Video summary
This video provides a comprehensive strategy for bass anglers who lack access to LiveScope technology, demonstrating that it is entirely possible to win tournaments using just one lure and a single fishing pattern: targeting lay-down trees with jigs. The presenter argues that while LiveScope can reveal exactly where fish are hiding within submerged structures, experienced anglers can still crack the code by focusing on specific tree characteristics and behaviors. The core of this strategy involves identifying fallen trees from the shoreline, looking for trunks that break off underwater or have branches lying flat on the bottom, as these often hold the largest bass in the lake. Whether pre-spawn staging areas or general tournament conditions, the goal is to locate these structures without relying on electronics, using visual cues like tree tops visible above water for shallow targets or just a trunk against the bank for deeper ones.
The technique centers on using a jig with a pig trailer, specifically favoring weights between 1/4 and 1/2 ounce, though 3/8 ounce is often optimal for depths up to ten feet. The presenter emphasizes a counter-intuitive approach to fishing these trees: instead of working from the outside in as commonly advised, anglers should target the "juice" first—the area where the trunk meets the water or the deepest split—to catch big fish before they are spooked by activity on the outer limbs. This method prioritizes catching large trophy bass over small ones, which is crucial for tournament limits. Anglers are encouraged to use strong weed guards on their jigs, sometimes even supergluing them for extra strength, to navigate the dense limb structure without getting hung up, and to maintain a tight line while dropping the lure to feel subtle bites before the fish can wrap around branches and escape.
Success in this pattern relies heavily on patience, meticulous tree management, and understanding environmental factors like wind and sunlight. The presenter advises approaching trees from the downwind angle to avoid being blown into the structure and keeping electronics off to minimize noise that could spook fish. It is also noted that 99% of bass will position themselves in the shade of the tree looking into sunlit areas where prey animals congregate, making these shaded ambush points highly productive. If a tree is fished out or a large fish is caught, anglers should not abandon it immediately; rather, they should wait for the remaining fish to reposition or for new fish to move into the vacated prime real estate, potentially revisiting the same spot hours later for another catch. By combining these tactics—targeting hardwood trees with complex limb structures, utilizing wind and sun to their advantage, and maintaining a disciplined approach to tree cycling—anglers can effectively compete against those with advanced technology and secure tournament victories.
Read the full video transcript
[singing]
>> Nice bass for you right there, guys.
Let's go.
>> [music]
>> Good fish.
Good fish right there.
>> [music]
>> All right, guys. This video is for the
guys that don't have LiveScope. If you
have LiveScope, just move along. Move
along. I'm going to show you guys how to
win tournaments without LiveScope using
one lure, one pattern. You might not
have LiveScope, might not afford it,
might not be able to justify it, might
not even want it, but you still can
compete in bass tournaments without it.
And I'm going to show you how to crack
the code and you could beat LiveScope
with one lure and one pattern. Super
easy pattern.
Fishing lay-down trees with jigs.
Lay-down trees hold a lot of fish and
they hold some of the biggest fish in
the lake. There's a lot of small nuances
in how to fish those trees to get the
most out of them, not leave anything
behind, and put yourself in the best
position to win a bass tournament. Or
just have a great day on the water bass
fishing without LiveScope. Now, if
you're still watching and you do have
LiveScope, you could use LiveScope doing
this, too. You could probably make the
experience a lot better, too. You You
could actually tell what's in every tree
for how many fish, where they're hiding
in the tree, and all that. But, if you
don't have it, I'm going to break it
down for you and show you how to make
easier to catch those fish. If you don't
know, a lay-down tree, that's exactly
what it is. It's a tree that fell into
the lake from the shoreline. I found the
best way to find these trees is just put
eyes on the shoreline. A couple things I
look for, obviously, you look for the
tree like this one behind me. If you see
those, those are obvious. Most guys are
going to fish those anyway. A lot of
times, you can only see if the tree's
laying flat, you can only see the trunk.
And sometimes, if it's deep enough
water, all you can see is that trunk
coming up where it broke off and that's
all there is. And that tree might be
completely submerged underwater. Those
are really good ones to look for. Now,
if you're on a lake with a lot of
different blowdowns and you're
pre-spawn, you're going to want to look
at the staging areas, the pre-spawn
staging areas just outside those
spawning beds and spawning grounds for
laid out trees where those fish are
going to stage up. Without even being on
a lake, first time on it, no
pre-fishing, you could find the right
trees to win a tournament. If you want
shallow trees, it's super easy. Look for
the trees that come way out in the water
and you can still see the tops on them.
If you want deep trees, look for the
trees that you're not seeing any
branches at all. The branches are on the
bottom and all you're seeing is the
trunk up against the bank. You could use
different lures for this pattern. You
could throw your Texas rigs, you could
throw your square bills, you could wind
a chatter bait in around there. But for
me, for big fish, for making sure they
stay on, for getting those big bites,
jigging pig has been the way for me over
the years. And it's one of my favorite
ways to fish. Techniques, there are
several different techniques to get your
jig to those fish. You could skip, you
could pitch, you can cast, you can roll
cast, you could back cast. There's a
hundred different ways to do it. Work
with what's comfortable for you and what
you can get your lure into the juice.
Now, nine and a half out of ten of these
videos fishing laydowns are going to
tell you guys to be careful, fish the
outside of the tree first, work every
limb first. I'm not going to tell you
that. If you want to win a tournament,
go after those big fish and most of the
time those big fish are on the trunk of
the tree where it meets the water or
where that first split is or where it's
touching the ground, so it's further in.
You know, and a lot of guys say don't
throw further in cuz if you catch one in
there and you pull one out, it's going
to spook everything. We don't care about
the small fish. If you're fishing for a
limit, work your way in. If you're
fishing for big fish, go right to the
juice first. Don't spook those big fish
and let them know what's up by catching
all those little dinks on the way in or
the smaller fish.
That's
That is the one we're looking for and
that's why we fish trees right there,
guys.
You want to win tournaments
without a live scope?
That's how you do it right there.
Nice bass for you right there, guys.
That's a good one right there.
That one probably go in the box today.
Nice fish.
I like using fairly light jig for this,
which I would consider a 3/8 oz jig. I
go up as much as 1/2 oz and down to as
low as a quarter for this application,
but 3/8 seems to be the best anywhere
from, you know, 10 ft of water or less
where most of those laydown trees are
going to be. I pretty much stick to two
different colors. I'll throw a black and
blue and I'll throw something natural
like a green pumpkin orange, green
pumpkin, green pumpkin or green pumpkin
red depending on the water clarity. And
a lot of times those fish will tell you
what they want. If you're fishing this
pattern, make sure you got at least two
jigs tied on, maybe three. You're going
to lose a few, you're going to get some
hung up and you don't want to miss out
on the bite by not having something
rigged up to quickly get it back in
there. Some of these trees will hold
multiple fish and a lot of fish. Some
will hold two big ones, one big one. So,
be meticulous, work those trees when
you're fishing them. After you fish that
juice for the big one, work your way out
and fish every limb. That fish might not
be in the spot where you think he's
going to be and he might be cruising
around that tree. So, don't be afraid to
make multiple casts in the same
location. One mistake a lot of guys make
is they'll fish these trees too fast.
They'll get that cast in there, let it
drop, don't, you know, lift it up once,
don't feel anything, wind it back in,
flip to another limb. Well, in the
meantime, that fish has been If he was 4
or 5 ft away, he's going over to where
you landed, maybe where you kicked up a
little bit of silt, maybe where you
heard your jig, and he's going to
investigate where that crawfish is or
where that prey animal is, and you've
already winded it out of there and put
it over here. Now, he's going to go over
there. You winded it out and you're
playing of keep away when you don't want
to be playing a game of keep away. You
want to be catching that fish. So, work
the trees, work it slow. You'll get a
feel for your prime real estate once you
catch a couple fish, and let the fish
tell you where they're going to be. You
know, it's kind of day to day.
Sometimes, they're way in on the bank.
Sometimes, they're way out on the tips.
So, once you figure that out, you can
pattern this on just about every tree on
the lake. Use the wind and the sun to
your advantage.
99% of these fish are going to be laying
in the shade,
on the shady side of the tree, looking
into the areas that are lit for those
prey animals. Your prey species are
going to get out, sun themselves, get
out in the
get out, move around the limbs, and
they're easy picking for those fish that
are hiding in there. Big bass and bass
hide in these trees because it gives
them ambush points. It gives them safety
of cover, and they're just really cool
places for them to swim. If I was a
bass, I'd be swimming inside these
lay-down trees. Couple things to look
for. There are multiple species of trees
here in Maine where I'm fishing,
probably where you live, too. on the
water. My favorite ones to fish for big
bass are your hardwoods. Your oaks, your
maples, your ash trees, any of those
trees that have a lot of limbs, they
have some funky limb patterns on them,
and they hold up, and they last a long
time. There's trees in Maine that I've
fished for 25 years, the same exact
tree, and it still hasn't deteriorated.
Your softwood trees will hold fish, but
for some reason, they just don't hold
them quite as well. They deteriorate
quicker. I've heard that the pine
needles put out a lot more acid and the
fish don't like being in them or the
bait fish don't like being in them. I
don't know that, so I'm not going to
tell you guys that, but I can tell you
that I have done better for tournament
fish in hardwood trees rather than your
softwood trees like pine and hemlock.
Now, if that's all they have for cover,
they're going to go in those. I would
never overlook them and I'm going to
fish every laydown in front of me and be
able to tell you which ones fish better.
Wind on these trees create a ton more
oxygen, creates a lot more chaos under
the water for the prey species.
And it just creates a feeding frenzy for
those big bass. So, don't shy away from
the wind on these trees. Boat position
is super super important. I like to
approach all the trees that I can from
the downwind angle, so the wind isn't
blowing me into the tree. It's important
to keep your boat back away from the
tree. If you Obviously, if you don't
have live scope or whatever, shut your
electronics off. Keep the noise down.
Put your trolling motor on low. Make a
little bit longer cast, little bit
longer flips, little bit longer skips
and pitches. If you approach it on the
high wind side, more than likely that
wind's going to blow you in if you
aren't utilizing power poles. If the
sun's low, if you're early in the
morning or late in the afternoon, don't
come between the sun and your target
with your body or your boat because
that's going to be a a dead giveaway
that you're there and spook the fish.
You're going to make a shadow that's
going to spook that fish. So, remember,
throw to the heart of the tree first for
those big fish and work your way from
the inside out. No one else is going to
tell you that. Everybody's going to tell
you to throw from the outside in. If I'm
fun fishing, I'll I'll probably work
from the outside in or if I want to see
what's there, I'll work from the outside
in.
So, you're not getting hung up early or
So, you're keeping your chances of
getting hung up. You're not going to
spook a bunch of fish pulling them from
the inside out. But, if you're trying to
win a tournament, go for the juice.
Worry about [snorts] the outside
afterwards. If If find a good tree
that's holding fish, work that tree.
There could be multiple good tournament
fish in that tree. You know, and if you
do spook them out of there, if you catch
one and it's flopping around the the
branches a bunch and and jumping inside
the tree and you think it's spooking the
other ones out, all you got to do is
just pull your boat out, wait a couple
minutes, and those let those fish
reposition in that tree and go after
them. It's kind of a patience game. You
know, you're not going to chase You're
trying to win a tournament here, so know
that you're going to hit anywhere from
five to 50 trees in the course of a
given tournament. So, if you keep that
in mind and you're going to stick to
your pattern, then you know you got to
be patient with it and you got to clean
everything off those trees if you want
to beat LiveScope. And don't be afraid
to go back to any given tree, especially
the ones that produce,
cuz those ones will reload and those
bigger fish will move in where you've
taken fish out of. There's prime real
estate on all these trees, and if you
take a four or five-pounder out of that
prime real estate, it's not going to sit
long before another one moves in, and
you can come back in an hour or two
hours later and make the same exact cast
and put another fish in the box or make
a call.
If you get time to pre-fish, obviously
you want to go out, you want to find
which types of trees you want to fish,
you want to find the depth they're in,
and then you want to do your map study
and learn where they are on the lake.
Are they on points? Are they on primary
points? Are they on secondary points?
Are they in spawning grounds? Are they
outside of spawning grounds? Are they
around lily pads? Are they around dock?
And then you can run your pattern and
really refine that pattern down to a
winning pattern as the day progresses.
And the other cool thing about this
pattern is you got to win and bait in
your hand. A jig and pig is a big fish
lure. And if you're just on your
trolling motor between trees, you know,
you might hit a dock, you might see a
stick up, you might see another target
or another piece of structure you could
flip that jig to in between your tree
pattern and pick up a kicker fish on one
of those. If you have Power-Poles,
that's a huge help with your boat
control. If you don't, you can still do
it. Just play the wind. And don't be
afraid if other boats have hit trees in
front of you. Like I said, you pull one
out of the prime real estate, another
one's going to move into that prime
spot. If you're in a tournament, one
line only per person, maybe you're
fishing with a partner and you get hung
up. Take the L for yourself and
sacrifice rather than go in there with a
boat, mess up the whole tree with the
trolling motor in the boat. Just stand
there with a net in your hand and let
your partner flip to those other trees
until he either catches one, gets hung
up, or you're done fishing it before you
go in to get your jig, or you can just
break off, re-tie, and get back in there
fishing. But, the worst thing you could
do is blow that tree out and ruin it
with a trolling motor or the boat. I
like jigs with real strong weed guards,
especially when I'm working trees. If
I'm fishing out offshore structure,
rocks, shell beds, gravel bars, or even
docks, I don't really care so much for a
weed guard. I like a little bit weaker
one for that. But, when I'm fishing
trees, I want to have a jig that's got
the strongest weed guard I can get. And
I might even superglue half that weed
guard together coming off the head to to
strengthen it more because it's really
important that you're working that jig
over limbs. You know, you bring it up,
your line might be over limb, you bring
your jig up, you you tap that limb four,
five, six times, bring it over, drop it
down to the bottom again, bring it back
over another limb, drop it down again.
So, the weed guard is really important
that you're not getting hung up, ruining
your cast, ruining your tree, and
ruining your chance to win a tournament.
And another thing is use your
imagination under the surface. You know,
without using LiveScope, you don't know
where the top of that tree is. So, if
you're driving by the bank and you see a
stump or a tree broken off, and you
don't see it laying against the
shoreline, well, chances are it's in the
water. If you don't see where it is in
the water from the surface, there's a
pretty good chance it's right out in
front of that stump. So, fish your way
in, you know, use that jig to feel
what's down there, and use your
imagination to find that tree if you're
not using live scope. And make sure
you're cycling on these trees in a
tournament, you know, the trees are
definitely going to fish better when the
sun's up cuz it gives those fish a place
to hide. They don't want to be sitting
out in the sun. So, it gives them a
really good ambush point, gives them a
place to hide. So, if you fish a bank
that doesn't have the sun on it early
and you you pick up a couple fish in
trees, don't be afraid to go back there
later in the day and see what's moved in
since the sun's been up and those fish
want to get in there in the shade of the
tree.
And if you can find hardwood trees that
still have their branches on them,
absolute fire. Some trees that I've done
okay on are are your birch trees, your
beech trees, and and some of the
scraggly maples. I've done okay on
those. They're not like my prime ones
because they don't really have a lot of
limbs for those fish to hide in. You
know, the perfect combo is leaves, lot
of limbs, and a big trunk for them to
hide under or next to. But, if you don't
have it, that fish is going to cozy up
to the best possible spot he can get.
So, hit every target you can and fish as
many trees as you can. Of course, line
is really important, too. So, I like
anywhere from a minimum of 15-lb test,
but I like 17-20, even 25-lb depending
on clarity because you know it's going
to be hand-to-hand combat with those
fish in and amongst trees, branches,
limbs, and everything else after you
hook them. They're going to try to dig
in and you want to get them out. Another
thing about throwing that jig in these
trees is you definitely want to do it on
a little bit of a tight line as it's
sinking so you can feel that bite. You
don't want that fish picking up that jig
and running 5, 10, 15 ft before you feel
it, before you see your line move, or
before you set the hook cuz it gives
them a chance to wrap around multiple
branches and get you into a lot of
trouble. So, pay close attention, lot of
patience, be meticulous, pick it apart,
and give yourself the best chance to
beat live scope, win a tournament
without live scope. Hope this video
helped you guys. If you made it this
far, you know what to do. Really
appreciate all the support for the
channel and love to hear how you guys do
in the comments.
>> Oh.