![]() Repeated casts are very important with this technique and I really think the key is simply ticking the bass off enough to make it swat at your crankbait. While your boater skips and pitches to his heart’s content, go right behind him and burn a small plug around the edges of every boat dock. While those dock bass get throttled with pressure from traditional bottom-contact presentations, they don’t see crankbaits very much especially smaller ones. I don’t know what it is about those dang things, but they’re magnets for a tournament angler around here. Every boater I have ever fished behind has fished boat docks for at least 5 hours per day. I’ve learned that you can have a bunch of fun pitching a small, shallow-running crankbait around boat docks. I choose braid because it drastically increases your casting distance, which can be a huge deal from the back deck. Gear recommendation: I keep my shaky head on a 7-foot, medium-action spinning rod spooled with 15-pound braid and an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader. While they’re dive-bombing bass with big Texas rigs and oversized jigs, just skip this little snack around and you’ll probably out-catch your boater. I could skip it accurately and I could also make fairly long overhead casts with it.Īs much as guys like to “power fish” now and make fun of finesse fishing, it’s actually pretty easy to catch fish behind guys with the shaky head. Whether my boater had me against the bank or out over brush piles, this shaky head would consistently get bites and as a co-angler, that’s really all you can ask for. I quickly realized how valuable of a tool it was. If the water was muddy, I’d choose the blue sapphire. If it was clear water, I’d throw the watermelon red. Those were the only two colors I felt I needed. I’d either have it paired with a watermelon red or blue sapphire-colored Zoom Trick Worm. ![]() When I was fishing tournaments as a co-angler, I never left the boat dock without a 3/16-ounce shaky head tied and ready to cast. It’s a finesse presentation that looks very natural underwater and perhaps most importantly, it’s an incredibly versatile option. I believe if you stick with these options, you’ll travel lighter and always be ready to jump in a friend’s boat.Ĭall me Captain Obvious, but man, it’s awfully tough to beat a shaky head when you’re on the back deck. If you’re not prepared, it can be really easy to turn into a pack mule and bring way too much tackle. I wanted to run through the baits and rigs I always keep rigged for co-angling. I live about 30 seconds from the biggest boat ramp on the lake, so I always have a handful of rigs ready to go in case a friend invites me on a last-minute fishing trip. These days, although I don’t really fish tournaments anymore, I’ll definitely hop in the back of a buddy’s boat for an evening of fishing. It taught me how to button down, focus and get bites when nothing seemed to be working. It made me accustomed to tough fishing which, believe it or not, was an incredible learning experience. Now that I’m older and more mature, however, I look back at those co-angler days and realize how much they shaped me as an angler. And for whatever reason, I’d get spun out when my boater caught a fish. ![]() Not calling the shots or being in control drove me absolutely insane. To be honest, this really frustrated me when I started to fish as a co-angler. It’s even tougher when the dude in front of you is a Hoover vacuum cleaner and seemingly catches every fish in the pocket. Perhaps more importantly, I traveled to all of the tournaments with a lot of excellent anglers and I got to practice for days at a time and learn how to become a more effective co-angler.Ĭatching fish behind someone is tough. After my first season fishing the now-defunct Bassmaster Weekend Series, I ended up finishing first in the state. I wanted to tournament fish when I was in my late teens, but I hadn’t quite saved up enough money to register as a boater, so I entered as a co-angler. Although I own a bass boat and fish primarily as a boater these days, I have spent a considerable amount of time fishing from the back deck of someone else’s rig.
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