 |
Power Bassin' with Finesse
Power Bassin' with Finesse (cont.)
Late Season: As summer dwindles into fall, Carolina rigs typically see less use. Peter T admits that he generally puts aside the Carolina rig when water temperatures fall below 50F, relying on jigs and Texas-rigged plastics late in the season.
In grassy lakes vegetation thins, providing less cover, less prey, and less oxygen than in summer. Bass often shift to hard-bottom areas or to shallower flats where better cover remains. While hard-bottom spots or deep flats with clumps of vegetation are fished effectively with Carolina rigs, shallow flats with mixed vegetation are not.
In many reservoirs and river systems, bass in fall move to main-lake points, feeder creeks, or manmade structure like old bridge abutments and roadbeds. Here, Carolina rigging lets you work a small area precisely while keeping your bait in the strike zone.
Last fall, for example, the Bassmaster Open Championship on the Ouachita River in Louisiana was won by Bradley Stringer, a young pro from Texas. During practice, he located several drop-offs and deep points that held groups of bass. The bite was tough and he was the only angler to secure a limit each of the four days. To get bites, he worked a milk-run of spots, alternating between a Carolina-rigged Stanley Wedge Hog and a 1-ounce Vibra-Shaft spinnerbait retrieved among brush and stumps.
Click on photo to view larger version.
SINKER SELECTION
Weight: The basics of Carolina rigging have remained unchanged for two decades. Early on, the rig's anonymous inventor tried a 3/4-ounce bullet weight and found it worked well. It still does, with a few exceptions and some new wrinkles. Both Clark Wendlandt and Peter Thliveros fish a 3/4-ounce sinker at least 80 percent of the time. But both are ready to lighten up, at times.
"I generally switch to a 1/2-ounce bullet sinker when fishing around grass, since the lighter weight more easily slips over stalks without tearing them," Thliveros says. "You want to present the lure as naturally as possible, so try to avoid ripping up grass. If you've carefully marked your target zone, this is easier.
"Many anglers fish weights that are too light," he notes. "The key to Carolina rigging is keeping your weight on the bottom at all times. The sinker helps you detect bottom features, so you can pause the lure near a high-percentage spot like a stump or rock. Moreover, Carolina rigging is a great way to cover deep structure and find small key spots. Heavy weights make long casts easy over expansive cover." Wendlandt switches to a full-ounce sinker when the target area is at least 20 feet deep or when it's windy.
Material: Big leads paved the way to Carolina-rigging success and they remain the norm. Clark Wendlandt favors lead for Carolina rigging, though he may switch to brass or tungsten for Texas rigging or flippin'. "I want to avoid calling attention to the sinker," says Wendlandt, who goes against some popular theories in this regard. "A noisy sinker clicking along with a bead and metal ticker can distract from the lure itself. Bass often bite the sinker, then swim away when they find it inedible. Lead makes minimal sound and, though I use a bead, it's a plastic one that protects the knot from the sinker's impacts but doesn't make much noise."
Continued -- click on page link below.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
