By Vance McCullough

Depending on where you fish, the shad spawn is either about to kick off or it’s already on. Vampire bass will blitz balls of baitfish around shallow hard cover but the murderous activity ends as soon the sun hits the water, so most anglers think they need to work quickly. Greg Hackney tells us to slow the pace of our retrieve for maximum action during this unique opportunity which he exploited for a Top 10 finish in the recent Bassmaster Elite Series tournament on a stingy St Johns River.

He was using a soon to be released, four blade version, but a tandem willow with small blades will do the trick too!  The key is to slow down to draw the shad to your bait…THEN the bass will come!