John Cox, one of Florida’s top national bass pros in recent years, plucks a 5-pounder off a bed using a Berkley Powerbait Speed Boss worm.
February 17, 2025
By David A. Brown
Sight fishing pays big dividends, as spawning season finds the biggest fish at their heaviest weight of the year. With many of those fish moving into shallow waters, the opportunity for notching a personal best runs high.
Two Debary, Florida, experts—John Cox, the Bassmaster Elite pro, and Keith Carson, Major League Fishing pro—share pointers that’ll help level up your sight fishing game.
In this issue, Cox and Carson discuss where to find bedding bass. Next month, they’ll offer hints on how to approach and catch these fish.
Geography Warmth is paramount to prompting the spawn and hastening egg development, so Cox starts on west banks, which receive the day’s first sunlight. By the afternoon, he’ll switch to eastern banks.
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Florida bass can spawn as early as October and well into May, but big cold fronts place a premium on protected areas.
“A lot of times your north bank is protected from the cold north wind, so the first spawners will pull up to these areas,” Cox said.
Keith Carson, Cox’s longtime fishing pal, agrees and notes that whichever way the wind is blowing, he wants to be on the calmest shoreline. For one thing, spawners won’t put up with crashing waves. Moreover, you’re not gonna see them anyway.
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“I look for flat banks, or shallow, sloping banks,” Carson said. “If the bank is too steep, fish don’t spawn there, so look for shallow bays, creeks, and canals.”
“The number one thing for me is hard bottom like clean sandy spots or shell bottom,” Cox said. “They still will spawn on the muddier bottoms, but they’ll use lily pad roots, wood or whatever is on that bottom—whatever the silt and mud won’t smother.”
Sandy spots amid grass beds provide the seclusion and concealment bass value. It’s easy to run over or right up to a hidden bed before you have time to stop at a fishable distance. if you suspect the area might hold isolated spawners, ease in slowly and keep a rod in your hand.
Carson adds this: “A lot of people think a bass bed is a perfectly round spot. Tilapia do that, but bass beds might just be one little clear spot; one patch of shell. Sometimes, when they don’t have natural hard bottom, they’ll spawn on a Coke can or a bottle or a cinder block.
“I’ve seen them spawn on a sunken boat. A bass isn’t going to swim across the lake to find a place to spawn; they’ll spawn on whatever hard bottom is available.”
Carson prioritizes clean water. Natural springs play a big role here, as does filtering vegetation like hydrilla and eel grass. Clear water also makes it easier for you to spot bed fish, so win-win.
Access Routes Proximity to deeper water defines the largemouth’s instinctive safety protocol. In Florida, that could be a difference of a foot or two, but just know that shallow, flat areas a short jog from deeper water are usually most popular.
“Deep water doesn’t have to be right up next to the spawning area, but as long as it’s close,” Carson said. “A lot of fish live offshore all their life except for when they spawn, so it’s good to be close to deep water so they can move up to spawn and then move back out.”
With this, Cox adds a key piece of perspective: “They don’t like to swim through or over a lot of choked out vegetation. There might be a good spot behind a big grass line, but there are not any lanes for them to swim through.
“After a tournament, where a lot of guys go back behind the grass line to look, then you have trails. That’s why I like the second or third tournament of the year. After several days of practicing, looking, and fishing, competitors cut lanes and boat trails that help fish funnel in and out.”
Having a couple of pairs of sunglasses in different shades can be helpful, offering options for cutting through glare and resolving details under varying light and water color conditions. Leupold Desoto frames shown here by John Cox. Time of Day Cox said prime sight fishing hours vary with water temperature. During the cooler months, the show ramps up around midday. Barring significant cloud cover, that’s also when visibility peaks.
“In the heart of the spawn, they’ll bite all day, but the middle of day still is usually best because that eliminates most of the shade,” Cox notes.
“Later in the season, it’s mostly a morning opportunity, because the water temperature gets too warm and by midday they back off. It’s just like a cold front pushing them off. After that, they’ll come back up and spawn again in the evening really good.”
Dress for Success Folks catch big bed fish while wearing black jackets and bibs, but when the bass are being difficult, what they see really does matter. To this end, Carson suggests blue, grey, or white shirts/jackets. These match sky colors, so you blend into the background that a bass sees. Cox wears the SIMMS SolarFlex hooded performance shirt in the Cloud Camo Blue pattern.
Hats are a must and here’s a pro level tip: Dark undersides reduce sun glare, so if your favorite hat’s bill has a lighter underside, use a permanent marker to darken that material and keep that surface glare at bay. You’ll further reduce glare by wearing a hooded sun shirt or jacket.
Of course, polarized sunglasses are a must, but go with wrap styles, or those with prominent side panels like Costa’s King Tide, which includes a vent system to prevent lens fogging. Cox suggests multiple lens colors to match changing conditions.
Preferring Leupold’s lightweight polycarbonate lenses over heavier glass lenses, Cox keeps three lenses colors handy. He likes bronze mirror over amber lenses for extreme low light, blue mirror on a black lens for high sun and super clarity, and emerald green on amber lenses for light clouds and muted sun.
Next time, the two experts share favorite sight-fishing baits and presentations.
This article was featured in the February 2025 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe .
