Venue: Lake H, a small, remote, timbered reservoir
Water: 49 to 53 degrees, clear
Weather: 33 degrees, clear, cold front
Pro: Luke Clausen, 39, Spokane, Wash. Clausen won the Bassmaster Classic in the Elite Series’ fledgling year (2006), moved to the FLW tour, then rejoined the Elites in 2016.
Boat: Ranger Z520C with 250-horsepower Mercury outboard, MotorGuide trolling motor, Lowrance electronics with Bass Boat Technologies mounts, twin Power-Pole shallow-water anchors
Longtime B.A.S.S. members may remember the ruckus Clausen raised when he won the 2006 Classic, pocketed his $500,000 paycheck, then immediately exited the Elite tour to join the FLW circuit. “I caught hell from B.A.S.S. for that move, but it was strictly a career decision on my part because my sponsors at the time were all aligned with FLW,” he explains. It’s water under the bridge now, so let’s all just chill and dig the tricks Cool Hand Luke has up his sleeve for whacking finicky February bass!
6:38 a.m. It’s 33 degrees, calm and sunny when we arrive at Lake H’s boat ramp. A high near 50 is forecast for the day. We prep the boat for launching.
7 HOURS LEFT
6:45 a.m. We launch the Ranger. Clausen checks the lake temp: 49 degrees. “That’s ideal this time of year — they should hit everything but a topwater in that temperature water. I expect fish to be in or close to deep water; they may move tight to the bank once the sun gets higher. If I spot bass suspended around baitfish schools on my electronics, I’ll throw a jerkbait. It appears there’s a lot of wood cover in the lake; I’ll hit it with a jig. In winter, the bite often doesn’t crank up until midmorning, so I’m not going to panic if I don’t get on fish right away.” Clausen pulls several Megabass rods from storage. Lake H doesn’t permit gas outboards to be cranked, so he drops his trolling motor and heads for the reservoir’s earthen dam.
7 a.m. Clausen makes his first casts of the day to the dam with a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait in the leviathan ayu pattern, which he calls “a great color choice in low-light conditions.” He’s fishing it with a jerk/jerk/pause cadence.
7:09 a.m. The dam transitions into a steep channel bank lined with a jumble of standing and fallen timber. With his boat in 20 feet of water, Clausen catches his first bass of the day, a 10-inch largemouth, on the jerkbait. “He hit it on the pause at the end of a submerged branch.”
7:12 a.m. “Submerged trees are crisscrossed everywhere down there,” Clausen says as he continues down the steep bank. A tiny bass bumps the jerkbait right at the boat and shakes off.
7:17 a.m. Clausen is seeing bass hanging around deep, standing timber on his electronics. “They’re suspending at 12 feet. I may have to put on a deeper jerkbait to get to ’em.”
7:21 a.m. He switches to a 5/16-ounce Dirty Jigs Luke Clausen Finesse Jig in the Clausen craw pattern with a green pumpkin/blue Z-Man BatwingZ trailer.
7:24 a.m. Clausen tries a deeper-diving Megabass Revenge jerkbait in the Kohoku reaction pattern. “This is a brighter color, which should be more visible in deeper water. These fish aren’t very ambitious right now.”
7:31 a.m. The bank gradually flattens out. Clausen tries his signature 1/4-ounce Dirty Jigs Compact Pitching Jig with a BatwingZ trailer, both black and blue.
7:38 a.m. Clausen moves farther off the bank to cast the jerkbait around standing timber.
6 HOURS LEFT
7:45 a.m. Clausen spots some baitfish dimpling the surface. He casts a bluegill pattern Z-Man Project Z weedless bladed jig with a Z-Man swimbait trailer at the fish. No luck.
7:51 a.m. Clausen bumps the bladed jig off a stickup and gets a hard strike, but the fish doesn’t hook up.
7:55 a.m. The sun pops over the surrounding hills as Clausen continues swimming the Project Z around stickups.
8:04 a.m. He bags a short fish on the Revenge jerkbait.
8:13 a.m. Clausen ties on a sexy shad Megabass 110+1 jerkbait and catches his first keeper of the day, a 1-pound largemouth. “He was holding around some stickups and hit it on the pause.”
8:17 a.m. He bags a short fish off a sunken log on the finesse jig. “I’ve had bites on just about everything I’ve thrown, but nothing big so far.”
8:22 a.m. Clausen tries a Tennessee shad Megabass Flap Shad, a slow-rising minnow bait with a tight wobble, on a main-lake flat. A small bass pops it as it careens off a stickup.
8:29 a.m. Clausen spots a small rockpile rising to within inches of the surface. His electronics reveal several bass holding on the bottom in deeper water adjacent to the structure. He rigs a chunky green pumpkin Z-Man FattyZ finesse worm on a 1/8-ounce shaky head, casts it to the cluster of fish and shakes it repeatedly.
8:31 a.m. He catches a short fish on the worm.
8:35 a.m. Clausen casts the worm to the top of the rockpile and hops it into deeper water, and a lunker bass grabs it! He plays it carefully — his reel is spooled with 8-pound line. Clausen patiently works it closer and finally grabs his second keeper of the day, a beautiful 6-pound, 6-ounce largemouth. “Yes! This rockpile slopes off quickly into 12 feet, and the fish hit it as it was sinking. Once the sun gets higher, these rocks should warm up and pull in more fish.”
8:41 a.m. Clausen ties on a 3/8-ounce Dirty Jigs Scott Canterbury Flippin’ Jig (Canterbury craw color) with a green pumpkin/blue BatwingZ trailer. “I could see crawfish pincers sticking out of the throat of that big bass, and this jig is a perfect craw mimic.”
5 HOURS LEFT
8:47 a.m. Clausen drops his Power-Poles to anchor his boat within casting distance of the rockpile, then fancasts the jerkbait around the structure. “They ought to choke this jerkbait in this clear water.”
8:50 a.m. A small bass hits the jerkbait and shakes off.
8:54 a.m. A frigid breeze is blowing out of the north as Clausen tries the flipping jig around the rockpile.
9:06 a.m. Clausen vacates the rockpile and moves to a main-lake point, where he tries the Flap Shad. “This point runs way the heck out here and has scattered wood and rock on it.”
9:10 a.m. Clausen casts the finesse worm to the point and immediately gets a solid tap. He sets the hook and a good bass surges for deeper water. Clausen carefully works the fish closer and grabs his third keeper of the day, a dandy 5-2 largemouth.
9:15 a.m. Another bass hits Clausen’s FattyZ on the point; this one runs under a log and breaks his line. He rigs up a fresh worm.
9:18 a.m. Clausen switches to the flipping jig. A small bass taps it.
9:20 a.m. Clausen is getting pecked on every cast with the flipping jig. “A bunch of little guys have moved onto that point, and they’re nibbling at the trailer.”
9:25 a.m. Clausen catches his fourth keeper, 2-4, off the point on the flipping jig.
9:28 a.m. Clausen casts to the same spot and immediately gets a hard tap. He hammers the fish, and it surges off the point. “This one’s a giant!” He gradually works it to the boat and hoists aboard his fifth keeper, a stunning 7-1 largemouth. “I felt the jig bump against a little piece of wood, and she inhaled it! What a hawg!”
9:39 a.m. Clausen’s electronics keep cutting off; he jostles his graph cables around repeatedly until the problem is temporarily remedied. “I’ve got a loose connection somewhere. I just got this boat rigged, but wiring can come loose when you’re trailering long distances.”
4 HOURS LEFT
9:45 a.m. Clausen tries his signature 1/4-ounce black and blue Compact Pitchin’ Jig on the point.
9:50 a.m. Clausen vacates the point and wind-drifts down an adjacent sloping bank while casting the finesse worm and flipping jig.
9:56 a.m. He pitches the finesse worm under a boat dock. Nothing there.
10:17 a.m. Clausen moves back to the dam, where he tries the finesse worm.
10:22 a.m. He hits the corner between the dam and the steep channel bank with the black-and-blue jig. “This bank’s still in the shade. I’ve had much better luck in sunny areas.”
10:31 a.m. A squealer hits the jig. What’s Clausen’s take on the day so far? “The bite has been pretty good overall, but my big fish have only come on main-lake structure with bottom-hopping baits. The jerkbait hasn’t paid off yet, but I am marking a lot of suspending fish. The thick fallen and standing timber hasn’t produced anything of note so far. I’ll probably focus my remaining time hitting structure close to, but not necessarily in, deep water.”
3 HOURS LEFT
10:50 a.m. Clausen has moved into the extreme upper end of Lake H to fish a shallow flat with numerous laydowns and a narrow, snaking ditch. Here he tries the finesse worm and bladed jig, but he hauls water.
10:57 a.m. He twitches the jerkbait around some standing timber.
11:11 a.m. Clausen pitches the black-and-blue jig to a submerged tree. “There isn’t much happening in this area.”
11:17 a.m. A short fish nails the bladed jig around some stickups.
11:24 a.m. Clausen puts his trolling motor on high and scurries back downlake toward deeper water. Some thin cloud cover has moved in as he tries the Canterbury jig around some deep laydowns.
11:30 a.m. Clausen is back on the rockpile where he bagged his 6-pounder. He catches a 2-pounder on the Canterbury jig; it’s no help to his total.
11:38 a.m. He catches a 3-2 largemouth off a sunken tree a short distance from the rockpile on the Canterbury jig.
2 HOURS LEFT
11:45 a.m. A short fish tags the finesse worm on the rockpile. A half-digested shad protrudes from its mouth. “I thought I was getting hungry, but after seeing that, I think I’ll skip lunch!”
11:54 a.m. Clausen moves to the point where he caught his 7-1 and bags a nonkeeper on the Canterbury jig.
12:09 p.m. Save for a couple of dinks, the point seems to have dried up, so Clausen moves farther off the structure to scope it out with his electronics. He tries the +1 jerkbait over deep water and catches a small bass.
12:18 p.m. “Check out all the fish stacked up on the bottom 18 feet deep!” Clausen exclaims, pointing to his graph. He drags the flipping jig through the fish but can’t score a strike. “Those must not be bass.”
12:24 p.m. Clausen eases uplake, casting the worm to submerged wood.
12:31 p.m. He returns to the end of the point and slow rolls the bladed jig across the structure.
12:39 p.m. Clausen catches a nice 4-13 largemouth on the black-and-blue jig. “I moved way out past the end of the point and this fish was on a 12-foot channel swing. I haven’t felt any cover at all out here.”
1 HOUR LEFT
12:47 p.m. It’s clouded over as Clausen returns to the rockpile to try the black-and-blue jig.
12:53 p.m. He moves 50 yards uplake to fish the jerkbait across the submerged ditch but hauls water. “The bite has really slowed down.”
1:16 p.m. Clausen zips back to his “7-pound point” and tries the bladed jig.
1:19 p.m. He crawls the Canterbury jig across the point. “A couple hours ago they were stacked all over this point! I bet this cloud cover has scattered them.”
1:32 p.m. With minutes remaining, Clausen moves down the sloping bank adjacent to the point and tries the Canterbury jig and jerkbait.
1:45 p.m. Clausen’s time is up. He’s had a great day on Lake H; his five biggest bass weigh a hefty 26 pounds, 8 ounces.
THE DAY IN PERSPECTIVE
“Jigs and the finesse worm scored my best fish today,” Clausen told Bassmaster. “All that standing and submerged timber looked great, but my best fish came on or close to structure. Little fish seemed to be suspending more, while the bigger fish were definitely more bottom oriented. Both the rockpile and the point had deep water all around [them], allowing big fish to slide up shallower to feed without having to swim far. If I were to fish here tomorrow under these same conditions, I’d spend less time pounding all that timber and more time probing deeper structure.”
WHERE AND WHEN LUKE CLAUSEN CAUGHT HIS FIVE BIGGEST BASS
1) 6 pounds, 6 ounces; rockpile; green pumpkin Z-Man FattyZ finesse worm on 1/8-ounce shaky head; 8:35 a.m.
2) 5 pounds, 2 ounces; main-lake point; same lure as No. 1; 9:10 a.m.
3) 7 pounds, 1 ounce; same place as No. 2; 3/8-ounce craw Dirty Jigs Scott Canterbury Flippin’ Jig with green pumpkin/blue Z-Man BatwingZ trailer; 9:28 a.m.
4) 3 pounds, 2 ounces; submerged tree; same lure as No. 3; 11:38 a.m.
5) 4 pounds, 13 ounces; channel swing; ١/٤-ounce black/blue Dirty Jigs Luke Clausen Compact Pitchin’ Jig with matching Z-Man BatwingZ trailer; 12:39 p.m.
TOTAL: 26 POUNDS, 8 OUNCES