Follow Bass to Beds Before Summer

IN MAY AND JUNE, all but the smallest percentage of Texas bass have completed the spawn, but many haven’t yet moved out to their true summering haunts.

It’s an in-between stage that can be confusing, but Bass University co-founder Pete Gluszek shortens the learning curve by recommending that you find the bait to find the bass.

“They’re recovering,” he said of the bass, “They’re number one priority is to get fed.”

In many cases that means shad. On lakes with submerged vegetation, Gluszek will comb the grass edges looking for bait-attracting bass. Where no vegetation exists, he’ll go to channel edges and points. On both types of lakes, however, he’ll stay shallow, looking for another type of meal.

“Nothing rejuvenates a big bass better than a big, giant bluegill,” he said.

Shad typically spawn after the bass, and the bluegills do the job even later. If you find productive areas, they can reload throughout the summer as panfish continue the mating ritual. If you’ve never seen or noticed them before, bream beds tend to be in areas protected from winds and current, often in the backs of pockets, and they resemble “craters on the moon.”

Gluszek said the best way to identify them is to put the trolling motor on high and keep your polarized glasses peeled. In areas where they bed a little deeper and the water is stained, he relies on his Humminbird 360 and side-imaging to serve as his underwater eyes.

“The objective is to find as many of them as you can, running the backs of pockets or looking around brush piles,” he advised. “A lot of times it’s a one- or two-fish deal, so you need to develop a milk run.” Once you’ve marked up your map or your GPS with a selection of colonies, “that’s when the fun part starts.”

He uses a one-two punch of topwater and finesse. Most often, he starts with the former choice instead of the latter because it tends to trigger larger fish by “getting them out of their comfort zone.”

His surface lure of choice is often the Storm Cover Pop in a bluegill shade. He also mixes in Ghost Chartreuse Shad, which features a healthy dose of gaudy chartreuse. If they’re slashing at one color and missing, he’ll switch to a different paint job before going to an altogether different presentation.

“Ott DeFoe designed the Cover Pop to work in place for a long period of time,” Gluszek said of the mid-sized popper. “It sits with its tail low, and you can make it hover over the bream beds. It’s super fun. You’re target casting, not just covering bank.”

Because of the need to be accurate, he employs a seven-foot, medium-heavy Cashion baitcasting rod. “You need that little bit of tip to get around buck brush or overhanging willows,” he explained.

He pairs it with a Lew’s Tournament Series baitcasting reel with an 8:1 gear ratio, which enables him to get the lure back to the boat faster after it exits the strike zone. It’s one of the limited number of situations where he still uses monofilament, and he likes Gamma’s version, in sizes up to 17-pound test where larger bass reside.

If the topwater is not doing the trick, or he’s used it to pluck a fish or two from the beds quickly, he’ll fancast the area with a more finesse-oriented presentation, typically a simple five-inch Senko. This is one of the few times where he still uses a wacky rig.

“I’ve moved away from it because it’s not as efficient,” he stated. “But in this case, it works better. I want to keep the bait right on the bed.”

For this presentation he’ll switch to spinning tackle, but he still keeps it beefy. The rod of choice is a seven-foot, two-inch Cashion Shakey Head rod, which he pairs with a Shimano Stradic 4000-sized reel that allows for long casts and solid line control.

Because the fish can be oversized (indeed, it’s hard for a one- or two-pound bass to swallow an adult bluegill), he’ll spool it up with 15-pound test Gamma Torque Braid affixed to a leader of 16-pound test Gamma Edge Fluorocarbon.

“I might go to a lighter leader in open water, but there almost always seems to be something between me and the fish,” he said.

If the offshore game isn’t your forte—or even if it is—go looking for shallow bluegills this time of the year. It might produce your best bass fishing to date, and it’s a pattern that stays stable longer than many others.

 

Email Pete Robbins at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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