Article
Date: 11/11/2004
Fall
Bass
- By Mark Lassagne
That
first cast a smooth underhand pitch with a Pumpkin “Big
Jig” and a brown grub trailer. The bait slides into the
water with hardly a splash, slides down the old log, you never
feel a bite the line start swimming off to the side. This is where
your heart stops the second before you swing hard and “yea”
you feel resistance and it’s not a snag! A fat 8lb bass
breaks water “what a feeling”. You knew he’d
be there, that nice piece of wood on the point next to the creek
channel. You continue up the creek channel switching to a crank’
a shallow Speed Trap not twenty yard and another bass, then another
and about five fish later you’re at the back of the cove.
So now you follow the creek back out deep following the channel,
dragging a Carolina rig Lizard, “Tic-Tic” and you
know you’re on um. The fish are chewing the jet skiers,
pleasure boats and water skiers are gone. There’s a chill
in the air it’s fall and I’m happy. For the next two
to three months fishing will just get better, fall is the best
time to catch bass no matter where you live or what way you like
to fish. Fifty or even One Hundred fish days are not uncommon.
There are a few keys to caching fish during this time of the year.
The first is finding the bait near the structure and you’ll
surely find the fish. Fall bass are mainly interested in baitfish
“Shad” rather than crawfish, not to say they don’t
eat craws in the fall. The reason for this is bait fish are abundant,
go to most any lake and you will see schools of small shad and
other bait fish all over.
Some lakes don’t have a good shad population
but have other bait similar to a pond smelt which usually live
deeper than shad. Here where your Lowrance x15 comes in handy
because with out a good graph you won’t find the bait or
the key structure and you know “find the bait find the fish”
To locate these fish start looking at the main lake points and
graph for fish once you find the fish there pretty easy to catch.
Try this get a four or six inch worm shad color 3/16oz weight
Texas rig and shake directly over the fish or a Drop Shot rig
with a Persuader Minnow is hard to beat. If you were looking for
a bigger bite, a jig in traditional craw colors would work. Carolina
rigged Lizard is great for covering deep water fast.
In every lake there is always some fish shallow
and using structure to ambush their prey more so in the fall than
any other time. Not all fish are the same and there will be more
than one pattern. Shallow fish are much more skittish and require
stealth. Fall bass use the creek channels as migration routes
and then move up and feed on the points. Structures in these areas
are key to finding the better fish. If you can find a nice ledge,
rock pile, trees in the creek channel or on a point next to a
channel it almost guaranteed fish. We call this compound structure.
Boat position and casting skills determine who’s going to
come out ahead when fishing shallow. If you get on and off the
trolling motor you WILL spook the fish and can easily hamper your
success, use a steady speed on constant. Cast under hand and even
throw the bait on the bank and drag it into the water. Next when
fishing shallow watch for shadows and which way the sun is facing,
bass use the sun to their advantage. A ½ oz Assassinator
Spinner bait Southern Shad is an excellent choice for these shallow
bass. The nice thing about a spinner bait is you can throw it
on the bank with out getting hung up and slide it into the water,
a” deadly trick”. The speed trap is also a great tool
for shallow bass its small body is not intrusive and provokes
a lot of strikes. Each kind of structure dictates its own presentation
a lay down log may call for a Helix, Jig or a Tube. A shallow
rock pile would be a speed trap and sparse brush piles would be
a spinner bait etcetera.
Fall
fishing can be fantastic with so many ways to catch fish you can
almost just take your pick and go. When the temps go down the
fish come up. Good Luck!
Mark
Lassagne
Gone Fishing Promotions
Po Box 27274
Concord, CA 94527-0274
925-676-3474
www.ezbass.com
Pennies
on the dollar for fishing rods, reels, baits, lures, and more?
You be the judge!
