When most bass anglers head shallow in the prespawn period, Shane LeHew likes exploiting untapped bass staging offshore. He demonstrates how he uses his Garmin LiveScope Plus to locate the edge and high spots on road beds, then make targeted casts to the high rocky areas using a squarebill and lipless crankbait 1-2 punch.
FEATURED TACKLE (retail links)
- SQUAREBILL CRANKBAIT – Berkley SquareBull 5.5 Buy at Omnia Fishing
- LIPLESS CRANKBAIT – Berkley Warpig, 3/4-ounce Buy at Omnia Fishing
- ROD – Abu Garcia Veritas Casting Rod 7’4″ Med Hvy Buy at Tackle Warehouse
- REEL – Abu Garcia AL-F Casting Reel 6.4:1 (OUT OF STOCK)
- LINE – Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, 10-pound Buy at Omnia Fishing
- ELECTRONICS – Garmin ECHOMAP Ultra 122sv Buy at Omnia Fishing
- FORWARD FACING SONAR – Garmin Panoptix LiveScope Plus System with GLS 10 and LVS34 Transducer Buy at Omnia Fishing
- SUNGLASSES – Costa Del Mar Rinconcito Buy at Tackle Warehouse
Road beds are excellent ambush and general collection points for bass in winter and early prespawn. Forward-facing sonar allows us to keep off and make high-percentage casts to individual fish and just good-looking structure and cover without spooking them. LeHew was faced with a mean Florida cold front on this day. The deeper offshore bass seemed more resilient and less pressured, so it was a move that paid off.
He scored a few quality fish by working the high spot with a squarebill crankbait, then transitioned to yo-yo’ing a lipless crankbait to stair-step down the edges effectively and trigger reaction bites using this classic cold water technique.
Don’t always head to the mats because you’re supposed to. Road beds can be highways to spawning locations while providing access to deeper water. Try them during the prespawn if the shallow water bite falls flat.
