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I know this topic has probaby been discussed here before but never hurts to keep things fresh in the mind. All Bass are very fierce competitors when it comes to food and competing for it. Of course most of us know that schooling bass or bass in jumps under normal conditions are seldom large fish. Mostly if you can pull three pounders out of these situations your way ahead cause most cases they are schools of smaller fish. When your looking for the bigger Bass and the Hawgs you have to go where they live. Now this is where the fishing tactics get the same approach you can use on schooling fish but you must remember the fish numbers are not going to be there. Only the fish sizes.
Now all Bass are predators and when in persuit of the bigger ones in many cases since that have lived in an area for a long time they will in most cases be the dominate bass in that area. That means that they have sucessfully made it clear to the smaller fish that they don't belong there and most smaller fish will remain out of range of the Hawg of the Bush (so to say) or become a meal. Now this dominating fish will react very fast to intruders entering their turf. Their Dominating Predator instinct will kick into high speed when invaded and they will strike violently in most cases. The object of the angler is to spark that instinct which can sometimes require a unique approach and long casts. I have found a very unique rig for getting this job done. I found it years back and then lost it when the company that made a specific bait quit making them. I found out that the bait has been revived and is being sold again so I thought it would be good to share this again. Many of the older anglers are familar with the old Front Runners by Norman baits. Most anglers used them on big Crankbait rigs. I found out about 12 years ago just how great they can be on a top water rig, especially in the early to mid Spring when the biggest Hawgs are shallow. The rig is simple to create with the Front Runners. You tie the tag end of your line to the nose of the front runner and put a 12 inch leader off the rear of it. Then on the tag end of the leader you tie on a Bass colored Zara Spook.(other spook colors will also work but Bass color works best). You can make very long casts with this rig. I find that this rig works really well on main lake points where they enter Coves for big hawgs that have moved up on the points in pre spawn locations. Boat positioning is important when fishing this rig. You want to position your boat so you can fish the rig across the point and NOT directly down the point. The bass will lay off both sides of the point and you start by casting up to the top of the point closest to the land and fan cast the entire point from shallow to deepest while keeping your boat well off the point. Your work the bait just like the Walk the Dog Spook would normally be worked. When the big Hawg sees her territory invaded by a smaller fish chasing a bait fish his predatory instincts go into a rage and she attacks the Spook viciously. Some of the strikes can be heart stopping.......
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This also works really well for Smallmouths that are staged to spawn on deeper rocky points near Smallmouth spawning areas. I have seen 5 pound and larger smallies come up from 20 foot water and explode on the Spooks and at times have had two smallies on cause another one will hit the front runner but have only been able to boat both fish a few times. Two big Smallies on at one time is more than most anglers can deal with including myself.......
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Just something else for folks to think about with that time of the year approaching once again......
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Now all Bass are predators and when in persuit of the bigger ones in many cases since that have lived in an area for a long time they will in most cases be the dominate bass in that area. That means that they have sucessfully made it clear to the smaller fish that they don't belong there and most smaller fish will remain out of range of the Hawg of the Bush (so to say) or become a meal. Now this dominating fish will react very fast to intruders entering their turf. Their Dominating Predator instinct will kick into high speed when invaded and they will strike violently in most cases. The object of the angler is to spark that instinct which can sometimes require a unique approach and long casts. I have found a very unique rig for getting this job done. I found it years back and then lost it when the company that made a specific bait quit making them. I found out that the bait has been revived and is being sold again so I thought it would be good to share this again. Many of the older anglers are familar with the old Front Runners by Norman baits. Most anglers used them on big Crankbait rigs. I found out about 12 years ago just how great they can be on a top water rig, especially in the early to mid Spring when the biggest Hawgs are shallow. The rig is simple to create with the Front Runners. You tie the tag end of your line to the nose of the front runner and put a 12 inch leader off the rear of it. Then on the tag end of the leader you tie on a Bass colored Zara Spook.(other spook colors will also work but Bass color works best). You can make very long casts with this rig. I find that this rig works really well on main lake points where they enter Coves for big hawgs that have moved up on the points in pre spawn locations. Boat positioning is important when fishing this rig. You want to position your boat so you can fish the rig across the point and NOT directly down the point. The bass will lay off both sides of the point and you start by casting up to the top of the point closest to the land and fan cast the entire point from shallow to deepest while keeping your boat well off the point. Your work the bait just like the Walk the Dog Spook would normally be worked. When the big Hawg sees her territory invaded by a smaller fish chasing a bait fish his predatory instincts go into a rage and she attacks the Spook viciously. Some of the strikes can be heart stopping.......
This also works really well for Smallmouths that are staged to spawn on deeper rocky points near Smallmouth spawning areas. I have seen 5 pound and larger smallies come up from 20 foot water and explode on the Spooks and at times have had two smallies on cause another one will hit the front runner but have only been able to boat both fish a few times. Two big Smallies on at one time is more than most anglers can deal with including myself.......
