(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 Lee Livesay has put on televised big-fish beatdowns with swimbaits, frogs and big topwaters, but he still needs to be successful when fishing is tough or he has not dialed in a pattern.
“Fishing is not always great,” he said. “Fishing isn’t always ideal.” So when bad conditions exist, or “you’re just not feeling it,” it might be time to junk-fish. Put seven, eight or more rods on the deck and take situations as they come.
“The first bait I’m going to grab when I go junk-fishing, no matter where I’m at, pretty much is, the 6th Sense 50X square-bill,” he explained. Most of the time he fishes it in shad patterns, but up north he might try to replicate a brim or a perch, and when bass are keyed in on crawfish he’ll mix reds into the palette. He fishes these lures on Halo HFX 7-foot medium-action cranking rods and 17- to 20-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon. When the bite’s even tougher, and on occasionally-stingy fisheries like the Red River, he might turn to the 6th Sense Finesse F4 crankbait, a thinner, tighter-wobbling plug.
His next favorite option is a vibrating jig. “There’s a bunch of them out there now,” he said. “I don’t really have a preference.” It’s rarely his primary bait, but during Elite Series tournaments he’ll almost always have one or two on the deck of his boat. “It’s a bait I can pick up and get bit.” Usually he runs them in 3/8- or 1/2-ounce sizes; white, green pumpkin or black and blue. A boot-style trailer like a NetBait Spanky is often his top choice, although early in the year he’ll slow it down with a Paca Craw. He fishes in on a 7’3” medium-heavy graphite rod, noting that the glass sticks preferred by some other pros don’t fit his fishing style
His Next choice is “just a jig.” Usually that means a green pumpkin flipping jig, because he can swim, flip, pitch or cast it to any type of cover, from 2 inches deep down to 12 or more feet.
Some of his best “random” fish, like those of many of his fellow top tournament pros, have come on big topwaters, which are castable and seem to produce bigger-than-average results. He likes a 6th Sense Catwalk walking bait, noting that it’s not giant, but not a small popper, either. It excels when fished lightning fast or walked in place for extended periods of time. He can throw it a mile on a Halo 7-foot medium-action cranking rod, paired with 50-pound Sunline braid. As appropriate, he'll change out his hooks to No. 2 or No. 3 Gamakatsu EWG 2X strong models for rock solid hookups and landings.
Finally, don’t sleep on a swim jig, again in simple colors (shad, brim, black/blue). “I can take it anywhere in the world, any depth, go down the bank and catch fish.”
If you want to learn some of multiple-time Elite Series champion Livesay’s junk-fishing secrets, techniques that will help you excel when your day doesn’t work out “like it’s supposed to,” check out his full on-the-water video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
