Wilks: Moving with the annual migration

(Editor's note: "Catching Bass with Dustin Wilks" airs four times per week on the Sportsman Channel – 6 a.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m. Sunday and 4:30 a.m. Wednesday (all times EST). The six-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier provides BassFans with additional insight about each episode in these submissions.)

For this week's show I fished a large, shallow, brackish-water fishery with some grass during the post-spawn. These fisheries are not like large reservoirs at all since bass movements are limited by the salt.

Saltwater is heavier than freshwater, so bass are shallow year-round. You may find that the back of creeks with freshwater coming in, bass can go significantly deeper.

Since I was fishing post-spawn and it had been about four years since I visited the area, I figured the bass would not be far from their spawning sites. So I searched some satellite imagery to locate what I thought were prime spawning locations and I actually started right there, with a plan to keep expanding away until I ran into the fish.

Turns out it didn’t take long – about 30 minutes or so – to run into a solid group of 2- to 4-pounders that were enjoying some freshwater draining from a marsh. I found this situation in a little pocket and it was game on. I caught seven or eight nice ones in a matter of minutes and I was happy. Once I left there, it got tough.

I expanded nearby throwing a new Yo-Zuri Wake-Prop, but with the lip cut off to make it a true topwater. I caught several just covering water with that bait.

I then ran into a nice little pocket with grass. I saw a couple fish schooling and it was game on!

I stayed Power-Poled down, catching a lot of little fish that didn’t make the show. Then the big ones showed up and I caught some nice ones up to 8 pounds. I used a Culprit Incredi-Swim on a weedless belly-weighted hook and this proved to be the most effective bait in the grass because a lot of it was just floating around and treble hooks were not good there.

A relatively simple day and approach with some solid advice during post-spawn. Look close to where they spawn first, then move away on shallow-water fisheries.

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