“Small and compact, a tube slides through cover well, but it’s a little chunkier than a worm. As long as water stays up in bushes, bass will always be here. Someone can fish this spot all year long under these conditions.” Almost like using a cane pole, Rojas stripped off a length of line and held the excess loosely in one hand while swinging the tube toward his intended target. As the bait reached the end of the arc, he released the excess line, allowing the lure momentum to pull the slack tight. The bait landed with incredible accuracy and slipped into the water next to a twig with barely a ripple. “Whenever I’m fishing shallow water, I try to make the lure entry as light as possible,” the pro advised. “The less I spook an area, the more likely I’ll catch a big bass here. Point the rod tip toward cover as the
Flipping can be compared to fishing with a cane pole.
tube goes out. As it lands, pick up the rod tip to make a soft entry.” The bait never reached the bottom, less than three feet below the surface. A 5-pound largemouth engulfed the offering. After lipping the lunker, Rojas flipped his tube toward another brush top protruding from the surface. Almost effortlessly and without much splash, Rojas continued to accurately flip the short, fat bait into almost every inch of exposed cover. He also dropped baits into the ditches lining the old roadbed. He finished the day with nearly 22 pounds, including two bass just shy of six pounds, and eventually won the tournament with a three-day limit of 15 bass weighing 55.5 pounds. Many people consider “flipping” a technique best employed during the spawning 46 |
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season when bass hole up in thick, shallow cover, but some bass stay shallow all year long. During hot weather, bass hunker down in flooded brush, fallen trees, thick weed patches, lily pad fields, and other cover that blocks the broiling sun. Although hot water bass probably won’t leave their lairs to chase fast-moving lures, they may slurp tempting morsels that suddenly plunge into their hiding spots. By flipping, anglers can drop jigs, tubes, worms or other enticing soft plastics into specific bits of cover, such as a quartersize open pocket in a grass mat, to penetrate where lunkers lurk. “I use a tube around heavy cover, like the flooded buck brush and willows at Toledo Bend and Lake Sam Rayburn,” said Alton Jones, a former Bassmaster Classic champion from Waco, Texas. “A tube allows me to put a bait into hard to reach places to target bass others don’t target. The key to fishing a tube is the fall. I fish tubes on a slack line and watch the line. When the line stops falling, either it hit bottom or I have a strike. If I feel anything heavy, I set the hook. Bass tend to hold onto a tube longer because the soft, hollow body feels real to them.” In the summer, grass can grow quite thick on many Texas lakes. Even on the hottest days, massive grass mats or forests of flooded brush could hold monster bucketmouths in very shallow water, as long as the fish can find sufficient food and oxygen. In steaming temperatures, bass congregate under such cover to seek cooling shade. A thick mat may look nearly impenetrable, but beneath the canopies, water opens up. Matted grass blocks the sun, killing any other submerged vegetation beneath it. Grass stems growing from the bottom to the surface create an aquatic forest, an ideal lair for bass to ambush anything that ventures too close. “A mat is a sanctuary for bass,” said Ken Cook, a former Bassmaster Classic champion from Meers, Okla. “In really hot weather, bass will either be in deep water or under overhead cover. If there’s no deep water, they go under anything that puts a roof over their heads, whether it’s a boat
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Texas-style tubes are a proven rig for flipping.
dock, overhanging rock or a grass mat to get in the shade.” When flipping grass mats, slip a Texasrigged bait or weedless jig through pockets in the cover. When it hits bottom, jig it up a little. Try different depths. Sometimes, bass hover near the bottom, suspend up the water column, or hang beneath the roof. If nothing bites deep, raise the bait slowly. Then, bang the bait against the underside of the mat. Sometimes, that dislodges minnows, crawfish, freshwater shrimp, or other morsels, sparking a feeding frenzy. Around grass matted too thick to slip a bait through, anglers may try something more drastic. Some anglers toss heavy jigs into the air. They come down with force, punching through the grass like bunker buster bombs smashing through a roof. A sudden invasion of its lair may provoke a reaction strike even from a non-aggressive bass. “Sometimes, the best places to fish are the places that are the toughest to go through, the thickest places,” Cook emphasized. “Often, the thicker the cover, the bigger the fish! When I’m fishing really thick cover, I use a big sinker to punch through the canopy. I might throw the bait 20 feet up in the air to make it crash through the mat. Do whatever it takes to get it through the mat to where the fish are.” While most of the summer armada heads to the depths to drag Caroling rigs over ledges, shallow-water anglers might find the bass action close to shore. Pull out the long rods and place baits around every possible piece of cover to see what happens.
Photos: John N. Felsher
7/12/12 6:28 PM