[Keith White]

Got your attention ?

Ok, I'm talking waking here.
The next few weeks will see sea temperatures start to rise and we'll also start to see those days where the sea goes dead flat and mirror like.
Plugs that are too noisy will, in general, spook any Bass in the immediate vicinity.

Bass will by their nature start to venture into very shallow water as the crab becomes more available and little bait fish start to emerge from the colder hidey holes.

So, there are 2 main ways I like to attack this stuff.

In water 3 ft or over I might fish a crankbait over really rough shallow ground but, another way, in low light or darkness is waking. This involves running a plug at a speed where you kill the wobble. You can wake with bibbed plugs but, often the best way is to run a topwater lure at a low straight retrieve pattern.

But, there are tricks.

We fish alot of gutters, some wide, some narrow. often, these gutters will have deeper parts where fish will like to use to make early progress up a gutter to enter a rock pool etc.

Remember, we are fishing water that is slick or just a slight ripple here. Those days and nights that scream thunderstorm are perfect.

I am going to encourage you all to check your plug boxes and look at the nose profile of your lures ands separate them according to how much 'VEE' they will make when retrieved.

Narrow noses leave narrow tracks and can work a bit faster or, give the illusion of speed retrieved slower. Wide nosed lures throw, in general a wide pattern V and are good for searching wider shallow gutter in colder water because the pressure wave will hit cover faster and further out on the retrieve than the narrow one. You'll need to play with this to see what I mean.

Always wait for the initial rings to disperse after the cast. then sloooowwwwly wind if you are in slack water. If you watch smelt at night they run with their noses up just gliding subsurface but at very low speeds or,they lie motionless.

You can draw and slack these wakers too. Literally, draw the rod back around your side slowly and then stop pulling the rod. Now, just pick up the slack as the plugs inertia brings it to a stop. Do NOT keep a tight line. Remember, just in contact.

Hope you'll try this method this season.

 

[Tim Griffin]

Interesting Keith, as I fish some marks where there are some gullies that the bass will come right up to the beach looking for small fish and crabs in the rockpools and we have caught them in surprisingly little water.
Main question from me: will the "wake" method be effective in dayight or purely at night? I don't tend to be able to get out at night so much so want to see if this might work on the chances I get. Would a lure like a Super Spook be the ticket?

 

[Keith White]

Day as well m8.

Spook is wide nosed, wide tracked Vee wake.

 

[Andy Marquis]

Strange to read that as I was doing the same last night. No fish but was good to be wading again and first time to see if there was any bait in the shallows, rarely casting more than waist deep or so. I quite like the Maria Chase for that, when you work *really* slow it just breaks surface with it's back but too slow for any wiggle. I might adjust one of my jointed thundersticks cutting the bib back to do just that but with more wiggle.

The water was a tad murky when I flicked the light on on the way back to look for bait in the water, good sign when you start to see Roselet (Grasdos) in the shallows but none yet.

 

[Ben Field]

What would be your main priorities when doing this Keith? I know that you need both, but how do you order these 2 in order of importance (assuming that the water is flat and clear):

1) The wake being created on the surface;
2) The natural look of the lure swimming slowly sub-surface, slightly nose up.

I just ask because like you say, almost any lure can be fished to create a V wake on the surface, but if we're to make the most of a method like this, I just wonder whether it's worth slightly weighting baits (towards the tail) to have them sit just little further down in the water at rest - like pretty much just under it. This would obviously be more natural from a visual point of view. Plus the lure would obviously be mirrored from below (various angles) on the water's surface for a larger target. Although we can't see it, the V wake obviously happens under water too - although to what degree (when you consider viscosity etc), I'll leave to you to work out. They will feel it even if they're not looking in the right direction though. So in theory, I guess I'd suggest having as much lure in the water as possible - whilst still having a nose up to skim the surface.

 

[Andy Marquis]

Good questions there. I really must get on to some mods to my lure collection while I am fixing the hooks up and had personally always liked the idea of a tail down approach on rest, not sure what angle though. Time to dig out the soldering iron I got for Christmas and see if that does the trick.

 

[Tim Griffin]

I have a Daiwa TD Pencil that could be tailor-made for this. Sits tail down and is a "quiet" lure that just breaks the surface film. Narrow profile too...

 

[jamo]

nice read keith look forward to trying it soon.

 

[Keith White]

What would be your main priorities when doing this Keith? I know that you need both, but how do you order these 2 in order of importance (assuming that the water is flat and clear):

1) The wake being created on the surface;
2) The natural look of the lure swimming slowly sub-surface, slightly nose up.

I just ask because like you say, almost any lure can be fished to create a V wake on the surface, but if we're to make the most of a method like this, I just wonder whether it's worth slightly weighting baits (towards the tail) to have them sit just little further down in the water at rest - like pretty much just under it. This would obviously be more natural from a visual point of view. Plus the lure would obviously be mirrored from below (various angles) on the water's surface for a larger target. Although we can't see it, the V wake obviously happens under water too - although to what degree (when you consider viscosity etc), I'll leave to you to work out. They will feel it even if they're not looking in the right direction though. So in theory, I guess I'd suggest having as much lure in the water as possible - whilst still having a nose up to skim the surface.

I am assured that the pressure wave created subsurface is similar to that seen on the surface.
I don't weight lures for this method but, if I did, I would be weighting them for a parallel attitude so the 'nose' of the lure made the maximum deflecting wave for the least effort.

I try not to use wide faces in narrow gutters at slow speed because the returning diffracting wave can confuse things (maybe not for the Bass) but 1 Vee track, clearly defined makes sense to me. In current, this also works but cast directly UP current and wind just faster than it. Varying angles to 20 degree's is acceptable though but anymore causes a skating action which is not waking. Skating is a job for Russian Bombers, not waking plugs.

Also, when the V'ee starts, count, IF POSSIBLE, the time it takes the Vee to hit structure or dissipate. If you play the wake and STOP game. Allow at least twice the 'V' dispersion time for a hit on such a stop.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tom H]

Will keep what you are saying in mind Keith as and when Iam away next time bassing.

 

[Ben Field]

I am assured that the pressure wave created subsurface is similar to that seen on the surface.
I don't weight lures for this method but, if I did, I would be weighting them for a parallel attitude so the 'nose' of the lure made the maximum deflecting wave for the least effort.

Do you think that the wave on the surface is more important than the wave below it then in this case? If bass are ever going to be hunting by sight then I guess it is now, when the water is flat calm and clear, so is it the visual 'V' that is important, or just the fact that the bait is behaving consistently and naturally that makes it a good target - with the V just being a byproduct of that movement/position? It probably doesn't matter, but its nice to know exactly why it works and what the fish are honing in on.

Have you not weighted them down a bit because you haven't tried, or just don't feel its necessary?

If a suspending bait could be fished this slowly just below the surface, would it be more successful?

 

[Keith White]

The visual Vee is just reference to what is going on. Remember...

pressure waves are 3D and the bottom is likely closer than the edges of any gutters.
Diffraction will occur quite quickly in the vertical plane.

 

[Ben Field]

Good call. Over particularly rough ground, pressure waves will be diffracted to the point of almost non-existance quite soon after hitting the rock surface. The smoother the structure the more effectively the wave will be echoed. Still, I think that this only becomes more important to consider when the water is less clear or not as calm?! This method in these conditions is probably one of very few that I can imagine a bass' vision being the overriding factor. Above a certain depth of water, the bait will be easily spotted from distance. It's in exactly the place a bass would naturally be looking if it's not got it's nose down after different prey.

Maybe you mentioned it in the original post, but it sound like in very shallow water, it may be worth considering a bait with a larger profile nose to create a bigger V and wider pressure wave to enable it to be located from a further distance since it will be harder to spot visually in just a few feet of water?!

 

[Keith White]

I think you have the general idea Ben.
It is always better to have an idea to try something new on a session when things are both going for, and against you.
Trouble is, most folk only ever try something new when all else fails which, imho, is wrong. Switch and get results with new methods on the easier days too when you know fish are around and taking.
This makes trying something different a more rewarding experience than only trying new things when all hope is already lost.

 

[Marq]

Thanks Keith Very interesting post I have used a J11 Rapala and retrieved it very slowly so as you can see its back breaking the surface Killer method but have only tried it in daylight A night time experiment is on the cards