Maynor Creek just west of Waynesboro is a productive lake for bass in March because it has numbers of big bass in its shallow water.
On the northern end of the lake, you’ll see a bridge that crosses the creek, where the riprap creates a funnel for bass headed to the shallow spawning grounds above the bridge. Bass usually hold in the riprap on either side of the bridge, where they can eat the spawning shad and hold close to the rocks in the winter, spring and summer. Since the riprap generally is only a hot spot for an hour or less daily, I try to fish the riprap points early.
In March, bass will be feeding early, and I’ll work the Spook with a walk-the-dog retrieve, sliding the bait until it stops, then jerking it and letting it slide and pause before I twitch it again.
Before I start fishing the lily pad clumps, I’ll observe them to see if I can see any movement indicating that a bass is there. If there’s movement, I’ll make seven or eight casts to the clumps.
Bass don’t have much deep water where they can hide in the winter at Ross Barnett, but the only thing that makes Ross Barnett a bad January fishing day is a hard, blowing north, northeast or northwest wind.
Bass are in their winter pattern in early January. Generally, if you put a lure in front of them, they’ll attack. I’ll concentrate my fishing on the riprap near the dam and in Pelahatchie Bay and on the riprap and pilings on either end of the Pelahatchie Bridge and the Highway 43 bridge.
Bass are in their winter pattern in early January. Generally, if you put a lure in front of them, they’ll attack. I’ll concentrate my fishing on the riprap near the dam and in Pelahatchie Bay and on the riprap and pilings on either end of the Pelahatchie Bridge and the Highway 43 bridge.
Riprap. First I’ll fish the riprap by the dam. The bass will be in the shallow water on the rocks or holding on the first drop-off in about 8 to 10 feet of water. The rocks will draw heat from the sun, and the shallow water around them will concentrate baitfish. I’ll start casting a gray ghost Mann’s Baby 1-Minus on a 7-foot-1, medium-action FX Custom rod with a 7.3:1 Bruin reel and 20-pound White Peacock fluorocarbon. I’ll cast parallel to the riprap and crash the lure into the rocks in foot-deep water. On any warming January day, the shad, the bluegills and other baitfish will hold as close to the rocks as possible, as will bass.
I’ll also have on my casting deck a 3/8-ounce Classic spinnerbait with a white skirt, gold Indiana blades and a trailer hook. I’ll crash that spinner bait at a 45% angle into the rocks from the shallow water, slow-rolling the spinnerbait to turn the blades out to about 4 feet deep. I’ll use a 6-foot-10, heavy action FX Custom rod with 23-pound fluorocarbon on a 6.2:1 reel.
By Mike Pehanich - November 30, 2020 The challenge of moving from a five-fish tournament format to the relentless pressure of catch-what-you-can competition has tested the nerves of virtually every angler on the MLF Bass Pro Tour.
That certainly has been the case for Paul Elias, the Mississippi pro who has etched his name in bass fishing history and the angling record books in dazzling fashion during the course of his career. At age 69, he has, as they say, “seen it all.” No angler in the 80-man Bass Pro Tour field draws from a deeper well of experience to assess the respective challenges professional bass anglers have faced during the sport’s evolution.
But, as the oldest angler in the field, Elias feels more tightly compressed each season, caught between a younger and increasingly talented angler field and the unyielding pressure of Father Time, as manifested in two shoulder operations in 2018.
“It’s been a nightmare for me, in a way,” he admits. “With our new electronics from Garmin and everyone else, there’s always something different to learn. LiveScope (Panoptix) technology is basically video game bassin’. I’m not near as good at it as these young kids. It’s hard for me to keep up.”
As for the transition from five-fish limit competition to the cumulative SCORETRACKER® format, Elias is learning to “fish faster and read water quicker than I’m used to.”
He has faced formidable challenges on every front. But if he should rise to compete once again at an elite level, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Several times during his career, he has come back from winless droughts and strings of out-of-the-money performances to win with eye-popping, tour de force triumphs such as his “kneelin’ and reelin’” Bassmaster Classic win on the Arkansas River and first “all-smallmouth” win on New York’s Seneca Lake.
Paul, Patrick and myself want to thank you for the two day in depth fishing lessons. These are two days we will never forget. From the time we arrived at your cabin for breakfast you made us feel welcome and at home. We hit the water and begin catching fish. You would sit down for a while, we couldn't catch any fish, you would get a rod and bam you showed us again one behind another. My biggest fish was 7 lbs 9 oz. You shared a lot with us and we will be forever greatful for learning from a legend. I would do it again and would not change a thing.
Thanks again Paul for a wonderful time.
Wayne Gant and Patrick Currie
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Thanks again, Frank
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