Monte Knight shows the result of finding a bite pattern on largemouth bass while fishing with Mike Giles.

Working across the shallow flats in search of a hungry bass, my fishing guide and partner for the day instructed me to fish the shallow flat right off of the bank to my right. I quickly pitched a Kinami jerkbait up onto the ledge and let it glide towards the bottom. Almost instantly I detected the subtle twitch of my line just before it started moving off to the side. Reeling up the slack, I slammed the hook home and a nice bass busted through the water’s surface and put up quite a fight.

    As we continued working along the stump-filled shallow waters of Clarkco State Park, Monte Knight began showing me subtle nuances of the lake along with prime spawning areas and submerged stumps, drops and ditches.

    Though the water was slightly stained and murky from recent rains and we weren’t able to physically sight many of the stumps and logs under the surface, it didn’t take me long to find them with help from the pro. “If the water’s murky like it is right now, I’ll work the area with a Berkley swim bait or Jerk Shad and just cover the area with fan casts until I catch a bass, or entice a strike,” said Knight.

Paying attention

    Knight suddenly stopped talking and stayed completely still just long enough to attract my attention, when I saw him rear back and set the hook. Almost instantly his spinning rod combo began to bow up and strain under the weight of the sow bass.

    “I knew that they were here, we just had to work the area and find out where they had gone since the water muddied,” said Knight. Unable to target submerged stumps and logs by sight, Knight relied on his experience and keen sense of feel with his spinning rod and reel combo teamed with Ultracast Braid line and a fluorocarbon leader.

    Arriving at our next spot it didn’t take long for Knight to hook up with another bass as he pitched the soft plastic lure up onto a shallow ledge and worked it slowly back to the boat. Sensing a bass had engulfed the plastic, he set the hook and drove it deep into the jaws of yet another bass.

    Fishing with Knight was a true pleasure on a day when the wind was howling and a front was coming through. With the passing front bearing down on us the fish had moved slightly deeper and the veteran angler had found another pattern where the fish were a little larger. The bass had backed out of the shallow water and were located just on the edge of the shallow ledges.

    With the boat positioned in the deep water Knight directed me to cast my lure up to one certain spot, just as he bowed up on another bass. “I think the strong wind and front coming through has these fish positioned right on the edge of deep water,” Knight said.

Soft bite

    “They’re just barely taking the bait but it’s enough if you let them mouth it a little bit,” advised Knight. They weren’t real aggressive, but X marked the spot and if you hit that spot you’d get a bite most of the time. Once we got our timing down and let them hold it a bit, we began connecting consistently.

    “One of the best things about fishing the national trail and being on the water several days in a row is that you get to see what the bass are doing,” said Knight. “You might come up there the first day and the bucks are just beginning to move up on the beds, as the fish are getting ready. Then when the water warms up and fish start moving up it is just about right. And when the prime time comes and the females are locked on the beds you can really mop up.

    “I don’t care where you’re fishing and how many big bass are in the lake, you’ve got a small window of opportunity to catch them on the bed and you’ve got to be there when it happens, if you’re going to be successful at catching lunker bass,” Knight concluded.

    While we didn’t get to actually catch them at the prime time during the spawn, we did catch about 25 bass while missing more than our share of strikes on a poor fishing day at that. If you’re looking to catch a lunker bass this spring then head to Clarkco State Park and try a few of Monte Knight’s favorite techniques.  You just might catch the lunker bass of your lifetime!

    Contact  Mike Giles at 601-917-3898

or e-mail him at Giles1958@bellsouth.net