THE BASS UNIVERSITY by Pete Robbins – June 2020

TEXAS BOATING by Lenny Rudow – June 2020
May 24, 2020
RETURN OF THE REDS – June 2020
May 24, 2020

Palaniuk Looks for Texas ‘Tweeners’ in Early June

JUNE IS A TIME of transition for the transitory largemouth bass of Texas. They’ve left the shoreline areas where they fulfilled their reproductive duties. However, they’re not yet all the way out to their traditional offshore holding spots.

That may leave some anglers at a loss, but 2017 Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year Brandon Palaniuk knows that it can also be one of the best times to catch monster limits.

The veteran Idaho pro pointed to Keith Combs’s record-setting May 2014 victory in the Toyota Texas Bass Classic as an example of this phenomenon. Another example was Palaniuk’s own May 2017 victory in the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest on Sam Rayburn. Both times, the fish were in between stages.

He said that despite those two wins, he’s experienced the phenomenon more often in early June. Whenever it occurs it’s usually a three week swing, depending on the temperatures, the precipitation and other variables in the months and weeks preceding it.

Brandon Palaniuk
(Photo: Brandon Palaniuk)

“For me, it’s often about identifying the first major humps and drops in front of the spawning flats,” he said. “Usually in Texas that means 10 to 20 feet deep. The bass will group up in those staging areas. I’m also looking for secondary channels with good channel swings, which are even better if there’s brush or rock on them. On many Texas lakes, another place that can produce is a good drop with standing timber on it. The bass will use the timber as cover.”

Because there are often big groups of fish out there, Palaniuk wants to get them fired up. “They haven’t been pounded on offshore yet,” he said. “They’re not necessarily fresh, but they’re fresh in that area and they haven’t seen a lot of crankbaits yet.” He’ll typically start with a crankbait such as a Rapala DT16 in Caribbean Shad or Blue Back Herring.

“You’re usually trying to deflect it off of something, but sometimes there are suspended fish in the cover over 20 to 25 feet of water. They push out off the drop and suspend. This is something that runs at the right depth. If you fish a soft plastic bait, you may end up fishing under those fish.”

After the crankbait bite fizzles a bit, he does turn to a soft plastic to perform mop-up duty. On the big fish lakes of the Lone Star State, the Idaho pro favors an Xzone Lures Pro Series Blitz Worm, an 11-inch hunk of plastic with an exaggerated ribbontail. He typically fishes it with a 3/8 or ½ ounce VMC tungsten weight and a 4/0 VMC Heavy Duty Extra Wide Gap worm hook.

“The worm is more about targeting specific stuff, such as a brush pile or one specific tree,” he said. “I keep it simple and use either green pumpkin or black and blue.”

The most important thing to remember about these fish is that they’re on the move. Just because they were here yesterday doesn’t mean they’ll still be here today. However, you might want to idle over primo spots that weren’t good yesterday – they could be fully populated just hours later.

“I check places where they’re going to show up, and I’ll continue to check them,” Palaniuk said. “You’ll know that they just got there because they’ll have that ‘fresh fish’ look – big heads and long, skinny bodies. Then, when they start to put on some weight, they’re on the move again.”

Just because the school of your dreams has vacated an area that was uber-productive a day or two ago, doesn’t mean it’s finished until next year. Palaniuk said that in years of fishing in Texas, he’s seen spots be loaded one day, empty the next, and then loaded again on Day Three.

What happened?

Another fresh group of post-spawn bass moved in to start to put on the feedbag. If you have a spot that has held fish at this time historically, or looks too good to discount, it pays to idle through no matter what else you have going. “Don’t ever write that spot off,” he concluded. “There is almost always another group coming.”

 

Email Pete Robbins at ContactUs@fishgame.com

 

< PREV

Return to CONTENTS Page

NEXT >

Loading

Comments are closed.