Listening to Gerald Swindle, Gary Clouse, and Steve Bowman watch Drew Benton fish for a bedding bass live is pretty comical and extremely informative. The trio is sitting at a desk on shore, miles from where Benton is fishing. But they were whispering like they were covering a golf tournament 5 feet from the green.
They realized what they were doing suddenly, and how ridiculous it was. But it’s what they would have been doing on the water, talking low to minimize any chance that the vibrations coming off their vocal cords would have made their way down into the water to disturb the fish. This is highly unlikely had they been standing shoulder to shoulder with Benton and shouting. But that’s how detail oriented these guys are, committed to controlling what they can control in a sport permeated with uncontrollable variables.
Benton wasn’t talking much on LIVE, likely trying to be quiet for the same reasons. But listening to Swindle and Clouse bounce ideas back and forth as they talked through what Benton was doing was extremely informative. Swindle made the comment, “If he can tighten up her circles, she’ll bite.” This was an effort to explain why Benton was shaking his bait in the bed and then popping it each time the bass circled back in close. A bedding bass isn’t always “locked on” bed, meaning sitting relatively stationary just above the quarter-size spot on the bed where the bass has laid its eggs. But, with a little strategy, you can aggravate the bass into locking on. Most novice sight fishermen can’t (more fairly don’t know to) do this. But Benton is a frontrunner in this technique, among the top 0.01% at it of the millions of bass anglers on the planet.
Swindle kept talking, as Swindle often does. But as entertaining as his ramblings often are, this one was equally informative. “She’s about to bite,” Swindle said, about one minute before the bass bit Benton’s bait and he hauled her into the boat.
These guys know what they’re talking about. And they are talking a lot over on Bassmaster LIVE MIX. Go give it a listen.
