Professional anglers know that bedded bass is where the money is. Here are a few tips on catching bedded bass.
Alton Jones, one of the most consistent anglers on the Bassmaster Elite Series trail, says that anglers sometimes need to catch the smaller male bass before the big sow will strike. He often throws a YUM Tube or Dinger to or just past the bed and drags it in, then lets it sit with just a little wiggling and quick snaps until the male can’t stand it any longer. After the male is removed, the female is left to defend the homefront. It may take a while, but repeated casts often trigger her to bite.
Will Kirkpatrick, a legendary angler and fishing instructor who lives in big bass country near Texas’ Lake Rayburn, devised an ingenious lure for catching big bass off their beds. “I take a Fat Money Minnow and stick a cork up its tail,” he said. Using a small cork available at any hobby store, he pushes it in the tail-end of the bait, then rigs the Fat Money Minnow on a weighted hook. When he works a bed he casts past it and swims the bait to the nest. Then he lets the lure sink to the bottom. The cork floats the tail upward so the Fat Money Minnow looks like a baitfish eating the eggs. It may sound gimmicky, but Kirkpatrick was probably the first angler to catch a bass over 10 pounds on the Fat Money Minnow, so don’t discount it!
The best baits for bedded bass are soft-plastics that remain effective when motionless for periods of time. Excelling in this technique is the YUM Dinger. In the 2009 Bassmaster Classic, Alton Jones lost a bass that probably would have put him near the top of the leaderboard while fishing a bedded bass. He tossed a YUM Tube to the bed and caught the male, then got the tube snagged and had to re-rig. Before he did, however, he tossed a YUM Dinger to the bed and let it sit for a minute, then set the pole down and started retying his tube. When he heard an odd sound in the boat, he watched in horror as his rod flew out of the boat. He snagged it at the end of the cork grip and set the hook. That big bass, which took the Dinger after it had set motionless for up to a minute, swam into a snag and broke him off, but he was certain it weighed upwards of 10 pounds.
Other hot baits, especially in clear water, are realistic crawfish imitations such as the Crawbug and CrawPapi. Texas-rigged, these baits are perfect for tossing into a bed. Let the craw sit for a while and wiggle the rod tip to make the bait vibrate and shake as if eating eggs. A soft-plastic lizard like the Zellamander also works in this technique.