Skinny Water Bassin’
BY GLENN WALKER

When summer rolls around, water levels on many lakes and rivers go down to their lowest points. Many bass anglers will be faced with the task of fishing water that is two feet deep or less. Many of these anglers love fishing shallow water, but even the most seasoned veteran can get frustrated when there are countless banks with shallow water on them. To me, there are several things that an angler can look for to help increase their catch in shallow water. I will also examine what lures will give you the best chance to hook up with a big ol’ summer bucket mouth! When fishing skinny water—as I like to call it—some key things that I
look for when going down a bank are: depth changes, isolated cover and current. If the bank you are fishing has a consistent depth of two feet and then it goes to 2.5 feet, chances are that slight depth change is going to attract a bass. These depth changes can sometimes be shown by the starting or stopping of vegetation in the water. 

Slight ripples on the water are also signs that there is a bottom change present. An isolated piece of cover such as a lay down or a small group of lily pads is just a perfect place for a bass to hide along a section of bank that has shallow water on it. When you find isolated cover along a bank, chances are that you are not going to just catch one bass of it; you are going to catch a number of bass there, because they will all be holding 
to that one piece of cover. I can recall a tournament several years ago when I was able to catch four bass in a matter of 15 minutes to fill out our limit, all by targeting one submerged tree on a mud bank with 2-1/2 feet of water on it.

Being that the Mississippi River is my home body of water, a lot of my fishing revolves around current. So when I’m fishing shallow water, I always keep track of if there is any current, and if so, what is it doing? It may be going in the opposite direction, or all of a sudden there maybe current when there previously hadn’t been any. Current is not just present on river systems either. When fishing a lake, depending on the wind direction and speed, sometimes this will create current, which will turn the bass on and position them to feed. 

Some of my favorite methods for locating shallow water bass and then catching them range from reaction baits to slow presentations. When I’m on search mode in shallow water, two lures that I rely on to locate bass, but also target isolated cover, are a shallow crankbait and a RC Tackle swim jig. I’m sure most of you just cringed when I said crankbait in the same sentence as cover and shallow water. A shallow crankbait such as a Baby 1, or a Strike King Series 1 are great lures that you can
bounce off timber and not get snagged often.  

Now I’m not saying that you won’t get snagged or lose a lure, but the benefits of throwing a bait like this in shallow water are extremely high. A bass will chase down a crankbait from a distance based on two things. One, it resembles food, whether that is a crawfish or a shad, and second, it catches their attention and they want to see what it is. When I am fishing crankbaits, I always switch out the stock hooks to Eagle Claw 3x trebles. These hooks are extremely sharp and help me keep bass hooked while I’m getting them to the boat. The other key piece of equipment I rely on when shallow cranking, is the Kevin Van Dam cranking rods. These rods have the backbone to bring in a hefty fish, but more importantly they have a soft tip to help hook and keep a bass hooked. Another presentation that works well to cover a lot of water quickly and also can be put into areas where there is very little water is swimming a jig. A 1/4-ounce swim jig is what I turn to when there is vegetation in the skinny water that I am fishing. You can change your retrieve up depending on what kind of mood the bass are in. If they are chasing shad or bluegill, then you’ll want to be swimming it with some twitching. If the bass are more sluggish and feeding on crayfish, then letting your 
jig sink and bouncing it will entice those bass. Once you have pinpointed where the bass are located, an excellent technique to help improve your catch is flipping a bait for a slower presentation. Some good choices are soft plastic tubes and creature 
baits. The water clarity plays a huge roll in what color bait you should throw, as does confidence in that bait. For me a green pumpkin tube rigged on an Eagle Claw 4/0 HP hook and 1/4-ounce weight is my go-to lure. It is important though to change things up; if you go down a bank once with a tube, don’t be afraid to fish it again with a creature bait, such as a beaver.

A strong, but yet sensitive line is needed, so Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon is a good choice. With this presentation and swimming a jig, it is important to use a reel that you are able to pick up a lot of line very quickly. Many times a bass in shallow water will hit your bait as soon as it hits the water, so you need to pick up the slack very quickly. The new Quantum PT reel has a high-speed retrieve that will allow you to catch up with a bass that has smacked your lure and it is super lightweight, so you can fish all day with it. Now is the time when targeting bass in skinny water can be amazing! With the information and lure suggestions I outlined above, you too can go catch some monster summertime bass in shallow water.