Story & Photos
BY SCOTT M. PETERSEN
A
s summertime approaches and the deep-
water bass are sitting out in no man’s land,
what is your go-to bait? Some immediately
pick up a deep-diving crankbait. Others opt to drag a football jig across the rocks.
The last few years, my summer go-to is a flipping
stick with a 10-inch Big Bite Baits Kriet Tail Worm.
The reason for this choice is pretty simple…
Take a long, hard look around and see who else is
throwing a 10-inch worm. Not many!
And, that is why it works so well in pressured, deep
water conditions.
Let’s take a step back and get to this point.
POST SPAWN MOVEMENTS
After the spawn, the bigger female bass will start to make one of two moves; either they stay in the shallows and become resident shallow bass that will live the summer months in the slop or pads or they may take up residence under a big, covered dock that is located close to deep water.
After the spawn, bass will start to make their way towards the deeper water for two reasons. One, to feed and two, to recoup from spawning. Once they get to the outside edge of the weeds, they will take up residence for the next few weeks.
For some of these bigger bass, this may be the water that they spawned in never making it to shallow water. They will hold up until a food source starts to occupy deeper water. Many times this will start to happen in mid-May to June, depending in what part of the country that you live in.
Once the bass can get a food source in these deeper water, rock areas or deep weed edges, it is game on. If you are not familiar with these areas in your water, you have a little work to do and that will start with a good depth finder and lake map.
SUMMER 2016
For me. this combination is a Humminbird Helix 12 teamed with a Lakemaster mapping chip. Having side imaging will cut your scouting time in half, you can see these key areas without having to drive over the tops of them. You are able to see them from 100-ft away, allowing you to put a waypoint onto these areas for further investigation. Once you have a few deep water areas identified, it is time to get to work.
10 INCH PRESENTATION
When it comes to big worms, I took a tip from one of the best worm fishermen on the Elite tour – Jeff Kriet.
Kriet was instrumental with bringing us the shaky head technique. He worked very close with Scott Montgomery of Big Bite Baits in developing the Squirrel Tail Worm, making a worm that had a floating tail section, so the worm would stand up off of the bottom.
When Kriet wanted to bring develop a 10-inch worm, he again, turned towards Big Bite. Now the 10- inch Kriet Tail is the only 10-inch is the only one that Kriet will throw.
“Contrary to what fishermen think, you will catch bigger bass on a 10-inch worm than you will a ¾-oz. football jig,” said Kriet. “I know this statement will get people thinking I don’t know what I am talking about; but if I know the bass are there, I will pick and fish a 10-inch worm any day over a football jig. Day in and day out, I will take the five bass that I can catch on a 10-inch Kriet Tail Worm compared to the five that I will catch on a football jig.”
RIGGING
Kriet rigs his 10-inch on a 5/0 offset worm hook. He is confident that he will not lose bass on this hook as the worm is designed with slots to accommodate this hook better. This feature results in solid hook sets and less lost fish.
“As far as weight size, my go-to selection is 5/16-to 3/8- oz tungsten,” added Kriet. “I try not to peg the weight. I want the weight to be free on the line, to slide up and down the line when fishing in open water.
“If I am fishing brush, I will then peg my weight to keep the worm and the weight together, I have
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