RHuff

The Flutter Spoon

My water has the green/white tent to it right now in the creek they are in…. for some reason this creek arm is like a magnet for the baitfish.. Most of the creeks run north/south where as this one runs east/west.. Also.. the termocline is right at 20ft on the main lake and the bait seems to be holding right as far back as the creek channel shallows to right at 20ft..it’s also slightly clearer than the other two big arms that run N/S

It’s funny you typed this because guess what killed it for me today…the FLUTTER SPOON.. I threw the 6th Sense 4.5 inch 1oz Flutter Spoon in Chrome with a gold feathered treble hook and I can honestly say it was one of the craziest bites i’ve ever been on.. If there were 3 or more bass in an area they would race to get to it first on the fall and many times it wouldn’t even make it to the bottom.. my biggest bass did come out of a brush pile though as I ripped it up right above the brush.. I’m now a believer in the spoon game….

I try to position myself down current in the 40-50 ft range to make a semi long cast.. the hard part is staying far enough away not to spook but close enough for accuracy

Can you recommend a brand/color for the swimbait and jighead

I was at a local lake yesterday that has mostly smallmouth with a few quality sized largemouth mixed in. Not ideal conditions with blue bird skies, constant wind, bright sun. This is a deep clear reservoir with steep rocky banks and it is in the process of getting drawn down for winter so the water has been dropping daily. The water temp is still very warm at 72 and most of the lakes here has not turned over yet. I started in the river portion of the lake and caught one 10" smallmouth on a dropshot but there was virtually else going on up river. I made a move down the main lake and targeted one of the biggest creeks I could find off the main lake that forked in the end. I found a lot of bait in the backs of the creeks in about 20 ft of water. The baitballs were all holding onto or near the bottom. Most of the bass that I saw in livescope were cruising the bottom to and from the baitballs. On occasion, they would swim up to around 10 ft or so and hold but not very often as the bait was low in the water column. 1. Jighead Minnow - 5 inch with a 3/16 oz jighead. I would try bouncing the minnow and shaking the minnow. The bass would come up right to the bait but not commit. Sometimes they would follow it back to the boat. Sometimes they would follow it all the way down down the bottom and hold on it but not commit to eat it. 2. Jighead Minnow - 3.5 inch with a 1/8 oz jighead. Exact same result or the bass would come halfway then turn away and not commit. 3. Neko Rig - 5 inch Berkley Maxscent General with a 1/16oz neko weight. Would let it fall past the bass to the bottom. They would follow it down or parallel the bottom to it and hold on it but not commit. I did have one large bass pick it up but when I lifted the rod up and began to reel he let go. He soft struck it without fully committing. How are some of you more experienced guys catching these bass?

1 jig head minnow cast it past the brush and slowly work it up and over the brush barely hovering it above the tip of the pile 2 jig and trailer cast it past the brush and bang it around in there 3 burn a crankbait clipping the top of the pile 4 texas-rigged drop shot cast it past and slowly work it up and through the pile I'd give each one of those 2 or 3 casts each and if you don't get bit after about 8 casts, move on to the next one.....

My advice was geared towards ultra clear water not heavy cover. For thick pads, working a frog aggressively and fast across the top has gotten me more bites than anything else... I agree the noise and commotion helps them track and key in on it, but only under those exact circumstances.

Is it better than South Holeston?

My personal opinion is that rolling back bass boats would be more effective than limiting technology. I don't see any danger of using FFS or any other sonar to catch fish. The fish will adapt as they have always done. I think fishing out of 21 ft long 250HP boats that run nearly 80mph is not only dangerous but also ignorant. Does it make sense to allow pedestrians on bicycles to ride down our interstates? It's by the grace of our god that more fatalities haven't happened. There needs to be more regulation on what types of boats and what is allowed. Lakes shouldn't be unlimited speed and horsepower. I think a tournament boat should be no more than 18ft with a 150HP. We need to cut back on the egos and use more common sense. Not only is it safer, it also levels the field (which is the whole argument about FFS) and, it also brings it more in line with the common man who likes to tournament fish. A $40K vs. an $80K boat. Manufacturers may even do better with quantity over quality. Use all of the sonar you want, use whatever kind of technology you can get a hold of, we don't need $100,000 rocket ships blasting and running all of our waterways. It's too dangerous.

Tequilla Sunrise has been my best.... with a little Morning Dawn mixed in..

I'm pretty much 100% a scoper now. I'm blessed enough to have the technology so I'm certainly going to use it as much as I can. I mainly throw baits now that work in unison with that. Jighead Minnows, Neko Rigs, Drop-Shots, Jigs.....

I think of it as a wacky rig for deeper water. I throw a weightless maxscent general wacky style up around the bank and near cover but if I'm fishing parallel to the bank say in the 8-10 ft zone or deeper I'll fish it neko style. Sometimes I still use the general sometimes I'll use another worm it just depends. The roboworm fat has been good as has the BBB Nekorama. I like a 1/16 tungsten nail weight with the geecrack neko hack and a vmc size 1 wacky hook. Same hook makes it easy to switch in an out based on which one I wanna throw. It's deadly on livescope when you see fish holding or roaming the bottom throw it and let it fall down right in front of them. Drew Gill is probably the best in the world at this. He says he throws it at suspended fish too he lets them follow it to the bottom and deadsticks it until they bite it. I can get the followers but I can't seem to get them to eat it yet. That is a prime example as to why I am not a pro.

that makes about as much sense as what they are doing this year lol

This is my second season using Live scope. It has most definitely changed how I fish. I fish a lot more finesse than I did with mostly power fishing before. I'd say before I was an 80% shallow and 20% deep fisherman now I spend most of my time in deeper water or offshore so I'd say now I'm probably 90% deep and 10% shallow guy. I will only fish shallow when I see for certain there are bass on my screen. I used to be a big spinnerbait and crankbait guy now the jig head minnow, drop-shot, and neko rig is about all I throw. I have caught more and bigger fish on the jig head minnow than any other two baits combined since the beginning of last year. My biggest bass since last year though was a smallmouth nearly pushing 6lbs and it came off a 1/2 football jig dragging it in 30ft of water NOT using live scope. I will say without a doubt 100% factual statement that FFS has made fishing a lot more fun for me and has produced a lot more fish and has given me a lot more confidence as an angler. Looking back on it now, I don't even really remember what it was like to fish without it. My person opinion for tournaments - either use it 100% or don't use it at all. I don't like this back and forth part time this and part time that stuff that MLF and Bass are doing. Either use it like Bass did last year or ban it completely like NPFL did last year.

I point scope to where ever it is and if I see bass underneath or chasing the school I throw the jighead minnow and work it to the bass... if they are chasing that means they are active bass and are the easiest ones to catch usually. I've had some bites in this scenario that were down right violent.

try both..... drag it until you feel a little resistance on the bottom then "hop it" free....

I have used it. I used it this past weekend actually. It gave me three areas with gps spots and all three spots were holding fish....

most of the time when a bass if following it and I speed it up a little they either speed up behind it but still follow it or slowly turn away and swim back down towards the bottom... If I could learn how to trigger the minnow followers and the ones that follows the neko rig to the bottom and holds on the worm but doesn't eat it I'd be deadly....

how fast are you guys reeling your minnows while shaking it? If a chaser follows and turns away is that a sign you need to move it horizontally quicker?

Had many bass follow and short strike me today with the jighead minnow, neko rig, jig, and drop-shot.. I downsized, upsized, changed colors.. worked it faster, then slower.. I caught about 7 in 7 hrs my biggest being 2.75 but it had probably 5 more grab it but not take it.. how do you guys get these chasers to bite?

I might have should have been more specific in my original post. I know the pros are elite and on another level. When I say "tournament guys" I mean the average joe tournament guy who always seems to get a check... How do those guys do it?

The guys that are consistently great that are always in the money... Do you feel it's because they are really good at 3 or 4 techniques and can catch fish on those techniques anywhere in the country or is it because they are good at everything all the time? Dumb question I know... do you think it's better to learn three or four ways to catch fish or does one need to learn to fish anything and everything?

Throw weightless worms.. avoid making big splashes.. the fish probably already know you’re there.. big commotions probably lock them down… Try fishing at night..

6'8 Medium/Fast rod 8lb fireline to 8lb flouro leader 1/4 oz tungsten teardrop size 1 vmc redline finesse neko hook or size 1 vmc redline dropshot hook If throwing a robo worm I use the neko if throwing a minnow style or GLF drop worm I throw the small hook I cast it out and let it fall to the bottom and slowly drag the bait forward using the rod while reeling up slack line If I suspect a bite I reel down and lift up for a hookset