sight fishing

[fishingdude41791]

wat type of lure and technique are good for sight fishing?

[mudcatwilly]

I like a white jig or a white senko.  This allows you to see your bait better in the water.  I also like to put a light colored worm trailer on the jig with a little chartruese curly tail.  The weightless white senko or any stickbait fished weightless either weedless or wacky rigged can be deadly.  I have also heard of guys using light colored swimbaits if the fish are deeper.  Let it hit bottom structure and reel back with a slow to medium steady retreive.

[Dane]

I gotta agree with mudcat, in spawn especially i like to throw a white tube with a heavier than average weight into the beds, and annoy the hell out of the bass, who are just trying to get their freak on and protect the eggs.

Also running a small sized spinner, colorado blades with a white skirt parallel to the shore seems to work for me.  my retrieve is unorthodox( i would think)  in that i will reel about 5-10ft, let is stop next to a bass, and if they give the bait a glance, start reeling again, just bouncing along the bottom has worked for me.  maybe not tried and true, but its my secret recipe

[Fish Chris]

is "hoping that everybody else uses a white, or an otherwise brightly colored lure, that they can see easily". This way, hopefully, big momma hasn't already been clued in, by the time I find her.

Myself on the other hand, I want something that resembles a Bluegill... the biggest threat to a Bass' nest. I used to use a Castaic baby sunfish, but nowadays, I have switched to a Basstrix Bluegill, rigged on a 1/4 oz jig. I don't need to see it at all while I'm fishing it. I would rather see / feel my line. In fact, for many of my biggest bed fish (which are almost always the spookiest also) I prefer to drop a small marker buoy straight out behind the bed, then back way off from the bed (read: to far away to even see the bed, or the big female anyway.... with the water glare and all). I might miss a few little light hearted nips at my bait, but when she actually sucks it in, and tries to move it out of the bed, I'm sticking her, and shes coming into my boat, no if's, and', or but's !  

Being able to see your bait (like most guys prefer) increases the odds of setting the hook too early... barely lip hooking her, and losing her, and that might just be your only chance.

....of course I ain't stuck a bass over 10 lbs, while sight fishing, in the last two years..... but this used to work for me anyway :-) I did catch my PB while sight fishing, plus my 4th biggest also. 3rd biggest was questionable as to whether she was spawning or not...

Peace,

Fish

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

They'll hit a cigarette butt and even a spark plug (both proven) if you have the patience. Personally, I don't sight fish anymore. Over the years, I've developed a good size guilt about pressuring these fish during such a crucial time.

Next year, the trips will be exploratory. We have an area of our lake that we call the "nursery" because it is such a prime spawning flat. We did some damage in there this year and my last bedding fish spewed egg all over the carpet in my boat and my heart just sank. I can't describe how I felt but needless to say, I'm all done.

Fish Chris- no Mattlures bluegill in the arsenal???