Finesse Rigging

“It triggers reaction strikes,” Hansen observes. “When one of these sophisticated clear-water largemouths grabs the bait, it almost rips the rod out of your hands. Strikes are ferocious.”

FINESSING FISH WITH A BUBBA BAIT

“I’m familiar with Yamamoto’s and Hansen’s techniques,” says western bass pro Roy Hawk, who seems to have a lock on Lake Mead bass tournaments. “I believe the success we’ve all enjoyed is connected to several interrelated details that most anglers who fish for finesse bass in clear water totally miss. First, summer water temperatures are often 85°F or warmer.

Bass are active in those conditions. That’s why the warmer the water the faster most western bass pros fish. When you use a heavy lure like Gary Yamamoto does when he one-tons a tube, or Jerry Hansen does when he pops his football jig, you’re attracting bass with speed.

In a lake like Mead or Powell, the water is crystal clear, so bass can see your lure from afar. But you don't want to give them a chance to get a real good look at it. Speed masks the lure. Then the jig crashes to the bottom, sending up a smoke cloud that the bait hides within. That’s both a powerful attractant and a trigger.”

In addition to one-tonning tube baits and popping football jigs dressed with hula grubs, Hawk employs a technique he calls, “finesse fishing with a bubba bait.” He takes a hard-for-the-fish-to-see semi-clear rattling Lucky Craft LV-100 lipless crankbait and carefully drills a hole in the top of the lure. Then he stuffs 30 or more BBs inside—enough split shot that the bait weighs over an ounce and now is totally quiet. Then he seals the hole.

“I can cast the lure a mile,” Hawk says, “so I can keep my distance from the fish and maintain a stealthy approach in crystal clear water. But my lure size is still small and compact—the perfect match for a Lake Mead shad—and it’s quiet. Most heavy lures are too big and noisy.

Hawk throws his doctored lipless crankbait anywhere he thinks a bass might be hiding, but he favors moderate and steeply sloping chunk-rock banks. He drops the lure tight to the shoreline and slow rolls the vibrating lure quickly down the bank. Like Hansen, he says there is no mistaking a strike.

Not quite what you’d expect from highly conditioned, highly pressured bass that have seen every lure and presentation imaginable in these gin- clear waters. But it's precisely what these knowledgeable western pros expect every time they fish the lakes. And since they’ve made it here, they know they can make it anywhere.

*Gord Pyzer was for more than 20 years an Ontario resource manager. He’s an In-Fisherman magazine field editor who has written numerous articles for In-Fisherman publications and has appeared on In-Fisherman Television.