Date: March 7, 2024
Venue: Lake S, a flatland reservoir
Water: 58 degrees, clear
Weather: Cloudy, windy, high of 65 degrees
Pro: John Garrett, 28, Union City, Tenn. While a member of the top-rated Bethel University bass squad, Garrett earned a berth in the 2017 Bassmaster Classic by winning the 2016 Bassmaster College Series Classic Bracket. He qualified for the 2024 Elite Series by finishing second in the 2023 Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers division of the 2023 Bassmaster Opens.
Boat: Skeeter FXR21 with 250-horsepower Yamaha outboard, Minn Kota trolling motor and shallow-water anchors and Humminbird and Garmin electronics
Elite Series rookie John Garrett lives just a short cast from Reelfoot Lake, the fabled northwest Tennessee fishery formed by a series of earthquakes in the early 1800s. Kind of ironic that over two centuries later the entire sport of bass fishing is undergoing a seismic event of its own: Forward-facing sonar (FFS) has exploded onto the scene, pulling the top Elite Series competitors offshore, where few bass anglers had ventured previously. While this fish-finding technology is undeniably potent, it’s also causing major controversy among B.A.S.S. members — many dismiss it as “video game fishing.” How does Garrett feel about FFS? “Like most bass anglers, I grew up casting spinnerbaits and flipping jigs to shallow cover and absolutely love that style of fishing, but I’ve had to incorporate FFS into my arsenal in order to compete on the pro tour,” he says. To those anglers who diss FFS as boring to watch on TV at best and the piscatorial equivalent of spotlighting deer at worst, Garrett points out that the technology has contributed exponentially to our knowledge of bass behavior. “Before FFS, most anglers never realized that a great many bass live much of their lives offshore and may seldom venture shallow, even to spawn. Also, before FFS, every cast you made was basically an educated guess — you threw a squarebill crankbait at a laydown because you figured a bass should be there, not because you knew it was there. FFS virtually eliminates blind casting — now you can wait until you actually see a fish, then cast to it.” Garrett acknowledges that while some pros have taken FFS “over the top” with multiple transducers, giant screens and such, he insists that “a basic FFS setup would be a great learning tool for any weekend bass fisherman by revealing how bass use the entire lake, not just the shoreline.” So, how and where will this charismatic Elite Series rookie find bass on a mystery lake during the challenging winter/spring transition? You’re about to find out!
• 6:14 a.m. It’s cloudy, windy and 56 degrees when we arrive at the deserted Lake S boat launch. Garrett readies his arsenal of Lew’s baitcasting and spinning outfits for battle; he’ll fish Strike King lures exclusively. “I expect bass to be in a typical prespawn pattern — some fish are probably staging offshore adjacent to sheltered spawning bays and coves, while others have already moved up shallow. I’ll start off using my electronics to locate fish offshore around main-lake points, then gradually work my way shallower.”
7 HOURS LEFT
• 6:30 a.m. We launch the Skeeter. Garrett checks the water: It’s 58 degrees and clear. “I’m loving this water clarity; it’s perfect for jerkbaits and jighead minnows, my two favorite lure styles for offshore bass.”
• 6:39 a.m. Garrett idles toward a nearby point, drops his electric motor and begins slow-trolling in a lazy S pattern, watching his FFS screen for blips indicating fish. “It feels like February out here! That east wind is brutal!” He spots a school of shad on the screen, casts a 5-inch Arkansas shiner 3X Z-Too soft jerkbait rigged on a 3/16-ounce jighead to the school, then watches the baitfish scatter as the lure drops through them. “I’m hoping I can find some good fish up shallow today; otherwise, I’ll have a sore neck if I have to keep my head buried in the FFS screen all day!”
• 6:43 a.m. Garrett scopes a giant baitfish school and several scattered brushpiles off the point. “But I’m not seeing any bass around either the cover or the bait.”
• 6:46 a.m. Garrett moves toward a steep channel bank and casts the jighead minnow to an isolated brushpile with fish suspended nearby. “They’re probably crappie.”
• 6:52 a.m. The wind is howling as Garrett grinds a 1/2-ounce green pumpkin Thunder Cricket bladed jig with a matching Menace Grub trailer parallel to a seawall. A bass nips the lure but doesn’t hook up.
• 6:59 a.m. Garrett transitions to a rocky point and casts a shad/chartreuse KVD Elite 300 Deep Jerkbait to suspended baitfish.
• 7:03 a.m. Garrett ’Scopes a good fish near the baitfish school and twitches the jerkbait above it. The fish darts up and grabs the lure; his first keeper bass of the day weighs 3 pounds, 5 ounces. “This fish was suspended 4 feet deep in 15 feet of water around that shad school. Check out how long it is! It looked way bigger on FFS.”
• 7:13 a.m. Back to ’Scoping open water off the point. “I’m seeing a lot of small stuff, probably crappie.”
• 7:18 a.m. Upon locating several sunken brushpiles, Garrett Neko rigs a redbug-colored, 6.5-inch 3X finesse worm on a No. 1 Owner Sniper hook. “This is basically a wacky worm with a nail weight. It’s deadly around brushpiles.”
• 7:22 a.m. He probes sunken shrubbery adjacent to a boathouse with the finesse worm.
• 7:26 a.m. Garrett chunks the Thunder Cricket to the boathouse. No love there.
• 7:28 a.m. Garret moves 20 yards off the bank and bags his second keeper, 2-2, on the 300 Deep Jerkbait. “I ’Scoped this fish near a brushpile.”
6 HOURS LEFT
• 7:30 a.m. He moves to a chunk-rock bank and catches a short fish off a dock on the jerkbait.
• 7:33 a.m. Garrett pitches the Thunder Cricket to the dock. “I should probably move back offshore, but I really hate that cold wind out there!”
• 7:41 a.m. Garrett has cranked a long seawall with the Thunder Cricket. “I’m surprised I haven’t caught anything up shallow yet. The water isn’t that cold.”
• 7:43 a.m. He pitches the finesse worm around a series of boathouses. “I’d be more confident about fishing these docks if the sun were out.”
• 7:45 a.m. Garrett switches to flipping a green pumpkin Rage Bug creature bait around the docks; it’s Texas-rigged with a pegged 3/8-ounce sinker and a 4/0 Owner hook.
• 7:51 a.m. Garrett moves to the middle of a nearby cove, scopes a shad school and tries a shad-colored KVD 300 Jerkbait around the baitfish. “This is a shallower-diving jerkbait than that other one.”
• 8:05 a.m. Garrett flips another dock with the Rage Bug. “There should be a few big fish around these docks.”
• 8:17 a.m. Garrett moves back to the middle of the cove with the shallow jerkbait. “I’m only seeing small stuff on FFS. I need a big bite!”
• 8:24 a.m. Garrett idles to the middle of a large tributary and tries a blue glimmer 3X Baby Z-Too soft jerkbait on 3/16-ounce jighead around a shad school. “This should work better than the 5-inch Z-Too in these cold conditions.”
5 HOURS LEFT
• 8:30 a.m. Garrett shakes the finesse worm around a 15-foot brushpile.
• 8:34 a.m. Garrett casts the Baby Z-Too to the brushpile and catches his third keeper, 1 pound,
1 ounce. “They’re getting smaller! That’s not a good trend.”
• 8:46 a.m. Garrett catches keeper No. 4, 1 pound, 4 ounces, near a shad school on the Baby Z-Too.
• 8:57 a.m. Garrett is ’Scoping a channel drop in the middle of the tributary arm, targeting fish suspended around shad schools. “I’m still seeing mostly small stuff on FFS.”
• 9:08 a.m. Garrett ’Scopes a good fish suspended over the channel drop. He jerks the 300 Deep Jerkbait near the fish; it races to the bottom. “Dang! I didn’t mean to scare it! I’m convinced they can feel the pulses from these powerful FFS transducers. Once everybody has FFS, the fish may become too spooky to catch!”
• 9:14 a.m. Garrett watches a good fish follow the 300 Deep Jerkbait and then reject it. “They’re super-tentative today. Must be that east wind.”
• 9:18 a.m. Garrett exits the big tributary and moves to a smaller creek arm, where he tries the Thunder Cricket on a sloping bank.
• 9:22 a.m. He flips the Rage Bug to a submerged stump. A fish taps the bait; Garrett swings and misses.
• 9:28 a.m. Garrett skips the finesse worm beneath an overhanging tree and gets another short strike. “Those last two bites were probably bluegill.”
4 HOURS LEFT
• 9:30 a.m. Garrett exits the creek and moves back offshore. His FFS locates a big school of fish suspended over a channel drop. He casts the Baby Z-Too to the school and catches a slab crappie.
• 9:32 a.m. Another cast, another big crappie. “I wish I had a fryer on board! Those are stud crappie!”
• 9:34 a.m. Garrett catches a 10-inch bass off the channel drop.
• 9:36 a.m. He catches keeper No. 5, 1 pound even, off the drop on the Baby Z-Too. “It’s pretty sad when you’re catching crappie bigger than your keeper bass, but at least I’ve got my limit.”
• 9:41 a.m. Garrett moves shallower and catches his sixth keeper, 1 pound, off a stump on the Rage Bug. No culling here.
• 9:49 a.m. Garrett has been shaking the finesse worm around a bass near a 15-foot brushpile, but the fish is in a stupor. What’s his take on the day so far? “With the water temp in the upper 50s, I was hoping to find bass closer to the bank today because that’s my preferred style of fishing, but apparently they haven’t moved shallower yet. They appear to still be in a late-winter pattern, suspended offshore around baitfish, and they’ve been very finicky about biting. I’ll probably split my remaining time between nosing around offshore and hitting docks and shallow cover in hopes that some big fish will eventually [move] up.”
• 10 a.m. Garrett is two cast lengths off a sloping bank, looking for targets on FFS. He pinpoints a big fish near a submerged stump; it swims up to check out his finesse worm, then returns to its lair.
• 10:13 a.m. Garrett retrieves a Rayburn red-colored Red Eyed Shad lipless crankbait across a submerged rockpile but hauls water.
• 10:22 a.m. Garrett moves to a long clay point and crawls the finesse worm around scattered brushpiles.
• 10:26 a.m. A bass grabs the finesse worm near a brushpile. Garrett swings aboard his seventh keeper, 2 pounds, 6 ounces.
3 HOURS LEFT
• 10:30 a.m. Garrett’s FFS shows a bass suspended off the end of the point. He jerks the 300 Deep around the fish; it rushes the bait, then turns away. “These suckers are moody today!”
• 10:36 a.m. He winds the Red Eyed Shad across the point, hangs it in a deep stump and breaks it off.
• 10:41 a.m. Garrett drags a 3/4-ounce green pumpkin/brown football jig with a matching Rage Craw trailer around scattered stumps on the point.
• 10:49 a.m. Garrett moves offshore, bypassing smaller fish in hopes of ’Scoping a big bass. The sun is trying to break through the dense cloud cover. “A little sunshine might help get these fish out of their funk!”
• 11:04 a.m. Garrett moves back to the point and catches a 1-3 keeper on the Baby Z-Too.
• 11:14 a.m. Garrett idles uplake to a series of flats and shallow pockets, where he casts the Rage Craw to stumps and laydowns.
• 11:21 a.m. Garrett’s FFS detects a big fish at the edge of a 9-foot ditch. He tempts the bass with the 300 Deep Jerkbait, but it swims away. He enters the waypoint in his GPS. “I might have to check on that fish again later.”
2 HOURS LEFT
• 11:30 a.m. Continuing along the ditch, Garrett hangs a bass on the finesse worm; it runs into some submerged brush and comes unbuttoned.
• 1:38 a.m. Garrett scopes a good fish near a stump. He pitches the wacky worm to the fish, but a tiny bass shoots out of nowhere and grabs it. “Greedy little knothead!”
• 11:44 a.m. The 300 Deep Jerkbait snares Garrett’s ninth keeper, 1-15, off the ditch.
• Noon. Garrett moves back to the clay point he fished earlier and drags the football jig. “I’m seriously needing a big fish!”
• 12:11 p.m. The skies have cleared, the wind has died, and it’s warming up rapidly as Garrett moves farther off the point with the 300 Deep Jerkbait.
• 12:18 p.m. He catches a 1-2 off a shad school on the 300 Deep.
• 12:23 p.m. Garrett casts the jerkbait to a big fish above the shad school; it moves toward the lure, but the bait’s hooks tangle in his line, spooking the fish. “Awww, man, I hate when that happens!”
1 HOUR LEFT
• 12:30 p.m. Garrett moves into a nearby shallow creek arm and flips the Rage Bug around shoreline wood cover.
• 12:48 p.m. Having flipped his way to the back of the creek, Garrett moves to the opposite shore, where he hits several boathouses with the finesse worm. No takers here, either.
• 12:52 p.m. Garrett runs to open water at the creek’s mouth and tries the 300 Deep Jerkbait around a 12-foot brushpile.
• 1:04 p.m. Garrett has speed-trolled to the middle of the lake, where he’s ’Scoping a 30-foot channel for signs of life. Not much out here, either.
• 1:16 p.m. With Garrett’s time nearly running out, he races to a big main-lake boathouse and hammers “every square inch of it” with the finesse worm and creature.
• 1:30 p.m. Time’s finally up! It’s been a grind on Lake S for Garrett today, but he’s managed to catch 10 decent keepers. His five biggest fish weigh
11 pounds.
THE DAY IN PERSPECTIVE
“These fish were definitely behind schedule today,” Garrett told Bassmaster. “With the lake temp nearing 60 degrees, I expected them to be in a prespawn mode, either in or close to shallow water. But most of the bass were offshore around shad schools and scattered brushpiles, a typical winter pattern, and they were very reluctant to bite. If I were to fish here tomorrow, I’d stick to the lower, deeper part of the lake and focus more on fishing the bottom with a Carolina rig and a heavy jig.”
WHERE AND WHEN GARRETT CAUGHT HIS FIVE BIGGEST BASS
(1) 3 pounds, 5 ounces; Strike King KVD Elite 300 Deep Jerkbait (shad/chartreuse); baitfish school off point; 7:03 a.m.
(2) 2 pounds, 2 ounces; same lure as No. 1; submerged brushpile; 7:28 a.m.
(3) 1 pound, 4 ounces; Strike King Baby Z-Too soft jerkbait (blue glimmer) on 3/16-ounce jighead; shad school; 8:46 a.m.
(4) 2 pounds, 6 ounces; Strike King 6.5-inch finesse worm (redbug) with nail weight on No. 1 Owner Sniper hook; brush on point; 10:26 a.m.
(5) 1 pound, 15 ounces; same lure as No. 1; ditch in upper end; 11:44 a.m.
TOTAL: 11 POUNDS
Originally appeared in Bassmaster Magazine 2025.
