Joe Giles displays a nice bass caught on his Bandit crankbait on a recent trip with Mike Giles.

Ka-Pow! Another hungry post spawn bass smashed my Scum Frog Popper and I had yet another topwater bass on my line. But suddenly our day was done, only an hour after the crack of dawn; the topwater bite was Kaput, over, done. It ended just as quickly as it had begun. Couldn’t go home so we pulled out the plastics and caught a fish every now and then, certainly nothing to brag about, but there just had to be more.

    Nothing left to do but pull out Bandit, my old hunting dog and hunt some bass up because they obviously weren’t in attack mode on this day, which turned out to be the hottest day of the year. I tied on a Bandit 200 series crankbait in the River Bream pattern and started hunting.

    Wham! A feisty bass slammed my Bandit and almost tore the rod from my hands. I’d pitched the lure past a shallow ledge that dropped off into deep water, and cranked the lure back until it hit a log. I knew it was down there so I was ready and just stopped my retrieve a second and then the bass crushed it, just as I’d hoped.

    Once the temperatures reach the 90s and the bass have recovered from the spawn, they’ll start moving to their summertime haunts and take up residence on flats covered with wood alongside deeper water. If you know where stumps and brush on ledges are located then you’re in business, and if shad or baitfish are present the action can be awesome.

    While I use my Bandit crankbaits like a hunting dog searching for game, they’re also very efficient at catching large numbers of bass during days when the bass aren’t feeding actively.

After catching a couple more bass on the crankbait my brother Joe quickly tied on a Bandit 300 series crankbait and went to work as well.

    Bam!  On his first cast a hungry largemouth crushed it and exploded through the water like a torpedo from a sub. The bass fought wildly while wallowing and tail walking across the water, but Joe finally subdued it and his first Bandit bass of the day was history.

Ironically you couldn’t even see the crankbait in the bass’ mouth as it had swallowed it deep into its throat. That’s a sure sign that the color and lure choice was just right as the bass had nailed it on the money.  

    We continued working the flat in six to eight feet of water and cranking the Bandits down to the bottom and bouncing them off the bottom or banging stumps when we came across one. Each time we hit a stump or the bottom we’d simply hesitate a second and if they didn’t strike then we would pump it and continue our retrieve. Sometimes we’d bang into logs, stumps and brush multiple times on one cast before drawing a strike.

    There’s not many things better than watching and feeling a bass crush a topwater lure, but feeling a bone crushing strike after you’ve bounced a crankbait off of a stump is pretty close. And when the bite is off you can save the day by hunting and catching bass with a Bandit crankbait. Simply tie on the proper size Bandit for the depth of water you’re fishing and start hunting. The key is to keep that lure in the water and find out the depths and areas the bass are holding in and just keep that lure banging off the bottom and any structure you can find. The reaction bites will come once you find the bass.

    While I employ several different colored Bandits in my arsenal, I like to use the bream and shad patterns in clear water during May and June as the bass are feeding heavily on both. Whether you’re fishing small lakes, large reservoirs, or on the river, there’s a Bandit made to fit the bill. But don’t take my word for it, try them for yourself and find out first hand.

    Contact  Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or e-mail him at mikegiles18@comcast.net