Deep thoughts: Megabass Dark Sleeper(Clickbait)

I was just speaking with a pal this morning as he was loading up his Yak. It's 36 degrees out with 9 mph SW winds. Real feel is 30. Brrrr. I'm waiting until it hits 43 later this afternoon. It was 18 yesterday morning and topped out at 30, so I don't expect them to be on the move right now. Plus my wife dreamed up a list of things to do this morning and I'm stuck here. Anyway...

We were discussing how different this winter is compared to last. The veg hasn't died back nearly as much. I'm still snagging perfectly healthy weeds in shallow water, they're just far more sporadic compared to the warmer months. We've had a few wicked cold snaps, but not the type of sustained low temps that would normally decimate them. The temps have been yo-yo-ing.

All of this got me thinking about the current date. I mentioned to him that about 2 weeks from now last year I started creaming them with the 1/2-3/4 oz Dark Sleeper. He replied that he hadn't done well with them at all, but admitted to not really giving them much of a chance either. The majority of the waters we fish are small in acreage and quite shallow. I'm talking 3'-6' in general with random deeper holes and stretches. Weeds take over in late June and the Dark Sleeper gets put to bed until next ice out plus several weeks. It's just an exercise in frustration to fish it while snagging algae covered grass on every cast, but during that window before the weeds take over just lookout! Absolute fire for me!

I went on to explain to him how I fish the Sleeper, and it surprised him. I throw it on a 7' MHF rod fitted with a Fuego CT 8:1:1 reel spooled with straight 30lb braid. It's a fast reel and I fish it fast. He was totally surprised by this. I told him that I'd tried every other typical retrieve and cadence for this bait under the sun in the beginning, and line type, but had no luck. I'd bomb it out. I'd let it soak. I'd hop it slow. I'd hop it fast. I dragged it. Nothing. Only when frustrated and while burning it back in would I get bit. So I resolved to just work it that way and it was a hit. He reminded me that during this same window last year he was killing it with the Red Eye Shad liplless. That lure needs to be fished quite fast here also while just clipping the bottom in these shallow lakes. It's not an identical presentation, but there're similarities regarding retrieve speed and location in the water in relationship to the bottom. Now that he has this new info he's going to give it a whirl. I'd bet that he's going to do OK. I have my own theories as to why this method works well at this time here in this cold water, but who cares? Try fishing the Sleeper fast if it hasn't produced for you yet.

As a side note: This particular friend I mentioned above is an absolute hammer. A machine. A stick. A wizard. If you're active in my area, including the local FB bass fishing pages and beyond, you probably know his name. You also know how tough the fishing can be around here, so the numbers and quality this guy catches are almost beyond belief. The point is that anyone, including an actual bass fishing wizard, can learn something new even if it flies in the face of generally accepted dogma.