Using Spinnerbaits During Bedding Season

Spinnerbaits Help Catch Bass When Bluegills Bed and Spawn!
© 2011 Blake Rasch and
Blake Rasch's Strikes, Bites, and Fights!™

Using Fish Creek Spinners for Largemouth Bass

During Bluegill Spawn

The bream start bedding pretty early here in West Central Florida, and when I see them start to make their beds, I take out my spinnerbaits and start working the areas just outside the beds. You know that the bass are hungry, and are looking for a meal in the shallows where the panfish are bedding. Bass spawn just before the bream do, and need to build themselves back up again after breeding.

I like to use a 3/8 to 1/2 ounce spinner like Fish Creek Spinners' F379 when I'm fishing stained brown water. Most of the time, that's what I fish in anyway. The water here is always pretty brown because of the leaves that fall in and stain the water.

Fish Creek Spinner 1/2oz Bucktail Spinner

Now, sometimes the water is clear. In those times I use the the same spinner, but in white, with the bronze blades.

Fish Creek Spinner 1/2oz Bucktail Spinner

Bluegills make their nests in pretty much the same areas that largemouth bass do. They build their beds near the shoreline, usually fanning out a good sized depression about a foot in diameter in open areas, making them easy to spot.

I like to start out with a medium speed retrieve. I start to retrieve just as the spinner hits the water, so it doesn't sink too deep. If the bass are hitting, I maintain that while the bite is hot. If they are sluggish, or haven't started feeding, I let it sink deeper and start to twitch and wiggle the rod to make it seem like an injured baitfish. Usually this will do the trick. I will also rip a spinner through the beds if nothing else seems to work. I try to get it as close to the weeds or lilypads as possible and sometimes a largemouth will come out and grab it.

The best time I have found is usually first thing in the morning. The first hour after sunrise is usually really good with lots of bass hitting everything I throw out to them!

I really like Fish Creek Spinners. They are made by and here in America. They come in a lot of colors and designs. I have used them in salt water, and caught ladyfish, Jack Cervalle, and those pesky Snakefish. In the lakes and ponds near home, the bass eat them and even big bluegills get themselves caught on them.

Keep your line tight!
Blake Rasch
Blake Rasch's Strikes, Bites and Fights

Different Presentations Mean More Fish!

Fishing Outfitter and Guide Blake Rasch Fishing Tips!
© 2011 Blake Rasch and
Blake Rasch's Strikes, Bites, and Fights!™

Great Fishing Tips for All Anglers from

Blake Rasch's Strikes, Bites and Fights!

Across the Nation, fishermen are out on the water. They're going after Bass that are bedding in the shallows, Tarpon off the breakers, chasing walleye out west, and all the other gamefish in rivers and lakes. And regardless of your location, dollars to doughnuts there's bream and sunnys galore!

My Dad called home last night from Afghanistan, and I was excited to tell him about the great fishing we have been enjoying the last few weeks. It sounded almost too good to be true, but I have tons of pictures that Mom has sent him over the last few weeks to prove it.

He and I discussed some of my secret fishing tips and techniques, and I am happy to share them with all of our readers.

Think about this: Fish spend most of their time cruising around and looking upwards for the next bit of chow. Make it easy on them! Put your bait or lure slightly above where you think they are. If your fishing live bait, grubs, worms, or crickets, set up your bobber so the bait is above where you think the fish are hanging. If you know or can see some cover set yourself up so the bait floats by a few inches below the top of the cover, and adjust it on subsequent casts so it's a little deeper each time. Once you're in the fish, you will know what depth they're holding at.

Bobber fishing is fun no mater what your age, but especially when we are talking panfish. I take my ultralight fishing rig, and when those hand sized, lunker bream inhale mealworms under a bobber, you really have a fight on your hands!

My Dad hunts hogs, and we found that it's pretty easy to raise your own grubs in a bucket filled with the fermented cracked corn he makes as a hog attractant. You have to be careful because the hogs may get to it first, but you could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Mash to attract hogs, and grubs to catch fish with. I plan to do a post on raising Black Soldier Fly grubs, mealworms, and Red Wrigglers pretty soon.

Crankbaits are my favorite hard sided lures. Dad likes top water lures, especially the Zara Spooks. He can make them walk across the surface of the water like no one else can, but... he just doesn't catch that many fish! (Don't tell him I said so!!!) It is really important to know what the water looks like before you make your first cast. If the water is all churned up, dirty, or silty, it's important to use a deep diving crankbait that bumps and grinds into and over the bottom, making plenty of noise and letting fish home in on the offering. When the water is clear, presentation and colors are more important, because the fish are responding to visual cues after hearing the bait.

Here are a few more pieces of advice for you to consider:

• Check your line regularly. No fun to lose a fish because your line is frayed or worn, and you didn't strip off a few feet of line before tying on a lure or hook.
• If you're catching fish on one lure and the bite stops, switch to a completely different type of bait or lure.  Ripping in crankbaits? Switch to a slow retrieve spinner.
• Change colors or designs and see if that makes a difference.
• Retrieve at different speeds.
• Finally, have a net handy. Makes releasing much easier!

Changing presentation is one of a few ways to make things happen out on the water! And please don't forget: Take a friend fishing whenever you can! Teach them to enjoy, preserve and protect the outdoors so we can all enjoy it forever!

Keep your line tight!
Blake Rasch
Blake Rasch's Strikes, Bites and Fights!


Other Posts of Interest:
Change It Up! Guest Post by Blake Rasch

Bowfin in Florida

Bowfin in Florida, an Underrated Gamefish!

Nice Bowfin!

I went to a very nice lake near Linger Lodge. Linger Lodge is a camp ground and old style trailer camp. Folks from all over the United States have been visiting since a long, long time ago.

I saw the fish near the shore, and I cast to it with a bread ball. It took it and I had a big fight on my hands! I finally got it in. I used my needle nose pliers to pull the hook out, it had big teeth that looked sharp so I wasn't going to put my fingers near his mouth.

The Bowfin is a really fun fish to catch and puts up a really big fight!
Tight lines!
Blake Rasch