 FISHING
WITH PROFESSIONAL BASS FISHERMAN TODD ARY
Fishing Clear Lakes
EDITOR’S NOTE: Todd Ary of Moody, Alabama, a
professional bass fisherman, fishes all the FLW and
Everstart tournaments. This week, Ary talks about what
types of lakes he fishes and the tactics he uses to
catch bass in the fall.
QUESTION: What type of lakes do you like to fish at
this time of year?
ARY: I like to fish either deep, clear, highland-type
of reservoirs like Lake Martin or Smith Lake in Alabama.
I also like to fish lakes with aquatic vegetation, like
Guntersville Lake in north Alabama.
 QUESTION:
Let’s start with clear lakes. How do you fish
them to find and catch bass?
ARY: At this time of year, on deep, clear lakes, one
of my favorite tactics to use is the turn-and-burn spinner
bait. Most fishermen know that fall is a good time to
find and catch schooling bass. Instead of waiting to
see the schools appear on the surface, I look for them
on my depth finder. Just below the surface, bass corral
the shad into balls of bait. The bass use the surface
of the water as a barrier to keep the shad from escaping.
So, the only time you see the bass is when they blow
through the schools of shad, knocking them out of the
water. However, that feeding frenzy doesn’t last
very long. If you depend on seeing the fish surface
before you cast to them, you’re not going to catch
nearly as many bass.
While looking at my graph recorder, I’ll search
for schools of baitfish that are usually in 4 to 12
feet of water. If you look closely at the school of
baitfish, you will see large arches on the outer edge
of the school of bait. These arches are bass. Once I
find the school, I move away from them and then, I use
a Strike King Rocket Shad to catch them. I like both
the 3/8- and the 1/2-ounce Rocket Shad, but my favorite
is the 1/2-ounce. I take the Colorado blade off the
Rocket Shad and replace it with a 3-1/2-inch silver
willow-leaf blade. If I find the baitfish holding in
10 feet of water, I
know the Rocket Shad will fall at a rate of approximately
2-1/2-feet per second. I cast the Rocket Shad out and
count to five. Then I reel the bait 7 or 8 times, causing
the bait to rise about 3 feet in the water column. I
kill the bait and let it fall to a count of two, which
gets it back down to a 10-feet level, and then I reel
it fast and kill it again. When the Rocket Shad races
through the water, the shad will scatter, which triggers
the bass to bite. By killing the Rocket Shad after I
have scattered the school, it falls toward the bottom
like an injured baitfish.
I fish the Rocket Shad on Mossy Oak Fishing Line’s
Classic 12-pound test, which is really strong due to
its diameter. It has very little memory, which keeps
it from coiling as it comes off the spool. Because the
Rocket Shad casts like a bullet being shot out of a
high-powered rifle, I can cast it a long way. Too, this
12-pound test doesn’t put a lot of drag on the
bait. This way, when I kill the Rocket Shad, it falls
more naturally and more vertically versus a heavier-pound
test with a larger-diameter line. The bigger line will
cause the Rocket Shad to fall slower and possibly swing
like a pendulum instead of giving a vertical fall to
the bait.
 Usually,
over river and creek channels, you may see a line of
several schools of baitfish. On each retrieve, you may
be scattering several different schools of bait, which
gives you the opportunity to catch more bass. This very-effective
technique works in the fall, especially on schooling
bass. The other advantage to fishing the Rocket Shad
on the 12-pound-test line is that when the bass are
schooling on the surface, you can cast the bait directly
to the school. As the bait falls, the bass will attack.
Even if you cast to a location where bass are schooling,
but not breaking the surface of the water, the Rocket
Shad will fall where the baitfish and the bass are,
producing several hook-ups for you. At this time of
year, I won’t go to a highland reservoir without
a Rocket Shad tied on 12-pound-test Mossy Oak Fishing
Line.
To learn more, visit www.strikeking.com
and www.mossyoakfishing.com.
TOMORROW: HIGHLAND RESERVOIRS
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