Bass angler Koby Kreiger is a down-to-earth guy. He抣l tell you candidly that for many years deep-water bass fishing was outside his comfort zone.
揕ike a lot of guys out there, my core strength is fishing shallow around visible cover. So, for years I was a bit intimidated by deep late-fall and winter fishing. But all that changed when I started using Side Imaging. Now I can quickly find fish梟o matter the depth梐nd put those fish in the boat,?says Kreiger.
Case in point, Kreiger抯 recent FLW EverStart Championship win on the Ouachita River in Louisiana. 揟here were so many boats in the D扐rbonne Bayou, I came up with another gameplan,?says Kreiger.
So during pre-fishing Kreiger scrutinized countless miles of waterway, scanning for submerged structure and baitfish on the edge of the river channel.
揟his time of year bass key in on schooling baitfish, and on Ouachita, the bait was still out in the river channel, not back pockets like a lot of places this time of year. You could see it clear as day with Side Imaging. Then as the sun got higher and the temps came up you could visually see the bait move up in the water column on the screen until it was on the top of the water actually flickering around,?says Kreiger.
With his Side Imaging set to 90 feet on each side of the boat, Kreiger would move his cursor over high probability timber as he was idling, marking tournament waypoints. Within a three-mile stretch of the river, Kreiger marked some 60 waypoints during pre-fishing and added another 30 during the 4-day tournament.
揑 had a really good track to fish, both going downriver and coming back up river. It was a pretty intense gameplan,?says Kreiger.
And while Kreiger says he saw a few other competitors targeting standing timber in the same deep 30- to 60-feet of water, they missed the mark.
揟he key wasn抰 finding the visible timber but the 慽nvisible?wood around it,?says Kreiger. 揧ou might have a few trees sticking out of the water, but the fish were holding to submerged trees around the visible wood梥tuff you just couldn抰 see without Side Imaging.?
And it抯 in this 慽nvisible?wood that Kreiger found bass suspending as deep as 15- to 17-feet over 30- to 60-feet of water in the mornings, rising to 4 to 7 feet below the water surface as the day wore on. He started each day with a custom Craig Power CP1 crank, later moved to a ?ounce War Eagle Spinnerbait and a Mini-Frenzy umbrella rig.
揑 could see money fish on specific submerged trees and just knew I抎 catch on that particular waypoint. I probably scanned 50 to 60 trees on that 3-mile stretch and 25 held fish, and of those 25 well over half you couldn抰 see without Side Imaging,?says Kreiger. 揂t the end of the day,
60% of my fish came off the invisible trees. Finding them was a huge deal. If you抮e fishing a three-mile stretch of river and there are only 10 visible trees, it抯 going to get hit pretty hard. But you find another 20 trees that the other guys can抰 see and you抳e got a game up on them.?
When asked why other competitors weren抰 using Side Imaging, Koby simply says it抯 easy to get stuck on fishing visible structure on river system tournaments. 揟he Ouachita is a narrow river. Seems to me other anglers fell in the routine of fishing visible structure, outside bends and points. But I learned on Sam Rayburn recently that I could fish deep water effectively if I chose to ?and I did,?says Kreiger.
While Kreiger條ike a lot of other pro anglers梥ays today抯 fishing electronics definitely 搇evel the playing field,?he says it goes beyond simply having the electronics. 揧ou have to know what you抮e looking at. The people who know how to use their units well trump guys who just have the gear.?
The EverStart champ抯 advice for learning your electronics?
揟ake you Humminbird to places you抳e fished for years. Go to your favorite brush pile, rock pile, and weedbed and carefully look at how it appears on your screen. Make note of that so when you go to an unfamiliar lake, you know what you抮e looking at. Put it in your brain so next time you抣l know it抯 a brush pile. Definitely removes the guesswork. Of course, it抯 pretty obvious with Side- and Down Imaging but spend time learning what various structure looks like on your sonar, too,?advises Kreiger.
Fog Lifting
From take-off Kreiger sped an Olympian 58 miles downriver to the dam. 揙n day 1 and day 3 it was so foggy I had a really hard time seeing in front of the boat. So I抎 zoom in on my Humminbird GPS screen and follow my practice route track practice route make sure I was in the middle of the river and out of harm抯 way,?says Kreiger.
He adds: 揂lso, since it was such a far run, I had strategically-placed waypoints throughout the river, knowing if I pass a specific spot I抳e got an hour, a half hour or 15 minutes left to fish. The GPS was huge in making my gameplan pan out.?
Boat Control
He also cites precise boat control as aiding to his win. 揑t was a barrage of bouncing off one stump to the next. The Minn Kota 101 Fortrex took it all like a champ梟ever had any equipment failure, to the prop, shaft, anything. Solid.?
揂nd there were a few times when I was out over 40- to 50-feet and I put my Talons down to hold me in some standing timber so I could fish the next tree down without having the wind blow me into the spot. For example, if I caught a fish and went back to cull it, I could抳e blown out my next spot, but with the Talons down, holding in a tree梬hich a lot of people don抰 think of, especially in deep water桰 could maintain precise boat control and stay on fish.?
