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Wilks: Lipless baits in the tailrace

Wilks: Lipless baits in the tailrace

(Editor's note: "Catching Bass with Dustin Wilks" airs four times per week on Sportsman Channel – 6:30 a.m. ET Monday, 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, 5 a.m. Saturday and 4:30 p.m. Sunday. The six-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier provides BassFans with additional insight about each episode in these submissions.)

Last week’s show was all about avoiding the tough fall turnover by fishing below dams in tailraces.

I’ve encountered this all over the county – when fishing is terrible on reservoirs during the turnover, it's time to head to a tailrace. The water rushing through quickly becomes more oxygenated and attracts lots of baitfish. Tailraces are generally good year-round, but shine when fishing is off elsewhere. Some of these places can be dangerous, though, so beware.

On the show I encountered large schools of striped and spotted bass busting shad and other small baitfish. We edited out numerous stripers. It was actually quite frustrating catching them when I wanted black bass. Nonetheless, they are fun if you're not doing a show about catching bass.

What I found this particular day was a lipless bait was the best thing to trigger the spots over the stripers. While I caught a lot of stripers on them, I caught a large percentage of the bass on lipless baits.

Two baits in particular were outstanding. A Hardcore Flash N Vibe lipless bait that's small but weighs 3/4-ounce and a Yo-Zuri Mini Vibe. Placing them on little bars and current seams were key if they were not actually busting on top.

The Hardcore Flash NVibe is very unique and worthy of considering adding it to your arsenal as a specialty bait. It's heavy and sinks head-first at a fast rate, but the body size is small. You can really cover a deeper range in a hurry with a small-profile bait – a combo that is hard to find. I use this on a 7-foot-4 Falcon Lowrider swim jig rod, which has a soft tip but lots of backbone for when they hit on the end of a long cast. This is my favorite lipless bait of my entire box.

The Yo-Zuri Mini-Vibe which is 3/16-ounce and very small. This bait is actually really popular with ice fishermen, but when bass are eating really tiny baitfish, this is another niche bait I reach for frequently. During the show, I was not rigged with light braid, but this bait fishes really well on 10-pound braid with a 10- or 12-pound fluorocarbon leader. The hooks are small, so make sure you're using a medium-light action rod or you will tear the hooks out with braid.

While there are tons of baits that work in tailraces, I feel the lipless is really underused and a great option. Next time you encounter fall turnover, try some lipless baits in the tailraces and that will keep you catching bass.

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