This may be the age of specialization, but versatility is the key to consistent bass catches. It’s OK to have one or two favorite tactics, just don’t get stuck on them. You need to be skilled with several methods so you can adapt to the varied fishing conditions you face at different lakes throughout the seasons.

Though Bradley Roy of Lancaster, Kentucky, is only 17 years old, he knows the importance of being versatile. He has been bass fishing with his father Anthony since he was big enough to hold a pole, and has fished tournaments with his dad and his dad’s friends since he was nine years old. He and his father belong to the Central Kentucky Bassmasters in Nicholsville, Kentucky.

“I fish with different people all the time,” Roy says. “It’s been a good thing for me to see how other people fish. I’ve learned a lot from them.”

Roy also studies bass fishing magazines and researches bass-related web sites to learn about new techniques. He experiments with new methods in his backyard pond before he uses them in tournament competition.

Young Roy’s bass fishing versatility paid off big time in July of 2004 when he was 13 years old. That’s when he won the Junior Bassmaster World Championship at Lake Norman, North Carolina. His productive patterns at that event were casting buzzbaits to boat docks near the river channel and fishing riprap on steep channel banks with a Texas-rigged worm.

Not bad for someone who regards a jerkbait and a jig as his strong suites. Roy dotes on the jerkbait in the spring and fishes jigs all year with flippin’ and casting presentations. However, he is comfortable fishing almost anything, including drop-shot rigs, shaky-head worms, football jigs, crankbaits and spinnerbaits.

“When I’m pre-fishing for a tournament, I have nearly all my rods out on the deck with different baits,” Roy says. “I don’t know that I’ve ever had less than eight rods on the deck when I’m fishing a tournament. You have to be ready for anything.”

Versatility also helps Joey Nichols of Cumming, Georgia, keep his live-well stuffed with bass. A project manager and estimator for a concrete company, Nichols has been a member of the Cumming Bassmasters for 16 years. He has finished in the Federation top six in every one of those years, was the Georgia Federation Champion in 2003, and is the current president of his club. He lives on Lake Lanier and regards it as one of the best lakes in the country.

Adapting to the Seasons

Nichols favors offshore fishing methods, but will do whatever it takes to catch bass. He claims the key to fishing is to follow the bait, which, in turn, leads you to the bass. The exception to this rule is in the spring when spawning urges dictate bass movements.

During the prespawn phase, Nichols concentrates on secondary points near spawning areas where bass stage before moving into the shallows. He picks off the bass with jerkbaits and a Sworming Hornet Fish Head Spin dressed with a Zoom Super Fluke Jr.

“Those staging bass are suspended over the points,” Nichols says. “You can bring them up with a jerkbait or the Sworming Hornet.”
When Nichols fishes the Sworming Hornet, he begins by casting a 3/8- or 1/2-ounce size over the end of a point on 10-pound line and counting to eight before beginning the retrieve. On a clear lake like Lanier, he typically holds his boat over 45 feet of water and casts into 15 to 20 feet of water. He claims the biggest bass hold on the ends of the points. If an eight count doesn’t work, he tries a 12 count, a 15 count and then a 20 count until he gets a bite. Then he concentrates on the productive depth.

“You have to pay attention to how long you let that bait sink,” Nichols says. “I like to pump the bait and let it fall on the retrieve. That makes it flop, flop, flop, and that’s what causes a reaction strike.”

When bass move up and begin spawning, Nichols sight fishes for bedding fish. This isn’t his forte, but he’s learned to do it well enough to hold his own during the spawn. Zoom’s Trick Worm and Super Fluke are his go-to baits then, usually in white. He rigs these lures with a 5/0 hook, which he leaves exposed.

Since spawning bass don’t actively feed, they often slap at these lures when Nichols twitches them over a bed. A treble stinger in the belly of the Super Fluke sometimes hooks these fish. If he can’t catch a bedding bass on these lures, Nichols temps it with a variety of offerings, including Texas-rigged craws, tubes, drop-shot worms, and even crankbaits.

If the bass are holding in heavy, shallow-water cover, such as flooded bushes, Nichols resorts to a flippin’ stick. Again, this isn’t one of his preferred fishing methods, but he knows it’s an essential part of being a versatile fisherman.

“A lot of guys try to finesse those fish from the cover,” Nichols says. “I don’t believe in that. I go with a big bait and a heavy weight to get reaction bites.”

A Brush Hog often comes through for Nichols when he’s flippin’ to cover. The lightest sinker he uses with the Brush Hog is 5/16-ounce. He also does well on jigs that weigh 1/2-ounce or more. When the cover is especially dense, he may go to a 1- to 1 1/2-ounce jig or sinker to penetrate the cover and get a fast drop.

After the spawn, Nichols draws bass to the surface with dog-walking stickbaits like the Heddon Zara Spook, 6- to 10-inch Castaic swimbaits, and the Cordell Red Fin. He retrieves the latter two baits just beneath the surface so they make a V wake.

“We fish around herring a lot on lakes like Lanier and Hartwell, and those baits imitate the herring,” Nichols says. “A herring doesn’t move slowly like a gizzard or threadfin shad. It zips and stops; zip and stops. That’s how I work my baits. I want them to look like something is chasing them.”

Nichols runs his baits over submerged brush piles that are far offshore. He stays well back from these covers and makes long casts with a 7 1/2-foot baitcasting rod and 14-pound line to avoid spooking the bass. When he hooks a bass, four or five others often follow it to the boat trying to steal the bait. If five or six casts over the brush fail to bring up a bass, he swims a jig over the cover.

“Some people think a jig is just supposed to be fished on the bottom,” Nichols says. “But, you can catch some really big fish by swimming that thing.”

Nichols also brings up bass from brush piles in the summertime on stickbaits, swimbaits and the Cordell Red Fin, but only during the first and last hour or so of daylight. After the sun gets up, he goes down to the bass with a jig, a shaky head worm, or a Sworming Hornet Fish Head Spin.

When he fishes evening summer tournaments on Lanier and other clear-water reservoirs, Nichols relies on a 3/4- to 1-ounce black spinnerbait with a big, gold Colorado blade. These events typically start around 7 p.m. on weekdays and finish at 11 p.m. or midnight. Nichols slow rolls the bait over brush piles after dark and lets the thump-thump-thumping Colorado blade goad strikes from bass.

In autumn, Nichols targets brush piles on the ends of long points. He claims that the most productive brush lies within 20 feet of where the bottom drops off sharply. His main bait then is a shaky head worm, specifically a 1/8- or 3/16-ounce ball head jig dressed weedless with a green pumpkin Zoom Trick Worm. He matches the bait with spinning tackle and 8-pound test fluorocarbon line.

“The shaky head is the hottest, most terrible thing that I know to catch those bass,” Nichols says. “You better know how to use one.”
Nichols believes that many fishermen make the mistake of shaking the worm and reeling line at the same time. The secret, he says, is to shake the bait on a slack line. That makes the worm jump back and forth with a whiplash action. Nichols grabs the line above the reel with his free hand when he shakes the bait. This helps him feel soft bites. He never shakes the worm while reeling in slack line.
“Usually, the smaller fish give you the harder bite,” Nichols says. “A bigger bass feels like you’ve got moss on the line.”

As the water cools later in the fall, Nichols enjoys topwater action by casting a buzzbait around the mouths of creeks. But, this spree is short-lived, and the bass soon move back out to brush piles close to drop-offs. The shaky head worm and Sworming Hornet keep Nichols in touch with bass well into the winter months.

Copyright 2008 Bass Club Digest.

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