Anybody else not catching anything?

[HeyCoach]

@EGbassing I had an extremely difficult time this summer in central AL. I’m thinking I’m going to try a jerkbait tomorrow and maybe a little Storm 360 soft swimbait to see if I can find any. 

 

With how sudden the weather changed I don’t know what to do either. 

[EGbassing]

58 minutes ago, HeyCoach said:

@EGbassing I had an extremely difficult time this summer in central AL. I’m thinking I’m going to try a jerkbait tomorrow and maybe a little Storm 360 soft swimbait to see if I can find any. 

 

With how sudden the weather changed I don’t know what to do either. 

I actually had a decent summer in terms of fishing but the weather change just really changed it. I'm just going to try a lipless and cover water tomorrow.

[J.Vincent]

One of my favorite lures in the Fall is a RattleTrap, especially when the bass are spread out everywhere. It allows me to efficiently cover and eliminate a lot of water.....this works up here in the north, and Im guessing it should also work on many of the lakes in the South 

[The Bassman]

We had a dramatic weather change almost three weeks ago. Actually, I've done pretty well. I do fish smaller lakes so location is not an issue. I do find that a little wind really helps.  Dead calm days insure a tough day.

[Bankbeater]

Pond fishing here has been slow also. 

[NYWayfarer]

15 hours ago, soflabasser said:

Thank you @NYWayfarer. Yes I had a great time catching smallmouth bass. I caught a total of 13 smallmouth bass and 11 northern strain largemouth bass, all from land from a flooded river. Also caught muskie, walleye,and other northern species of fish in my fishing vacation up north. Ned rigs are good for picky smallmouth bass where I was fishing but I noticed that the hookup to land ratio was not very good with ned rigs compared to other lures I use.The hooks are very small and break easily when you bend them back to shape as well. I will still fish with ned rigs when I fish northern rivers but prefer other lures since they have a better hook to landing ratio for me.

If you are having troubles with the hooks breaking try the Z-man Nedlockz jigheads. The hooks on those jigs are stouter. You can still bend them back with a decent pair of pliers.

 

My hookup ratio improved when I started bottom hopping the rig. Most Smallies will take the bait when it is standing straight up on the bottom. Even small ones tend to engulf the entire bait. When I feel the telltale "thunk" I use a sweeping hookset similar to the kind folks use for a dropshot. Also keeping them from jumping helps. I lose most Smallies on the jump.

[EGbassing]

1 hour ago, NYWayfarer said:

If you are having troubles with the hooks breaking try the Z-man Nedlockz jigheads. The hooks on those jigs are stouter. You can still bend them back with a decent pair of pliers.

 

My hookup ratio improved when I started bottom hopping the rig. Most Smallies will take the bait when it is standing straight up on the bottom. Even small ones tend to engulf the entire bait. When I feel the telltale "thunk" I use a sweeping hookset similar to the kind folks use for a dropshot. Also keeping them from jumping helps. I lose most Smallies on the jump.

That's mostly spot on, but the one thing I have to disagree with is using Nedlockz if you're bending hooks. I would try to figure out why your hooks are bending before switching to those. I believe it's usually caused by using tackle that's too heavy, but I'm not 100% sure.

9 hours ago, J.Vincent said:

One of my favorite lures in the Fall is a RattleTrap, especially when the bass are spread out everywhere. It allows me to efficiently cover and eliminate a lot of water.....this works up here in the north, and Im guessing it should also work on many of the lakes in the South 

Yeah, I'm going to try a red eye shad today if I have time. It's really overcast and windy so that should be a good choice as long as I can locate them.

[LonnieP]

11 hours ago, J.Vincent said:

One of my favorite lures in the Fall is a RattleTrap, especially when the bass are spread out everywhere. It allows me to efficiently cover and eliminate a lot of water.....this works up here in the north, and Im guessing it should also work on many of the lakes in the South 

Mine too. I catch more fish in October than any other month of the year thanks to the Rattletrap. Some big ones too.

[teabag259]

I need to change my nickname on here to Skunked Again.

[soflabasser]

14 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

If you are having troubles with the hooks breaking try the Z-man Nedlockz jigheads. The hooks on those jigs are stouter. You can still bend them back with a decent pair of pliers.

 

My hookup ratio improved when I started bottom hopping the rig. Most Smallies will take the bait when it is standing straight up on the bottom. Even small ones tend to engulf the entire bait. When I feel the telltale "thunk" I use a sweeping hookset similar to the kind folks use for a dropshot. Also keeping them from jumping helps. I lose most Smallies on the jump.

Thank you for recommending me the Z-Man Nedlockz jigheads. I will do some research on them and might get them for my next trip up north. I caught most of the smallmouth bass on Ned rigs by hopping the jig on the rocky bottom. As expected the jig will get stuck between the rocks every once in a while and the hook would often come back bent from pulling very little. I am use to fishing much larger and stronger hooks here in South Florida compared to such tiny little hooks like the Z-man jigs. Did not lose a single smallmouth to jumping when I caught them on crankbaits and swimbaits but did lose a couple to the Z-Man jig hooks. It will be a learning curve that is for sure but it is nothing compared to the learning curve of hooking a tarpon on a lure, which is much more challenging than catching smallmouth bass on a lure.

[GReb]

Been rough in Mississippi as well. The Shad schools this year are insane. They are literally everywhere you look which has the bass spread out and hard to locate in numbers. Only success I’ve had lately is focusing on spots sitting 5-8 feet at points up river. 

[soflabasser]

22 hours ago, J.Vincent said:

One of my favorite lures in the Fall is a RattleTrap, especially when the bass are spread out everywhere. It allows me to efficiently cover and eliminate a lot of water.....this works up here in the north, and Im guessing it should also work on many of the lakes in the South 

Lipless crankbaits are good lures to use down here as well. Might give them a try this weekend since the conditions are looking very good for fishing.

[Koz]

It's interesting that so many areas across the country have been slow fishing when this is the time of year things start to pick up after peak summer water temperatures.

 

I was on the SC DNR website and all of the fishing reports on the lakes that I checked stated that the bass fishing was extremely poor compared to past fall activity.

 

But I won't be deterred. I think I'm going to call it an early day and fish for a few hours this afternoon.

[Log Catcher]

One problem here is so much rain.We are on track to have our wettest year on record. The water levels have been up and down and muddy so much the fish don't know what they are supposed to be doing. The temps went from the mid to upper 80s down to low 60s and 50s. We haven't had normal weather so long we don't know what normal is anymore.

[Smjunior25]

On 10/23/2018 at 8:57 PM, soflabasser said:

Do not underestimate finesse techniques when it comes to catching picky bass. I probably should of written a smallmouth bass fishing report earlier but later is better than never. Here is my smallmouth bass fishing report for early October 2018;

 

For the past couple years I have seen many BassResource members talking about how good the ned rig was so I finally gave in and bought a bunch of ned rig jigs and ned rig soft plastics. I tried them in my local Florida waters and caught some fish but was not impressed until I went up north for smallmouth bass. I was fishing in a flooded river and the smallmouth bass where being picky.Caught 1 smallmouth on a spinnerbait and that was it until I decided to try the ned rig for the first time for smallmouth bass. I ended catching 12 smallmouth bass in less than 2 hours of fishing in a flooded river, which is much harder to fish than fishing in low water conditions.The ned rig has become a confidence bait for me and I plan on using it whenever I fish northern rivers.

I'm up here in Iowa, and I've got a Ned Rig tied on at all times. It's not the most exciting way to fish, but it pretty much always catches fish, anywhere from clear water lakes to the Mississippi River! 

[greentrout]

went to a large lake yesterday and did some bank beating...fished dam rip rap where it begins to get shallow and in a nearby cove...caught 3 in 2 hrs....17" and 2 14"...nothing to brag about but fun...

 

used 12# big game mono 6"6" med. fast rod bps bc with zoom trick worm green pumpkin & watermelon red flake 1/32 oz. ...total cloud cover with an off and on slight drizzle 68 degrees...

 

will be able to fish here thru nov....then still can but much colder...

 

good fishing...

[Chance_Taker4]

Here in Ohio the fishing has been off pretty much since ice out. I blame the inconsistent whether. It warmed up earlier than normal but then cooled off quick. We didn't see "normal temps" or conditions until late May early June. Just to record our coldest July in 30 years. However the last two weeks have made up for some horrid fishing this season. I love the fall bite because I can slay them on cranks more often.

[All about da bass]

On 10/23/2018 at 6:37 PM, EGbassing said:

I've been fishing a lot of ponds recently and literally haven't had one bite in a couple months. I never got one bite last fall either. I thought fall was supposed to be the best time of year for fishing...?

I have had something similar happen to me this year with fishing lakes, ponds, creeks, mud holes. Anything I was fishing in just wasn't producing for me. I absolutely tore them up last year, I don't know what I did last year that made me catch them better. I'll just have to solve that amazing puzzle we call getting a bite.

[Derek1]

I understand that. I was so looking forward to the fall bite and it has been the least productive time on the water for me all season. 

[EGbassing]

21 minutes ago, Derek1 said:

I understand that. I was so looking forward to the fall bite and it has been the least productive time on the water for me all season. 

Yeah. Honestly I'm really looking forward to winter fishing at this point. ?

[Log Catcher]

I went Tuesday with no luck. I even threw a lipless crank bait in a shad pattern. Other crank baits with no luck.  Had a few minor bites on soft plastics. Water temp was 55 to 60 degrees depending on what part of the lake I was on. To top it all off before I left I hit a stump with the trolling motor and broke part of bracket assembly. Guess i'm done for the year. Now I have to find out what it will cost me to get the bracket fixed or replaced.

[Derek1]

It’s dark cloudy and 65 degrees out right now we had a warm light rain most of the day with a warm breeze. I’m leaving work early and going to hit two ponds. I have a good feeling about this afternoon lol. 

[813basstard]

No bites in a month or so?! Something ain’t right that’s bigger than weather. Did you catch them at the same ponds before? On the same bait? 

[EGbassing]

8 hours ago, 813basstard said:

No bites in a month or so?! Something ain’t right that’s bigger than weather. Did you catch them at the same ponds before? On the same bait? 

Yeah, I was catching somewhere around one per hour in the spring and about 1 per two hours in the summer. Then they just disappeared up until yesterday, when I finally got a couple bites.

[NittyGrittyBoy]

Water temp was 65-66, slight wind, air temp was 50ish

 

I tried everything. Only bite I could get was watermelon red senko, weightless. Caught 5 dinks. Idk what was up. Usually a really good pond, and man I was hoping for a dropshot bite today