prespawn
TAKEOFF
SCENARIOS By Sean Ostruszka
OFFSHORE IN FLORIDA
HOW JT KENNEY TRACKS DOWN PRESPAWN BASS OFF THE BANK IN THE SUNSHINE STATE photo by chriS burgan
When other prespawn and spawn patterns fade out , JT Kenney falls back to hard-bottom shell beds to find staging bass .
“
” is a fairly nebulous term when applied to bass fishing in the state of Florida . Depending on the weather , you might be able to find a prespawn pattern in January and in June of the same year .
JT Kenney will tell you that this prolonged will-they-spawn , won ’ t-theyspawn ? game comprises one of the biggest hang-ups for out-of-town anglers who aren ’ t used to the unusual ways of Florida-strain bass . Fortunately for him , the Florida pro has figured out something that lends itself not only to consistent results during this wishywashy period , but also to some giant bags , as his 27-pound , 3-ounce limit the last day of the 2017 FLW Tour event on the Harris Chain illustrated .
The pattern ? Targeting bass relating to hard-bottom areas created by offshore mussel shell beds , which attract crawfish , baitfish and other forage species that bass eat .
“ People always think of grass when it comes to Florida , because we go to lakes like Okeechobee and Toho ,” says Kenney . “ But there ’ s a lot of good fishing offshore for guys that know .”
shelling out
First off , when Kenney says “ offshore ,” don ’ t imagine he ’ s fishing ledges in 15 to 20 feet of water or randomly out in the middle of the lake . Kenney ’ s best offshore shell beds tend to be in 4 to 7 feet of water , situated in areas with one key component .
“ Current ,” says Kenney . “ Mussels are filtration feeders , and they can ’ t move . So they need current to eat . You ’ re not going to find them in the backs of pockets or anything .”
Current is usually wind-driven in Florida ( though some systems connected by canals and rivers have actual flow ). Since wind is unpredictable , however , mussels tend to colonize in places where any current is enhanced ; namely , the mouths of canals or atop humps . The canals are the easiest places to search , according to Kenney , who often finds shell beds within 100 yards of the mouth of a canal , right along the channel edges . The humps can be much harder to find , so Kenney looks for any area with a nearby drop . Since most Florida lakes are bowl-shaped , a drop of even a foot or two elevates a hump enough to position a mussel where it should be able to catch the current it needs to feed and survive .
When to go deep
Since prespawn often overlaps the actual spawn , most anglers depend on bed-fishing as opposed to focusing on prespawn tactics in a tournament scenario due to the lure of visibly seeing fish being too strong for many to resist . And even if they do find a prespawn pattern , they ’ ll usually opt for one that involves fishing vegetation .
Kenney will do the same , but what usually keys him on to the shell-bed bite is when he ’ s seeing a lack of quality bass on the beds .
“ If I ’ m seeing a ton of males on the beds for a few days in a row , but no big
24 flWfIshIng . Com I feBruary-marCh 2018