Tactics and Lures for Bass Success

It should be a great weekend for bass fishing in Michigan. The water temps are hovering right around 50 degrees keeping the fish active and searching for beds. Just over a week ago, my buddy and I caught about dozen decent fish using these baits and tactics. We were fishing Horsehead Lake in Mecosta County. 

1. Target Wooded Shorelines in 5-8 feet of water. Bass were holding to any structure they could find. They’ll use this structure for their beds in the coming weeks so they’re aggressively defending their real-estate.

 Notice undeveloped shoreline. This bass was caught off that log next to my elbow in the picture.

2. Flip a fluke (http://bit.ly/bp0olx) along structure.

3. Twitch, twitch, stop. Keep the rod tip low and snap the line making the fluke dance side-to-side. This motion was getting the bass to chase the lure but stopping the lure made them strike. Stopping the bait lets the fluke sink back into the fish’s face. Then BAM. They were killin it.

We caught a couple bass using silver Rapala countdowns (http://bit.ly/dhUGUz) , a couple on a texas rigged rubber worm with a Chartreuse twister tail and one on a leach floating under a bobber.

I caught this pike on the Rapala. He was a decent size, maybe 20″, with a weird looking bite near his tail. He was holding in deeper water (8-10 feet) adjacent to sunny shallow flats were he could crash minnows to feed.

 The same twitch, twitch, stop method boated this gator.

Good luck this weekend. If the weather holds out and you can find some wooded shorelines I bet you’ll catch some nice early season Largemouths.