Using SI to Catch PreSpawn & PostSpawn Bass

[Doug V]

I just returned from the BASS Central Open on Table Rock Lake and with the Help of my Humminbird Side Imaging and Lakemaster Maps I was able to dial into the bite and locations. I found a Pattern to catch the Post Spawn Bass from the first wave and in the same areas was catching PreSpawn fish from the next wave coming in. The Key Was Boulder Rocks the size of Basketballs or 3' Diameter that these fish were using to recover or wait to move in to the spawning areas. The fish were staged near deep water but in about 8' to 12' of water. And a key was crawfish and bream. So my bait of choice was a LuckyCraft Flat CB DR in Ghost Aurora Golden Shiner it had the brown hues of the crawfish and similar colors of the bream that were in the area.

One of the practice fish that ate the Lucky Craft Flat CB DR

But the Key was boat position. And LakeMaster made that easy with matching the current lake level and using the shaded depth feature I could color just outside the target depth to position my boat. This allowed me to quickly see the the target depth and my boat position without having to stay focused on the depth and I could see ahead of me how the depth changed to keep the boat properly positioned.

After about a 2 Days of practice I had figured out how to catch them the key was finding more areas to fish in this multiple day event. This is where Humminbird Side Imaging with it's superior ability of showing details from the bank to below the boat as an even display helped me pinpoint each bolder and the areas I needed to fish to be successful.

It wasn't just largemouth but also spotted bass...

But Smallmouth too...

And Chunky Largemouths

So using Lake Master Maps Exclusive features and super high details. Helped me properly position my boat on the places Humminbird Side Imaging found.

Day one I was in 6th Place. But Day 2 I had the opportunities to succeed and feel very confident that I had the fish to be leading if not in the top 3 hooked up. But some netting malfunctions kept me from making the Top 12 Cut by a mere 5 Ounces and settled for a 15th Place Tie.

Photo Courtesy of BASS by Legendary Photographer James Overstreet.

So next time you get on the water trust your electronics and use your maps to get dialed in to where the fish are and how to catch them in multiple places.

 

[flpper]

So you were moving in the green areas and casting into the same or into the white and red ares?

 

[Doug V]

I set the Red (Shallow Water Highlight) as the Upper Range (or shallowest the larger fish were) so I casted into the edge of the red but was targeting the fish between the Red and Green area was my target area.

 

[flpper]

I thought that was the strategy, but wanted to make sure. I wish there was some way to prioritize the mapping of the TN lakes from LakeMaster; we have a lot of areas where these features would be helpful. You can do it in your head but when you can see it graphically and in color, it makes so much more sense to me.

 

[Doug V]

flpper - 5/12/2012 4:28 PM

I thought that was the strategy, but wanted to make sure. I wish there was some way to prioritize the mapping of the TN lakes from LakeMaster; we have a lot of areas where these features would be helpful. You can do it in your head but when you can see it graphically and in color, it makes so much more sense to me.

Exactly... Why use your mind to position the boat when you can use the Shading Features of LakeMaster to do it for you....then you can use that mind power to catch fish!

 

[BassVol]

I wish LakeMaster made TN Maps...awesome stuff

 

[Doug V]

Lake Master is expanding and watch for more areas coming... They have some awesome features and exact details.