Gibson’s tactics for bed-fishing the bass spawn

When it comes to bed fishing, Hoot Gibson advised anglers to go shallow and head north up the canals.

The Neshoba Lake expert likes to cover a lot of water until he locates an area with active fish, and then he slows down and fishes real slow in that area.

“I’ll get just as far back in the lake as I can and just watch for movement,” said Gibson. “If the water is fairly calm, I can spot active fish pretty quick.

“I’ll fish the shallow banks along the canals and fish my way back as shallow as I can get.”

Gibson has several areas he likes to fish, but the key is to keep your lure in the shallow water and find an area that has active fish in it during your time on the water.

“I’ll take a Senco or Fluke-type bait and pitch it up onto the shallow flats and banks adjacent to the canals, and just let it fall and don’t even move it,” he said. “I may jiggle it just a little bit every now and then, but when I find an active bedding area I want to keep that bait in the strike zone as long as possible and in the water.”

Gibson also prefers using a Texas-rigged pumpkinseed chartreuse, or june bug-colored lizard with an 1/8-ounce bullet weight which allows him just enough weight to pitch the lure into the strike zone.

“They either love it or hate it; I haven’t figured out which it is, but I know they will kill it and I’ve caught a bunch of monster bass on those lizards,” he said. “They just can’t seem to resist them.”

When searching for bedding bass, Gibson relies on detecting movement and swirls.

“I’ll pitch that lizard near the bed — past it if I can — and crawl it back into their strike zone,” said Gibson. “When they’re on, it usually won’t take long and they’ll nail it. You’ll know pretty quickly.”

While some people will work with a bedding bass for an hour or longer enticing strikes, Gibson prefers hitting the active bass, and catching and releasing as many as he can.

“I’ll work on one a few minutes if I think I can catch him, but I’d rather move on and fish the active, more-receptive bass if I can,” he explained. “A fish that’s been caught will be much harder to catch the second time and can be pretty stubborn.”