The first thing professional angler Davy Hite looks for on new water is the presence of grass. Side and down imaging in conjunction with 2D sonar quickly reveal these areas. Davy stresses that the key to initially fishing grass is covering water to contact fish, and swimbaits one of his go-to tools. Swimbaits are fished horizontally, can be worked fast, and depending on head size, cover a variety of depths.
Target bass by making long parallel casts along hard edges like the inside or outside grassline. A couple additional pointers: 1) use a medium power rod for light wire hooks, and step up to a medium heavy rod for heavier hooks, and 2) don’t set the hook immediately when you feel something. Bass often swipe at a swimbait several times before fully eating it. Keep reeling after you detect something different; if the rod starts to load, then pull into the fish. This system will increase your hooking percentage when using swimbaits.
