When bass head shallow for their annual spawning ritual, Bassmaster Elite Series pro, Patrick Walters likes to cover a lot of water with his trolling motor and use a large search bait, such as a glide bait, to help him visually locate bedding bass. One of the most important tips from Patrick is that once you've located a bass on its bed, don't just stop immediately and begin trying to catch the fish. He recommends continuing to trolling motor past the bass on its bed, but remember exactly where it is located and turn around after a short amount of time, and re-approach the fish in a more stealthy manner. This helps prevent the fish from knowing you are there and allows it to calm down and be far easier to catch. Patrick's first cast will be with a wacky worm at a distance where the fish can't see your boat and you can't see the bed - you are making the cast off of memory of where the fish was when you trolling motored past it before. As you get closer to the bed and can begin to visually see the fish, then it's time to break out the Texas rig and really work the bait to entice the fish into biting.
How to Fish a Bass Bed with Patrick Walters
Sat, May 7, 2022
