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Ron Shuffield
Secrets To Success In Florida

Tuesday, March 11, 2008




Ron Shuffield hails from Arkansas, but has somehow made the Florida connection that so many pros can't seem to dial in. In his 24 years as a pro (21 with BASS and the last 3 as an FLW Tour and Series pro), he's fished Florida lakes nearly every year.

He recently recorded his best FLW finish – 3rd place at the Toho FLW Tour in Kissimmee, Fla. Prior to that, he'd scored another 3rd at the same lake in the 2006 Bassmaster Classic. In all, he has five Top 10s on Florida lakes, including a 4th in 2005 – again, at Toho.

Confidence Key

"I fish with a lot of confidence when I fish in Florida," Shuffield said. "There are so many fish that you can catch fish almost all the time on a 10-inch Berkley Power worm in red-shad or junebug colors. That and a Rat-L-Trap. Sometimes I throw a topwater frog during the spawn, except after a cold front.

"I try to find fish that'll eat those lures when I go there. They're pretty aggressive most of the time. But sometimes you have to finesse-fish for them. You need to slow down, lighten up on your weight, and barely move the worm inches at a time and let it sit between pulls."

The list of high finishes for Shuffield at Lake Toho is somewhat misleading, since competitors also have the option of locking out to a few other lakes. "I always lock out of Toho to fish Cypress and Hatchineha, or sometimes Kissimmee," he noted. "It's just a confidence thing. I've done well there before. The fish seem to be in the same area year after year – sometimes shallow, sometimes out deeper. You just have to fish through the area to find them.

"A lot of times you're real close to the mother lode of fish, and you just have to fish through the area thoroughly to find them," he added. "At the Toho tournament, my fish were in a real small area. I'd get a bite or two, and kick out a marker, then fish that spot real carefully and I might get five or six more bites and that'd be it.

"It would take me 2 hours to fish 50 yards. If you go too fast you can fish right through them and never know they're in there."

Why Florida's Different

"I think a lot of guys get intimidated by the sheer amount of cover in Florida lakes," Shuffield said. "You have to break it down, by types of vegetation, or kinds of structure, and so on. But you should fish the edges, ditches, cuts and bare spots.

"Another thing that messes up some of the guys is that they get big-fish syndrome," he added. "They expect everybody will catch big sacks, and if they're not catching any big fish, they get worried. Then they don't fish for the 3-pound kicker, which is a quality fish. Instead they go looking for a 5-, 6-, or 7-pounder. That's a lucky bite, really.

"You just need a 2-pound average and then find a big one if you can. But for most part if you catch 10 to 12 pounds a day, you're going to be in a good position. Limits of 2- and 3-pounders go a long way."

All of those things can contribute to a lack of patience and confidence, Shuffield said, which makes fishing slowly extremely difficult. And when a front hits, that's just a recipe for an empty livewell.

Dealing With Cold Fronts

Most often, the tours visit Florida early in the season, although recently the Texas-Mexico border has benefited from tour schedules. But traditionally, Florida's viewed as the place where bass fishing begins each spring. Fish there often spawn in February, and sometimes as early as January.

But that's also when frequent cold fronts are the angler's bane, and nowhere is that more true than in the Sunshine State. Florida-strain largemouths are notorious for shutting down when a front comes through.

"If you're dragging a worm, you have to slow down when a front hits, like it did at Toho," Shuffield said. "Then you fish the thicker edges and clumps. You either use a heavy weight in the middle of the thick clumps, or fish real slow out in front with a Texas-rig.




Shuffield says Florida fish will almost always bite a 10-inch junebug Berkley Power worm.


"I even deadstick the worm. I move it 4 or 5 inches, then let it sit for a count of 4 or 5 seconds. Sometimes I'll wait an 8- or 10-count if I feel it pull up against a clump. I'll shake the worm, let it sit, shake it again, and let it sit before I pull it over. That's how I got some of my better bites at Toho.

"You never feel them take it," he added. "They just swim off real slow. But I was using Trilene 100% fluorocarbon and I could feel a little perch-like tick, and then feel them move slowly away with it. They really hang onto the Power worm, and that helps a lot too."

If he's fishing a Rat-L-Trap during or after a front, precision casts and retrieves become even more important, he said. You want to bounce the bait off the sides of weed-clumps, and fish close to the edges, to get reaction bites. The goal is to find the concentrations, even when the fish aren't aggressive.

Notable

> As mentioned, Shuffield likes to use a junebug worm in Florida, and occasionally a red shad. "I don't know why junebug is so good there," he said. "Maybe it's the green glitter. Sometimes a redbug worm will work in real clear water. But the junebug always works there. It doesn't seem to work nearly as well here in Arkansas."

> He qualified for 15 Bassmaster Classics, and last year's Forrest Wood Cup (FLW championship).

> His most recent tour win was the 2003 Bassmaster Tour at Lake Hamilton.

> His favorite technique is flipping/pitching plastics and jigs into brush and grass, with a secondary strength of spinnerbaits and topwaters.