Try this if you are brave enough. I want 3 of these areas to have a safe cove out of the wind to hunker down in until it passes.

A STORM IS COMING

Over 50 years of fishing I have not had many 10 time repeats on catching a huge stringer of Bass doing the same thing in such strategic spots. I thought this may help those that are not afraid to weather the storm. We all have been caught in an upper level disturbance while fishing. Most fishermen will either stay home or get off the water because it is going to be a miserable day and the bite seems to just shut down. Actually the exact opposite is happening. The huge bass are grouping together and being just absolutely aggressive in some very small spots.

During upper level disturbances like:
Lighting
Thunder
Fog and Thunder
Sleet and Snow

It takes a hard hitting weather change for this to produce one of the largest stringers of your life. Here is the kind of area you want to look for; and this is the first thing I do on each lake. I find the heaviest cover in the back third of creeks on the inside bend. This needs to be heavy stumps and any added cover like grass is a plus. This cover provides the big fish with the most secure area they can find. They will group up on this spot coming from both directions and they will all be huge Bass.

Finding the Spots:

If you do not know where these places are already then you are to a disadvantage. On each lake make sure you know where to go to hunker down and it may as well be where the fish are doing the same thing. You can locate as many as possible by using a paper map. I have found that the old, old maps did a much better job marking the backs of the creeks. Saver these spots. Never go there to fish except under stormy conditions. You will have a repeat every time at the same place year after year.
The water will be as shallow as 3 to 5 feet deep on top and 8 to 10 in the channel or toward the ditch. when I say inside bend, that's the point formed on the inside radius of the bend of the creek channel? This would be an under water flat that the creek channel wraps around. It can also be the flat between a fork in the creek. Again it must have cover for them to weather the storm.

Inside turns and channel swings are staging spots where bass will congregate and hold for a number of days or weeks before they move up to spawn, and then afterward when they are done. So having quick access to the shallows is important. This season is covering a long period of time to allow storms during this time of year to take place. The key feature of inside bends is the cover provides a safe place to weather the storm and they want to be connected to it. They seem to move into it as fast as they can get there. I have driven past one of my best spots side scanning and nothing was there. Went a short distance toward the back and turn around to come out headed to my next spot and there they were. All within 5 minutes it happened.
After you gain some experience in locating such places you may find that the map does not show everything. The visuals you learn from the shore line protrusions and any trees that are above water on the creek channels will begin to make you a good reader of your surroundings. I have so much confidence in this pattern; the first thing I do is ride into every cove and find the bends. Use your map, side scan, visuals and find heavy cover. In your spare time go to satellite views working back in history to low water levels and take a look at the cover on the inside bends. Having 3 or 4 spots up and down the lake really helps in taking cover fast and being in a great spot to catch fish at the same time.



The Technique and Spinner Bait:

The larges stringer of your life could come using these techniques. Tie up, hunker down and weather out the worst part of the storm. The wind will do a number on your boat and the Bass if you let it blow your boat around and start bouncing off trees. Fan fish the area quickly. Once you get bit, fish every piece of cover there. Then move forward a cast length and tie up again.
My Orange Spinner Bait is one that I spent years tweaking so it will catch the big Bass that are so active during inclement weather. For years I could not fish a bait that the big Bass would literally kill under stormy conditions. I finely got it right and it is my best go to bait in the box in bad weather. The stranger the conditions the bigger the Bass it catches. There want be any question about it when you find this spot. Bass are so aggressive to Orange Spinner Baits you will have 5 big Bass in 30 minutes.

I use 25 lb. XPS Floro. Line for this application. Make short cast, so there is no chance of a 8 to 10 lb. Bass taking you around something. Again keep moving until you catch one, tie up and fan fish the area for no more than 10 min., then take off on the move again until you catch another and keep repeating until you hit the mother load.

We all have memories of those one or two great stringers of fish; but to have a consistent pattern like this at least 10 times during my life was worth mentioning.

Yes. The Halloween spinner bait with the Orange Diamond Dusted blade has been my best one during inclement weather.

Do you treat thunder like lightning or do you continue to fish with caution and a plan for nearby cover? I don�t want to launch tomorrow acting like I know exactly what it�s like to fish in thunder. Ya never know what ya don�t know...ya know?