3 Presentations For Shallow-Water Bass

One of the biggest mistakes anglers often make is to assume that bass vacate the shallows once their spawning ritual is over. Sure, lots of bass spend much of their year in deep water chasing shad and escaping the heat.They all don’t though.Regardless of the season, there are always going to be some shallow-water bass (and often some good ones) – sometimes in a foot of water or less. Even up north, where lakes freeze over, ice fishermen routinely catch bass while pike fishing in less than 2 feet of water.Super shallow water (less than 2 feet) holds bass all year because it almost always contains the three things necessary for a bass to live – food (bluegill, fry, crawfish, and frogs), cover (laydowns, vegetation, docks), and oxygen.To target these super shallow bass, here are 3 top presentations.

1. Buzzbaits

Shallow-water bass are almost always up there for a reason, and that reason is usually to feed. There aren’t many presentations that produce strikes from feeding bass better than a buzzbait like The Fishbelly Helix Buzzbait. They are dynamite in super shallow water because they ride over the top of cover, can be worked through all sorts of snags, and have a wide strike window due to the commotion they create on the surface.

2. Wacky Worms

Skipping a weightless wacky rig around cover is one of the most effective ways to target shallow-water bass. The subtle shimmy on the fall is enough to get immediate bites most of the time. In super shallow water, wacky worms like the Sinister Wacky Worm are even more effective because you can fish them much faster and more efficiently because you don’t have to wait for them to get to the bottom.

3. Soft Plastic Jerkbaits

When bass are up in the dirt feeding on baitfish, there’s nothing more effective than a weightless soft plastic jerkbait like the Strike King Swim'n Caffeine Shad. They sink slowly, produce an amazing erratic action, and don’t snag on cover. Toss one up near a laydown or grass line and twitch it back to the boat – then hang on.