Three Rigs for Bass on Beds with Brandon Lester

Sight fishing is a great way to target giant bass.

Bassmaster Elite Series pro Brandon Lester enjoys it and has success with the pattern, as recently as last month during the Bassmaster Southern Open on Lake Chickamauga, where he finished 8th place.

He has an approach with three different rigs that he relies on nearly all of the time.

Locating Bed Fish

Chickamauga was a perfect example of how many people miss bedding fish. Lester was able to locate them, even when some of his friends fishing the event couldn’t.

“Many people always look for the bright spots or really big, obvious beds, but that’s not what was happening at Chickamauga. The beds were just dark spots and sometimes you wouldn’t even see the fish. I caught several just by casting to the dark areas,” he says and added there are many other places he will cast to. “Stumps, trees or anything different really. The beds are not always obvious or easy to see.”

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Bedding Bass Strategies and Time

Brandon Lester feels that a bedding bass will give you clues immediately if they are willing to bite.

“The biggest clue is when you approach on a trolling motor. If they don’t move at all, you can catch them and if they leave and come right back they will also bite. Those that leave and don’t come back right away are going to be harder to catch,” he says. He will typically spend 20 to 30 minutes on an average-sized fish and will rotate through three baits several times to see what they want. If the fish is larger or showing signs that it is getting aggravated, he will spend as much time as it takes to get them to bite.

Top-3 Bed Rigs for Bass

When asked which baits he uses for bedding fish, Lester quickly chose a light Texas-rig, then a shaky head and finally a drop-shot. He rotates through them in that order and will also mix in a bluegill imitating swimbait.

Texas-Rig to Catch Spawning Bass

The Texas-rig is the first thing Lester picks up when he sees a bed and the reasoning has to do with what gear he uses to fish it.

“I like a big 7’6” rod and 20-pound line so I can boat flip the fish and not risk losing them,” he says.

There are many different baits that will work, but Lester opts for a beaver style bait most of the time and will rig it with a 3/0 or 4/O Mustad Denny Brauer Grip-Pin flipping hook. When it comes to the color he will either use natural or go with solid white for better visibility and to detect when the fish has the whole bait in its mouth.

Shaky Head for Bass on Beds

The shaky head is Lester’s second choice when fishing bedding fish and he opts to pour his own.

“I like the 1/8-ounce model to get the most natural appearance and for some reason, most of what is on the market in 1/8-ounce come with a small, thin wire hook,” he says. He uses a Do-It Mold and says it fits a 4/0 Mustad hook perfectly, even with the lightweight head. “The hook is stronger and a little thicker gauge than what most shaky heads come with and that is what I want for big fish.”

Typically, he just uses a straight tail worm like a Trick Worm; but has had some success mixing it up with baits like a lizard on his shaky head.

Dropshotting Bedding Bass

Lester also relies on a drop-shot and utilizes a 6- to 8-inch leader.

“The great thing about a drop-shot when the fish are bedding is that they are often suspended above the bed and the dropshot is right in their face and they don’t have to go down to get it,” he says. He typically uses small finesse worms or minnow imitators on his hook.

When it comes to terminal tackle, Lester uses a ¼ to 3/8-ounce weight and Mustad KVD Double Wide Fine Wire Dropshot Hook.

“You want the weight to be not too heavy and not too light and be able to stay on the bed. The hook I use is great for a dropshot; because it has a wide gap, hooks them well and you don’t lose fish with it,” says Lester who added that a dropshot is among the best baits for bed fishing. “If you can’t catch them on a dropshot, they probably won’t bite at all.”

Bluegill Swimbait to Get Bed Bass Ready

The swimbait is not necessarily to catch the bass, but instead, it is used to aggravate them.

“If a fish makes the big circles and loses interest in the other baits, that is when I will use the swimbait. A lot of times it will get them back to the bed and become angry so I can catch them on one of the other baits,” says the Tennessee pro.

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Locating and catching bedding fish comes down to having the right approach. For Brandon Lester, that includes having three bed rigs he can rely on and trust each time the bass are spawning.