By Steve Chaconas
Photo Courtesy of Major League Fishing
Getting inside the mind of professional bass fishermen is revealing and makes for compelling TV.
Major League Fishing (MLF) has created a made for TV team format. Top 27 tour pros choose tour anglers, forming teams of three. Teams are given vague destination information on smaller venues not previously fished. Pros don’t know whether they’ll be fishing lakes or rivers, shallow or deep, grass or wood, or for smallmouth, largemouth, or spotted bass. The top pros, with top equipment, on a level playing field with just a few minutes to strategize, create a great sporting event. Headsets enable teams to break down unfamiliar waters and reveal thought processes and analysis not found in publications or other tournament formats.
West Virginia’s 2nd largest lake, relatively small 2630 acre Stonewall Jackson Lake, surprised and impressed the world’s best professional anglers. Built in the late 80s, Stonewall only recently allowed small club and regional tournaments.
The first visit to West Virginia, MLF showcased their anglers. WV showcased their bass fishing crown jewel with a TV calling card reaching a family vacation market in a beautiful state park location.
MLF BassCat Mercury pro Kelly Jordon, was totally surprised with the West Virginia choice. No one had heard of Stonewall. With a map, the teams huddled, shared observations, and decided where to go. Jordon said the water had a slight green tint, allowing light to penetrate for bait visibility, but enough color to offer cover for anglers. The deeper Stonewall set up like a river lake with two arms and major feeder creeks. Team Captain, Hall of Fame angler Kevin VanDam put in his suggestions and off they went, using fishing instincts and every lure they owned.
Carrying nearly 40 rods for everything from finesse fishing to heavy duty mat punching, Jordon didn’t want to be unprepared. Stonewall has standing timber, the Texas pro’s specialty. He learned about forests by walking in them, noting which trees grew where and how high. Bigger trees close to creeks are difficult to remove and reveal where small side channels are located. Bass prefer bigger trees and horizontal logs at any depth. Pines and cedars usually grow on higher ground, indicating submerged humps. Shaded sides of trees were targeted with Lucky Craft 1.5 squarebill crankbaits on KJ Duckett 7 foot MH rods and 15-17 pound line. For deeper wood, he tied Lucky Craft 1.5 DDs on a 7’11” Boyd Duckett cranking rod with 12 pound line. In between he targeted cover with a Lake Fork Trophy Bait & Tackle Magic Shad on a chatterbait.
Jordon found gizzard shad the right size for bass forage, the results of WV DNR stocking a few years ago. He says most fish caught were good size, probably due to an ample musky population eating smaller bass. This beautiful and scenic highland lake has a great launch facility, several ramps, shoreline fishing areas and handicapped fishing piers.
As part of the partnership, ads for West Virginia Tourism aired in episodes of Major League Fishing.
About the Author: Capt. Steve Chaconas is Potomac bass fishing guide & freelance writer. Potomac River reports: nationalbass.com. YouTube video channel NationalBassGuide
Potomac Bass Fishing APRIL 2024
One of the best months for big Potomac bass! Fish move up, staging near spawning flats, creek mouths, backs of coves, and out-of-the-current areas! Start slow, then speed up! Moving baits cover water, but once you find what’s holding them, slow with plastic and jig presentations. Dock fishing is starting! Longer days, warmer temperatures make it easier to catch shallow fish. Look for Milfoil and Water Celery grasses emerging on main river areas above and below the Wilson Bridge, the mouths of Swan, Broad and Piscataway creeks and Washington Channel along Fort McNair…keys to finding and catching bass. Hard cover, like rip rap, docks, laydowns, and barges are places to find bass. Woodrow Wilson bridge pilings provide cover at varying depths. Fish bite nearly every bait, depending on water temperature and clarity. Grass was sparse in 2023 above Mount Vernon.
Wind, rain, fronts, have a huge impact. Water clarity dictates speed, bait, and color choice. Warmest water comes later in the day. Slow in cooler mornings, and faster as the day warms…plastics in the morning, moving baits in the afternoon. Seek warm, clear water. Blue Plains temperatures are in mid 60’s! Dock below Blue Plains is better on outgoing tides. On sunny days, fish hold tight. On cloudy days, cover areas around docks. Catch them deeper with drop shot and Mud Puppy Custom Lures SR grubs but open up the tackle box with crankbaits and spinnerbaits…lipless crankbaits and jerkbaits.
Time to get big bass on suspending jerkbaits in water 45-55 degrees. Clown, Aurora Gold, and Baby Bass small suspending jerkbaits are a good size and cast well into the wind! Try larger sizes in deeper water or on cloudy days with stained water. Two keys: length of pause and how hard you either jerk or tap the bait. Fish will tell you what they want. Clearest water try American Shad, Clown, and other fish-like colors. Another good bait for cold water, Shad Raps, have a very tight wiggle and glance off cover very well. Try same colors adding red cranks, cranking to cover and stop…twitch gently for shallow fish on cover near drops! Add a red treble on the belly.
Mud Puppy Custom Lures 3-inch SR avocado colored bait on a 3/16-ounce Mud Puppy round ballhead ¼ ounce jig is appetizing to lethargic early spring bass. Soak in garlic attractants to keep fish holding on longer! Let it go to the bottom, slowly lifting. The bite feels like weight, set the hook. Cast green pumpkin, blue craw, or river craw Mizmo tubes with Mud Puppy Custom Baits 1/4-ounce weedless tube heads, using a similar presentation as the grub, for a gliding action. Try tubes in green pumpkin or junebug colors.
Drop shot cover or at Blue Plains. The drop shot weight “feels” drops or cover. Keep leaders about 8 inches with a 3/16-1/4 ounce BULLSHOT bullet shaped split shot weight. Try 5-inch Mud Puppy Custom Lures DS (drop shot) worms, shaky head style on 3/16 and smaller jig heads, using the same technique as the drop shot, gently shaking to aggravate fish into biting. Mud Puppy baits are soft, and they float to produce lifelike action. A good rod for shaky heads and drop shotting enables you to work baits better and set the hook under a load…a rod with about the last quarter or less flexing. Go to light line for plastics and jigs, 6-8 pound test GAMMA EDGE leader tied to 15 pound test GAMMA Torque braid. Split shot rigs cover water with 3/16 or 1/4-ounce Water Gremlin BullShot come through cover. Rig 5-inch Mud Puppy Custom Lures 5’ Brush Monkeys on 3/0 hooks. Drag slowly, stopping when contacting cover or moving down drops. Work around Spoils, Smoot Bay and South Point and in Blue Plains. Feel weight? Set the hook! For deeper applications or in wind, beef up with Carolina rigs with tungsten weights for better feel.
Bigger fish are coming on jigs, specifically 3/8 oz. hair jigs, a small bulky package with hair that really breathes. Try black/blue, green/brown and green/orange colors with matching plastic chunks on 8-pound test GAMMA Edge leader with 15 pound test GAMMA Torque main line on spinning gear fishing shallow or deep.
While wind makes fishing difficult, wind-blown banks, flats and cover can be productive until water becomes visibly muddy. Wind pushes food sources against shorelines, causing a feeding frenzy down the food chain activating bass, making it great for slow rolling 3/8-ounce spinnerbaits with gold Colorado/willow blades. Dave’s Tournament tackle has a variety of spinnerbait bodies. Look for a round head to deflect off cover acting as a keel to right the bait quicker. For light bites, try a fast action 7’ med graphite rod, otherwise a medium heavy rod. At low tides around heavy cover, toss squarebills and shallow cranks.
Lipless crankbaits find fish and emerging grass once water hits 55 degrees. Grass in April is a gold mine. Thinner and taller lipless baits can be fished through grass. To go slower and deeper, try heavier baits. When ripped from grass, allow to drop in a controlled fashion, triggering strikes. Use a medium action 7-foot rod cranking for casting distance. GAMMA 12-pound test fluorocarbon is perfect for ripping free from grass or hook sets on long casts. Set the hook when the rod is loaded. Red colors are best when bumping bottom, shad patterns are better when ticking grass tops, gold in stained water. Hooks are typically a problem for most lipless crankbaits, so upgrade to quality wide gap hooks. They’re angled, very difficult for bass to throw, especially fish hooked on longer casts. Short shank trebles allow you to replace factory hooks with the next size up!