In the summer months, he will target drop-offs, points and bass suspended in hardwood trees. Later in the summer, he will begin to focus on cedar trees. The weight of his jig depends on the depth of water and where the bass are suspending. Much like in the summer months, he will fish for suspended bass around cedar or hardwood trees with a 3/8-ounce jig. Late in the fall, McCutchen will also fish around docks “the best docks have brush around them; I will cut the weed guard off and swim it around the dock,” he explained. “If I am up on Truman in the fall, I will go fish lay downs with a jig but it’s a different lake,” explained McCutchen. When winter comes around and McCutchen is not getting a bite, again he goes to a black and blue jig.
“I like to fish flat points, 6 to 7 feet deep next to 30 feet or deeper that time of year, about halfway back in coves,” McCutchen said.
As for trailers for his jigs, McCutchen once again keeps it simple. The majority of the time he will use a Chompers Super Jig Trailer in either black and blue flake or black and blue laminate. Other trailers McCutchen will use are Zoom Super Chunks, Zoom Super Chunks Juniors, Zoom Brushhog, or Netbait Paca Crawl depending what the bass want that day.
Finesse Approach
One of the more popular lures, when all else fails, is the shaky head rig. It consists of a jig head and finesse worm. Almost every jig company makes one, Chompers has the Pro Model Shaky Head Jig that can be rigged with a Chompers 6-inch or 8-inch Shaky Worm. The weight of the jig head depends on water depth and the activity level that day. Location plays a major part in getting these fish to bite.
Bass will be suspended near or close to some type of structure like creek channels, points, channel swings, humps, or ledges. Finding the right presentations after locating them will be the key to catching these fish. The activity level will decide what speed of retrieve the fish want that day and what size jig to use. Shaky head jigs come in a variety of sizes from 3/32-ounce to ¼-ounce. What color finesse worm is the last part to decide on; however, in the majority of lakes the mid-south green pumpkin is hard to beat.
