(Editor's note: "Catching Bass with Dustin Wilks" airs three times per week on Sportsman Channel – 9:30 a.m. ET Friday, 4:30 p.m. Sunday and 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. He provides BassFans with supplemental information about each episode in these weekly submissions.)
This week's show will get you thinking about fishing when fish shouldn’t be biting. It was filmed with a sudden 10-degree water temperature drop in the late fall/early winter period.
When the water temperature is around 50 degrees in the winter, there are lots of lures that will work. But when bass are suspended and grouped up, the Alabama Rig is hard to beat.
A big front had just knocked the water temperatures way down and word was that nothing was biting. I actually like that forecast because usually if you hear something is good or a bite is hot, it's actually over at that point. I always try to fish places I don’t hear anything about and I definitely don’t go to places where you see a bunch of pictures on social media. Big bags in tournaments, ugh, I run from those lakes because they usually result in a big crowd the following weeks.
To have a truly great day, you can’t go by hearsay. You have to do it yourself and be on what I call an emerging pattern, or one that no one has discovered. It doesn’t happen often that you actually find it, but when you do it is pure magic. This has happened a couple of times during this season of filming for me.
An emerging pattern is one that no one has been on and the fish show up in a new place or on a new pattern ... that is when they are most susceptible to being caught and usually it's the big ones. If fish have been in the same areas for weeks, they get tougher to catch as they become more in tune to their environment and more anglers are likely to discover it. Emerging patterns happen more often than you think, but like I said, they're difficult to find in many cases.
So on this week’s show, I idled under a bridge and noticed a big school of shad I’d frightened with my motor and it sent the biggest school of huge bass I’ve ever seen chasing bait all around the boat. The camera does no justice to what went down. For one, the fish where blowing up all around the boat and even pinning bait up against the bank all around me. I caught so many fish that looked the same, we couldn’t even use them all for TV – just too monotonous, but for me it was not! At one point we counted 12 in a row between 3 and 5 pounds
We had no time to show it, but I had a little time to experiment with lures on this big school and the A-Rig is all they would touch. The best bait was actually one I’ve been keeping selfishly secret for years, but figured I’d better sell some since it's made by one of my longtime sponsors – Culprit. The bait is called a Riptide Mullet, and on an A-Rig or underspin the action of the tail is precisely what the fish want with the water in the 45- to 55-degree range, which is A-Rig water. The bait has fins and when combined with the rather subtle tail kick, the fins just seal the deal, adding realism in clear water. These baits are crazy durable and often I fish one A-Rig for an entire day with dozens of fish catches and I only have to replace a bait or two all day. This I so critical because often your whole day ends up being a flurry that will end quick and you don’t want to waste time re-rigging.
The heads I was using were Buckeye J-Will heads in 1/8-ounce. The keeper style that these have are the best and I always choose a heavy-gauge hook for an A-Rig to ensure no bent hooks with the heavy tackle.
I keep a dedicated A-Rig rod in the box year-round. It's one of those baits that is good to have at the ready because you just never know when it will be needed. It takes so long to rig that it's best to have one at hand. My rod is a 7 1/2-foot Falcon Expert Swimbait rod. It's well-balanced and relatively light considering how it can handle big, heavy rigs and large swimbaits.
My line choice is 20- to 25-pound Yo-Zuri Hybrid. This line is "the deal" for A-Rigs. It's forgiving enough not to backlash, doesn’t dig in like braid would, and is incredibly tough. The reason I don’t use braid is the A-Rig is likely to get bit in flurries and you don’t want any issues when that happens. Braid tends to dig into itself on the spool when you set the hook hard, causing the next cast to stop in mid-air. Braid is irreplaceable for lots of applications and is my favorite line, but not for the A-rig. I use 20-pound Hybrid for deeper or clearer water and 25 for stained or shallower water. A-rigs are not good in muddy water.
I write about line a lot. I get the most questions about line, as it is an integral part of every cast.
I hope you get a chance to watch the show and consider not following the crowd and you will end up with more days like the one I had. Remember if you hear of a hot bite, it's likely over. Better to strike out on your own!
