North Jersey Fall Pattern... No Shad

[boostr]

With all the man made resis up here and no shad going shallow, what fall pattern should we folow?

[Bruce424]

Fishing from the bank. I usually try to find shallow cover. Somthin that draws baitfish to it. Laydowns, green vegatation rocky banks, overhangs. I think in a bass's mind it's looking for a place to ambush it's prey, whatever it is. Blugill, shiners, crayfish. Lack of shallow cover? They will probly be sitting on the first break in the shallows. The first dip in depth. I would travel up the arms of the lake and search for cover like this and use moving lures first cranks and spinnerbait or chtterbait. Pass over it again with jig, wacky worm, Texas rig.

[fish devil]

What  water??? Depth.  Anyway, I would go with moving baits like lipless cranks,  regular cranks, spinner/chatterbait. Cover plenty of water until you find aggressive fish. Don't forget about the almighty JIG!!!!

[Mainebass1984]

Without knowing the water temperature or what type of lake your fishing I would suggest to follow the primary forage base and the bass wont be far behind. A lot of the places I like to fish yellow perch consists a huge part of the forage base. Look for an isolated piece of structure offshore that has yellow perch near it. Big bass wont be far behind. Perfect time to through a swimbait. You may not get many bites but the ones you do get most likely would be larger than what you have listed as your personal best. If your lake has alewives then silver buddies worked along steep drop offs or around isolated rock piles works very well. The same can be said if there are rainbow smelt present. Drop shotting minnow styled baits can be effective as well. Golden and common shiners will be shallow until the water temps drop below 50 degrees. A chatterbait or spinnerbait worked through the last remaining green weeds at a relatively fast speed can work very well.  This time of year I have great luck with moving baits but you can never underestimate the jig. Find the forage in your lake and the bass wont be far behind.

[boostr]

Do bluegill, perch, and shiners follow a similar pattern as shad this time of year. Do they school up, go up "creek arms"or go "shallow", and shallow being relative.

[boostr]

I'm really gona invest in a fish finder for next season for the reasons being splaned.

[Bruce424]

Do bluegill, perch, and shiners follow a similar pattern as shad this time of year. Do they school up, go up "creek arms"or go "shallow", and shallow being relative.

The baitfish go shallow around cover. Whether it be weed lines or brush or laydowns. Where there is food and comfort. aaannnnnndddd... the bass follow. The biggest thing is to find where majority of the bait is. That's the tricky part.

[Mainebass1984]

Where the baitfish are depends on water temperature and weather from my experience. It also varies species by species. Smelt could be deeper around isolated structure in 15-40 ft of water. Yellow perch could be  in 8-12 feet roaming. There may also be golden and common shiners much shallow around the last remaining green weeds.  I like to break down the "fall" period into the different periods, early, mid and, late fall. Early fall the water is usually still  very warm and stratified in most bodies of water and a lot of fish still can be founder deeper. Mid fall the water temperatures have been consistently dropping and are now more moderate. With the moderate temperatures fish are able to use all available habitat from 25 ft to 2 ft. It can be frustrating but once you find them they are usually bunched up. What I call late fall most people would probably call early winter. Fall turnover has occurred. Water temperatures have cooled considerably. Fish have moved out from shore to isolated off shore structure and cover. Some of the biggest fish in any lake can be caught at this time. Water temperature, weather, and prey species will dictate where the bass will go. Not all the bass will be following the same pattern. Each day it could be different. The only way to figure out a pattern is to put in some time out on the water.

 

A fish finder will help immensely in your search. Prey fish do school up this time of year. Yellow perch tend to roam around a lot in vast schools. On a calm day you can see the schools dimpling the surface as they move around. Shiners are schooled up as well and can be shallow around weeds and brushy cover. Smelt will be schooled up as well and tend to be schooled up year round.

[ClackerBuzz]

I struggle with bait vs bass. this year I heard good advise from Ish Monroe:

"When you find bass, you will find bait close by.  But when you find bait there won't necessarily be bass."

Sounds great but i'm still no closer to figuring it out

I work off fish devils approach "Cover plenty of water until you find aggressive fish".

Those dinks will give away a good location like no other.