Contour trolling for bass

My local reservoir is full of steep rocky banks that hold LOADS of smallies in the spring and fall. I have had excellent luck using normal bass tactics, but nothing has worked as well as trolling.

Trolling isn’t used much for bass, and in many tournaments is not allowed. But for a fun day on the water nothing beats two-rod “high-low” contour trolling. The method is simple:
-Set up your yak for trolling two rods. It is important to have the rods in front of you so you can watch for bottom contact.
-Select a shallow-running lure that runs depth that will be under the tip of your nearshore rod.
-Select a deeper-running lure that runs depth that will be under the tip of your offshore rod.
-Troll parallel to the shore line and watch your sonar and rod tips carefully.
-Keep your kayak positioned so both the nearshore and offshore lures are fishing just off the bottom in each lane. Occasional bottom contact is great. Regular contact will foul your lures or end in snags.
Where I fish smallies can be very shallow. My favorite shallow lure is a Pinns Minnow from Yozuri. This hardbait runs about 6-12 inches deep. My shallow rod tip is frequently only 3-4 feet off the bank. My favorite deep lure a Spro Aruku Shad 75. This lure runs about 10 feet deep. Trolling parallel to the shore between these two depths will put both lures in the ideal slot on my favorite shorelines.

You will need to experiment to find a combo that works for you depending on the depth and steepness of your banks! Once you figure it out you can cover a 15 foot-wide swath (tip to tip) of water very effectively and very efficiently.
The results are worth the experimenting!