Lake Martin has a ton of spotted bass and fewer largemouth, but the largemouth run bigger. When I fished the recent Bassmaster Elite Series tournament there, I relied on forward-facing sonar in the morning to catch an 8- to 10-pound bag of spotted bass on finesse baits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the afternoon, I fished docks in search of kicker largemouth as the warming water and brighter conditions pulled more bass to this manmade cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My strategy was simple. But figuring which of the lake\u2019s gazillion docks to concentrate on wasn\u2019t so simple. The dock pattern changed every day and forced me to adjust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the first afternoon, I began by fishing different types of docks in a variety of places. I needed to get a bite or two to clue me in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For as long as I\u2019ve fished professionally \u2013 31 years so far \u2013 one thing has remained constant. Fishermen lie, but the fish never lie. I needed the bass to tell me which docks to fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I caught my first bass by skipping a wacky-rigged Berkley Powerbait The General stickbait under a pontoon boat. I opted for the green pumpkin candy color to mimic bluegill. That bass didn\u2019t allow me to cull, but it was a bite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One bite may or may not point you in the right direction, but I\u2019m a big believer that two bites doing the same thing is a strong indicator. About 15 minutes later, I caught another bass from under a pontoon boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the rest of the day, I fished nothing but pontoon boats with the wacky rig. I believe the sunny conditions that day had the bass seeking maximum shade, which is what the pontoon boats provided. My biggest dock bass that day, a largemouth, weighed 2 1\/2 pounds. That was a kicker in that tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After catching a base limit of spotted bass the next morning, I went straight to the docks and began skipping a wacky rig under pontoon boats. After fishing several pontoon boats without a bite, the bass were telling me I needed to try something different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About halfway back in a short pocket, I got my first bite by pitching a jig under a floating dock supported by black floats. That fish helped me cull up a few ounces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe 20 minutes later, I flipped the jig under another dock with black floats and caught a 5-3 largemouth, the Big Bass of the tournament. The rest of the day, I stuck with that pattern. My jig was a 1\/2-ounce Missile Baits green pumpkin Mini Flip dressed with a black and blue Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe the bass moved under those docks because they were drawn to the warmth radiating from the black floats. It had been really cold the previous night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I ended the day with 13-12, which jumped me to 17th place. I was jacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had to fish until noon to get my base limit of spotted bass the next day before I could hit the docks. After fishing floating docks with black floats and pontoon boats for 45 minutes, I had yet to get the first bite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had to start from scratch and begin fishing all types of docks. I finally got my first bite, pitching the Missile jig to a dock with wood supports the size of telephone poles. That fish gave me a slight upgrade. A short time later, I caught another bass on a similar dock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I ran docks with wood supports for the rest of the afternoon. My biggest cull fish was a 2-pound largemouth. I dropped to 33rd place, but I\u2019m pleased with my finish, considering forward-facing sonar was allowed in this event. I\u2019m getting more confident with this technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can learn more about how I fish docks and other tactics at www.mikeiaconelli.com<\/a> or www.youtube.com\/c\/goingike<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lake Martin has a ton of spotted bass and fewer largemouth, but the largemouth run bigger. When I fished the recent Bassmaster Elite Series tournament there, I relied on forward-facing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26949,"featured_media":1400422,"template":"","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":63001,"post_id":64708}}]},"bassmaster_plugin_short_title":"","bassmaster_plugin_photo_attribution":[],"bassmaster_plugin_caption_attribution":[],"bassmaster_article_column":true,"bassmaster_article_columnists":[64707],"bassmaster_dfp":[],"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_bool":false,"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_length":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100026,2527],"sponsors":[],"people":[63000],"tournaments":[114803],"tournament-series":[1267],"byline":[63001],"class_list":["post-1408142","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elite","category-how-to","people-michael-iaconelli","tournaments-2026-bassmaster-elite-at-lake-martin","tournament-series-elite"],"yoast_head":"\n