Sight-Fishing Secrets: Pinpoint The Sweet Spot
Story and Photos By Vic Attardo

Sight-fishing is to bass angling what Texas Hold'em is to poker - you can only see what you've got half the time. Then you need to figure out what to do about it.

Though not legal in all states, sight-fishing is a major late-winter and spring pattern for many anglers. Concentrating on bass spawning nests, anglers rob the reeds of some of the biggest fish of the season.

Simply put, sight-fishing is a technique that relies on seeing the bass you're hoping to catch, then applying a number of tactics to land it. Though some consider it akin to taking candy from a baby, it requires a host of skills and a certain attitude, including stealth, finesse and, above all, patience.

Florida is, perhaps, the only state that offers a prolonged period for sight-fishing.

At Lake George, in the Ocala National Forest, bass begin spawning in mid-December and continue until late April. Three famous springs - Juniper, Silver Glen and Salt Springs - enter Lake George, and the open pits continuously pump an ameliorating 71-degree water. This ensures at least four serious months when sight-fishing takes precedence over many other patterns.

Guide and pro angler Tim Mann of Jacksonville, Fla., works Lake George throughout the long spawn. Not only does he land lunkers, he employs a specialized vocabulary that includes such phrases as "fish personality," "spawning structure," "spooky fish" and "reluctant females."

Lake George is part of the St. John's River system where there are two keys to the protracted spawn - the lake's super-clear water and its water temperature.

"The springs provide a stable environment that allows the fish to start spawning early, then continue for a number of months and moon cycles," Mann says. "Nests pop up over the best spawning structure where you'll see waves of spawners through the winter and early spring. First, the males come in and build a nest, then a female will spawn, sit on the nest for a day or two and move off to spawn somewhere else. It happens continuously."

According to Mann, female bass in the St. John's system are driven by a biological imperative to spawn several times with different males.

"They want their eggs to be fertilized by many males so they can have a good chance of their offspring surviving," he notes.

Universally, bass prefer certain forms of spawning structure and seek it out to build nests, lay eggs and defend their fry. But across the country, largemouth nests vary by location and available space. You'll find nests in such varied structure as the muddy shorelines of a Pennsylvania lake, the clam beds of the upper Chesapeake Bay and the tulle roots in the California Delta.

"Traditionally, you find bedding bass over sandy spots where the fish have fanned out the muck and debris," Mann says. "But down here in Florida, I've noticed that bass like to spawn on top of tree stumps, laydowns and on root balls. They like that kind of cover especially if there's not a lot of eel grass and vegetation to give them safe harbor."

Finding bedding fish is the first step to successful sight-fishing, and 20/20 vision aided by good polarized glasses is a huge plus. After that, other techniques and critical thinking are important.

Over the years, Mann has made a psychological study of spawning bass. In fact, his style of sight-fishing includes reading fish personality as much as it does actual tactics. The first thing Mann hopes to determine is the fish's mood.

"I try to determine if it's one I'll be able to catch or one I'm going to waste a lot of time on," Mann says. "What I like to do first is pull up on the nest, look at the fish and see how it's acting. A bass guarding a nest will let you know its mood. Sometimes I've had them challenge my trolling motor. Those are fish that are going to be easily caught."

Just as no human has a continuously level mood, the same can be said about bass.

"During the spawning cycle, female bass get more aggressive as they are about to lay eggs," Mann explains. "Once they lay eggs, the females are very aggressive. When I see a large female holding on the bed or somewhat aggressive to the boat, the first thing I'll do is back off. I'm going to back off to the point where I can still see the bed and possibly still see the fish. But I want to be back far enough that she is not going to be spooky, because that is going to take her mind off what she's doing."

While many anglers play stealthy games with spawners, Mann is often as aggressive as the bass themselves. To find a bed, he actually uses his trolling motor on high.

"I know a lot of people say you should keep the trolling motor on low speed, but if I keep it on high, at least I see what I see before they go if I spook them off the bed," he adds.

The best-case scenario for Mann is where he can still see the bass as he works it.

"If you figure out what the bass is doing on the bed, you can present your bait to match its mood," he says. "With a big female, if you have a lethargic fish that's not protecting the nest - just kind of lying there - then hopping a bait in her face or being aggressive may not be the best way to go."

When he faces a lethargic fish that does not want to come on the bed or protect it, Mann knows he'll need to throw the bait by the bed, or around the female, and just wait.

"Let the bait just sit there and let the reluctant female pull onto it," he says. "Believe me, she knows it's there, and she knows that bait isn't supposed to be there. So give her time to pull up on the bait and then slowly start to crawl it into the bed. That fish will look down, and she'll make the decision to eat it or not. You will either trigger her to run or trigger her to fight. But if you start ripping the bait up in her face, she'll get out of there.

Of course, an angler could face females in another frame of mind. They're the ones that are really fun.

"On the other hand, if you've got a large female that goes in there like gangbusters, challenges your trolling motor when you go by or won't leave the bed no matter what, you want to present the bait aggressively," Mann says. "What I do then is leave the bait in the bed and when she comes in, I hop it up in her face. If she's really aggressive, she'll suck it right in. It's that quick. And you have to be quick too, because they'll suck it in and spit it out before you can even turn your reel."

Nesting bass also will "tail" on a bait. When tailing, the bass is transfixed on the bait, looking down. As a result, the tail is higher than the rest of its body. The female may swing several times around the nest and tilt her tail with her face down as she looks at the bait.

In shallow water, the tip of the tail even might be out of the water.

"When they nose down on it, she is making a decision, and it's a good sign you are about to get bit," Mann says. "That's when you also need to make a decision as an angler. You can either hop it and get a reaction bite, or you can let it sit there and shake it. If you hop it and she bows down on the bait and doesn't take it, the next time you are not going to want to hop it. That's why I say every fish has a personality of its own. Some take a bait crawled slowly on the bed, and some want it hopped up in their face. You have to know the difference."

Finding The Sweet Spot
In addition to the position of the fish, there is also a position on the nest that, when covered by a bait, entices a spawner to strike. Sight anglers refer to this as "the sweet spot."

"Somewhere on the bed, there is going to be a spot where the female will lay her eggs," Mann notes. "A lot of times, especially around thin vegetation in the sand, the spot will appear pink. The color is from the fish rubbing on the sparse root balls, exposing the root. She'll drop her eggs in there, and she knows the roots will help protect her eggs from raiding shiners and bream."

For the angler, the difference between finding and missing the sweet spot is huge.

"If you can locate that sweet spot and put your bait on it, it will trigger a strike," Mann says. "But if you are fishing the edge of the bed and you're not near her eggs, she knows not to bother with you."

Of course, if the sweet spot is not visible, you'll have to compensate.

"If you can't see that sweet spot where the eggs are, you have to figure it out by repeated casts," Mann adds. "When you hit it, she'll let you know it. She'll flare her fins and get all crazy."

When he encounters an aggressive female, Mann prepares for the strike before even casting. He begins by throwing the bait past the bed, engaging the reel and winding up the slack to where, when he pops the bait in the nest, he can instantly set the hook.

"I don't have to feel the strike or see the fish running," he says. "If I see that fish open up, she's usually got it.''

When trying to locate a disguised sweet spot, Mann has a method.

"I usually start in the center because that's where most of the sweet spots are located," he explains. "After that, I work my way out and around the sloping sides of the dish."

Sometimes two bass will hang around a nest - the male and the female. The question then becomes, "Should the angler target both or one or the other?" It can mean the difference in landing the larger female.

"A lot of times I'll leave the buck on the bed to get the female involved in what's going on," Mann says. "A lot of times the buck won't leave you alone enough for the female to do anything. In that case, I'll take the buck so she'll lock onto me."

What To Use
Having found an occupied bed, determined the mood of the fish and the best spot on the nest to place a bait, Mann then must decide what to throw. For this, he keeps it simple, limiting himself to a few offerings.

"I don't use big, gaudy baits when I'm bed fishing," he says. "I like to use finesse baits, 3½-inch tubes and 3¼-inch soft crayfish. A lot of times I'll throw a tube over and over without getting any response. Then I'll throw a crayfish, and you'd think the world is coming to an end."

For his sight-fishing work, Mann favors the Yum Vibra King finesse tube and the Yum Craw Papi. He rigs both with a wide-gap hook and usually a light 3/8-ounce lead weight.

"The whole point of the Vibra tube or the Craw Papi is when I get the bait on the bed and start wiggling it, I want it to flutter, like a little shiner diving down and eating," he says. "You want the bait to do something on the bed - not just sit there. You want to be able to move it lightly and have some sort of action. Also, the rubber on both baits is not very hard, so I can easily drive the hook home."

On bright days, Mann makes one other adjustment to his offering.

"When the sun is out, I use a red hook," he says. "You can see it flash, and it's just a little extra that gets the bass excited."

As for bait colors, Mann imitates the bass's nemesis - golden shiners and bluegills. His favorite tube color is a laminated two-tone concoction officially called "alewife." When fishing a soft Craw Papi, he uses either a watermelon red in clear water or a black with blue or junebug in tannin water.

As for equipment, Mann goes a little softer than some anglers. He doesn't use a flipping stick.

"They wear me out," he says.

Instead, he prefers a 7-foot medium-action Bass Pro Qualifier rod teamed with a Quantum Tour Edition 7-to-1 gear ratio. On the reel, he employs 20-pound Silver Thread green line, shying away from fluorocarbon and refusing to use braid.

"I think they can see it," he says of sight-fishing with braid.

Perhaps because of state restrictions or considering its effects, sight-fishing is not for everyone. Whatever the case, it's a technique that takes practice and skill.

"This kind of fishing is tougher than most people think," Mann says. "Until you figure out the personality of fish and how to trick them, it's tough. Every time I go out, I'm still learning."