By David A. Brown
Special to BassFan
Dream world: Every one of the spots you intend to fish in a tournament hold legit home-run potential. Real world: You have a laundry list of spots to hit, but only one or two merit that deliciously promising term “The Juice.”
Bassmaster Elite Series pro Greg Hackney explains: “The Juice” is your best spot, the place that holds the greatest potential for quality and quantity. When he thinks of times to be on the juice, Hackney first thinks of meteorological fluctuations.
“When a cold front is about the push through, the day before that can see a spike in the fish’s activity level,” he said. “It makes everything volatile and when that happens, a lot of times fish get more aggressive than they had been when the weather was stable. When I see a system coming, I try to be on the prime areas.”
When to Hit the Good Stuff
In addition to the pre-front barometer buzz, here’s a roundup of other times you want to be on the juice:
> Daybreak: Elite pro Alton Jones said he always starts a tournament on the spot where he had his biggest bites in practice.
“If you’re sight-fishing, you go to the biggest fish you found because your big fish are your game-changers,” Jones said. “And if you’re fishing a ledge and you caught one good fish off there in practice, there’s a good chance that what made that spot favorable for one good fish could also make that spot advantageous for other big fish, too.
“So, I want to start on my juice because someone’s going to catch that fish and I want it to be me.”
> Celestial signals: Solunar tables offer clear indications of when fish are most likely to feed. Other factors certainly influence the chew schedule, but don’t overlook those sun and moon tables.
“I do that study before I go out, so I know when the minor and major feeding periods are going to happen,” Jones said.
> Go with the flow: On tidal fisheries from the Potomac River to the California Delta, daily ebb and flow positions forage and stimulates bass feeding. Two ways of looking at this: 1) Identify a sweet spot and make sure you’re on this money-maker during the “juicy” tide stage – that ideal period when depth and current strength flip the fish’s feeding switch.
2) Treat the actual tide stage as the juice. Determine the level at which the fireworks occur and then run the tide to keep the juice flowing.
> Current events: Similar to tidal movement, lake current positions fish and makes them open their mouths. So whether it’s the TVA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or a smaller local authority, knowing the water release schedule – when the gates open and how many cubic feet per second (cfs) will flow – helps you dial in those periods of increased activity. Take advantage of this opportunity by making sure you have a bait on your best spot when that current picks up steam.
Visitation Schedule
Jones knows that sometimes being on the juice means strategically timed visits; while other instances may call for a lengthy commitment. Indeed, “parking” on your premium spot has its merits.
Alton Jones says that managing your 'juice' sometimes means sitting on it to keep other competitors away.
“One example of when you want to park on your juice all day long is when you’ve found a good piece of structure like a brush pile, because if you’re not fishing it, somebody else will,” Jones said.
Another scenario in which Jones would park on “the juice” is when his top spot is his only spot. As rare as it may be, there are times when several days of practice leave you with only one solid option. Come tournament day, using live competition hours to essentially continue practicing and looking is not an attractive proposition.
“After practicing for 3 days, you know that your chances of leaving the spot you’ve found and running around to find more fish are slim to none,” Jones said. “So you’re going to stay on the juice because there’s a bigger concentration of fish; they’re not scattered out.
“If they were in other places, you would have had bites in other spots.”
Noting a recent example of incremental juice use, Jones recounts his experience at the recent Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship at Mille Lacs.
“On day 2, I had left my juice because the fish had quit biting, but I came back with 30 minutes to spare at the end of the day and caught a 5-pounder off that spot,” he said. “I noticed that in the other places in the afternoon, the fish really started biting; so I realized that they were probably biting on my big-fish spot too.
“That 5-pounder was a key fish. It probably got me five or six places in the standings – that one fish.”
When to Lay Off
You may not need to fish the juice all the time, but if you’re wondering if there are times when you want to avoid the good stuff, there are. Fish management is a key consideration for multi-day tournaments, but there’s more to it than that.
“A good time to be off the juice is when you think no one else has found it, but they’re close enough to see you on it,” Jones said. “You don’t want to be educating the field.”
Jones said that was the case for him at the final Bassmaster Elite Series regular-season tournament at La Crosse, Wis. On that upper Mississippi River fishery, he had a great spot – rocks with weeds swept by current – all to himself. He had the juice and although three other boats were sitting within 40 yards of him, his competitors weren’t feeling the same love.
“I was definitely on the juice in Wisconsin, but nobody was around to see me there,” Jones recalls. “I fished 4 days and I made the same cast over and over. Every fish I weighed in was on the same cast — Power-Poles down, I’d make that cast and jerk.
“You know you’re dialed in when you have the exact cast lined up and the guys that are that close and watching you can’t do it."
Strategic Thought
Jones wraps the lesson with this observation: There are times when being on the juice simply means guarding the juice.
“Sometimes, managing fish can mean sitting on your juice and keeping somebody off of it, too,” he said. “I remember an event on the Potomac River in the early '90s when Gary Klein found the juice in practice and he anchored on it daylight to dark – he wasn’t even going to let anyone practice on it.
“Come tournament day, you’re going to go to what you found and no one else could find that spot. Everybody knew what he was doing, but it was a smart strategy.”
