(Editor's note: "Catching Bass with Dustin Wilks" airs five times per week on the Outdoor Channel – 2 p.m. ET Sunday, 4:30 a.m. Monday, 6 a.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m. Wednesday and 5:30 a.m. Saturday. The six-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier provides BassFans with additional insight about each episode in these submissions.)
Last week’s show was about prespawn bass that were very close to spawning when I busted up over 30 pounds worth.
If you watched, you noticed it started out with a huge fish then got slow through the mid-morning hours, and then they started really chewing in the afternoon. This is very typical and it reminded me of a Bassmaster event on Santee Cooper in 2003. The water temperature and dates were the same – March and 58 degrees.
I remember practice being terrible at Santee and only getting a couple good clues in three days. What do you do when you only get a couple bites? Well, you start in those areas.
At my first spot I had 25 pounds in about an hour. I thought I was really doing well until I weighed in and half the field had the same weight or more. There was so much whining about the fishing being tough, I thought it was good.
This reminded me so much of the day I spent fishing for the show, but fortunately I was able to catch them really good. I started flipping deep cypress trees and caught the big one right away, and it kept me doing that far too long. The fish moved up and I was still out. By the time I figured out they were using a shallower range it was about 3 p.m. and I just put the beatdown on them from that point on.
An Eco-Pro Sick Boy swim jig and Culprit Flutter Craw were the superstars on this day. I fished the rig with a Falcon Amistad Rod and 50-pound Yo-Zuri braid and I didn’t lose a fish the entire day. I was able to work through areas with no fish quickly, then slow down when I got a swirl or it just felt right. It worked out perfect, with a 7 1/2-pound and a couple 6s and 5s.
The moral of the story here is being stubborn pays, but being adaptable pays more. So next time you are on the water, even if you feel you are doing the right thing, it pays to mix it up a little – maybe the grass is greener on the other side.
