Lake Shasta is well-known for its spotted bass fishery, but it's also home to big largemouth that tend to pop up periodically. The largemouth in the lake grow very big and can be a major difference-maker in bass tournaments when they can weigh as much as a solid limit of spotted bass, such as the 13.26-pounder that Roger Vue recently caught.
It's not his only most recent monster largemouth, as he also weighed an 11-pounder and a 12-pounder, both on the same bait and fishing the same way. Vue, the owner of clothing brand Tug Life, shared some more details on his most recent string of big largemouth from Lake Shasta.
Targeting Big Largemouth at Shasta
Vue fishes Shasta often, and during the interview for this story, he was busy preparing for the "Tug Life Toy Drive" bass tournament he's hosting on the lake, which will benefit the community. He says his success with big largemouth comes down to key areas, proper timing of the bite, and throwing large baits they want to eat. It’s worked very well for him with three double digits in a little over a month.
"I caught the first 12-pounder practicing for a small tournament and then caught an 11 the next day in the same area, doing the same thing," he said. "Now, this 13.26 was caught in the same area with the same bait in December."
The bait he's been using is a wooden 7-inch Vuedoo Walker in a bone color, but he's also had success with trout patterns. It's a large walking topwater he makes himself, similar in a way to the famed and no longer made Lunker Punker, and it appeals to big bass that are eating trout and kokanee at the surface.
Some may think it's too late in the year to throw a topwater, but Vue is still doing it despite the colder temperatures. "I first found these fish with forward-facing sonar and thought they were carp or catfish, but made a few casts and caught a big largemouth," he said. "I was thinking it was too cold to catch them on top, but this bite is still going. It's not wide open, but I feel like I can catch them all winter on topwater and have so much confidence in it now."
Vue fishes the 3-ounce bait on a Dobyns Champion swimbait rod, Daiwa Tatula 300 reel, and 65-pound Power-Pro braid. Then, he works the bait quickly like any other topwater lure. "It's a big bait that mimics a dying trout on the surface," he said. "It's a standard walk-the-dog retrieve that you can pop and walk. I also make a 9-inch version of the bait, but I'm not throwing that this time of year; it's better when the bite is wide open in the warmer months."
What to Look For
Vue has the big largemouth dialed, and much of it is in specific areas that keep producing for him. Without giving away his secret spots, he did share some insight on what he's looking for.
"I'm looking for flats, definitely, and these are places where I never see anyone fishing," he said. "I'm not fishing the points, because everyone hits the points, so there is much less pressure on the flats. I'm also fishing fairly shallow, less than 10 feet of water."
The other thing he shared was that this is definitely an afternoon bite. "It's a timing bite because I've been out there in the morning and can see them on the graph, but they won't bite," he said. "Then, you can come back six hours later, and they will bite. All of these big ones seem to bite around 2 p.m., so it's an afternoon bite, for sure."
Vue also theorizes that the lake is in excellent health and that these mega-largemouth will continue to show up.
"I feel like the big largemouth are more common than ever out there, whether that's because the water was high and the lake got healthy or the largemouth population is just doing better since we haven't had a drought in several years," he shared. "The spotted bass are also getting huge. I caught a nine-pounder back in March, so I broke both my PBs this year. The other thing is just sticking to the big baits and not throwing down baits like worms as much because I know the big ones are out there, and I'm hunting and going after them."
Vue's recent success on big largemouth is very impressive, and he has the mentality to chase them, knowing he won't get many bites in a day, but the ones that do commit will be worth the time and energy.
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