The bass must always bite better on the other end of the lake. Why else would so many bass anglers habitually make long runs before setting down to fish? Truth is, you’ll often fare better fishing close to the launch ramp for many reasons. The biggest advantage is that you have more time to fish. And, you burn less gas, to boot.

Paul Hirosky, a pharmacist from Guys Mills, Pennsylvania, learned this lesson soon after he joined the Bassmasters of Crawford County and the Presque Isle Bassmasters 14 years ago. When Hirosky began fishing club tournaments, he often pre-fished areas far from the launch ramp looking for “secret” spots that he rarely found. Many anglers fall into this trap.

While pre-fishing, Hirosky would also look for a place near the ramp where he could stop and cast for a few minutes when he returned with a little time to spare. He found that some of these near places were as good as or better than his distant spots.

“I was finding so many bass close, it dawned on me that maybe I should start there.” Hirosky says.

Since that revelation, Hirosky fishes close whenever he can find bass nearby. While practice fishing for a club tournament at a Pennsylvania reservoir, Hirosky found a wad of bass on a 10-foot-deep hump that was only 20 yards from the takeoff point. On the morning of the tournament, he pretended he had motor trouble while the rest of the field sped off to greener pastures. When all the boats were out of sight, he dropped his electric motor into the water and started fishing the hump with a crankbait and a Carolina rig.

He hooked his first bass within minutes. By the end of the day, he had caught more than 30 bass. His culled, five-fish limit weighed more than 14 pounds. It was enough to win the tournament, and Hirosky hadn't burnt a single drop of gas.

Hirosky continues to score well with his fish-close strategy. It helped him qualify for the professional Bassmaster Elite Series, which he fished in 2007.
Hot Ramp Spots

The hump that Hirosky found near the ramp when he faked motor trouble is not unusual. Underwater humps, construction road beds and other manmade structures are often left behind after a launch ramp is built.
“All that stuff holds bass,” Hirosky says.

One of Hirosky’s most productive launch-site structures is the riprap berm that often exists on either side of the ramp. This spot is especially good at reservoirs that have a winter drawdown. To provide boating access during full pool and low, winter pool, the ramps and their riprap berms must be long and steep.

“When the water’s at full pool in the summertime, the riprap berm next to the ramp is several feet deep,” Hirosky says. “I catch a lot of bass from places like that."

Many launch ramps are protected by riprap breakwalls, and these structures are bass magnets. Key spots here are the points of the breakwalls. They can be especially productive when wind and waves push into them.

Boat docks are also common near launch ramps, and these may be long lines of floating docks. Boat docks provide ample shade and they always hold bass. Why make a long run to fish boat docks when you might do as well or better idling over to docks that are within sight of the launch ramp?

Retreads
Another reason launch areas are good places to fish is because they hold what Hirosky affectionately calls “retreads.” These are bass that have been released at the ramp after any tournaments that are held there. A major tournament with a big field of fishermen will release hundreds of bass at the ramp. And, many ramps are used for smaller open and club tournaments that regularly infuse new bass into the launch area. Most of these released fish will hang around for awhile before moving elsewhere, and some of them will stay and set up shop right there.

Although a launch area may be flush with bass, these fish can be tough to catch. They have all been caught at least once, and they have been through the stress of being constrained in a live-well and put though a weigh-in procedure. To say that they are wary is an understatement.

“You normally have to downsize your baits to catch retreads,” Hirosky says. “I use things like finesse worms on shaky head jigs, small crankbaits with 10-pound line, and a Carolina rig with a little Zoom Centipede.”

This isn’t to say that you can’t catch released bass on more aggressive presentations, especially first thing in the morning when they’re on the feed. This is when a popper or some other topwater bait can put bass in your live-well. By fishing close you have more time to take advantage of this opportunity. If you make a long run to your first fishing spot, the topwater bite might be over when you get there.

Pattern Bass Close
We all dream of finding that hot spot where you can sit in one place and catch bass all day. It happens, but the most consistent fishermen find patterns that allow them to fish the same way for bass in many different places.

The basic elements of a pattern could be casting crankbaits over shallow, secondary points, skipping worms under the walkways leading to boat docks, or punching heavy jigs through matted grass adjacent to creek channel drops. The possibilities are infinite, and there are usually several strong patterns to be found on any body of water at any time.

When legendary bass pro Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Arkansas, looks for patterns, he usually starts within 5 miles of the launch ramp. This helps him get an idea of what the bass are up to. After he dials into one or more patterns, he can apply what he’s learned to other areas of the lake, if need be. Fishing close also saves gas, and it gives Nixon more time to figure things out. His best spot might wind up being a long way from the ramp, but he feels he is far ahead of the game if he can catch a few bass near the launch site.

“There are so many bass in our lakes these days that you can do well in a tournament without making a long run,” Nixon says. “It pays to spend time figuring out how to catch them.”

Nixon practiced what he preaches when he fished a Bassmaster tournament at massive Lake Mead several years ago. In previous tournaments at Mead, he had run 30 to 60 miles or more up the lake to find stained water where the bass were more abundant and easier to catch. Many of his competitors did the same thing.

This time, Nixon started his practice session close to the official launch ramp. After playing around with a variety of lures and techniques, he hit on a productive pattern. The bass had just finished spawning, but they had yet to retreat to deep water. Nixon found them on drop-offs 6 to 10 feet deep that plummeted into 40 feet or more of water. He coaxed bites by pitching a 7/16-ounce jig dressed with a pork frog to the edge of the drops. The key was to keep the boat moving, make fast pitches, and to cover a lot of water.

“I wasn’t catching as many bass by fishing close, but they were bigger than the bass I had caught upriver,” Nixon says.

Nixon wisely decided to fish close during the tournament, and he had the water pretty much to himself. He landed from seven to 12 keeper bass a day, some within a mile of the launch ramp. When the final weigh-in was over, he found himself in second place. And, he had fished the entire three-day event on less than a tank of gas.

 

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