There are always fish in the shallows, Pierre Part pro says
Everyone loves to chase bass during the spring and fall, when fish are cruising shallows and chomping on everything that moves.
But when the heat soars and bass move out to deeper water things can get a little tougher.
So what is an angler to do? Put up his tackle and sit in the cool of the A/C?
Bassmaster Elite Series pro Cliff Crochet of Pierre Part said that’s a big mistake.
And, he said, there’s no reason to pull out to deep structure — even when fishing deep reservoirs like Toledo Bend and Caney Lake.
“The first thing I look for is extremely heavy cover that is shallow, preferably close to a main creek or the main lake,” Crochet said. “A majority of fish will be out (deep), but there are always fish shallow.
“They live shallow, and that kind of thing can go overlooked.”
That means those anglers who remain in 2- to 4-foot water often have the water to themselves.
Crochet also said he looks for muddy water. Yep, that’s what the man said: Muddy water.
Now, that’s a relative term dependant upon the overall clarity of the particular lake you fish, but as long there’s not silt rolling through the water column Crochet isn’t afraid of fishing it.
“Muddy water will keep them shallow,” he said. “I think that muddy water makes them aggressive, savage.”
So they will often attack lures like fish out deep won’t.
His approach to the shallow cover is to use a combination of hollow-bodied frogs, soft-plastics to punch grass, square-billed crankbaits and spinnerbaits.
Crochet’s shallow-water tackle
Punching: Honey Bunny K2 Craw under a 1 1/2-ounce tungsten weight
Topwaters: Hollow-bodied frogs
Crankbaits: Lucky Strike Rick Clun Series 4 crankbait
Spinnerbait: 1/4-ounce Humdinger
Click here for what other pros say
