DROP AND GIMME 20!
FISHING
DROP-SHOT RIGS MAKE FOR AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO SCORE LOTS OF PRESPAWN BASS By Capt. Bill Schaefer
S
outhern California lakes are waking up for the new fishing season, and bass creel numbers will be rising on all the local waters. Water temperatures are climbing as well, and in the next couple of weeks male largemouth will be roaming the banks by the hundreds, looking for that perfect place to make a nest for themselves and their giant female mate. This is the time of year when the bass are scattered from the shallowest shoreline to the deepest point on the lake. So, just go fishing and let the bass come to you.
TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT Often, largemouth anglers look for that perfect bait for this time of year and that search sparks a lot of debate amongst us all. Which bait or setup is the best? Plastics, spinnerbaits, jigs or crankbaits, which one will draw the most strikes this time of year? Most of the time it may be that plastics have the edge over the other baits, but it is not so much the plastic baits as the techniques used to fish them. There are many different rigs that can be used to catch fish, including the Bubba rig and Carolina rig, just to name a couple. But the rig that fishermen have all brought into their arsenal is the drop-shot rig. This setup is so versatile that it can be used from the shallows down to those deeper
Author Bill Schaefer admires a nice drop-shot bass from Lake Otay. There are many ways to trick Southland largies and smallies during the spring prespawn period, but Schaefer prefers the drop-shot method. (BILL SCHAEFER) calsportsmanmag.com | APRIL 2022 California Sportsman
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