Fall Approach Without Shad ?

[scfox11]

A lot of the reading I have been doing about fall fishing has to do with bass following shad.  Well when fishing lakes without shad, and say the primary source is bream, do the bass follow the same patterns for the most part?  To me, it seems like the bass would stage outside of depth ranges from the bream to feed one them.  So am I right in thinking find the bream, find the bass?  Do they still school up in the fall and chase bait if there are no big schools of shad to chase?  I was just thrown in a loop on a 250 acre lake I started fishing and thought there was shad, but there is not, so I am trying to reconfigure my approaches.

[Raul]

There´s no need to reconfigure anything, there´s no shad ----> so what ? bass in my neck of the woods have never seen shad, never seen perch, never seen any of the regular "everyday prey"  authors talk over and over again, yet, I stil catch them, with what ? with lures that do not mimic anything in specific but mimic food.

 

What if there is no bream ? would you be screwed ? nope you wouldn´t. A lot of places I fish do not have bream either, nor, as incredible as what many may think where tilapia is the main forage of bass in practically all the country there´s also no tilapia. My everyday lake has no tilapia, nor bream, nor shad, nor shiners, it´s in practical terms, a bass and carp lake.

 

Go with your stuff, choose your baits according to conditions and throw them where you feel bass will be in those conditions.

[Darren.]

Go with your stuff, choose your baits according to conditions and throw them where you feel bass will be in those conditions.

 

This.

 

There's something the bass are eating if it isn't shad.

[einscodek]

I think bream would still be staging near the deep in fall

but baby bream are still close to shore

[RSM789]

I think his question has more to do with basic seasonal patterns.  The default scenario for Fall fishing is to go shallow to the backs of the creeks because the bass will be following the shad.  Like the OP, I would like to know what the default scenario is in the Fall for lakes without shad?  Do other baitfish (minnows, baby carp, bream) also move shallow in the fall & go up the backs of creeks or do they do something different?

 

Here is another twist to the default scenario - What about lakes without creeks?  I know it sounds funny, but lakes like my home lake were built & are surrounded by homes and have no creeks or inlets (just houses, a couple of greenbelts & a retaining wall around the entire lake). What is the default scenario in the Fall when the lake has neither shad nor creeks?  Do the prey baitfish still just move shallow as the temperatures cool?

[Raul]

Now if you really want to find a prey that´s always around, where there is bass there are baby bass, and baby bass are big momma bass food.

[Smokinal]

OK, I'll tell ya one of my secret fall baits....shh now...*looks around*... a blk/blue space monkey on a 3/8 jighead. Smokes em!

[boostr]

Try a Craw type bait, Used a Jig and Craw caught me a 2 and a halfer today. Did'nt see any Bream or anything around, and there arent any shad in this area.

[einscodek]

X2 on jigs .. threw everything at em postfrontal the other week and the only thing hit was a jig worked super slow

and hit without conviction I might add

fall frontals are rough

[einscodek]

I think his question has more to do with basic seasonal patterns.  The default scenario for Fall fishing is to go shallow to the backs of the creeks because the bass will be following the shad.  Like the OP, I would like to know what the default scenario is in the Fall for lakes without shad?  Do other baitfish (minnows, baby carp, bream) also move shallow in the fall & go up the backs of creeks or do they do something different?

 

Here is another twist to the default scenario - What about lakes without creeks?  I know it sounds funny, but lakes like my home lake were built & are surrounded by homes and have no creeks or inlets (just houses, a couple of greenbelts & a retaining wall around the entire lake). What is the default scenario in the Fall when the lake has neither shad nor creeks?  Do the prey baitfish still just move shallow as the temperatures cool?

depends on the baitfish

baitfish can move shallow for plankton

well they move up at times in the water column anyway but can move shallow

its not a given they will be in the creeks it depends on the body of water

its another one of these sayings which is not applicable in all situations..

like the saying fall bassin is the best.. no for me friends.. spring is where its at

[F14A-B]

I catch them in late fall in 4 to 6 fow, in rocks, throwing jigs & craw trailers.. Also I have learned that burning a swim jig is also very effective, even though everyone says to slow down... What ever the food source is in you're water.. You will be competing with it..don't forget about crawfish, they are in about every body of water in America.

[Comfortably Numb]

OK, I'll tell ya one of my secret fall baits....shh now...*looks around*... a blk/blue space monkey on a 3/8 jighead. Smokes em!

 

Yes but as the OP said you need to find the bass or the best lure in the world wont work.

[WRB]

What do you mean by bream? This is a regional term used for bluegill, pumpkin seed, green sunfish, red ear sun sunfish (shell crackers) and crappie (both white and black). All bream except crappie are considered near shore fish, the crappie are pelagic or off shore fish.

Your small lake should have other prey sources like crawdads, frogs, worm, salamanders, insects and terrestrial critters like mice, rats, birds, lizards. Plus young of the year bass, catfish and carp.

The only reason any of the bass prey would migrate from where they are now located is the aquatic vegetation is turning brown.

You have lots of lure choices and no reason to fish off shore unless this small lake has islands and submerged humps (underwater islands) that provide the same cover/structure as the shoreline.

Depth is the key to located bass in this small lake.

Tom

[JT Bagwell]

I have been hitting a couple of lakes this fall so far that have no shad in them.

 

What has been working for me is finding grass and ripping lipless crankbaits in, around and over it.

 

I am also still whacking them on vibrating jigs with a swim senko on the back.

 

When I was out the other day the water was in the low 60's and I was cranking really fast and the bass were still freight training it.