PHOTO BY CHARLES WALDORF
* Neal ’ s tips and observations
Bass seem to roam more freely in clean , clear water .
“ In dirtier water , they want to see something to reference ,” Neal notes .
Ideal sonar settings will vary from lake to lake and with varying conditions . The “ auto ” feature of his Lowrance LiveTarget gives him a head start . He fine tunes from there .
“ Don ’ t get too spread out on your distance settings ,” he advises . “ I like to keep my setting at 80 feet or less .”
“ As it was dropping , it triggered a bite ,” Wheeler says . “ I caught four times the number of fish I was getting with the 1 / 2-ounce weight .”
Wheeler marvels at how much bass move and the fact that a well-chosen area is devoid of bass now does not mean it won ’ t host a hot bite later .
“ I might fish an area in the morning without getting a bite at all , then come back three hours later and catch them on every cast ,” he explains .
The FFS screen can be dangerously seductive , as addictive to anglers as a smart phone is to a tech-addled teen . Even Wheeler has had trouble pulling his eyes from a faint fish image .
“ If you use it as your only tool , it can negatively impact your fishing ,” he warns .
Learning to use his Lowrance ActiveTarget has been more than a matter of menus and adjustments . The key is to understand what you see – and what you aren ’ t seeing .
“ Part of the predator ’ s role is staying concealed ,” Wheeler says , using the example of a smallmouth positioned behind a forward-positioned rock . “ If you wait to see a fish before you cast , you ’ ll miss out on that fish .”
Wheeler believes fishermen have barely scratched the surface of what FFS has to offer . Its use as a shallowwater tool remains a frontier .
The biggest thing FFS has done for Wheeler is improve his efficiencies .
“ I have better practices and make better decisions ,” he says . “ That ’ s because I can see what ’ s going on .”
Bait is Life
When Lowrance ActiveTarget showed largemouth bass suspended over creek channels and draws at the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit opener on Sam Rayburn Reservoir this past January , Michael Neal had a chance to cherry-pick . He watched enough bass bite a SPRO McStick jerkbait to secure a win and a check for $ 100,000 .
During Bass Pro Tour Stage Three on Alabama ’ s Smith Lake in March , forward-facing sonar alerted Neal to roaming schools of spotted bass feeding on blue herring . He lassoed enough nomadic spots with a Damiki-rigged Big Bite Baits Jointed Jerk Minnow and a drop-shot to earn a third-place finish .
“ Forward-facing sonar has opened up avenues to bass we knew existed but didn ’ t know how to catch because they don ’ t relate to anything but bait ,” the two-time defending Pro Circuit AOY says . “ On Smith Lake , I caught them 5 feet down over 80 feet of water , just cruising and looking for bait .”
Witnessing large schools of bass trailing even bigger schools of baitfish with his electronics has been eyeopening . FFS gives him the confidence to tackle suspended fish – bass he would otherwise have had slim chance of reaching .
“ You see how centered these fish are on bait ,” Neal says of restless schools of smallmouth and spotted bass . “ You can actually see how they swim inside a bait ball . Bait is their life .”
Swimbait-style baits presented with long casts and steady retrieves above the heads of bass comprise one approach to these bait-oriented suspended fish . Jerkbaits offer another .
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2022 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 65