Fall Bass Blues

[jives6011]

I have read numerous articles about fall bass feeding frenzy. I live in central Michigan. Yesterday I fished Wixom lake which one of the best fisheries in this area. Per all the articles I have read I went to the creek  channels which as advertised was loaded with shad they were jumping there were thousands. I threw super flukes, crankbaits, wacky worm, texas rigged, hula poppers, super spooks, buzz baits, frogs, perch swimbaits, black and blue swim jig which was the only thing I got one bite on. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated I caught pretty good numbers in the summer months but fall has been pretty disappointing.

[Bruce424]

Little luck in PA also

[odell015]

When nothing is working I stick to what is known to work best in that location/conditions and fish it hard all day. Switching up sometimes frustrates me more. Imo

[Smokinal]

You need to throw the blade!

[jives6011]

What type I personally have never done well with spinner blades. I can't say I have fished them a lot due to my lack of success with them

[Smokinal]

Blade baits. Here's a couple of threads on them:

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/146137-tis-the-season-for-my-buddy-he-is-silver-hes-a-silver-buddy/

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/145592-silver-buddy/

 

 

And this is a great vid on them too:

 

[MainelyBASS]

It may sound silly, but more often than not IME the bite is worse the closer you go to the bait. The reason is when bass lock in on a school of bait, they can consume 10-20 fish in one swoop through a school of bait. Your lure can mimic exactly what the bait looks like, but becomes less desirable to fish that are locked into large groups of bait. This isnt always the case when speaking about bait fish, but I find that keeping my distance from a school of bait and fishing the outsides of it pays off a lot better than fishing in the middle of the school.

[BostonMahhk]

I'm having the same exact issues. I live in eastern MA and this is my first season tournament fishing and my second fishing at all. But as soon as the fall rolled around I get skunked or have 1-2 fish days day after day. All I read says fall is suppose to be one of the best times of the year for numbers of fish and its time they come up shallow in coves and creeks to chase bait. Well that most certainly isn't the case around here. I'd think it was my inexperience but tournament after tournament the winning bags are 10lbs and less and only 1-2 boats come in with a limit. I think that this area is a totally different story. I think our conditions come quicker, the temp drops sooner and days shorten sooner. Our fall starts early September when everywhere else has til oct-nov. It makes things extra hard because 98% of the articles are written about lakes everywhere else and we don't have much study or read because of that. If someone could figure out how to catch 15lb bags this time of year in MA and NH they'd win 90% of the tournaments around here. This is the exact reason I came to this part of the forum this am but apparently I'm not the only one dealing with this.

[Smokinal]

You definitely have to be careful what you read and where you read it. The articles we read in BM are all about man-made lakes down south in a totally different climate with a completely different set of baitfish. The best thing you can do is just stay in a club as a non-boater and hope you draw a good boater to watch for the day. Learn your area, your baitfish, your crayfish colors per time of year etc...

[DogBone_384]

I'm having a tough fall here in MA too.  I've had more time to fish in the last 8 weeks, so I have.  I've kayaked three of my semi-regular ponds and tossed crankbaits, Senkos, Rapala DTs, a couple different spinner baits, and my 'regular' T-Rigged Zoom (which I know works).  Short of tossing a hand grenade in the water, I've yet to catch more than a couple 1 +/- pounders. 

 

The temperature's been yo-yo-ing here, combined with a few storms, is the likely reason the bite's been off up here. 

 

Gonna keep trying, they've got to be out there somewhere.....

[Smokinal]

Have you guys tried throwing a white fluke? That's another of my fall go-to's. I like them on a lightly nose or keel weighted hook.

[Mainebass1984]

How deep are you guys fishing ? On Saturday I was catching most of my fish in 25-40 feet of water on a silver buddy. Monday I was catching fish in the deepest water of the pond I was fishing in 8-12 feet with a jig. In my opinion this time of year the fish are very congregated. It may take time to find them but once you do the fishing can be some of the best of the year. 

[Jtrout]

I bank fish a 37 acre lake and I can't seem to find the bass lately I only catch one and it's like 10 inches. I've been mainly throwing lipless crank baits the water is really clear right now I can see like 5 feet to the bottom and the lake at its deepest is 15 near the dam and averages 8 ft deep. I'm in maryland

[Mainebass1984]

I bank fish a 37 acre lake and I can't seem to find the bass lately I only catch one and it's like 10 inches. I've been mainly throwing lipless crank baits the water is really clear right now I can see like 5 feet to the bottom and the lake at its deepest is 15 near the dam and averages 8 ft deep. I'm in Maryland

 

Its a tough time of year to bank fish. I would try around the dam a lot.

[jives6011]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Headed back out tomorrow definitely going a little deeper tomorrow trying the blade for sure crankbaits and swim baits. Really dig this forum.

[Smokinal]

Well let us know how you do!

[Cgrinder]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Headed back out tomorrow definitely going a little deeper tomorrow trying the blade for sure crankbaits and swim baits. Really dig this forum.

 

Gonna be cooold in central michigan tomorrow. Good luck!