Hopefully your Top Water experience from the previous issue was a good one. The more you fish with it, the more you will love it, I promise! It only takes one big day of fishing with a Top Water bait and you will be hooked forever! Now, there are times when it seems that the fish just will not bite at all. During these times, the fish are usually in a suspended pattern. This brings me to my next favorite way to fish.

As I mentioned in the previous article, choosing the right artificial bait is key to catching fish. This could not be truer than when fishing suspending baits! When fishing suspended baits, the bait will be totally submerged in the water, and the fish can see it from any direction. Choosing a suspending bait has just as many options, if not more, than choosing a top water bait. For starters, you must choose whether you want a hard plastic bait or a soft plastic bait. My personal favorites are the soft plastic baits. They are very flexible on how they can be fished.

There are many different types of suspending baits available for both fresh water and salt water. In the last article we talked about going after Redfish in Saltwater, now let’s go after some Largemouth bass in fresh water.

Let’s talk for a minute about “why a suspending bait”. All species of fish have feeding times throughout the day. This is the reason for watching the moon phase (as mentioned in the previous article). There are 4 feeding times every 24 hrs. There are 2 major feeding times and 2 minor feeding times. This is not to say that fish will not eat at other times, these are just the main times for them to feed actively. The 2 major times for fish to feed are when the moon is directly above your head and directly below your feet. The 2 minor times are when the moon rises and when the moon sets. Now, depending on how “Full” the moon is will also affect how good or bad the “bite” will be. I go fishing every chance I get, but if I have to choose a date to go, the best times to go are 5 days before a full moon and 5 days after a full moon. During the non-feeding times, the fish may still be moving around and looking, but they will become very finicky. They will pick and choose their meal and not just eat what is in front of them. At these times one of the most important things to do is keep the bait in the strike zone for as long as possible. This will cause the fish to either eat the bait because he wants it, or irritate him enough to want to eat it. People often ask me “what do you mean irritate him enough to eat it?” Largemouth Bass can be a really tough fish to catch if you do not understand why you are or are not catching them. Bass strike a bait for 2 reasons, first, to eat it for food, and second, to kill it and eat it because it was irritating them! I know this sounds crazy! Most of the time when you catch a fish out of the feeding time, it is called a ‘reaction bite’. The fish is not striking because he is hungry, he is striking because he is irritated either with the sound something is making, or the mere presence of something in their territory.  

I have 2 favorite soft plastic fresh water suspending baits. The first is made by Zoom and is called a Superfluke. There are many different sizes and colors to choose from just like any other bait. There are 2 that I keep on hand at all times: Watermelon Red (to the left) and Bubblegum (to the right). I know, I know “Why Bubblegum?”  I havecaught so many fish using bubblegum Flukes in dirty water that people do not believe me until I show them! Once they see, then they understand! I have a fishing buddy that loves to use watermelon/purple swirl senko type bait. I don’t care for it, but he catches a lot of fish with it. At the same time, I am catching them on a chartreuse/white senko type bait! It all comes down to the confidence you have in the bait.

My second favorite as you may have guessed is a senko type bait. I say ‘senko type’ because there are many types of this bait, but many people know them as Senkos. Senko first came out with this bait a few years ago. The bait is a fairly simple design and is usually 4” to 6” long, solid, and has some kind of ridges along the sides. The idea behind this bait is to sink slowly and flat.

Fishing suspending baits can be tough. When fishing clear water, use a light colored bait. The rules say to fish a dark color for dark water, this is not always true. When you are fishing below the surface, and in dirty water, fish look for shadows. Some colors, such as white, bubblegum and chartreuse, actually have as good and sometimes better shadow than a black bait.

Whether you are using a Superfluke or a Senko type, you will want to use at least a 3 ought hook. I use 4 ought bleeding hooks. The picture to the right is a 4 ought wide gap bleeding hook. Bass are a tough fish so use a quality hook!

The Superfluke should be hooked just like you are Texas rigging a worm. Push the hook through the nose holding it parallel, then bring the hook out at the belly and twist the hook. Push the hook back through the belly and out the top of the bait. Then push the tip of the hook back into the top of the bait making it weedless. Keep in mind that these are rigged weightless to fish them as suspending.

Fishing the Superfluke or the senko type bait has as many ways as there are colors. Fish the Superfluke and the senko type baits as close to structure as possible. By structure, I mean anything from a ledge to a twig sticking out of the water. These fish are not going to be suspended in open water. They will be next to structure of some kind. This is also an excellent bait when fishing around lily pads, over grass and in brush. Whether you are fishing next to structure or in grass, let the bait sit immediately after the cast. When casting these baits, accuracy is a must! The spot of your cast can determine the difference in a strike or scaring the fish off. This will happen a lot when fishing lily pads. Once you have let the bait sit or sink for a few seconds, start to work the bait with small short jerks from your rod. This is best achieved with the rod tip down and giving it short jerks making the bait dart around. When you are in clear water, watch the bait and see how it reacts to the jerks you are making. You may need to adjust your retrieve faster or slower making the bait come to the top of the water and sinking back down. This will create a jumping minnow type movement.

The senko type bait can be fished similar to the Superfluke. My favorite way to fish it is hook the bait in the middle of the body so that when I give the bait a small jerk, it slides through the water in a “U” shape then comes back to its original form. I do not recommend this technique when fishing around Lily pads. Lily pads are tough and when fishing this way the hook is going to be exposed. It will pull through grass and Hydrilla so you will be fine there.

One thing I would also recommend is using a braided line. I use 50lb Power Pro. I will throw either of these 2 baits into some really heavy cover, and it will be tough to get the fish out when it strikes. I know that there are pro's and con's to braided line, but when you hook that 10lb bass in some brush, and she starts rubbing on anything she can find to get that hook out of her mouth, you will be very thankful!  The BIG bass are not going to be easy to catch. If you want them, you have to go after them!

Join me in the next issue when I will talk about catching fish in "HOT" water.

"Tight Lines"

By Anthony Meshell

Staff Writer Anthony (ameshell) Meshell was born in Houston, Texas. Anthony married his High School Sweet Heart and Best Friend, Melody in June of 1989.  Anthony has two beautiful daughters, Macy and Katelyn.

As a young child, Anthony was raised on the water. Anthony’s family was always around water and the outdoors. He caught his first bass at the age of 5 years old and has been chasing them ever since. He also chases after Speckled Trout and Redfish now.

After graduating Pearland High School in 1987 (man he is getting old), he enlisted into the U.S. Navy.  He served during the Gulf War and was stationed in Mayport, FL.  Anthony is now a Police Officer for the City of Manvel, TX. Manvel is only a few miles from where he grew up.

The past few years have been a really great learning experience for Anthony and his family. Anthony has always had a passion for hunting, but had never really been able to pursue the passion until now. He hunts Deer, Dove, Squirrel and Hog. His older daughter, Macy, has also taken an interest in hunting and the outdoors. She is in FFA and they are raising Rabbits for show.  Anthony now has a deer lease to take the family hunting on and they enjoy every minute that they can there.

These days if Anthony is not fishing or hunting, he is thinking about fishing or hunting.

Comments(3):

1. Very cool! You just gave me some new ammo for this summers bass fishin! Thanks for keeping us in the "fishin" loop.

   Saturday, May 07, 2011 Robert

2. choosing the right artificial lure

   great article anthony on a tough way for most amateurs to fish but now i'm better armed for summer fun. thanks.

   Sunday, May 08, 2011 brad

3. Good Coverage!

   Awesome Article Anthony.... I miss having Boat very bad but due to health problems the Wife knows best she fears me falling out of the Boat while fishing by myself. Can't wait on Fishing Hot Water Article!

   Wednesday, May 11, 2011 Dennis