Dial In Your Sight Fishing Game, Part 2

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Earlier this season, John Cox, the Bassmaster Elite pro, and Keith Carson, Major League Fishing pro, broke down the basics on locating spawning Florida bass. Once you’ve located bedding bass, boat positioning becomes critical.

Obviously, you want to be close enough for accurate casts, but minimizing your presence to avoid spooking a fish tilts the odds in your favor.

“I try to get the boat to where I think the bass will see me the least,” Carson said. “Sometimes, you have to put the boat out deep; sometimes, you put the boat in the Kissimmee grass or lily pads so you’re hidden.”

Cox shares Carson’s belief here and notes that he often uses his boat to block the wind. A rippling surface diminishes visibility, so he’ll angle his 21-foot Crestliner to create a slick area that provides a window over the bed.

“Also it’s about trying to go down the right banks at the right time of day,” Cox said. “There always seems to be a glare at different times of day, so before I decide where to go, I try to determine where I can see around the boat. You want the sun at your back.”

“Your shadow can spook them,” Cox said. “But the thing is you can see better, so you can stay farther off the fish. It’s a balance, but this is where using a push pole, squatting down, and hiding the boat behind a dock or a tree (to break your shadow) comes into play.”

Basic Baits

You need a bait for the easy scenarios (ideal conditions, aggressive fish), something downsized and finessey for tough, spooky fish and a bigger, bolder bait that’ll push the stubborn ones over the edge.

Cox starts with a 6.75-inch Berkley Powerbait Speed Boss worm on a 4/0 Berkley Fusion wide gap hook. A good search bait for covering water and looking for beds, this swimming tail often catches unseen bed fish, but this style bait is also easy to pitch at the 
ones he spots.

For “locked on” (committed) bed fish that won’t trigger on the Speed Boss, Cox sends in a 5-inch Berkley PowerBait Gilly on a 3/0 hook with 3⁄16-ounce weight. This bluegill imitator appeals to the deep, visceral hatred bass hold for the nest-raiding panfish, so the response is usually pretty brutal.

On the other hand, if Cox approaches a bed fish that bolts and stays gone for more than 30 seconds, that uncommitted fish needs some coaxing. This is where Cox rigs the 3.5-inch Gilly soft bait with a 1/0 Berkley Fusion finesse wide gap hook through the dorsal and a Neko weight in the nose.

“It’s the closest thing to throwing a live bluegill on them,” Cox said. “They can’t stand it. That one is game-over when you have a tough one.”

Carson has a similar strategy for taunting difficult bed fish. His starter is a Berkley Creature Hawg or Chigger Craw rigged on a 4/0 flipping hook. Targeted pitches and patient presentations very often do the trick, but not always.

“If the fish are being difficult, I go to a Berkley The General stick worm,” Carson said. “If there isn’t much structure around, I wacky rig it. If there is structure, lily pads, grass, bushes, etc., then I Texas rig it.

“I use a 7-foot medium Abu Garcia Zenon spinning outfit with 8-pound braid to a 10-pound fluorocarbon leader,” Caron continued. “That increases your likelihood of getting bit. I start with heavier tackle, give it 10-20 minutes and then switch to the light stuff.”

In the typical scenario, you’ll find a smaller male paired with a larger female. The little guys typically handle the initial home defense duties with admirable zeal, but despite this bravado, big mama’s the real target.

“If I can see the fish, and the male races in toward my bait, I’ll pull it away,” Carson said of his quality-based strategy. “I’ll keep doing that until finally, the female gets upset and thinks he’s not doing his job and she’ll eat the bait.”

With any sight fishing scenario, silence is truly golden, but so is stillness. Each step, lean, or weight shift moves the boat and displaces water. Edgy bed fish feel everything in their world, so don’t give them any cause for elevated anxiety.

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• This article was featured in the March 2025 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe.

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