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Written By - Rick McFerrin - 05/22/2007 |
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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 headintothelatefall-earlywintertimeframe.AmI 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 Crank bait". I like crank baits
in 1/16th 1/8th and 1/2 ounce sizes that are no more than 2 1/2 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 crank baits.
I
like to use the Luhr-Jensen Speed Traps and a local favorite, the
Buckeye Shad as my crank baits 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 early 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 fire tiger 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 crank baits additional
action.
There are times that even with bait 
fish
present the bass seem reluctant to hit a crank bait, 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 Spinner bait. If the bass have been
in the cover I will continue to run my spinner bait 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 spinner baits 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/chartreuse, white/chartreuse 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.
