Entry 136-2
Kevin VanDam - What to do When Your Fishing Goes to Pot
When a Cold Front Kills Your Bass Fishing
Editor's Note: Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, has won about every honor an angler can win in professional bass fishing. He must make his fishing count, even when it goes to pot. This week we'll find our how VanDam recovers from a fishing situation like that.
Question: Kevin, what do you do when you've been fishing, you've had beautiful weather, you go to bed at night, you wake up the next morning, the temperature has dropped 20 to 30 degrees, a cold front hits, and the wind's blowing. Although most fishermen will leave and go home, this is a tournament day and you have to fish?
Answer: Typically the bass will still bite on the same patterns that they've been hitting on before the cold front. You have about an hour window just at daylight to try and catch some of those active fish. These cold fronts usually hit during the spawning season so I'll go to an area where I think the bass are going to be spawning and start fishing the Diamond Shad. I really like to fish a channel swing that runs along the edge of a flat, even if those bass have pulled out of the shallow water they'll be holding on that breakline where the edge of the channel goes to the flat. That's where you want to concentrate your fishing on during that first hour.
Actually I believe cold fronts affect fishermen in the spring more than they do bass. A strike zone will shrink when a cold front hits the lake. Then keeping your boat in position will be much more difficult because of the wind that usually comes in with the cold front. That's when I'll primarily be fishing reaction baits. I like the Diamond Shad because I can rip it up out of the grass when I'm fishing on the grass, let the bait flutter down and then get a reaction strike out of the bass. Another bait that will make these bass bite is bouncing a Strike King crankbait along the bottom and crashing it into any structure you can hit.
Jerkbaits are another excellent choice for this weather condition. When the bass are neutral to negative about biting, you have to use baits that will cause the bass to bite instinctively, even if the fish doesn't want to feed. When a cold front hits, the bass are generally in that negative "I don't want to bite" mood, and these lures can really help you get strikes.
Question: Kevin, when a cold front hits, most fishermen start vertical fishing with a jig, tube bait or other slow-moving soft plastics. Why are you choosing these other lures like the Diamond Shad, Strike King's crankbait or the Wild Shiner?
Answer: The day the front hits on the lake is completely different from the second day after a cold front arrives. On the first day, the bass will still give a reaction strike to lures like the ones I've described. However, after the cold front has been on the lake for a day, the bass tend to get lockjaw and are more difficult to catch. That's when you have to start fishing various types of cover and using flipping tactics and slow-moving baits.
Next: Let Her Blow
Contents:
- Part 1: The Day the Pattern Changes
- Part 2: When a Cold Front Kills Your Bass Fishing
- Part 3: Let Her Blow
- Part 4: When the Sun Comes Out
- Part 5: When Fame Doesn't Pay
