Entry 116-2

Shaw Grigsby on How to Catch Bass in August and September

Hunt the Docks

Editor's Note: Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, a well-known professional angler, enjoys fishing all the Strike King baits, especially the spinnerbaits. He has a TV show titled "One More Cast" on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN). This week he will discuss the baits needed to reel in success during the hottest months of the year.

Grigsby: At this time of the year, boat docks are usually as productive, if not more productive, than any other area on the lake. The boat dock provides shade, cover and a feeding station for the bass. One boat dock is an entire ecosystem. The algae growing on the pilings and on the floats attract small baitfish, and the baitfish attract bigger fish. The shade of the boat docks give the bass cover to hide in and a place to attack from. The two main baits I like to fish around docks are the Premier Elite Jig and the Bleeding Bait series, and to the Bleeding Bait Jig I like to add the Denny Brauer Chunk. I like to skip the jig as far back under the dock as I can and work it from the back of the dock as slowly as possible to the front of the dock, trying to feel the cover as the jig comes out. I like to bump the tube against poles, cables, or any other structure I find on the bottom.

Many lake dwellers like to fish off their docks for bream and crappie, so they build brush piles under the docks that provide habitat for these fish. This type of brush piles will be what I'm trying to locate and fish. Out in front of the docks, you also usually will find brush about a cane pole's length from the dock. The homeowner puts out this brush so that he can sit on his dock and catch fish in front of his dock. So, fish those brush piles really strong. These tactics are primarily for stained-water lakes.

In clear-water lakes, I like to fish the Zero or the Z Too around the docks. I'll fish these two baits much like I do the tube. I'll skip them back under the dock and then let the bait settle down and fall to the bottom. In clear-water situations, bass can see much further than they can in stained water. When I fish the Zero or the Z Too, I want a very subtle presentation so the bass can see it from a long way off and come to the bait to attack. When you are jig fishing the docks you can fish the jig quickly, but when you are fishing the Z Too, you have to fish slowly, patiently let the bait fall all the way to the bottom, twitch it up off the bottom and let it fall again. The slower you fish the bait in clear water, the more strikes you'll get.

Bass will tell you how to fish the bait. If the bass are taking the Z Too as soon as it hits the water and begins to fall, you can speed up fishing the bait. But, if the bass want the bait as it falls and almost hits the bottom, then you know you need to fish slower. If a bass waits for the Z Too to hit the bottom and lay on the bottom for a second or two before the lures, you know you have to fish extremely slowly. If the bass still doesn't hit the bait when it hits the bottom, twitch the Z Too a couple of times, and let it fall back again. If the bass take it after you have let the bait fall to the bottom, lay on the bottom, twitch it up off the bottom, and then fall back to the bottom again, you know you have to fish that bait as slowly as you possibly can. The real secret to fishing these boat-dock bass is that the ways the bass want the bait will change almost every day, and oftentimes they will change the way they want the bait once or twice during the day. So, pay attention to the bass, and listen to what they are telling you.




 

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