Bed Fish Like An Elite Pro With Karl's Secret Soft Plastic

The Karl’s Amazing Baits Kicker Craw is a beast of a bait and easily accounted for over half my fish this event. Makes a sick jig trailer too.

Josh Douglas, Elite Series Pro

Bassmaster Elite Series pro and Catch Co-sponsored angler Josh Douglas made waves over the weekend at the Elite series event held on Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie, which make up South Carolina's Santee Cooper system.

The timely tournament aligned perfectly with the largemouth bass spawn on South Carolina's largest lakes which sit roughly 40 miles north of Charleston. This bed fishing showcase resulted in competitors hauling in giant bass from the shallows all weekend long.

Sight Fishing Santee Cooper

When the sun rose high in the sky, visibility became clear and anglers, like Josh, picked up brightly colored soft plastics and pitched them to shallow bedding areas.

Fishing for bedding bass is controversial to some, but it's allowed by Bassmaster and most tournament circuits. Not targeting spawning fish would have put any competitor at a severe disadvantage over the weekend, and since our guy was there to win, Josh spent time chasing bedding bass.

Pearly Whites Get Spring Bites

To catch nearly half of his fish, Josh used Karl's Amazing Kicker Craw in the pearl white color, which enabled his bait to stand out on the bed, giving him a clear indication of where his lure was in relation to the fish.

Largemouth bass will typically swirl, circle, and eventually nose up to a bait very cautiously, and depending on the fishing pressure, they can be very hesitant to bite.

Josh would coax the fish into biting by keeping his distance and pitching to specific "sweet spot" areas on the bed. After making a few key jiggles and jigs, he noticed the craw disappear, indicating that it was inside the fish's mouth. Josh followed up with a hard hookset and then wrangled in a keeper bass.

Karl's Amazing Kicker Craw

Karl's Club $3.49
Non-Member $4.99

Karl's Amazing Kicker Craw features a set of dynamic legs that can kick back and forth while the lure is in motion and gently wave from side to side while it's at rest. This budget-friendly soft craw can be worked on a jig, Texas Rig, or dragged on the back of Carolina Rig throughout the year. Once bedding season rolls around, pick up a pack of the pearly whites and start picking off spawning fish like our buddy Josh.

*All tournament fish are kept in aerators and returned to the lake or river they were caught. It's not entirely full-proof, but the Bassmaster Elite Series is known for taking pride in its fish care and its low fish mortality rate. Image and video credit: Bassmaster