The Largemouth Herald's Blog

 The Carolina rig has got to be one of the best methods for catching deep water cold temperature largemouth bass in Florida reservoirs. I’ve caught fish from Rodman, Rousseau to Lake Manatee using this technique. The key to successful “catching” is in locating the fish.

Locating fish is often predicated by weather conditions, water depth and the time of year. In the winter months bass often follow the deep edge of the main river channel. The key to locating them is cover such as submerged timber or shell beds with shad schools nearby. The schools of shad can be seen on your depthfinder as “balls” or thick streaks across your screen between the surface and bottom. If you find these large schools of baitfish toss out a marker and fish the area thoroughly.

Summer locations are very similar to winter ones with one main exception. During early morning hours or late afternoon, the bass will often migrate to shallower water and surface activity can often be seen.

In the spring search for where the river channel runs close to shallow spawning flats. The fish will be staged closer to the upper shallower edge of the river channel drop. Both pre spawn and post spawn fish will use this pattern.

So give the Carolina rig a try next time you are out on a Florida reservoir or deep water lake and you maybe in for a big surprise!

Anna and I fished our 1st tournament for 2010 with Mr. B’s bass tournament trail on Lake Manatee on January 17. We started on a spot that we found late December during the holidays that appeared to be a big fish area. Unfortunately the 1st two weeks in January were extremely cold for Florida reaching temps below freezing and the fish were no where to be found on that spot. We worked it for about an hour and a half with not even a nibble on our Carolina rigged trickworms.

We talked and contemplated 2 areas, one near the dam by the marker buoys and the other by the boat ramp at the state park. We elected the latter due to the expected winds and being restricted to trolling motor power only since my outboard is larger than the 20 hp limit. On our way to the “ramp” spot we stopped at a GPS point that yielded fish last year just to try it out. The spot had some timber on a 12 foot flat that dropped severely into 25 foot of water.  Anna hooked up a small bass on her 2nd cast and I threw out a buoy. We commenced to get a limit and culled 6 or seven times. Also in the mix were 3 hybrid stripers which was completely unexpected since we were working Carolina rigged baits.

The wind picked up and it seemed we were not getting anything larger than 3 pounds so we moved to the ramp spot. We only managed a nibble or two there before weigh-in. Our limit was good enough for 1st place as only 2 other boats weighed in. Tough day for lots of fishermen and I’m sure the freezing temperatures had a lot to do with it. Cold front fishing can be tough but adjusting to the conditions can lead to success. Anyhow, Anna and I are glad that our drought for placing in the money is gone and it’s time to get ready for the Braden River.

If you want to fish Mr. B’s Tournaments, click the following link: http://www.mrbsfishinhole.com/id13.html

Anna and I fished the Lake Placid tournament this past Sunday and it was cold and windy (Florida wise). Anna picked up the 1st two keepers on a Carolina rigged Junebug worm working an underwater hump. The 3rd fish was a 3 pounder that I flipped out of grass near a dock on a Yum Wooly Bug. Two more fish were caught by us, one flipping and the other casting. Couldn’t cull any more fish but we were pretty happy considering the weather.

At weigh in we weighed a little over 9 pounds good enough for 3rd place. We have had a limit in all of our tournaments this year except one where we had only 4 fish, but we haven’t been able to get any consistent size. Time to try something different next tournament.

Anyhow congrats to Jamie and Scott for the win! Until next time, Tight Lines!