Your Questions on Finesse Fishing Get Answered by Seth Feider and Josh Douglas
In response to the webinar, Finesse Fishing and Clear Water, hosted by Elite Series Pro Seth Feider and BASS Open Pro Josh Douglas, they collected several questions from viewers and those questions are were answered here exclusively on Classic Bass.
Question 1 –
Josh and Seth,
I watched your clear water and finesse webinar, and I really enjoyed it! Wanted to say thanks for doing those and helping other anglers out!
But I had a question I was hoping you guys may have some tips for. My cabin is Northwestern Minnesota near Alexandria and it’s a very clear lake. I can sometimes see 20-22ft and the weeds go to 20’+ in certain spots. I’ve tried all over, deep weeds, inside turns, points, rocks that I found out deeper, sunken logs. After early post spawn, the big ones just disappear. I’ve hit the pads and occasionally get one. There is a deep point and hump that I’ve tried with no success. I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions for me to try or anything. I’ve had success on many other lakes doing this, but I struggle at my cabin. But thanks again for the webinars, you guys give good information!
Thanks,
Chad
Answer 1 –
Chad,
I’d try flipping a heavy jig or Texas rig (3/4oz or more) on Braid into the thickest grass you can find. It might be mats in 1-4 feet, northern milfoil in mid depths or whatever the deepest topped out grass is. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the webinar love!
– Seth
Question 2 –
Hey Guys!
You actually follow me on Instagram so you’ve probably seen some of my posts of some pretty nice fish but lately I’ve been struggling in my northern Minnesota bass tourneys. I was just wondering if you had any different insight on how to break down some of these northern lakes like Pokegama, Pelican, Vermillion, and Trout if you’ve even been to them. I would I appreciate anything you’re willing to share! Thanks!
Answer 2 –
Great question! To better answer this, Seth and I broke your question up into smallmouth and largemouth answers since they grow ‘em both big up in that neck of the woods.
When targeting smallmouth, seasonal conditions matter huge. Winter is ice covered obviously and early spring in Minnesota is protected season. Once the season opens, there’s still a fair share of fat pre spawn bass out to be had and the bite will be plenty good in both deeper “staging” areas, as well as up on the actual spawning flats themselves. My favorite bait this time of year would be an Outkast Tackle Feider Fly and I’d attack these spawning flats hard and the deeper water that leads up to them. Come spawn, I’m mostly sight fishing those same flats by drop shooting a Biovex Kolt Fish Tail in Ayu color. She’s a dead ringer. Post spawn through fall; I’m all about focusing on everything from really deep water, all the way up to those same ultra-shallow flats they spawned on. Weather conditions are always key to where they’ll be that given day, but the two most important things to consider on those above mentioned lakes is rocks and bait. They want them both, and it seems the smallies will slowly start to switch their diet from Crawdads and perch early in the season, to the more prevalent baitfish forage’s come fall. One thing I like to find is vertical areas where fish can go from shallow too deep without traveling too far. Combine these three things and you’ll catch the snot out of them!
– Josh
Those lakes have some awesome largemouth and the one thing to always consider is them fish like ultra-shallow water and they like it year round. I love fishing in northern Minnesota because it’s the place where I can flip isolated reed patches with a Outkast RTX Jig or chuck that new Terminator Frog across the lily’s on braided line and get some of the best bites of the whole year. Lots of ‘em too! I target isolated shallow bays with a good mix of emergent vegetation. Boat docks are good too.
– Seth
Question 3 –
Josh,
I am a retired guy trying to understand the current technology and have been listening to your videos for a couple of weeks. I plan to upgrade my electronics once I get a better handle. I live in Maryland and will primarily be fishing the Chesapeake Bay.
I appreciated your webinar discussion on using maps. Is Navionics the only option for the Bay?
If I heard you correctly, there is not a common interface to take the maps to the computer to plan and then taking it to the water? I understood that the only way is to get the mobile app on the phone or iPad. Place the way points on that and then transfer to Navionics map? That means there is not a way to transfer the waypoints from the map to the computer to edit them?
Your help is most appreciated.
John
Answer 3 –
Hey John,
First off, thanks for checking out my electronics videos and watching the YouTube recordings of Seth and I’s webinars.
Alright…..
I’m assuming since you’re contacting me that you’re looking hard at the Lowrance option for electronics. If this is so the case, you may have another option though I’m do know that Navionics is the best option for me and far more often than not, will have better and more maps than that of the competition. There are some other mapping companies that offer maps for their specific brand of electronics, though you couldn’t use them in a competitor unit. Nice thing for Navionics, they work in just about all of them. You can see exactly what Navionics offers by visiting their website and viewing the WebApp. Be sure to check out both NauticalChart and SonarChart to see what you‘ll have available to you once you invest in your electronics. Below is a screen grab from the WebApp of your neck of the woods. Check out the WebApp at your convenience. https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@6&key=%7BhgqGfcwzP
Lastly, I’m not entirely sure if there is a software or an App out there that will allow you to do what you’re looking for. I believe Navionics used to offer a software program to do something like that but that kinda went by the waist side when the development of their MobileApp’s hit the market. Honestly, I did have one of those software kits for what you were describing but found their App much more user-friendly in the end. Yes, I just simply do how you mentioned. Right now you might be saving a lot of waypoints to your App, but I got a feeling you’ll be using that APP a bit less when you get those new Lowrance units and are dropping waypoints on your touch screens. The MobileApp sure is great and I use it almost daily but nothing competes with my map cards and my big screen Lowrance’s!
– Josh
