Tips For The Beginner
When Mother Nature takes her brush and paints the leaves on our trees
orange, yellow and brown. When Friday night and Saturday afternoons
are spent cheering on your favorite high school or college football
team. When the air temp gets a little cooler at night and not nearly
as high at mid-day. When the water temps in the upper regions of the
lake begins to turn downward, it’s a signal that “Fall
Transition” bass fishing is getting ready to “CRANK UP”!
Over the next several paragraphs within this article, it is my intention
to share with you some of the techniques and patterns that I look for
during this time of the year. There is one thing you must keep in mind
concerning “Season Change”. It doesn’t always mean
that there will be a hungry bass next to every log, under every boat
house, hiding in every weed bed or suspended off every creek channel
point. But under normal circumstances it does mean this…Largemouth
will almost always repeat the same migration routes that they used
in the spring. If you will stop right there, and think about that for
a moment it will give you some real insight where you can begin your
search for Fall Transition Bass. Let’s examine this fact a little
further.
Where Do You Begin?
It has been my experience over the years that bass will travel in
the Fall right back to the same areas that I found them in during the
spring spawning season. I begin to search out creeks and pockets in
the upper region of the lake that has a lot of cover and where fresh
water runs into the creek. This is an important fact that many beginning
bass fishermen either overlook or don’t understand completely.
Remember “Spawn” and “Fall Transition” bass
patterns will always appear nearer where the river comes in verses
areas nearer the dam. The larger the body of water the truer this fact
becomes.
If weather patterns are normal, the fall season will bring us rain
and falling temps. Fall also will bring “Cold Fronts” that
we will talk more about later. Influx of fresh water will almost always
result in greater oxygen levels, a greater shad population within the
creeks, which in turn results in bass following the shad into these
areas. Let’s talk a little bit about creeks.
Concentrate on Creeks In the Fall
As I stated earlier I like to concentrate on major creeks toward
the head of the river first before in I attack small creeks, ditches
and mid lake creeks. I like creeks that have plenty of cover. Creeks
that are laden with lay down timber along the bank. Creeks with stump
rows, chunk rock, sunken brush around boat docks and when possible
grass and other aquatic weeds. I like creeks that have arms that provide
multiple points. The ideal creek would be one where this structure
is close to the dominate channel.
The reason for being close to the channel is four fold (1) Most of
your major reservoir creek channels will have “Current” (2)
Current means “Oxygen” (3) Current means “Food” “Shad & Bait
Fish” (4) And “Deeper Water Access” .
If the creek that I have chosen is a big creek, that is wide at it’s
mouth I always by pass the first portion and head straight toward the
back where the creek narrows at it’s source and the channel is
more defined. There is three reason for this (1) If a good shad population
is present-it is much easier to stay on the bait, which is a vital
link in being successful (2) Your chance of being closer to the creek
current is much greater, which will help you take advantage of the
structure that is available. (3) If your area should happen to experience
a substantial rain, the influx of this dingier water many times will
ignite bass into feeding frenzies.
To help you locate creeks and areas like we have discussed above
you can use (1) a good topographical lake map (2) GPS with Maps capabilities
(3) your electronics or (4) LUCK……I think I’ll try
the first three. If you’re serious about being successful on
the water you have to do your home work.
What About Fall Cold Fronts And Water Temp’s
In many respects we bass fishermen are a lot like the bass we pursue.
For several months now everything has been more or less the same. It
may been hot-but it’s been “Consistently Hot” We
learned to adapt to that and so did the fish. The bass found the right
depth that provide them with the thermo cline and oxygen that they
needed. If you worked at it, you were rewarded by catching bass in
a fairly unchanging pattern. But now change is in the air. Even as
I write this article-day time temps are reaching the low 80’s
but instead of those 70 degree nights we were experiencing just a few
weeks ago the norm is now the high 40’s to mid 50’s.
Just like you and I feel the temperature change and begin to reach
for that sweat shirt or light jacket in the mornings the bass feel
it to. Their metabolism and activity levels will begin to slow as we
head into the late fall-early winter time frame. Am I painting a picture
of “Gloom & Doom for Fall bass fishing? No, not at all. I’m
convinced that everything that I have outlined above can have a “GREATER” effect
on the fisherman than it does the bass they say they want to catch.
This time of the year it becomes a preparation and mental game. You
have to be willing and able to adjust to these changes around you.
Let me give you an example.
Let’s say your lake has experienced several days of cloudy
conditions and then a moderately severe cold front comes through and
you’re left with no clouds and only blue bird skies. What do
you do? Pack up and go home? Watch football instead of fish? Not me!
I stick with my creek game plan and work even more closely to the cover
nearest the channel and slow my lure presentation down. But let me
also add that in lakes like my home lake Old Hickory in Nashville Tennessee
a two or three degree drop in the surface temperature will have little
to no effect on shallow fish. Those in 4 feet of water or less. But
if the sudden drop is greater than three degrees it can have a negative
effect. This again enforces that fact that you need to know your creeks
and where structure is close to the deeper channel areas that has moving
water or current so that you can adjust accordingly.
I guess the worst conditions would be if you experienced a drastic
temperature drop that was accompanied by heavy cold rains that elevated
the lake level. This cold water instead of pulling shad and baitfish
up into the backs of the creek will push them out instead. My suggestion
at that point would be to begin to move out further and further in
the creek to try to find some stability in water temperature and shad
activity. And there are times when you just have to let these situations
pass and let the lake settle back down.
I’ve had days in the Fall that were unbelievable in numbers
and quality of fish. And then I’ve had days that I had to remind
myself to stick to what I preach and be slow and methodical in my approach
and my lure selection. Which brings us to lures for the Fall season.
Fall Lure Selection
It will come as no surprise that my first choice
for fishing the Fall transition period is a “Small Crankbait”. I like crankbaits
in 1/16th 1/8th and ½ ounce sizes that are no more than 2 ½ inches
long. I like those that run 2 feet to 12 feet deep-some with bills
and some lipless.
One of the very first thoughts that enter the mind
of many fisherman when I talk about these small baits is that the only
catch small fish.
If that’s what you’re thinking let me put it to you this
way. “You Sir Are Dead Wrong!” Time and time again through
out the fall and early winter months I have caught lunker size Largemouth,
Smallmouth and Spots on small crankbaits.
I like to use the Luhr-Jensen Speed Traps and a local favorite, the
Buckeye Shad as my crankbaits of choice. There are some distinct differences
between these two types of baits that I need to explain. The Speed
Trap as your can see has a bill and are fairly wide bodied floating
baits which have rattles inserted inside. The wobble of the baits are
wider and therefore moves more water. You also have the ability to
stop these baits in mid-retrieve and they will slowly float back up
toward the surface. This technique many times is very deadly in the
Fall. The Buckeye Shad on the other hand is a thinner bait that doesn’t
float or have a rattle and has a very tight wobble. I’m convinced
that just like in the earl y Spring, there are times that bass just
don’t want a bait that rattles. I can’t always explain
the why, but I have experienced this to be true many times. I also
like to stay with at least 2 different shad colors and a chartreuse
or firetiger combination in that fall.
One of the reasons I like to use these types of baits is that you
can drop your trolling motor and cover water. Lakes like Old Hickory
tend to always have color in the water so I try to stay in a shallow
pattern as much as possible covering the structure nearest to the channel
current. I like throwing these small baits on a AllPro APX 7 foot Medium
action spinning rod with 6lb and 8lb test line and always use a good
snap which I believe helps give these crankbaits additional action.
There are times that even with bait fish present the bass seem reluctant
to hit a crankbait, or after you have caught several in one area the
bite slows down. This is when I pick up a rod rigged with a Secret
Weapon Spinnerbait. If the bass have been in the cover I will continue
to run my spinnerbait through the limbs and then just it die in opening,
or next to stumps or brush piles. I believe this is where the Secret
Weapon really shines. Both blades on these baits will helicopter down
with equal freedom which isn’t true with most spinnerbaits on
the market today. If the fish have been on the outside edge of the
brush I make repeated cast in every direction to make sure that all
sides of the cover have been fished. I like to use the 3/8oz willow
leaf model with sliver blades with either a blue/chartre use, white/chartruse
or a translucent skirt with silver metal flakes.
Conclusion
I can’t emphasis enough the importance of staying in the creeks
and on the bait fish during the Fall transition period. Your chances
of loading the boat or having a very few strikes almost always hinges
on the presence of shad in the areas your fishing. As Fall begins to
give way to early winter and the water temperatures lowers even more
I begin to work my way back out further and further toward the mouth
of the creeks until the water temperatures reach 50 degrees then it’s
winter fishing time and everything changes again.
But that’s another article and another story. I wish you the
best in this Fall season….Good Luck and be safe. Rick McFerrin
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