Article 20 Cove Blockers

Any large piece of structure that extends out to the middle of a cove or at the mouth of the cove is a Cove Blocker. Every lake that you will research will have two or three that will provide this stopping area for Bass that are on route to feed or spawn. We are looking for the ones that are shallow on top which give the fish kill zones to chase bait. The Blocker must extend at least half way across the cove. The creek channel will horseshoe around many of them to deliver the fish. Some are point extensions and those are the easy ones to find, giving you the shoreline visual to spot them. The extremely irregular blockers that have no rime or reason for being there are the best. This maybe a Ridge that runs parallel with shore, so there is no shoreline visual. The Ridge is running at an angle to extend out to the creek channel blocking the route. Extreme Blockers will be long, narrow, fish hook on the end with GOUGES and PROTRUSIONS. Now we have Hot Spots within the structure that will hold fish for longer periods and work as ambush spots. If it has cover like flooded timber on the sides and sitting in the gouges, we now have a place for Big Bass to live, giving them only a short distance to travel for all their needs.

It always seems that the very best ones are found on the West side of the lake. This side of the lake is usually wind blown by the SE wind and the pressure on these fish is musch less. Some wind is great for such areas. On a 10 mph day many will be impossible to fish with the whole lake coming in on the area. The open water blockers may also have a steep side with a river channel slam coming down that side. This gives you the opportunity to position your boat on the top side with a real anchor and fish Up-Hill. Turn off all Electronics and make fan cast out to deep water. Use as light of a Crig as you can get by with and peg the weight for those long cast. Move the rig a couple of feet at a time letting it sit in the strike zone. Bass feed looking up hill and absolutely hate any critter sneaking up behind them. They turn and react to it quickly with a vicious strike. Most of the time these steep spots are small and one set up on the spot will be enough to find out if the Bass are using this section. On the rest of the structure I follow the two man system. The man up front is searching toward the shallows and the man in the back is dragging the 20 ft contour. The man in the back will be in a great position to catch the big fish of the day. Keep the boat creeping along as slow as possible which gives the man in the back every chance to stay on his game of dragging the Crig.. Your confidence baits are the ones to use at the front and the back. You will find that feeding fish are not picky; but to the big Bass, it must be as real as possible. Slow way down or spot lock at the Gouges and small Protrusions working those for longer periods. You will have to turn into some of the larger Gouges to get to the right depth to locate the fish that are usually sitting on the sides and at the top of the slope in the back. It really helps to have WayPoints on each of these irregular features and stay glued to the front depth finder, so you know one is coming up. I change rigs often depending on the irregular feature coming up. Most of the time while searching from the front use a 1/2 oz short Crig with a Big Brush Hog. Slow roll it along the bottom just ticking the rocks. For Gouges try the 1/8 oz short Crig with a Senko or Fluke. On the deep side during the Summer months a Black/Blue Jig is very hard to beat. For you cranking guys the deep divers will knock their light out during the Summer when they are feeding on top. I have scored may big fish while strolling my 1 oz Spinner Bait with down sized blades during low light conditions. Just drag it lake a Crig while your partner is dragging a Crig off the other side of the boat. Be very careful when you get to the end of the Blocker as it falls into the creek channel. Don’t cut the corner to quickly; deeper is better, as you can always come back to finish out the area if nothing is out there. We all have this stuck in the back of our mind when it comes to our baits. We wonder if we are using the right thing. Feeding fish help solve that problem big time. When fishing a 10” worm I will get out 3 or 4 packages all with a different kind of tail and all hand poured. When the water is warmest the big worm will do it’s best thing; but one of those tails will out catch the others 2 to 1. I like the long Paddle Tail worm best on the slopes during the hot Summer time.

There is no doubt that you should graph every one of these areas that you have found by doing your homework on your computer. Next spend time on the water. I just do not like doing this time consuming work on the water to do the best job possible. If you do the best job graphing there want be any fish left there to catch that day. The next time you come is the time to fish and making one distant pass to see if fish are there is not a bad thing. I have said this before; it is a mystery to me how big fish avoid getting their picture taken. When I see a couple of fish, it is time to start fishing.

Never even heard of em till I went to Mexico this year in February with Donald. This was the hot pattern of the trip.

Thanks Don! Great stuff again!

Good stuff Donald

Great as always.
Thanks for posting.

Great info!!

Thank You for Sharing.

CY

I am really enjoying these articles. I have searched for the first article but can't find it. Can anyone provide a link?

Doc

I will be glad to send it to you. Email me: fishnteacher@gmail.com