NetBait Little Spanky Color : Trash
Z-Man / Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer Color : White
HARD ROCKIN ’ RIVERS MLF pro and smallmouth bass guru Scott Dobson focuses on massive carsized boulders when fishing big rivers . Chatterbaits , drop-shot rigs and jerkbaits are his baits of choice .
Netbait STH Finesse Series Drifter Minnow Color : Killer G
day . With post-frontal conditions , a slow fall is probably what they want . I can also use my trailer size to adjust the fall rate , too . But I don ’ t want too much action . I almost want a do-nothing jig .”
BLUFF BANK TIP : When bass suspend off the bluff , Ebare switches to a suspending jerkbait .
“ If they ’ re suspending at 10 feet , I want a jerkbait that will work at the 6- to 8-foot range . I want them to feed up .”
Rock transition : Shale
One of Burghoff ’ s favorite rock features is shale , a dark sedimentary rock characterized by thin , shingle-like rock slices . It ’ s abundant in impoundments like Douglas and Chickamauga , near his home in Dayton , Tennessee .
“ Shale is a great type of rock , especially in the colder months , if you have a vein of shale surrounded by some other type of rock or transition ,” Burghoff said .
Like other rock features , a shale deposit is only as good as its placement .
“ On Douglas , the fish are on mainlake points , outside major bays , creeks
SHELL BEDS The Other “ Rock ”
THE LEDGES of TVA lakes in Kentucky , Tennessee , Mississippi and Alabama are renowned bass-holding structures . Their productivity is often enhanced when “ shell beds ” are present .
Burghoff hunts for these productive “ high spots ,” especially on lakes like Douglas and Chickamauga near his Tennessee home . But he thinks the shell beds themselves have less to do with the attractiveness of these areas than the conditions that produce them .
“ The clams and mussels that make up the shell beds are filter feeders ,” Burghoff said . “ They ’ re looking for the particulate in the water that current brings to them . Shad are there for the same reason . They feed on zooplankton and phytoplankton . Baitfish concentrate in these areas . The bass are there to intercept them .” and pockets in the colder months ,” he said . “ I look for those big creeks and pockets on my Navionics maps . If I see shale , I ’ m on bass . It ’ s almost a sure thing .”
Burghoff again favors a football jig ( 3 / 4 ounce ) with the Z-Man Hella CrawZ trailer , especially in cold water conditions .
“ Fish are focused on crawfish that time of year ,” he explained . “ A football jig also helps me feel when my jig has moved from shale to softer bottom .”
SHALE TIP : Shale forms in thin , brittle layers that shatter into relatively sharp-edged fragments .
“ It ’ s important to use a line with extra abrasion resistance ,” said Burghoff , who uses Seaguar AbrazX fluorocarbon , a line optimized for performance in sharp-edged environments .
River rock
Dobson scouted typical structure on the Detroit River in practice-day preparation for the Bass Pro Tour event there last September . He scanned bass-holding points , shoals and island flanks , but his main targets were boulders .
36 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | APRIL-MAY 2022