MINING DEEP CURRENT FOR PRICELESS BRONZE
DEEP CAROLINA RIGGING IN HEAVY CURRENT
Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ
3- to 6-foot-long monofilament
or fluorocarbon leader
KEY TO SUCCESS: Current
near the bottom can be
slower than at the surface,
so controlling drift speed
for a natural presentation is
critical.
ILLUSTRATION BY RON FINGER
brass knocker sandwiched
between two beads
1/2- to 2-ounce tungsten
bullet sinker
Keep the rod low.
Buoyant
ElaZtech bait
"floats" up
behind weight.
direction of current flow
Weight temporarily hangs up, then
lurches forward to enhance action.
Line can extend as much as 120 yards
behind boat, or nearly three times as
much as what's shown here.
rocky bottom area
Use trolling motor in either
direction to adjust drift speed.
Key areas are usually 15 to
40 feet deep, depending on
season and location.
says Chong, who won a Renegade
Bass Classic a few years ago with a
power Carolina rig. “Even when current
is ripping on the St. Lawrence
and Lake St. Francis – with water
moving from 2.5 to 6 mph – we’ve
proven bass are perfectly suited to
feeding in those situations. When they
shut off flow at the dam, a drop-shot
or tube might be better, but for big
aggressive bites in heavy current,
nothing beats a Carolina.”
Particularly for inducing bites from
big wary smallmouths in clear water,
Chong prefers to longline drag a 1/2- to
2-ounce tungsten bullet sinker in front
of a Zoom UV Speed Craw or 4- or 5-
inch Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ swimbait.
He rigs the Speed Craw on a 4/0
Owner TwistLock 3X hook. The swimbait
matches an offset hook like the
Mustad Grip-Pin.
“We target stretches with the snaggiest
bottom in 15 to 40 feet of water,”
says Chong. “Drifting along the edge of
a deep weedline in 15 to 18 feet can
also be productive. Usually, we can pull
the sinker right through snags and
rarely lose many rigs. Particularly with
a buoyant ElaZtech DieZel MinnowZ,
the bait itself elevates and stays out of
the rocks.”
The other side of the heavy-duty
equation is Chong’s flippin’ stick and
50-pound-test braid main line. He
starts with a 3-foot leader of 16- to 20-
pound-test Sunline fluorocarbon and
occasionally lengthens to 6 feet if bass
are spooky.
“A lot of times, people see us whipping
by at current speed and give us
weird looks,” Chong laughs. “Of course,
anglers are even more skeptical when
they find out I’m running up to 120
yards of line behind the boat.”
To accomplish this, Chong employs
a large-spool Daiwa Tatula 200.
“I’m often running all the way
down to my backing,” he adds. “We
see so much pressure on these fish
that you need separation between
your boat and your bait. The speed of
your bait becomes a trigger, but the
sinker plays two roles: One, when it
momentarily hangs up, the bait pauses
and then surges forward, which
resembles the quick darting, gliding
action of a goby. I think the sinker
also puts out a high-pitched clacking
noise as it hits rocks, which attracts
attention from smallmouths. I keep the
rod low during the drift and shake it
occasionally to increase sinker noise
and bait movement.”
Chong adds an extra brass clacker
below the sinker, surrounded by two
plastic beads to protect the knot from
the tungsten weight.
“The claws on the Speed Craw flap
like mad and are easy to activate, even
at slow speeds, but for big fish, the
DieZel MinnowZ is my go-to.”
Chong boated his biggest St.
Lawrence River bronzeback to date, a
solid 7-pounder, on a Carolina-rigged
DieZel MinnowZ a few years back.
“I’ve seen smallmouths eat gobies
up to 10 inches out there, so I’m kind of
excited to try a big 7-inch paddletail
this year. For a personal-best bronze
bass, there’s no place I’d rather be.”
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FLWFISHING.COM | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | JUNE-JULY 2020