| 'Dunkin' Success for Largemouth! | | | | rod a few tugs to give the bait some life, then without |
| | | | using your reel, pull the bait swiftly out of the water |
| A bright hot, sunny August day calls for a certain | | | | using the length of your rod. At the same time the |
| pattern to put Largemouth in the live well. That's when | | | | other hand pulls away the line as opposed to reeling |
| 'dunking' comes into play. A bay or a whole lake for | | | | the line in. To submerge the bait keep your rod tip up |
| that matter, matted with weeds could send many of | | | | and your bait dangling about mid rod length and direct it |
| the hearty bass anglers home in frustration, but a true | | | | to the next pocket while letting go of the line so that |
| Bass angler welcomes the challenge! | | | | the bait can work its way down to bottom once again. |
| Dunking requires simple tools for simple tactics. The | | | | This is done as you're drifting or using the bow mount |
| first and most important tool is a long trigger rod. Keep | | | | to move you about. You can imagine how thankful |
| in mind that you will be reaching for pockets in the | | | | you'll be to for purchasing a light strong rod! |
| weed growth so try to use something lengthy, but light | | | | A shore line thick with pencil reeds and bulrush is prime |
| and strong. I am 5'6" and a 6'10" or 7' rod is plenty long | | | | 'dunkin' area too. Sometimes pitching and flipping the |
| enough for my arms to hold all day. A good choice | | | | inner pockets of these weeds just isn't enough to get |
| would be a heavy action Quantum P.T tour edition | | | | the big hogs to take the bait, you have to get deeper |
| trigger rod or a Shimano Crucial heavy action extra | | | | and deeper to get to the Bass. Basically extend your |
| fast rod. Both rods are light and tough and you won't | | | | arm and rod as far as you can reach then disengage |
| tire yourself wrestling with them all day. For reel | | | | the reel to drop the bait into the thick of it. Engage the |
| selection, well, for dunking Largemouth I think it really | | | | reel, and without reeling in line, use the rod, while |
| doesn't matter what type of bait cast reel you use | | | | grasping the line to pull the bait out and drop once |
| because, as I will explain, it's all in the rod, the line and | | | | again into the next pocket. This method of dunking |
| you! | | | | was responsible for two of the top 4 finishes in a |
| The Bass hide in the weeds during sunny hot days | | | | tournament that I will never forget. A 4th place finish |
| and keep themselves nice and cool under the canopy | | | | left my 'butt' awful sore from me kicking myself over |
| of weed growth, so the more weeds the better. | | | | and over again! I was dunking off shore, not in shore |
| Dunking works best in relatively shallow water say, 6 | | | | for my Bass, but keep in mind that dunking alone was |
| to 8ft. Deeper water can be dunked if one has arms | | | | responsible for 3 of the 4 top placements. |
| and a rod long enough. The simple trick to dunking is | | | | We all know that logic is a key factor in any type of |
| basically freeing up just enough line from the reel so as | | | | fishing. Who would have thought that such an easy |
| to touch bottom then engaging it while having your | | | | method of catching Bass could exist! But believe it or |
| free hand and the rod to do the rest. With your bait on | | | | not the simplicity in dunking for Largemouth is just that, |
| bottom and the rod just above the water give your | | | | 'logical'! |