When anglers talk about power fishing the image that most often comes to mind is someone chunking and winding big, heavy, fast-moving baits. While taking deep-running crank baits and heavy jigs or big 1-ounce spinner baits and moving them quickly over an area to cover a lot of ground is a classic example of power fishing, there are other ways to go about it. In fact, you can move a lure slowly, cover small areas, and make a lot of casts to the same piece of cover and still be power fishing.

Power fishing encompasses several different techniques. The key is not speed or depth; it’s generally the thoroughness with which you cover an area that really defines power fishing.

Working a jig around a tree from all angles is power fishing. Systematically covering a hump from all angles, top to bottom, bottom to top and across the top is also a way we power fish. Don’t equate power fishing with speed. It’s a methodical way to thoroughly, completely exploit an area that is likely to hold fish.

Sometimes I take a target where I feel certain a bass is hiding and throw at it multiple times until I get the result I want. When you recognize that a tree or stump is an ideal ambush zone for a big bass, throw at it repeatedly with a heavy jig until you finally get that fish to bite. When you do that, you’re power fishing!

Lastly, working several different crank baits in the same general area can also be a rewarding way to power fish. Switching among a 6-foot deep crank bait, a 12-foot diver, and a 20-foot diver, all rigged on different rods and line diameters, until you find the right combination is power fishing at its best.

So remember you can be a successful power fisherman by just slowing down!

Captain Mike Gerry
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
Web: www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
(256) 759-2270