Dragging Is Deadly, Especially In Super-Clear Water
Story and Photos By Don Wirth

Each year, weekend anglers try to execute complicated lure presentations favored by bass pros and guides, such as skipping, pitching and shaking. These presentation methods usually demand skillful rod manipulation on the angler's part and invariably require considerable practice to perfect.

However, if you're chasing after finicky smallmouth bass in clear lakes, there's a super-simple presentation that can be very productive. It's called dragging, and it may forever change the way you fish for bronzebacks on big bodies of water.

Great Lakes Tactics
According to veteran Michigan smallmouth expert and guide Dick Mericle, dragging is a presentation method that was born on the Great Lakes.

"It basically involves wind-drifting across offshore structures while tight-lining a jig-type lure, especially a tube bait, so it drags along the bottom mimicking an alarmed crayfish or darting goby," he says. "Smallmouth anglers on Lake Erie and Lake Michigan were the first to perfect it, and it gradually caught on in inland waters."

Mericle uses this presentation on Lake Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay as well as Michigan's biggest inland lakes including Torch, Elk and Charlevoix. All of these huge bodies of water are spectacularly clear and deep with slick sand bottoms interspersed with scattered, scrubby patches of short grass and isolated rockpiles. The primary smallmouth structures include massive flats, steep drop-offs and offshore humps. Bottom-hugging forage species such as crayfish and gobies make up a large part of the smallmouth's diet in these giant bodies of water.

Mericle says dragging was born out of frustration with trying to cast the small, lightweight lures that bronzebacks favor, especially tube jigs, in high winds.

"These are huge, wide-open bodies of water, and sometimes the wind gets so bad that a tube will practically blow back in your face when you cast it," Mericle insists. "Plus, you're usually bucking big waves, which creates added drag on your line and makes it hard to feel light bites."

Dragging overcomes these problems by circumventing casting. It keeps your lure in the strike zone nearly 100 percent of the time, lets the wind work for you instead of against you and is the most natural presentation you can use in super-clear lakes.

Mericle's Method
Dragging works best from post-spawn through fall in Mericle's neck of the woods.

"By mid-July, Great Lakes smallmouth bass have usually left their shallow spawning grounds for deep water," he says. "Here, they spend much of their time suspending offshore. It's common for them to hang out 30 to 40 feet deep in 70 feet of water. But they'll move shallower to feed, favoring areas on or close to a drop-off that offers a quick escape route into the depths."

When these fish are prowling the bottom for a meal, Mericle has found that dragging is the perfect presentation.

"I catch most of my quality fish — smallmouth from 3 to 7 pounds — dragging tubes in 12 to 14 feet of water during summer and fall," he says. "But we've dragged them up as deep as 36 feet and as shallow as 10. That's one of the major advantages of dragging — it's an awesome search tactic. By drifting a drop-off, for example, two anglers in the same boat can probe dramatically different depths at the same time until they locate the precise zone the smallmouth are using."

The Right Gear
A seaworthy boat with a powerful trolling motor, GPS, dependable graph and plenty of horsepower is highly recommended for bass fishing on the Great Lakes. Mericle fishes from a 20-foot Triton bass boat equipped with a Motor Guide trolling motor, Lowrance GPS on the console and Lowrance graph at the bow. His 225-horsepower Mercury outboard is insurance that he'll be able to make it back to shore quickly and safely should a storm approach.

"This is not your typical shoreline bass fishing," he emphasizes. "You're often far offshore, and it can get extremely rough in a hurry. Here, it pays to monitor weather conditions constantly with a weather radio."

Mericle drags tube baits exclusively. His favorite is Schubert's 3½-inch tube in natural forage colors.

"My most productive color has been sand with blue, red or green flakes," he says. "This closely matches the color of the crayfish in my area lakes. White is also good. This imitates alewives and molting crayfish. Once smallmouth have left their beds, I don't have much luck dragging colors that work well during spawning season, such as lime green and chartreuse."

How Mericle rigs his tubes for dragging depends on how smooth or rough the bottom is.
"If there's a lot of rock rubble and patchy grass, I'll go with a Texas-rigged tube," he says. "As it drags along the bottom, the sinker will momentarily hang up, then release when your line tightens, making a clicking noise like a crayfish. But if the bottom is mainly smooth sand, I'll use a jighead and leave the hook exposed."

Mericle molds his own jigheads around a 4/0 hook with a 60-degree bend. This style helps keep the tube locked to the bottom better when dragging.

"When Texas-rigging, I use a 3/0 Gamakatsu extra-wide-gap worm hook," he adds. "Avoid light-wire hooks when dragging for smallies. This is a big-fish method, and a lunker smallmouth can pull hard enough to straighten a light hook."

The amount of jighead or sinker weight you use will vary according to depth and wind velocity.

"When dragging water 12 to 15 feet deep under light to moderate winds, I'll normally use a 3/16-ounce sinker or head," Mericle says. "For 15 to 20 feet, I'll switch to a 1/4-ounce head. For anything deeper, I'll choose a 3/8-ounce head. If you're not feeling your lure drag bottom enough, switch to a heavier sinker or head. If you're constantly hanging up in rocks or weeds, go lighter."

Mericle prefers spinning tackle for dragging, specifically 7-foot G. Loomis rods for their light weight and extreme sensitivity. His favorites aren't overly stiff and offer plenty of shock absorption in the tip section. He pairs these sticks with Shimano reels spooled with 8-pound fluorocarbon line, which he recommends for its sensitivity and sinking qualities.
"Fluorocarbon gets your lure down and keeps it there, and when you get a bite, you'll feel it, even in rough seas with a lot of line out," Mericle says.

Setting Up A Drift
Mericle demonstrated the dragging technique one September morning on sprawling, windswept Grand Traverse Bay. Here, the primary drop-off out from shore was clearly visible to the naked eye and ran for miles out into Lake Michigan proper.

The guide positioned his boat parallel to the drop so the inside lure would be dragging bottom in 14 feet of water and the outside lure in 18 feet. Long casts were made directly behind the boat. The rods were held steady at a 45-degree angle, allowing the tubes to drag along the bottom as the boat drifted parallel to the drop. He used his trolling motor sparingly, making minor corrections to the drift as needed to stay in the targeted depth zone.

After drifting 1/4 mile, Mericle announced, "I've got one!" and began reeling quickly until his rod doubled over. Instantly, a huge smallmouth leaped skyward, then bolted for deep water. Eventually, the 5-pound bass was netted.

"It's important not to rear back and set the hook hard when dragging because you may break your line," he advised. "Instead, just wind down tight on the fish. Once it feels resistance, it'll usually bolt for deep water and set the hook itself."

After releasing the bass, Mericle motored back to the starting point. On the next drift, two 3-pound smallies were bagged, and a much bigger fish jumped and threw a tube.

"In summer and fall, it's common to drift long distances without getting a bite, then you'll run into a big school of smallies and suddenly everyone in the boat has a good fish on at the same time," Mericle said. "By making multiple drifts across the same structure at various depths, you may pick up several big ones. My clients and I have dragged up smallies over 7 pounds. This is the perfect big-water technique for the inexperienced bass angler and for kids. Once the lure has been cast out, all they have to do is hang onto the rod until a fish loads on."

One of the best things about dragging smallies is being able to watch your hooked bass fight you all the way to the boat in that gin-clear water. They'll jump, dive and sulk in the depths, spit up a gutful of crayfish parts and then take to the air again. So give it a try on your home smallmouth waters this summer.