Date: March 14, 2024
Venue: Lake T, a small reservoir
Water: 58 degrees, clear to stained
Weather: Partly cloudy, windy, high of 75 degrees
Pro: Mike Huff, 33, of Corbin, Ky. A former member of the Georgetown College bass squad, he fished the Bassmaster Opens, entered the Elite Series in 2019 and qualified for the 2020 Bassmaster Classic.
Boat: Phoenix 920 Pro XP with 250- horsepower Mercury outboard, Minn Kota trolling motor, Garmin, Humminbird and Lowrance electronics and twin Power-Pole shallow-water anchors
I could open this narrative of Mike Huff’s March 2024 DOTL challenge with some homespun background about how he grew up fishing farm ponds with his granddad, but right now, the elephant in the sport of bass fishing’s room is the forward-facing sonar controversy, and so let’s get Huff’s take on it. “I think FFS is negating many things that have traditionally made a pro fisherman truly professional,” he says. “Take lure presentation skills, for example.
I’ve spent thousands of hours on the water refining my techniques for flipping, pitching and skipping lures to shallow targets. FFS makes these skills obsolete. Also, with FFS, you no longer need intimate familiarity with a vast range of lure styles and the nuances of when to adjust to a different profile, action, depth range or color in order to trigger strikes. A guy relying on FFS can literally fish an entire season from Texas to New York with just a jighead minnow and a jerkbait.
I was talking to a local fisherman recently who believes bass swimming in the middle of the lake are fish God didn’t intend for us to catch. That may sound a bit naive, but there’s something to be said about how FFS is eliminating the mystery of fishing, the anticipation of waiting for that next strike and hoping it’ll be a big one.” How will B.A.S.S. address the FFS controversy? “My guess is they’ll start by limiting the number of graphs and transducers in competitors’ boats — some guys are currently running six FFS transducers with a $30,000 electronics package.
But don’t kid yourself; FFS is here to stay, and like all Elite Series pros, I’ve been forced to incorporate this technology into my arsenal. But I’m worried that it’s negatively impacting our sport, and I really hope I don’t have to use it to catch bass on this lake today!” Will this outspoken Kentucky pro manage to score strikes on a blustery March day using the “obsolete” lures and skills he favors? You’re about to find out!
• 6:25 a.m. It’s 62 degrees, windy and pitch dark at Lake T’s deserted boat launch. Huff pulls several Fenwick rods with Abu Garcia reels from storage. “I’m figuring the bass will be in a typical prespawn pattern, with many fish moving toward shallow, protected areas via points and channels. There’s a big storm headed this way, and that should promote feeding activity. One of my favorite prespawn tactics is throwing a buzzbait around shallow cover close to deep water, so I’ll try that lure before it gets too windy to throw it.”
SEVEN HOURS LEFT
• 6:45 a.m. It’s cracking daylight as we launch the Phoenix. Huff checks the water: It’s 58 degrees and clear. He immediately idles toward a main-lake point at the entrance to a cove, drops his trolling motor and spots a submerged brushpile on his FFS unit. “See, I complain about FFS, but here I am using it! Those are crappie around that brushpile. I’m heading for that point — looks like there’s some grass on it.”
• 6:48 a.m. Huff arrives at the point and makes his first casts of the day with a white 3/8-ounce Accent buzzbait with a white Zoom Z Craw replacing the skirt. “All those recent college grad Elite pros that are FFS fans have probably never fished a buzzbait!”
• 6:52 a.m. The point is covered with thick, wiry emergent grass and drops off quickly into deep water. Huff casts the buzzer to the structure, retrieves it about a foot, and a big bass explodes on it! It immediately heads for the dense vegetation and comes unbuttoned. “Aww man, I sure hate to lose that one!”
• 6:55 a.m. Huff backs off the point and tries a pro blue Megabass 110 jerkbait. “Prespawners will stage off deep points, waiting for the water to warm into the 60s before moving shallow.”
• 7 a.m. The point transitions into a quiet cove with multiple docks and boathouses. Huff expertly skips a 6-inch albino shad Megabass Magdraft swimbait under a moored pontoon boat. “This is another awesome prespawn bait. I’ve had big fish swim off a dock or log and follow it all the way to the boat before striking it.”
• 7:04 a.m. Back to the buzzbait as Huff enters a sheltered pocket in the cove. “They’ll be spawning in this spot in a couple weeks. It’s protected from the north wind and has ideal light penetration to incubate their eggs.”
• 7:08 a.m. Huff catches his first keeper largemouth of the day, 1 pound, 5 ounces, on the buzzbait. “Not quite as big as that one I lost, but I’ll take it!”
• 7:12 a.m. Continuing around the cove, Huff retrieves the buzzer past some cypress stumps and catches keeper No. 2, 1 pound, 3 ounces.
• 7:14 a.m. On Huff’s next cast, his buzzbait accidently hits the trolling motor’s head, causing an epic backlash. Huff eventually untangles the reel snarl to find the lure reduced to a mangled tangle of wire and metal. He patiently bends the bait back into its original shape and resumes casting. “Phew, I thought I’d trashed that buzzer. It’s the only one I have with me!”
• 7:21 a.m. Huff pitches a wacky-rigged 5-inch green pumpkin Yamamoto Senko to a dock.
• 7:27 a.m. He tries the Magdraft around a moored pontoon boat.
• 7:33 a.m. Huff has reached the back of the cove, and his trolling motor is kicking up mud. He moves to the opposite bank and begins working his way out of the protected inlet, alternating between the buzzbait, swimbait and wacky worm.
SIX HOURS LEFT
• 7:45 a.m. Huff casts the Senko to a dilapidated dock. “I like these old wooden docks. They get covered with algae, which attracts baitfish.”
• 7:50 a.m. He swims the Magdraft past a boat lift.
• 7:59 a.m. Huff exits the cove and casts the big swimbait parallel to a riprap bank. The wind is blowing 15 mph.
• 8:12 a.m. Huff switches to a red craw Berkley Frittside crankbait on the riprap. “This is a flat-sided plug; I like it in cold water.”
• 8:15 a.m. No love here, so Huff cranks the Merc and runs uplake to a shallow point at a tributary entrance. He dredges the Frittside across the point and reels in a clump of soggy leaves.
• 8:17 a.m. Huff moves into the tributary and casts the buzzbait to a weedy shoreline. “There’s a 7-foot ditch running along this bank. Should be some fish here.”
• 8:18 a.m. As predicted, Huff immediately catches his third keeper, 1-15, from the weeds on the buzzer. “I hope this lake has a bunch more of this grass. It’s definitely holding fish.”
• 8:19 a.m. He catches a short bass on the buzzer.
• 8:21 a.m. Huff’s buzzbait bags his fourth keeper, 2-6, off the weedy ditch bank.
• 8:21 a.m. “They’re eatin’ that buzzbait up!” Huff bags his fourth keeper, 2-6, off a weedy tributary bank.
• 8:22 a.m. A tiny bass hits the buzzer but shakes free.
• 8:27 a.m. Still moving along the weedy bank. Huff is fishing the buzzbait on a 7-1 medium-heavy baitcasting rod with 40-pound braid. “You want a rod with some give to the tip to allow the fish to suck in the lure, but because you’re targeting shallow weeds and wood, it also needs enough backbone to let you wrestle a big fish out of heavy cover.”
• 8:33 a.m. Huff catches his fifth keeper, 1-14, off the weedy bank. “It’s really starting to blow, and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to fish this buzzbait. It’ll be like trying to throw a potato chip into the wind.”
FIVE HOURS LEFT
• 8:45 a.m. Huff skips the wacky worm around an empty boathouse. A fish grabs it but spits it out.
• 8:47 a.m. Huff slow rolls the Magdraft through the boathouse but hauls water.
• 8:50 a.m. Huff exits the tributary and speeds uplake to another creek arm. He enters a shallow pocket and tries the buzzer around scattered lily pad cover.
• 8:58 a.m. It’s clouding up quickly as Huff pitches a green pumpkin Googan Bandito Bug creature bait, Texas-rigged with a pegged 3/8-ounce sinker, to the remains of an old duck blind.
• 8:58 a.m. It’s clouding up as Huff flips a creature bait to a duck blind on Lake T.
• 9:12 a.m. Huff idles across the tributary mouth to a riprap bank, where he tries the buzzbait.
• 9:17 a.m. Pressing deeper into the creek arm, Huff targets scattered laydowns and pads on a sloping bank with the buzzer and Magdraft.
• 9:20 a.m. Huff skips the Magdraft under a dock and swims it into open water. A 4-pound bass follows the lure, then turns away.
• 9:22 a.m. Huff pitches the creature to the dock, but there’s no comeback.
• 9:28 a.m. Back to the buzzbait around pads and laydowns.
• 9:31 a.m. Huff switches to a half-ounce green pumpkin Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer bladed jig with a matching Yamamoto Zako trailer. “The water is a little dirtier up here, and this lure puts out serious vibrations.”
• 9:38 a.m. Huff decides he needs to move nearer to deep water, so he runs downlake and drops his trolling motor between two main-lake points. Using FFS, he scans open water for signs of life.
FOUR HOURS LEFT
• 9:45 a.m. Huff’s FFS has revealed a few isolated clusters of shad but hardly any larger casting targets. “Good, I didn’t want to fish offshore anyway!” He idles to a nearby marina and casts the buzzbait and Magdraft around empty slips.
• 9:45 a.m. Huff casts a swimbait to marina slips.
• 9:49 a.m. Still chunking the swimbait around the marina. What’s Huff’s take on the day so far? “It’s definitely a prespawn scenario today. I had five fish up shallow by [8:30 a.m.], all males, all on a buzzbait, but the bite has tapered off. Shoreline grass close to deeper water has produced several bites, including that lunker I lost; hopefully, I can locate more spots like that as the day progresses. The wind has gotten stronger; that will seriously restrict my buzzbait and finesse worm presentations and may prompt me to do more jerkbaiting and cranking. I’m going to spend most of my remaining time in the deeper lower end and hopefully contact some bigger females that are wanting to move shallower.”
• 9:54 a.m. Huff moves to a midlake bank with scattered grass and laydowns and tries the buzzbait.
• 10 a.m. Huff flips the creature to a gnarly laydown. “I bet none of those FFS dudes have flipped a jig in the past two years!”
• 10:06 a.m. Huff retrieves the Magdraft down a submerged log. A bass bumps the lure but doesn’t hook it.
• 10:17 a.m. Huff flips the creature around some shallow brush. Nothing there.
• 10:22 a.m. Huff runs farther downlake to a clay point. He switches 110 jerkbait colors to Table Rock shad and hammers the structure.
• 10:31 a.m. The wind is whipping as Huff moves 100 yards downlake to try the swimbait around several docks and boathouses.
• 10:31 a.m. With the wind howling Huff moves downlake to hit a series of boathouses and docks with a swimbait.
• 10:39 a.m. A gust of wind blows the Magdraft off target; it tangles in a dock cable. Huff moves into the boat slip to retrieve it.
THREE HOURS LEFT
• 10:45 a.m. Huff cranks the Frittside around a residential boat ramp. “These little secondary ramps often hold fish. There are usually minnows and crawfish around them.”
• 10:49 a.m. The channel bank terminates in a concrete seawall. Huff tries the jerkbait here without success.
• 10:54 a.m. Huff moves two castlengths off the point and locates an isolated brushpile with FFS. He throws the jerkbait at the target and catches a yellow bass (a small, spiny-finned panfish).
• 11:03 a.m. Huff roars downlake to the grassy tributary bank he fished earlier. He rigs a Zoom Baby Brush Hog creature bait on a stout flipping hook with a pegged 3/8-ounce sinker, flips it into the grass and works it out into deeper water.
• 11:06 a.m. He casts the ChatterBait parallel to the bank. No takers, however.
• 11:11 a.m. Back to the Baby Brush Hog. “There was a pretty active bite window early, then it slammed shut once the wind picked up.”
• 11:17 a.m. Huff grinds a craw-colored Spro Little John MD crankbait around the ditch running parallel to the bank. Still no luck.
• 11:28 a.m. After fruitlessly picking apart the tributary shoreline with the creature and crankbait, Huff runs back to the grassy point where he lost a big fish earlier. He casts the Baby Brush Hog to the edge of the weeds and eases it out into deeper water.
• 11:35 a.m. Huff zips back uplake to a shallow point and cranks the Little John.
• 11:39 a.m. He switches to the 110 on the point. “I’ve had zero luck on anything but the buzzbait, and it’s gotten too windy to fish it.”
TWO HOURS LEFT
• 11:45 a.m. Huff rounds the point and casts the Zoom creature to a stickup. A fish pecks the bait; he swings and misses.
• 11:48 a.m. Huff tries a half-ounce craw-colored D&L Tackle Advantage Jig with a green pumpkin Strike King Rage Craw trailer on a steep channel bank.
• 11:53 a.m. He grinds the Little John around the channel bank.
• Noon. Huff slow rolls the Magdraft down a submerged log. “I can’t believe there wasn’t one there!”
• 12:11 p.m. Huff makes a high-speed run to the extreme upper end of Lake T; the water here is murkier and a degree colder than downlake. He ties on a chrome half-ounce Strike King Red Eyed Shad lipless crankbait and retrieves it in a shallow pocket.
• 12:18 p.m. Huff pulls up to a brushy laydown, pitches the Baby Brush Hog to the cover and gets three taps on three consecutive flips, none of which hook up. “That must be a bluegill!”
• 12:31 p.m. Huff has spent several unproductive minutes pecking around shallow cover with the creature.
• 12:39 p.m. Huff runs to a wood retaining wall adjacent to a channel bank and tries the Frittside.
ONE HOUR LEFT
• 12:45 p.m. The flat-sided plug hangs in submerged brush. Huff breaks it off and switches to the Little John.
• 12:48 p.m. He catches an 11-inch bass off the retaining wall on the Little John.
• 12:51 p.m. Huff moves to the end of the wall, casts to a shallow point and catches another short bass on the Spro crank.
• 12:56 p.m. Another nonkeeper smacks on the Spro. “These little guys are stacked up on this point!”
• 1:06 p.m. Huff moves back down the retaining wall, this time probing rocks lining the structure with the jig.
• 1:09 p.m. Huff retrieves the Magdraft parallel to the wall and bags his sixth keeper, 1 pound, 2 ounces. It’s no help to his total. “This fish is the same size as the lure!”
• 1:15 p.m. With 30 minutes remaining, Huff makes a blistering run to Lake T’s dam, where he casts the Magdraft parallel to the riprap. “I figure this is my last best hope of catching a giant.”
• 1:15 p.m. Gunning for a last-minute lunker, Huff retrieves a swimbait parallel to Lake T’s dam.
• 1:27 p.m. Huff races to a chunk-rock bank at the entrance to the marina. He casts the Little John to the rocks and gets a hard strike, but the fish flops free.
• 1:31 p.m. Huff casts the Magdraft to an empty boat slip. A 3-pound bass follows it out but doesn’t hit it.
• 1:36 p.m. Huff skips the wacky worm around another empty slip with no takers.
• 1:45 p.m. Time’s up! Huff ends his day on Lake T with six keeper bass; his five biggest weigh 8 pounds, 11 ounces.
THE DAY IN PERSPECTIVE
“This lake is stuck solidly in a prespawn mode and there aren’t many quality fish up shallow,” Huff told Bassmaster. “The buzzbait bite was fun early in the day but tapered off quickly once the storm front moved closer and the wind picked up. I only had one big fish on all day; it was shallow but very close to deep water. If I were to fish here tomorrow, I’d try to find more deep-water access areas near spawning coves, and I’d zip my rainsuit up because it’s supposed to pour. If the rain muddies the water, that could help move more fish shallower.”
WHERE AND WHEN MIKE HUFF CAUGHT HIS FIVE BIGGEST BASS
(1) 1 pound, 5 ounces; 3/8-ounce Accent buzzbait (white) with Zoom Z Craw (white) replacing the skirt; tributary cove; 7:08 a.m.
(2) 1 pound, 3 ounces; same lure as No. 1; cypress stumps; 7:12 a.m.
(3) 1 pound, 15 ounces; same lure as No. 1; weedy tributary bank; 8:18 a.m.
(4) 2 pounds, 6 ounces; same lure as No. 1; same place as No. 3; 8:21 a.m.
(5) 1 pound, 14 ounces; same lure as No. 1; same place as No. 3; 8:33 a.m.
TOTAL: 8 POUNDS, 11 OUNCES
