The Master

Editor’s note: Luke Clausen, 27, of Spokane is the 2006 Bassmaster Classic winner and youngest angler in professional fishing history to win more than $1 million in a career.

More often than not, bass fishing is an exercise of faith in your knowledge to know the one spot where the fish will be in a huge lake.

Even for the best anglers in the world, some days are just a crap shoot. So like most other people, you cast your bait and hope that something good happens.

And then there’s sight fishing. No longer relegated to bobbing up and down on the water wondering if the fish might be biting in some distant area of the lake, anglers who sight fish can actually see when there are and aren’t fish.

First, the bad things about sight fishing: it’s doesn’t work year- round, it’s easily affected by the weather and it’s harder than you think.

Even when you do find a bass, it might take a minute or an hour for you to finally coax the fish into taking the bait. Sometimes you don’t catch them at all.

The place to start sight fishing is on the front deck of a bass boat, using your trolling motor to quietly glide through the shallows of necks and tributaries. Looking through your polarized sunglasses (a must for minimizing glare on water and providing contrast) keep an eye out for an overhead view of a bass or a large dark spot (the bass’ shadow) in hard-bottomed areas or near structure.

Be sure to check areas shaded by trees and other structure. These are perfect ambush spots for bass.

Once you spot a fish you want to cast to, stop your boat far enough away to avoid spooking the fish but close enough to see what’s going on.

If the bass is holding in a shaded area, cast a jig and trailer parallel to the shadow line.

If the bass is on a nest, I like a white tube bait rigged Texas style. I flip the bait behind the nest and work it around the area looking for the one spot in the bed that, when entered by an intruder, will trigger the fish to strike. A soft plastic lizard worked the same way can be good, too.

Sometimes the fish strike immediately; other times the bait has to be in front of their faces.

I like a 6-foot, medium-action baitcasting rod that is light enough so I can feel everything but also has enough backbone to handle big, aggressive fish.

I usually let water clarity and fish behavior determine my line selection. When the water is especially clear or if the fish have been under a lot of fishing pressure, I will go with lighter line.

Practice is the most important part of becoming proficient at sight fishing. The more days you spend on the water, straining your eyes as you search the shallows and perfecting your presentation, the better you will become.