Land Of Giants Hunt Down Those Early Summer Studs

TEMPERATURES ARE RISING, and bass are transitioning into their summer patterns. Looking for a cool tip on scoring a hot bite? Pull up a chair and listen to what these Bassmaster Elite Series anglers have to say.

Mark Menendez — SOUTHERN IMPOUNDMENT

Menendez’s big-bite strategy starts with a beefy 8-inch Strike King Bull Worm (plum) rigged on a 6/0 flipping hook, capped with a ½-ounce Strike King Tour Grade tungsten sinker and fished on a 7 ½-foot Lew’s flipping stick with a Lew’s 7.5:1 Hyper Mag reel carrying 15-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon. What happens next is straight-up home invasion, but he’s targeting bass, so that makes it OK.

“First, I want to be on a shellbed where current is washing across it and bass are gathering on that shellbed because it’s hard,” Menendez said. “I’m dragging the bait or using really light hops to get those grouped-up