By Scott Norton
The summer to fall transition is finally coming to an end, and we now have a clear pattern to track bass with. What’s the fall pattern? Think open water. This time of year, bass school to corral shad for consumption. The intake of calories is very important to store energy for the winter months to come. This will also make it easy for anglers to ambush the bass. This will give you a hint as to what pattern to use. This pattern tells me to use moving baits or something that looks like shad.
There are lots of choices for matching the hatch. Paddle tails, glide bait, jerk bait, jigging spoons, flutter spoons, flukes, chatter baits, and spinner baits with a paddle tail trailer. If you stick to this list, you can’t go wrong. Why not use jigs or worms? You can use slow moving baits, but with the bass moving around, you want to cover as much water as you can. If you use lures that just target objects of structure you’ll have to use luck, and that’s what your trying not to do.
So what kind of gear do you need for these baits? You’ll want a 6-foot 10-inch medium rod with a high-speed reel. For spinner baits, chatter baits, flukes, flutter spoons, and jigging spoons use a 7-foot 3 inch to a 7-foot 6-inch medium heavy rod with a high-speed reel. When using swim baits, you will want to use a 7-foot 11-inch to an 8-foot rod with a standard to a high-speed reel. Pairing these baits to the right gear is very important to your set up. The goal is to get as much out of your baits as you can. Your line selection should be a fluorocarbon since it sinks on all these baits. With baits with a treble hook, use 10 to 12-pound test. Baits with single hook, use 15 to 20-pound test depending on the weight of lure your using.
Bass will move from the main lake to the secondary points in the creek channels. The lower the temperature gets, the further to the backs of the creeks they will go. This is also the time of year to really concentrate on your graphs. If you don’t have a graph, do not worry, just look for signs of life on the surface. Shad are easy to see during this time and once you locate them, then you know where to start casting. Bass this time of year are less likely to spook as they are in a frenzy to do what nature says to do, kind of like deer in the rut. They lose their ability of rational thought. Be sure to take advantage of this time when making small adjustment can give you big gains. Correct set ups on your gear will ensure your bait will perform like it is designed to. Hope this helps and good luck this season.
Scott Norton is a native of Western North Carolina. Born in Asheville, NC, he is a long time avid hunter, angler, and weekend warrior. He is a member of Southern Raft Supply’s prostaff team representing them in his Jackson Kayak Coosa FD.