The rewards of sight-fishing for spawning bass are obvious. You need look no further than the B.A.S.S. recordbook for an example. The heaviest single-day, five-bass limit in B.A.S.S. history came in January 2001 when Dean Rojas weighed 45 pounds, 2 ounces on the first day at Lake Toho. Spawning bass showed up en masse that day.
But the thrills of sight-fishing are offset by numerous frustrations. Brandon Palaniuk experienced one of those during practice this week. He had spotted an 8-pound class bass on a spawning bed in a canal and marked it as a target come tournament time. Then he watched another angler catch it shortly afterwards.
“I asked him if he was fishing in a tournament,” said Palaniuk. “He said, no, I’m just snatching everything I can.”