Sight Fishing: Beyond the Basics

This week Tim breaks down some of the keys behind being a consistent sight fisherman. This isn't what color jig to throw, or how to make a fish mad. Its the fine details of boat positioning, fish behavior, clothing, even which lenses see deeper in which water colors (These Eye Surrenders are what we wear and it will save you some $$$, you don't need overpriced optics).

This is a video you need to watch and understand if you do any sight fishing throughout the year. Sight fishing, especially for spawning bass, is an art form. Many anglers, both tournament and trophy, complain about guys who sight fish but most of this comes from their own insecurities or lack of understanding (Yes, there are a few purists in the mix but they're the rare ones). You don't have to have the best eye sight or the most time on the water to be the best sight fisherman. Sure it helps, but understanding bass behavior is much more important.

If you can learn how the bass moves both on and off the bed, what sort of predators its dealing with, and most importantly, when its really interested and when its just darting around, you'll be so much more successful! Again, sight fishing is an art. If you want to be great at it, its going to take some practice. There is a short window during the year to hone your skills so don't waste time. Learn the skills and apply them right away. Good luck out there!

Top 5 Baits for Bed Fishing

Love it or hate it, bed fishing is a great way to catch the biggest bass of the year. If you live in warmer parts of the country you're probably already seeing the beginning of the spawn. We sat down with the camera this week to bring you the Top 5 Baits that will help you fool those feisty spawning bass.

The key to sight fishing is to treat every bed as a new opportunity to start fresh. The bait that caught the last fish might not work on the next. Each fish has its own preferences so don't be afraid to rotate through your arsenal of rods until you've found the bait that works best.

My top 5 choices:

1) Jig w/ Craw Trailer: 3/8 to 1/2 oz Dirty Jigs Pitchin' Jig coupled with a beaver-style or double tail grub trailer. This profile allows me to present a large bait but still have a compact enough profile that the fish can easily engulf it.

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2) Swim Jig: 3/8 to 1/2 oz California Swim Jig in Alabama Bream or Tactical Shad coupled with a matching keitech or Sizmic Shad. With a swim jig I can hop or swim the jig, depending on the mood of the fish.

3)Bluegill Imitator: My two favorite bluegill imitators are the Mattlures Bluegill (boot or flat tail) and the Basstrix in "perch" color. The mattlures gives me that large swimbait profile whereas the basstrix is a very finesse, slow presentation that can really irritate those hard to catch bass.

4) 3.5" Tube: The tube is a deadly bait on all bass but its especially deadly with spots and smallmouth. I find a 3.5" to be best but you can drop down to a 2.5 if the fish are picking the bait up by the tails.

5) The Senko: Who can argue with the senko? 5" or 6" is your choice but if you use a bright color (white or chartreuse) and a natural color (green pumpkin or watermelon) you'll find a bait that the fish are willing to eat.

Please remember that bed fishing is a great time to catch the fish of a lifetime but its also a critical time during a bass' life cycle. Treat the fish with care and always return them to the bed quickly so they can successfully finish the spawning process.

Sight Fishing: Seeing Pressured Bass

To all of you that live in parts of the country where the water is too murky to sight fish in Spring, I’m sorry. Its a fun and exciting way to fish for a brief part of the year and should be experienced by everyone at least once. However, it can be humbling, will test your patience and make you more frustrated than you knew you could be while having “fun”. For those who do get to sight fish you know that as the spawn really begins the pressure from anglers becomes an ever-increasing problem. In many clear water impoundments the pressure is so bad you can’t even approach the fish before they are gone.

Jeff wrangled this bass out of deep cover on Day 1 of the FLW

Over the last couple weeks I spent a great deal of time on the California Delta, unfortunately so did many of the West’s greatest pros. The FLW tournament series had come to town and there were wrapped boats every which way you turned. Not wanting to be rude I did my best to stay out of the way while still having a shot at trophy bass. Even so, you could feel the bite shutting down more and more as the days ticked by. The timing was right but there was too much boat traffic.

Instead of getting frustrated we put our heads together, selected a couple patterns that consistently produced, and went to catching fish. The primary pattern was sight fishing with a secondary pattern throwing swimbaits in shallow water. The swimbait bite was self-explanatory (we covered a lot of likely water) but the sight fishing took some work. As I mentioned we were constantly surrounded by boats but I was amazed day after day to see that most of them weren’t sight fishing. There were beds all around but many anglers managed to overlook them.

What I believe set us apart was our ability and willingness to look deeper. As the FLW approached the bass started spawning deeper than usual. The week before there were beds in 1-2 feet of water. During the event most beds were in 4-6 feet and as deep as 9-11 feet. Remember, the delta is not a clear-water fishery so finding these beds in 10+ feet of water was a real challenge. What was happening was the pressure was pushing these fish down and away from the boat traffic and many anglers failed to make that switch, those that did cashed big pay checks from a variety of techniques.

I’m not usually one to push products through the website. I want anglers to have freedom of choice and I want this website to be a place to learn rather than a place to be fed a cheap line and a bunch of gimmick products. Understand that when I do mention products by name it is because they have made a major impact on my fishing and I believe they can do the same for you.

If you’re trying to fish without polarized glasses you’re on the losing end of the game. There is no way you can compete without them. You need to invest in quality polarized lenses but you don’t need to break the bank. The particular pair I choose to wear during the spawn is the Amber lense made by Eye Surrender Eyewear. Why am I telling you this? Because I finally found a pair of glasses that don’t cost a fortune. I’m not big into the hype and gimmicks about glasses, all I really know about these is that I can see deeper than the people around me, they were inexpensive ($39.99), have a lifetime warranty, and are widely available in shops and direct from the manufacturer.
I hope these insights help you prepare for the rest of this season or the beginning of the next. When the bass are feeling the presence of boat traffic don’t give up, back off, look deeper, and you may just catch a giant (or two

Sight Fishing: Boat Positioning

One of the keys to sight fishing is boat positioning. Understanding how a bass reacts to your presence and adjusting your position accordingly can cut the time it takes to catch a big fish significantly. To some this topic may seem obvious but to others it will make a huge difference. If you are one of the many anglers who now run power poles on your back deck, your life is easy. For the rest of us, there is nothing wrong with 2 anchors and a handful of rope. When bed fishing, especially in wind it is important to carefully position the boat away from the bass’ bed. Using two anchors instead of one will help reduce the swing of the boat as well.
Next, stay as far away as possible. If you feel you must see the fish to work the bed efficiently position the boat at the limit of where you can see. The farther away you are the more relaxed and approachable the fish will become. All too often anglers want to see what the fish is doing and cause the fish to shut down prematurely.

Here are some quick tips to help you put more fish in the boat regardless of species while sight fishing:

-Position on the shallow side of the fish if possible, don’t cut off their deep water access
-Position as far away as possible, seeing the fish is not always necessary
-Anchor front and back to eliminate swing
-Shut off all electronics and minimize sound (more to come on this topic)
-Don’t be afraid to leave the boat and approach a difficult fish from shore (unless rules don’t allow it)
-If there is current, position on the down-current side of the fish
-When possible, position so the fish is faced away from the boat

Follow these quick tips and you’ll begin to have more success and catch the fish much more quickly. Here is a quick example showing my boat double-anchored on an offshore smallmouth. By anchoring up the boat I was able to ignore the boat and focus solely on the fish. From the moment I saw her to the time she was in the net was less than two minutes do primarily to proper boat position.

This bass was caught on a Dirty Jigs Skirted Football on my namesake “Super Matt Brown” color. Support your local shop but if the baits aren’t available you can get them here: Dirty Jigs at Tackle Warehouse