(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
While spotted bass have existed on Lake Hartwell for decades, it’s only in the past 5 to 10 years that they’ve become a force in tournament results. That means there’s still a lot for local tournament anglers to learn there, said Bassmaster Opens competitor Brian Latimer. He believes that you can pull up on almost any deep shoal in the lake and catch some, but if you want to consistently catch bigger ones you need to be on the bank.
During the springtime that means he concentrates on a variety of scenarios, including rocks and short pockets on the main lake, as well as 45-degree banks and transitions from clay to rocks. He wants wind and clouds for this bite. If it’s sunny and slick, the fish tend to slide out.
When this shallow bite is on, he has a favorite type of lure: “My favorite way to catch bigger spotted bass is with a crankbait,” he said. Typically that means fishing in the 8- to 12-foot range with lures like a SPRO Rock Crawler.
If heavy rains stain the water, he’ll look for comparatively clearer areas. “Spotted bass are visual feeders and they like to be where they can see,” he said. Later he added that some of the places he targets with a crankbait “look like shaky-head territory.”
Because spots may not be as wedded to specific targets as largemouths, he’s usually not making pinpoint casts. That means he can use a longer rod, from 7 feet up to 7’4”. He pairs it with a high-speed reel with a 7.3:1 gear ratio, or even something speedier. “I want to be able to cover water a little bit faster.” In the clear water, the spots can pick up the bait from a long distance and will come from far away to crush it. He likes 10- to 12-pound fluorocarbon for most applications, not necessarily because of the size of the fish, but rather because his particular line choice enables him to get the lure where it needs to go and still behave naturally.
Another way this is distinct from cranking for largemouths is that deflection and digging aren’t always the name of the game. “I don’t necessarily have to contact the bottom,” he said. In fact, when he determines, with his graph or otherwise, that the spotted bass are suspended, he’ll often choose a crankbait that doesn’t get anywhere close to the floor of the lake. “There’s days when I want it to run about halfway through the water column.” One of the lures that he relies upon in this scenario is the vaunted and reliable Rapala Shad Rap, although he noted that there are now several other similarly subtle baits that get the job done.
If you want to learn some of the other ways that Latimer uses crankbaits to catch tournament-winning spotted bass, including his line choices for small cranks like the Shad Rap, check out his full video, filmed on Lake Hartwell, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
