Wayne Vaughan says not
to overlook offshore
options on tidal fisheries.
Vaughan says that because there’s
more grass in the tidal systems in his
region than there used to be, more
anglers are concentrating on the greens.
It’s with good reason, but it doesn’t
mean the cypress trees don’t have fish.
“I’ve always been able to go behind
people on cypress trees and catch
fish,” Vaughan adds. “The way a
cypress tree grows, they see the trunk
of the tree, and they flip or cast to that.
The thing is, the root system of a
cypress tree is giant. The knees are 10
feet off that tree.
“In the springtime they can be any-
where on the tree. After the spawn,
when they’re feeding, if you look at the
cypress tree and can see where the
current is breaking, nine times out of 10
that’s where they are. In the summer,
when it’s hot, you want to be fishing
trees that are right there in the main
creek; somewhere that’s got plenty of
current running by.”
Early in the season, Vaughan likes to
start with a square-bill or a spinnerbait
around the cypress trees. Then, as the
spawn progresses, he might mix in a
Yamamoto Senko. Later in the summer,
he’ll start attacking the trees with a
Zoom Brush Hog, a crankbait and a jig.
4.
KEEP IT SMALL AND
NATURAL
Tidal systems seem to lend them-
selves to oddball and old-school baits
more than other places. Though Dortch
doesn’t dive too much into that, he’s
still got some unique preferences.
“I don’t throw any real big baits,”
says Dortch. “You don’t catch a lot of
real big fish in tidal places, but bait-wise,
I stick with a compact spinnerbait and a
1/4-ounce buzzbait and a small square-
bill. I don’t throw anything gigantic.”
Dortch says a buzzbait is always
good on tidal water for some reason.
He’s caught them buzzing from the
Potomac and the James to the Mobile
Delta. He also loves a Zoom Speed
Worm, a chartreuse and white spinner-
bait, and a craw or crab-colored square-
bill. His worms and flipping baits are
mostly black and blue and junebug.
Following the forage is good as well. In
the fall, when there are a lot of shrimp in
the river, Dortch will actually use a
Berkley Gulp! Shrimp (new penny color)
on a 1/8-ounce swimbait head.
Perhaps his most off-the-wall bait at
home is an old-school Hildebrandt
Snagless Sally in-line spinner.
“When they’re eating crabs, which
they always are, something that looks
like a crab is good,” says Dortch. “A
Snagless Sally with a black, blue and
purple skirt with a white twin-tail trailer
with the tips dyed orange looks just
like a crab swimming sideways.”
HIGH TIDE TO
5. USE
YOUR ADVANTAGE
Because low tide tends to concen-
trate bass, it’s traditionally the best tide
for catching fish. But, there are ways
that both Dortch and Vaughan like to
approach the high tide – the last few
hours of incoming and the first few
hours of outgoing – that can put the
odds in their favor.
“In some of your shallow bays,
those fish bite better on a high tide,”
says Dortch. “Whereas, in your deeper
creeks, they bite better on a low tide. I
like the shallow bays on the last hour
of an incoming tide and the first hour
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of an outgoing tide. You can get your
boat in there, you’re a little quieter and
those fish have been waiting to move
into the real shallow stuff that they
can’t even get to on low tide.”
Keeping in mind that most spots in
a tidal system are very dependent on
the tide, Dortch makes sure he’s in the
right creeks at the right water levels.
“There was a bay I caught them in
on the James River that a lot of people
were in, but they didn’t go and practice
in there at the right time,” says Dortch.
“They went in and checked it out and
tried it, but I waited until the tide was
high, which is when I knew we’d be
able to fish it during the tournament. I
went in there and fished it and found
fish, and some other guys that fished it
in practice when it was low didn’t even
get a bite.”
Interestingly, Vaughan and Dortch
have somewhat divergent theories
about cover during high tide. While
Dortch likes to use high tide to access
shallow, grassy places, Vaughan does
the opposite. He looks for vertical cover
such as trees, duck blinds and docks,
because the fish can move up and
down on the cover where he targets
them, as opposed to spreading out
through the area.
OFFSHORE
6. CONSIDER
OPTIONS
Fishing offshore isn’t really done
much in tidal areas, but there are a few
scenarios in which it can play.
According to Vaughan, most of the
bass in tidal fisheries live in less than
10 feet of water all the time, and the
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