The 2011 Bassmaster Elite Series was an interesting year. The stars and lakes did not line up to make all the tournaments offshore structure events but were conducive to junk-fishing the bank. Junk-fishing is basically doing a little bit of everything and catching one fish here and there all day.
I love junk-fishing — it’s my favorite way to fish. Junk-fishing is fishing in its purest form, trusting your instincts and intuition. Having 20 rods out and grabbing the right one with the right bait at the right time and… cast it at the right target at right angle without to much splash, and you’ll catch a bass.
Most Elite Series guys hate this, but I love it. They would rather have one spot and catch them every cast and go in — that’s more like striper fishing. What I really like is fooling an individual bass on the bank into biting my bait. There is no bigger thrill for me, and it is what keeps me enjoying fishing.
Where to junk-fish? Dig though the trash! I prefer to fish stuff that looks so bad that no one would ever run down the lake and think that it looks beautiful and pull up to fish it. The worst-looking, trashiest banks are some of the best places to try. Even the most barren of banks will have something on them holding a bass. Sometimes, the smallest little bush or dark spot in the back of a pocket is all it takes to hold a bass. The trick is to never let off that trolling motor. Run it to your batteries are dead, go in and charge them up and keep going. You have to be alert and cast at everything well in advance to avoid spooking fish, and you generally get one cast so you’ve got to be dead on. One of the good things about junk-fishing — the better you get at casting, the more you can outcompete the next guy.
Presentation? Don’t be scared! You have one chance — your first cast has to be perfect, especially if you’re in clear water. If you mess it up, you’ll have to hit that spot a least an hour later, after the fish has forgotten about you. Don’t be afraid of getting hung up — it will happen and happen and happen more than you want, but in order to get that perfect cast that will trigger a bite, you’ve got to get that bait close to the bass and surprise it into biting.
Junky baits? All baits are junky! The best, junkiest baits for me are topwater. Small poppers and buzzbaits see a lot of my junky action, but I will have as many as 20 different rods ready with everything you can imagine. If I had to limit it to five, I would not bother. Sometimes, junk-fishing leads to a pattern that will carry you though an event, so junk-fishing can be used as an effective prefishing tool as well. What you’ll soon find by covering tons of water and beating it with everything you have is that there are lots of ways to catch bass, and that it’s fun. Many of the events I was in this year, I caught the five fish I weighed in on four or five different baits.
Junky tips? Take plenty of junk food. Take some breaks and look around — see the big picture. Sometimes, I find myself focusing so intently on the next target that I fail to grasp what’s going on. I find that putting the Power Poles down under a big old shade tree and downing some chips and a sandwich is essential. This gives you a chance to think about what you have seen so far and to regroup if things are not going well or expand upon what you have found.
There you have it — total junk.
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