Summer time bass fishing is a bit of a roller coaster. Sometimes, you are putting more bass in the boat than you know what to do with, and other times you can’t catch a thing and you’re baking in the sun on top of it all.
This holds especially true for those of us with really unpredictable summer weather patters.
For instance, on my home lake, Lake Lanier, we have recently had record breaking temperatures of over 100 degrees, followed by moderate to high winds and thunderstorms.
Locating and catching bass can be frustrating, but this spinnerbait technique will help you do just that.
The Staircase Retrieve
The idea for this technique came from a video game.
Yep, I was in the bathroom, playing iFishing on my phone, and the idea hit me.
Let’s face it, most good ideas happen in the bathroom!<<<Click to Tweet this!
And this one has proven to be very effective. To do it is simple:
- Make a long cast with a spinnerbait
- Begin reeling as soon as it hits the water
- After 10-15 feet of retrieve, allow the bait to pause and sink 1-2 feet
- Repeat this pattern until the bait is all the way back to the boat
As you can see, the bait will make a staircase type pattern through the water as it is retrieved. This allows you to find fish in the water column, and get a bait in front of their face.
Allowing the bait to fall also makes it look like a wounded fish that is attractive to a bass.
Now, as the title says, this is a tactic for transitional bass. What exactly does that mean, and when should this technique be used?
When To Use The Staircase Retrieve
There is a very specific window of opportunity for this technique.
In the hot summer months, you will usually have 30-45 minutes of solid topwater fishing right after sunrise. After this period of time, the bass move to deeper water, and you won’t catch them on a topwater plug again until the next day.
It is the time of transition between topwater bite, and the move to deeper water, where this technique will work.
In the summer time, I always start my day fishing with a topwater plug, or a shallow running crank. Since figuring out this technique though, I always have a second rod with a spinnerbait tied on and ready to deploy the minute that topwater action starts to die down.
You have to be on your toes, but there is small window of opportunity to catch some good fish on a spinnerbait right after you catch a few on the topwater action.
Keep an eye open for when the transition starts to happen and you will be able to capitalize on it as well!
See ya on the water…