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ARTICLES: HOW TO BLINK BEDDING BASS
By JOSEPH HARGREAVES
March 10, 2006
Blinking is a method of catching bedding bass that requires patience, good reflexes and soft plastics in such bright colors that they often look like the exploded suitcase contents of a French foreign exchange student i.e. pink, chartreuse, peach, neon orange, white, yellow, red and so on.
It is a powerful and effective tool that catches those bigger bass that bed just beneath the depth of your vision.
These fish are perfectly camouflaged to the bottom and on deeper beds are almost impossible to see. However, you could see them if they were pink or white, barring the possibility of finding an albino bass (waste of time). Find beds and bedding areas that are barely visible and even out of sight, but in a perfect area for a bass to bed, and then throw your Texas Rigged Blink Bait onto what you know or hope is a bed. When the bait first hits the bottom you will notice that you can still see it, then begin your presentation, i.e. shaking, hopping, dragging, dead-sticking, etc. That big shadowy bass that you cannot see will attempt to pick up your Blink Bait and move it off the bed. When this big unseen bass picks up your easy to see bright colored blink bait, it will.... well...blink.
Remember the fish are not feeding; they are protecting their nests and will only pick up the bait to move off the nest. This means you must set the hook at the exact moment it blinks. These fish are sucking in and blowing out the bait in a fraction of a second, so it may take several swings before you hook up. Good Blink Baits could be anything from small White, Chartreuse, Neon Orange, and Hot Pink plastics rigged in 1/16th - 1/4 oz. lead heads on #8 test spinning gear, to 1/4-3/8 oz Texas rigged tubes, craws, lizards, and creatures in the same bright colors. I find myself using a handful of plastics no matter where I go. These include:
- Madman Craw Tube - 3" White w/ Black Flake
- Yum Crawbug - 3 1/4" Salt & Pepper
- Zoom - 6: Lizard White
- Reaction Innovations Smalley Beaver - White Trash
- Reaction Innovations Trixey Beaver - White Trash
- Zoom Trick Worms - Limetreuse, Chartreuse, Methiolate, Bubble Gum, White
- Yum Garrett Grubs - White w/ Black Flake
- Yamamoto Single Tail Grubs - 4" White & Chartreuse
- Strike King Tubes - Salt & Pepper
- Strike King Tube Technology - Wildthang' Jr.
That’s blinking in a nutshell. It's an awesome technique for large, hard to see, bedding bass and therefore comes with a responsibility. Each and every one of us must endeavor to make a conscious decision as to whether or not the lake we are fishing can stand this type of pressure. On many smaller lakes fishing for bedding bass can be very detrimental to the fishery, so use this tool wisely and have fun!
Good Luck!
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