Fall is in the air and bass anglers know what that means: schooling bass. As reservoirs cool down across the country October through December, shad pods come to the surface and small schools or “wolf packs” of bass roam over deep water looking for these wayfaring shad balls.
If bass are boiling on the surface, locating fish is pretty easy. But if they’re not, then trying to find these open water schoolers can be maddening.
Enter FLW Tour pro Brent Ehrler and his secret Double-Sammy rig. When Ehrler needs a ball of shad to bring bass to the surface he essentially creates his own shad pod by hooking two Lucky Craft Sammy’s in tandem with a piece of 15- to 17-pound test monofilament.
“It’s a great trick to create a lot of surface commotion to bring bass up out of deep, clear water and it’s pretty simple to rig up,” Ehrler said. “I take a small Sammy 65 and tie a 15- to 24-inch length of monofilament to the tail hook’s split ring. Then I tie a Sammy 100 or 115 to the end of the mono leader and you have two Sammy’s in tandem. The rig looks absolutely awesome in the water; it looks like a bigger shad is chasing a little shad on the surface.”
Sammy 65 in Front, Sammy 105 in Rear - Brent Ehrler Double Sammy Rig
Click on the picture above to enlarge it
Ehrler says the Double-Sammy rig is effective for several reasons. One, it creates a lot more commotion on the surface than a single Sammy. Second, schooling fish are notorious for preferring particular size bait in the fall and this is like fishing two different size baits at the same time to see which one the bass prefer.
Finally, the biggest bonus is the opportunity to catch doubles – two fish at the same time – which Ehrler has done many times with this unique rig.
“This rig takes advantage of the competitive nature of schooling bass,” Ehrler offered. “Once you hook a bass on one Sammy, it excites the school and if there’s a second bait hanging around, other bass will try to eat that one too.”
###
Below is a color chart for the Lucky Craft Sammy
Thu, Oct 29, 2009
Blog