Sometimes bass care just as much about where their dinner’s coming from as what’s actually in it. That’s the lesson that Mark Menendez has learned over a lifetime of fishing ledges on TVA lakes, as well as deep structure all over the country.
Even when you have a mega school of bass pinpointed, it can be impossible to get them to bite until you bring the lure in the precise direction that they desire — down to a couple of degrees of difference. You might have the right crankbait, football jig or worm to get the job done, but the trigger is often how you hit the sweet spot as much as the sweet spot itself.
Modern electronics have made the task of finding the “juice” all that much easier. You can drive down miles of ledges, find the cover, figure out where the bait and the bass are located, but eventually you have to catch them — and those same electronics have made it easier for everyone.
The best schools are heavily pressured, and big bass have seen lots of lures, so the advances in technology that have made finding them easier have in some cases made it necessary to refine your presentations.
