By Jonathan LePera
Special to BassFan
Power-finesse is a relatively new term to the smallmouth fishing community, but Elite Series angler Chad Pipkens knows it well.
He rode the technique to a 19th-place finish at the Cayuga Lake Northern Open, which clinched the Angler of the Year in the Northern Division and the accompanying invite to join the Elite Series the following year.
He threw a soft jerkbait in shallow grass in 4 to 6 feet of water after ditching his game plan of drop shotting and cranking rocks.
“I got up shallow on the right grass line with the soft jerkbait and ended up fishing 19th out of 160 people and that was the last event before I won the AOY which is why I got here, honestly,” Pipkens recalled.
Pipkens reaches for a Damiki Armor Shad or Zoom Fluke when smallmouth gang up on specific rock piles or set up on an exact point in the grass.
“It comes through that grass super nice and you get a good hook-set and landing ratio while covering water quickly and using finesse,” Pipkens said. “I can get them to bite a Fluke where they might have followed a spinnerbait.”
He also looks for mixtures of the grass, rock, or sand, and clean bottoms, and sandy patches that are silted over for smallmouths to be able to swim around and ambush prey.
Clear Water Key
Pipkens says dirty or stained water will undermine this tactic and that’s why he prefers clear water when casting flukes around grass.
“It's a visual deal,” he said. “If that fluke is up on that grass, those fish can see it from far away. It’s surprising when you make a long cast how far a fish swims to get your bait once it hits the water, but not if it’s dirty.”
He’ll work the bait more like a jerkbait.
“I get the bait moving with the rod tip and use the reel to bring in slack and I like to move it quick,” he said. “With clear water, you can figure out what it takes to make those fish commit. Those fish will follow that bait for miles but if you can work it really erratic and just kill it, then move it erratic again, they’ll get it on that next move almost every time.”
Gear Up
For open water, he’ll use a Powell Rods 703 casting rod with 12-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper on a high-speed Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel, preferring more control at the reel handle and inches per turn on the retrieve. If he’s throwing into wind or skipping, he’ll opt for the Powell Rods 712 spinning rod and 12-pound Sunline FX1 braided line behind a 12-pound FC Sniper leader. Both rods are soft, but have plenty of power to drive the hook home.
By switching to a thinner offset 4/0 hook, used when skipping docks or overhanging trees, and 5/0, for fishing open water, his hook-up percentage increased from 60 percent to 95 percent. When the hook gap is not offset, he’s found many times the hook point doesn’t pull right through because the point of the hook is in line with the shank making the jerkbait ball-up and slide down.
Rigging for the Conditions
Pipkens needs some wind and cloud cover before he’ll throw a 3- or 4-inch soft-plastic swimbait rigged on a 1/4-ounce ball head jig around grass flats. Varying his retrieve to cover levels of the water column, he’ll try to make contact with stalks of vegetation, sometimes killing the bait sporadically.
Dragging the bait along the bottom then burning it real quick can also trigger bites. Once it slicks off or gets sunny, some of those swimbait fish that would follow or nip at the bait can be picked off with the fluke-style bait.
With clear water, a stealthy approach is paramount as is having a follow-up bait rigged and ready.
“The biggest thing is getting another bait to those fish before the fish get spooked from the boat,” Pipkens said. “If you can see the fish out there following, you can just cast away from them and they’ll eat it. The fish that want it, when you twitch it quick, next time it darts they’ll commit. If I can pull my bait away at 20 feet out, I’ll get another bait out there.”