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7 Bed Fishing Tehniques You Probably Haven't Tried

7 Bed Fishing Tehniques You Probably Haven't Tried

Seeing the shadow of a big bass locked on its bed is one of the most exciting - “calm before the storm” feelings in fishing. The ability to actually see how a fish reacts to your bed fishing techniques connects you to the bass in a way not experienced any other time of the year.But let’s face it, as exciting as it can be – bed fishing can be equally frustrating. If you’ve got any experience at all, you’ve undoubtedly had a situation arise where no matter what you tried; you couldn’t coax a bed fish into biting.Maybe that’s because most anglers rely strictly on bed fishing techniques staples like Texas rigs or drop shots?If you’re faced with a bass on a bed that just won’t bite, try one of these “way outside the box” presentations. They’ve all been verified to have caught at least one big bed fish.

1. Lipless Crank

Lipless cranks for bed fishing? Absolutely. Lipless cranks like the River2Sea Ruckus make major noise when shaken, so why not do it on a bed? Pitch the lipless crank onto the bed, and let it settle on the bottom. Once resting in the bed, lightly shake it – enough to make it rattle without moving off the sweet spot. Bass on the bed are particularly sensitive to sound, so it shouldn’t take long for big mama to come “grab” it and move it off the bed.

2. Big Swimbait

When the fish aren’t responding to your normal bedding presentations, don’t be afraid to go big. Sometimes bedding bass strike to defend their nests – and a big bluegill, shad, or baby bass slowly cruising by really draws their ire. A secret of many top pros is to keep a big 8 or 10 inch swimbait on their decks when bed fishing. A few buzzes over a big lady’s head with a swimbait like the Strike Pro Flex Phantom may be just the ticket to irritate her into striking.

3. The Tubo Rig

Source: YoutubeThis is one of the craziest bed fishing techniques you'll ever see. Sometimes called the “shrimp in a cup,” the Tubo rig was invented to coax Japan’s extremely pressured bass into biting while on the bed. Essentially just a weighted plastic cup combined with a tiny shrimp-like fly, you pitch (or lob) the heavy cup onto the bed, then feed it a little slack line to allow the tiny floating shrimp to peek out of the “shell.” Although not designed to actually catch bass, the sight of the tiny shrimp poking its head out of the Tubo rig drives bass crazy, allowing the angler to reel it up and flip in with a different bait to catch it.

4. A Giant Tube

Like the giant swimbait, another big bait that’s earned its stripes as a bedding bass producer is the big tube. The combination of the subtle fall and large profile, a tube of AT LEAST 4 inches like the Karl's Amazing Baits Ringer is something that most bedding fish just haven’t seen.

5. A Crank On A String

Similar to the Tubo rig, the crank on a string technique is another way for anglers to agitate a bedding bass with lockjaw. To rig, take a flipping stick, thread on a heavy 1 or 2 ounce bell or pyramid sinker, then tie on a crank like the Live Target Bluegill. Pitch the weight onto the bed, and let the crank do its work. By feeding it slack, the crank will float up off the bottom, and when twitched it will “Peck” at the bottom like a feeding bluegill – inciting a violent strike.

6. Topwater Bed Fishing Techniques

Although it’s not one of the normal bed fishing techniques most anglers, topwater baits can also be dynamite producers when the bass are bedding, particularly in shallow lakes or if the bass are smallmouth. In fact, dirty water anglers catching springtime bass on topwaters are often catching bedding bass – they just don’t know it. Try pitching an Ima Flit 100 past a bed and slowly waking it over the bass’ head – or pausing a frog like the Sebile Pivot Frog right on top of a shallow bed. You’re sure to get a strike you won’t soon forget.

7. The Little Invader

Sometimes the issue with a bedding bass isn’t that it won’t bite, it’s that you can’t get a hook into its mouth. When this happens, sometimes the best thing to do is downsize so that you’re essentially only fishing a hook. A piece of a grub, soft plastic stick bait, or even a crappie sized plastic like the Panfish Plastics Double Tail on a drop shot will usually still draw a strike – but ensure that the hook gets in the bass’ mouth.

Updated February 7th, 2019 at 10:22 AM CT