New bass angler.. need help

[Bankfisher22]

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum and to fishing bass. I need help choosing lures for the fall in DEEP South Texas. I mainly fish from the bank for largemouth bass and was doing great in the summer with crankbaits and t-rigged worms and creature baits. Now we have been having quite a bit of rain and the waters have turned muddy in some ponds and more turbid in the only big lake we have here. The fishing hasn't been real good in the past couple of weeks since it started raining. What colors and baits work best during this time of year?

[thedilettantedad]

Might try darker colors in low visibility waters, black, black and blue, etc. Spinnerbait and Buzzbait still doing well in Houston. Both white. Good luck!

[Shaners]

If you have muddy water you're gonna want to stick to black and blue, purple, black or chartreuse or any of those combinations. I always throw wide wobble loud rattle crankbaits or spinnerbaits with gold Colorado blades. If the bite is really slow and there's no reaction bite then you can still always finesse them out with plastics.

[Bankfisher22]

Thanx for the input guys. I was using color combinations that were mostly in the shad range for the lipless crankbaits, and watermelon red and green pumpkin for the plastics. Never tried the spinner or buzzbait. Ill try to get some tackle this weekend and try some new stuff.

 

Do you guys have any suggestions on how to retrieve them or is it just a thing where you have to try all kinds of retrieves to see what gets the bite.

 

And last thing, do largemouth bass stay at a certain depth or does that all depend on the season, because in the summer I would let the lipless crankbaits hit the bottom but I could never actually tell how deep it was. I also have some squarebills but the deepest one I have will only go 6 ft. Should I get deeper diving crankbaits or are those fine for fishing from the bank?

[LuffDaddy]

I just caught my personal best 8 pounder on a 6 foot diving squarebill. They will be all up and down the water column for different reasons. If it's insanely hot near the surface and there's no cover, they will go deeper. Even if it's super hot, they could still be shallow if there's cover. In my short experience, bass seem to be everywhere lol. My best luck in murky waters have been wide wobble cranks and topwaters in the mornings and evenings. As far as retrieves, you usually have to just experiment til you find out what mood they are in. Sometimes you can be at the same lake and every single variable is the same as the day you slayed them burning your crank but you won't get a bite that way today, gotta slow roll. Bass are weird man.... What's good one day, they'll laugh at the next! Keep at it, good luck!

 

PS : I attached the big girl I just caught on a squarebill for some inspiration! Tight lines!

[BrackishBassin]

Muddy water - throw a chatterbait. Most will say chartreuse and white, but I’ve had my best luck throwing a bluegill color chatterbait with a black and blue trailer (usually a craw or creature). Caught everything from bass to yellow perch to a snapping turtle. 

[LuffDaddy]

12 minutes ago, BrackishBassin said:

Muddy water - throw a chatterbait. Most will say chartreuse and white, but I’ve had my best luck throwing a bluegill color chatterbait with a black and blue trailer (usually a craw or creature). Caught everything from bass to yellow perch to a snapping turtle. 

How do you typically retrieve the chatterbait?  I've had zero luck with it. Usually throw it with either a rage menace or super fluke trailer. 

[BrackishBassin]

15 minutes ago, LuffDaddy said:

How do you typically retrieve the chatterbait?  I've had zero luck with it. Usually throw it with either a rage menace or super fluke trailer. 

It really depends on what the fish want. I start out with a straight retrieve. If they don’t want that, I throw some pauses in. Let it drop for a second and then start it up again. I’ve had decent luck with that one. They seem to hit it right as it starts back up. If that’s not working, I’ll try yo-yoing it back to me. Sometimes I let it hit bottom, but most of the time I don’t since I fish from the bank. If none of those three are working, I switch to something else. My experience with chatterbaits has been that if they want it, they slam it. I’ve never fished it and only caught one on it. It’s either multiple fish or they won’t touch it at all. 

[LuffDaddy]

3 minutes ago, BrackishBassin said:

if they want it, they slam it. I’ve never fished it and only caught one on it. It’s either multiple fish or they won’t touch it at all. 

That kinda told me everything. I think I haven't stuck with it enough the times I've thrown it, or like you said, they simply didn't want it.  Thanks bud!

[BrackishBassin]

1 hour ago, LuffDaddy said:

That kinda told me everything. I think I haven't stuck with it enough the times I've thrown it, or like you said, they simply didn't want it.  Thanks bud!

Sure thing! It wasn’t a confidence bait for me until I accidentally went out one trip without any of my other moving baits (forgot I’d swapped out my gear to fish saltwater). But I did have my two chatterbaits with me (rockfish and drum love them), so I threw it when I wasn’t catching anything on my soft plastics. Turns out, it’s what they wanted. I’ve thrown it a bunch since then, and I usually get a hit within 30 minutes, if they’re going to go for it. I’m constantly moving though, since I’m a bank beater. It’s one of my go to baits due to the amount of underwater vegetation in the ponds and lake I fish. Underwater trebles are just asking to get hung up every cast. 

[the reel ess]

2 hours ago, BrackishBassin said:

Muddy water - throw a chatterbait. Most will say chartreuse and white, but I’ve had my best luck throwing a bluegill color chatterbait with a black and blue trailer (usually a craw or creature). Caught everything from bass to yellow perch to a snapping turtle. 

I bought my first chatterbait in black/blue because it was wintertime and the water was off-color. But it works year-round.