Evan, Jacob, and I have been taking advantage of the afternoon warmth lately and have been chasing bass in many of the local ponds and small lakes found around the Jacksonville city limits. We have fished a variety of lakes using everything from topwaters to cranks to lizards and small craws on shakey head jigs. The fish seem to be hitting anything you put in front of them. Water temps have ranged from the low 60's to almost 70 degrees depending on which body of water we've been on. Most of the females seem to be spawned out already, as expected, which means they are feeding vigorously and trying to regain their strength after the trials of the spawn. This is the time of year where just about anyone can go out and expect numbers of fish in an average trip. One sure fire method for kids or amateurs that is guaranteed to draw strikes is to wacky rig a stick bait (Senko, Tiki Stick, Yum Dinger, Ocho) on a 1/0 weedless round bend hook and simply cast it out next to visibly structure and allow it to sink on a slack line. The worm imparts all the action that is needed to entice a bass to strike. You just have to watch your line and be ready to set the hook when you see the line tick or when you notice the line starting to "swim" off! Evan had been perfecting this technique lately and is really putting some good numbers of fish in the boat. Any color will work as long as it's Watermelon/Red Flake!
