(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
Elite Series pro Patrick Walters said he likely would not have won the 2020 Texas Fest on Lake Fork or joined the Century Club if he hadn’t fished an Open on Cherokee the week before. The lakes are “polar opposites” he said, but he’d been catching his fish in Tennessee suspended in trees on channel bend bluff banks. When he got to Fork, he almost immediately saw some largemouths swimming through timber, but they wouldn’t eat his lipless crankbait or Carolina Rig. When he picked up the same jerkbait he’d been throwing for smallmouths, he immediately leaned into a 6-pounder. Then he went to the next big creek, found the biggest clump of trees he could locate, and quickly caught a 3-pounder. Five minutes later, he lost one that was almost 7, but he had his winning ticket.
He also had a reminder: When the bass are using trees, it’s often a patternable situation.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s green timber, flooded timber, stumps or laydowns, Walters believes that bass are comfortable around wood. “It’s almost like their bed, their home,” he said.
The key to finding the best ones, though, is to think about topography first and trees second.
“This sounds crazy, but you almost have to ignore the trees themselves,” he explained. That means thinking about seasonal patterns first. If fish are spawning in the backs of pockets, the best-looking trees in the world on the main lake will likely not produce. At that time of year, his No. 1 goal is to find the right kind of wood that’s protected from a north wind.
He also is a close watcher of water levels and how they may be changing, especially in southern reservoirs. “If that water is rising, they are going to chase that water,” he explained. They’ll often get as shallow as they can and super-tight to cover.
In lakes with seemingly endless rows and clusters of trees, look for irregularities and isolated trees. If a row of cypress has one that stands out, or one that’s a different species altogether, be sure to hit it. That can be a pattern in and of itself. There are also seasonal and daily patterns about where the bass will hold on a particular tree or type of tree. “At home we fish cypress trees year-round,” Walters explained, but not always in the same way. For example, root balls may be a great pattern during the spawn, but not at other times of year.
No matter when or where you’re fishing around trees, you need to have multiple baits ready to go. Even if the bass are keyed in on one, the angle of attack and the relative depth could make that a non-factor. However, one of his favorite lures is a Rapala DT6. It excels even in a mere 3 feet of water because it’s made of balsa, and will therefore back up out of snags.
If you want to learn some of the other secrets of how Walters fishes trees, including how he positions the boat, how much time he gives each individual tree and his favorite jerkbait colors, check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
