How many times have you run up on a point, dropped off plane, jumped to the bow and caught a bass on your very first cast? It’s a common occurrence. You think you’re about to slam the bass, but can’t get another bite from that spot. This, unfortunately, is also common. It is possible, and even likely, that the waves your boat made is what stirred the bass you caught into action. Sound like nonsense? Not to Bassmaster Elite Series pro and former Bassmaster Classic champion Chris Lane. Lane says he has been using boat wakes to his advantage since he finished second at an Elite Series tournament on Georgia’s Clarks Hill Lake in 2007.
“When I was running from point to point at Clarks Hill, I noticed that my wake was making the bass come up schooling,” Lane says. “After that, I started trying it everywhere I go.” This offbeat tactic has not come through for Lane everywhere he has tried it. It generally pays off for him in clear lakes where bass tend to school and feed by sight. Lane has seen boat wakes stir largemouth, smallmouth, spotted and striped bass into action. “It isn’t the waves that make the bass feed,” Lane says. “The waves push the baitfish around and make them uncomfortable. The bass sense that and attack.”
