THE PROS' TACTICS TO TAKING FLOOD WATER BASS
Gary Klein on Flood-Water Bass
EDITOR'S
NOTE: Editor’s Note: Some people think that the
only time to have a good day of bass fishing is when
the lake is down and clear. Well, this is just not true
for the bass fishing pros with whom I’ve talked.
This week they’ll tell us why they love to fish
in flood waters from Florida all the way to Texas. Here
are some new tricks to find the big bass.
Gary Klein of Weatherford, Texas, has been a professional
bass fisherman since he was 17-years old. Klein is one
of the true masters of this sport. Like Grigsby, Klein
likes to fish flood waters because of the excitement
associated with angling unexplored water. "To find
the best bass fishing when a lake or a river gets out
of its banks, you must be willing to maneuver your boat
through thick, heavy timber and back into the bushes
where
few other anglers will go," Klein explains. "The
fisherman who catches the most bass when the rivers
and lakes are flooding will be the one with the most
limbs in his boat at the end of the day. Sometimes when
I've pulled and drug my boat through some of the heaviest
timber you've ever seen and arrived at the backside
of that timber in the shallow water where I know the
bass are holding, I'll often find another tournament
fisherman there. Perhaps weekend anglers don't catch
big bass under flooding conditions because they're not
willing to push, drag and squeeze their boats through
that just inundated timber to reach where the bass are."
Klein, like Grigsby, tries to fish the newest water,
which is the water that's just beginning to flood
the land and is closest to the bank. "That new
water has more nutrients and more cover," Klein
reports. "If you'll study old bass-tournament records,
you'll see that most bass tournaments that are won under
flooding conditions are won by anglers who fish the
new water. When a lake floods, the bass holding on underwater
structure will come up off that structure and suspend
in deep water. As most anglers know, a suspended bass
is the most difficult fish to catch. Rather than fish
for these hard-to- take bass, try for the shallow water
bass, this will follow the rising water toward the bank.
They'll be looking at the shore and feeding on the baitfish
and the new plant and animal life coming in to the lake."
Klein believes the more water he covers, the more bass
he'll catch. His bait of choice for flood waters is
the spinner bait and the pig and jig. "The spinner
bait allows me to cover water quickly and locate bass,"
Klein comments. "The pig and jig lets me fish visible,
thick cover quickly and efficiently. If I pinpoint a
concentration of bass in a particular area with my spinner
bait, then I'll start
flipping a pig and jig in the visible cover in that
region. Or, if the water temperature is cool in the
early spring or fall, I'll lean more heavily on my pig
and jig to produce bass."
Klein has learned that water temperature is the key
to the baits he flips under flood water conditions.
If the water temperature is cool, he flips the pig and
jig. However, if the water temperature is warm, Klein
believes that fishing the Texas-rigged plastic worm
is more effective. When the bass are out in the bushes
and the water's high and rising, Gary Klein will be
headed toward that rising water and newly-inundated
banks like early settlers drove their mules and wagons
through the dense forest when the Indians were attacking.
"Back in the bushes is where you'll find the bass
when the water's rising," Klein advises.
TOMMORROW: PAUL ELIAS ON FLOOD-WATER
BASS
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