livewell and never opens
it until he arrives at home. Then he takes the speckled
sides out to fillet. While fishing a jigging spoon at
almost any time of the year, Ingram catches crappie
weighing 3/4-pound to 2-pounds each. Also when fishing
a jigging spoon in these same places, Ingram takes bass
weighing 2- to 10-pounds each.
Regardless of the time of the year, bass and crappie
consistently will hold on underwater brush on the edges
of river and creek channels. Even during the spawning
season, these fish will concentrate on this type of
cover on bottom
breaks before they move to shallow-water spawning areas.
Then they'll come away from the shallow water after
the spawn and return to the river and creek channels.
During the hot summer months and the cold winter months,
crappie and bass will hold on the bottom-break cover
where they find their preferred water temperature and
schools of baitfish. If at any time of the year you
locate stumps on the edge of an underwater creek or
river channel or brush, you'll have a productive place
to catch bass and crappie all year utilizing this double-dipping
tactic.
According
to Charlie Ingram, "Bass and crappie often hold
in the same places throughout the year. Some years ago
I noticed I often would feel light hits on worms, jigs
and crankbaits when I fished deep-water cover for bass.
Although I felt sure these hits came from crappie, I
never really fished for them. However, when I started
fishing the jigging spoon, I realized I could catch
not only bass but also crappie, catfish, white bass,
hybrid-striped bass and even bluegill in the same spots
with this same fishing method."
TOMORROW: HOW TO FIND COVER
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