Timing is often the final and most crucial piece of the bass fishing puzzle. You might have the right baits tied on and have enough fish located to do well in a tournament. But if you don’t hit the right places at the right times, you can still draw blanks.
There are times when most bass fanatics know they need to be on their best stuff. One is on a tidal fishery during the last hour of an outgoing tide and the first hour of an incoming tide. Another is when a hydropower dam generates electricity, which creates a strong current that prompts bass to feed on offshore ledges.
The early-morning bite during a shad spawn is also a well-known timing window. Get there as fast as you can after takeoff and keep casting until the shad disperse and the bite dissipates. Floridian Drew Benton took advantage of the shad spawn when he won the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in May 2018 at Lake Travis, Texas. The shad spawn didn’t pay off every morning for Benton. But when it did, he had roughly 20 minutes to pick off aggressive bass around marina docks with a Bagley Knocker B walking stickbait and a Zoom Horny Toad.
