Minnesota Pro Tip of the Week: Punch through slop for excellent bass bite

Tip by Hays Baldwin

Years of guiding experience: 5

Favorite waters: Gull Lake, Lake Independence and Gull River

Slop fishing for bass has been very productive as of late – punching heavy weights with a compact creature bait in shallow, matted weeds.

Go with a heavy bullet sinker, like 3/4-ounch to an ounce and a half. The heavier you go, the more bites you get. It’s a reaction bite. A lot of it has to do with the drop rate.

I look for the highest spot in the weeds, or where they are thickest, the densest spot you may see in a stretch of say 10 feet of matted vegetation. They are sometimes schooled up under those spots. It’s the opposite of fishing the edge, but it can be very effective. The bass are in there, in teh coontail and milfoil, eating bluegills and crayfish and whatever else they find. I had a bass spit up a bullhead the other day.

But with this technique, you are basicaly hiting the bass on the head.

Baldwin runs Fishing 217 Guide Service, a multi-species guide service based in the Brainerd Lakes area. He can be reached at (612) 419-4828.