wilsjay Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 Me and my son just started fishing this summer really. Nice little lake by our house with a lot of bass. We have been killing them all summer just on Senko's really. We just got what feels like our first taste of cooler fall weather here today. We went to the lake to fish, 4x more people there than there had been all summer. We throw our trusty Greenpumpkin senko's fish are now jumping EVERYWHERE we think we are going to kill it. We got 2 bites all evening! My son did hooked what would have easily been his PR on one of them and it spit the hook about 3 feet from the bank. Just before dark I swap from green pumpkin to a junebug color still zero luck. Lastly I switched to black colored swim bait (https://6thsensefishing.com/collections/6th-sense-curve-55/products/curve-55-syke-craw) and fished that till dark, but still nothing! HELP! You could tell and see fish active all around us but we couldn't catch a thing and did not see anyone else landing any either! What to do!?! Quote
Sphynx Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 The fall bite is linked very heavily to baitfish, senko's scratch a certain itch for fish, but if they are keyed in on shad, or minnows of any sort really they want a bait that imitates this, I find spinnerbaits to be absolutely killer this time of year, and I have caught probably 30 fish in a crankbait the last 3 or 4 days, total of maybe 10 hours actively fishing, so give that a whack too, you might do well to look up Glenn's fall videos. YouTube is a fantastic resource, generally speaking I find natural colors are especially effective this time of year, whites, silver/gold, green pumpkin, and ghost colors, look for pockets, and places bass can pin baitfish against the bank or other hard structure. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted September 16, 2020 Global Moderator Posted September 16, 2020 Are you sure the jumping fish are bass? It's pretty unusual for bass to just jump on the surface. Now if you see bait jumping around and explosions in the middle of them, it's a different story. A vast majority of the time when I see fish jumping or rolling on the surface, it's carp, buffalo, or gar. 2 Quote
wilsjay Posted September 16, 2020 Author Posted September 16, 2020 You will see some small bait fish jump out of the water, but I am pretty sure it is the bass eating something. We have been going a couple times a week for the past month or two to this lake and I never seen activity like this. It was kind of crazy. No shad here in my area, they mainly feed on minnows, crawls, sun fish, blue gills I think. I have heard there are also some decent catfish in this lake in the deeper parts, but where we fish it is fairly shallow. Quote
BlakeMolone Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 Poppers have been working for me when bass are busting on bait, it just mixes in with the commotion so we’ll and the bass just simply eat it. Quote
galyonj Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 If you have reason to believe the fish are looking up and chasing baitfish, it behooves you to throw something that a) looks or acts like what they're after, and/or b) is above or at the level in the water column that the bass are. So you've got a few options. Soft jerkbaits like flukes, hard floating or suspending jerkbaits, poppers of all sorts, wakebaits, plopper-style lures, walking baits. Senko-style stickbaits will still work, but if the fish are as keyed in to the specific behavior you see as you describe, dragging them on the bottom isn't gonna get it done. Maybe try a wacky rig with a brighter color plastic. You can have any color you want, but if I'm trying to imitate a baitfish, I generally stick to bluegill/baby bass/white/shad patterns. It doesn't really matter if shad aren't in your lake. It matters that what you're throwing looks small enough to eat and helpless enough to be an easy meal. Quote
Super User Fishes in trees Posted September 16, 2020 Super User Posted September 16, 2020 A long time ago, when I was just getting into BFL tournament fishing, a guy who was a much better fisherman than I was told me that he never bothered to carry top water baits. It was his opinion that if there was a top water bite going on, there was a better sub- surface bite happening at the same time. He recommended a Timber Tiger DC4 crank bait or a lipless crank or a Minus 1 ( burned pretty fast so it got a foot or so beneath the surface). I think that he was more or less correct. I carry a modest amount of top water baits and occasionally throw them, but just because I think that they are fun and strikes, when they happen are awesome. When I see surface activity like you've described, I have MUCH better success running a lipless crank through the area. 3 Quote
Dorado Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 1 hour ago, Fishes in trees said: A long time ago, when I was just getting into BFL tournament fishing, a guy who was a much better fisherman than I was told me that he never bothered to carry top water baits. It was his opinion that if there was a top water bite going on, there was a better sub- surface bite happening at the same time. He recommended a Timber Tiger DC4 crank bait or a lipless crank or a Minus 1 ( burned pretty fast so it got a foot or so beneath the surface). I think that he was more or less correct. I carry a modest amount of top water baits and occasionally throw them, but just because I think that they are fun and strikes, when they happen are awesome. When I see surface activity like you've described, I have MUCH better success running a lipless crank through the area. Great reply here. I mostly night fish and have had a ton of strikes the past week or so on top water lures. Missing a ton of fish on poppers and walking baits. A couple days ago, I asked a local tackle bait shop owner about my issues and he preached about using wake baits instead. Give them something to strike subsurface where they can actually have a chance at it. The light switch went on. On the next night outing at my local pond I’ll bring a bunch of JDM wake baits, Baby One-Minus, and some floating minnows. Something to chew on 1 Quote
wilsjay Posted September 16, 2020 Author Posted September 16, 2020 Just now, Dorado said: Great reply here. I mostly night fish and have had a ton of strikes the past week or so on top water lures. Missing a ton of fish on poppers and walking baits. A couple days ago, I asked a local tackle bait shop owner about my issues and he preached about using wake baits instead. Give them something to strike subsurface where they can actually have a chance at it. The light switch went on. On the next night outing at my local pond I’ll bring a bunch of JDM wake baits, Baby One-Minus, and some floating minnows. Something to chew on If anyone here has suggestions to specific wake baits, etc. to try (amazon link/something with pic), as I newbie I would appreciate it! Thanks for all the info! Quote
Finessegenics Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 I agree with @Fishes in trees. I have come across the same situation a handful of times. I would throw a popper or swim a large grub on the surface when i saw baitfish jumping out of the water, and the birds going nuts on them. I wouldn't get a bite and it left me scratching my head. Your topwater bait gets lost in that mess since there are likely hundreds, if not thousands of tiny baitfish in the area. What tends to work is a bait that runs deeper since the predators are usually below the baitball. I like a swimbait on an underspin, or some minnow style bait on a jighead. I imagine a spinnerbait would really stand out too. Throw it where you see the baitfish busting and there should be bass, or whatever predator underneath. 1 Quote
D_Stephenson Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 Underspin with a 3" White/silver paddle tail swim bait has been getting some hits for us. Had never thrown these before but started noticing shad schools and such. Figured it was time to try and it has some. I also appreciate other advice on this thread and will try some other approaches. 1 Quote
Hewhospeaksmuchbull Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 On 9/16/2020 at 9:26 AM, wilsjay said: If anyone here has suggestions to specific wake baits, etc. to try (amazon link/something with pic), as I newbie I would appreciate it! Thanks for all the info! Match Colors and patterns to local forage. My favorite gill look at 4" 7/8oz model. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Fish_Lab_Bio_Gill_Wake_Bait/descpage-FLBGWB.html I've done well with these https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/6th_Sense_Movement_80_WK_Wakebait/descpage-6SM80WK.html A little cheaper than Sixth sense. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Strike_King_HC_KVD_25_Wake_Bait/descpage-SKKVDWB.html 1 Quote
Cptndeez64 Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 That movement from 6th sense has been very successful the last couple weeks for me. I would advise checking it out. Quote
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