fall fishing in no shad lakes

[padon]

so 2 of the main lakes I fish have shad and two don't. we all know that shad like to migrate to the middle and backs of creeks in fall. the bass of course will follow and sometimes pen the up and have a blast. fishing those types of locations and following the shad works for me on those lakes.but what about the lakes with no shad. im assuming the main forage in these two are general bait fish , bluegill crayfish etc. both of these fish have large populations of white perch which I guess could also be forage. so whats your fall strategy on lakes with no shad? also these 2 are highland type  reservoirs a fair amount of step drops and deep water bbut both do contain some aquatic grass. (milfoil)

[Dens228]

I fish several places with no shad but other baitfish.  Not only do I follow the same shad based patterns, but in all of those lakes but one shad color is the one that works the best. 

[FishinBuck07]

Focus on the main panfish in the lake then.  They will follow the panfish, also more than likely there is crawfish in them also.

[Sam]

18 hours ago, FishinBuck07 said:

Focus on the main panfish in the lake then.  They will follow the panfish, also more than likely there is crawfish in them also.

X2

[the reel ess]

I have a local small lake that's like this. It does have gold shiners, minnows of all kinds, crappie, bluegill, redear and warmouth, as well as crawfish. Gold seems to be the only consistent fish pattern. Fishing does get slow this time of year. And fall is late to SC most years.

[Spankey]

^^Gold w/black back Rat-L-Trap^^
 

That will work anywhere water and bass are. Good search bait so you can cover a decent amount of area with it. 

[the reel ess]

1 hour ago, Spankey said:

^^Gold w/black back Rat-L-Trap^^
 

That will work anywhere water and bass are. Good search bait so you can cover a decent amount of area with it. 

Yeah, that's our go-to much of the year there. But after trying a lot of gold lures there, the Spot seems to work better. It is more of a deep gold. Gold X-Rap, War Eagle spinnerbait in gold shiner, bubble gum flukes, bubble gum and limetreuse Trick Worms all produce. I use topwaters whenever they'll bite them and color seems to not matter much at all for those. And then there's the frog. Aside from these they like the black/blue jig.

[Dens228]

1 hour ago, Spankey said:

^^Gold w/black back Rat-L-Trap^^
 

That will work anywhere water and bass are. Good search bait so you can cover a decent amount of area with it. 

Perfect timing.........lol  

I'm going out tomorrow morning and two of the lures I just tied on.......

Shad colored jerkbait

Shad colored Rat-L-Trap.......

Of course I don't leave home without my jig/Spicy Beaver combo either. 

[Spankey]

1 hour ago, Dens228 said:

Perfect timing.........lol  

I'm going out tomorrow morning and two of the lures I just tied on.......

Shad colored jerkbait

Shad colored Rat-L-Trap.......

Of course I don't leave home without my jig/Spicy Beaver combo either. 

I’m partial to the Bill Lewis Brand Rat-L-Traps. Why? I don’t know. Just a creature of habit I guess. I have a nice selection of them. But I really only need three. 
chrome w/black back

chrome w/blue back

gold w/black back

 

Chrome w/chartreuse back is a winner and when I get in some tidal a red chrome and a Texas red can be productive. 
 

Good luck. 

[Dens228]

3 minutes ago, Spankey said:

I’m partial to the Bill Lewis Brand Rat-L-Traps. Why? I don’t know. Just a creature of habit I guess. I have a nice selection of them. But I really only need three. 
chrome w/black back

chrome w/blue back

gold w/black back

 

Chrome w/chartreuse back is a winner and when I get in some tidal a red chrome and a Texas red can be productive. 
 

Good luck. 

I don't know for sure but they seem to have the hooks positioned a little more behind the lure body while reeling so a bit less weed prone.  It could just be in my head though. 

 

I tend to go 

Shad

Darker color like bluegill

Chrome

 

I follow that type of thinking with all my crankbait type lures. 

[Spankey]

Talk about a head game. I can’t get a fish to bite at red in the lake or the river. But if I head a little south to fish tidal and brackish, red will work for me. I don’t hesitate to tie that on. Have my bass been huge? No. But they are bass. 

[Dens228]

55 minutes ago, Spankey said:

Talk about a head game. I can’t get a fish to bite at red in the lake or the river. But if I head a little south to fish tidal and brackish, red will work for me. I don’t hesitate to tie that on. Have my bass been huge? No. But they are bass. 

Red never works for me either.......

[looking45]

I fish a lake that has no shad. It does have bluegill but I haven't seen very many of them. It does have crawfish. When I fish this lake, I use jigs and spider grub type plastics and concentrate on the bottom. When I catch a bass, I put it in the live well for awhile to see what, if anything, it spits up. I've had bass spit up lots of crawdads but so far, never a fish. I don't even think of topwater or jerk baits. 

[Spankey]

Maybe one of the guys on here that fishes “red” a lot can elaborate on it some. I just know crawfish will take that on in some part of their lifecycle that red/orange color and I try to throw it because if it being some form of a natural color. 
 

I’m a Rapala Junkie, been a DT user since the first came out. I can’t say enough good about them that how strongly I feel about them. Between the original series and the Ike series I throw a lot of DT’s patterns with success.

 

But the Red Craw and Ike Red Demon has never gotten me a bass in freshwater. 

[Spankey]

4 hours ago, the reel ess said:

Yeah, that's our go-to much of the year there. But after trying a lot of gold lures there, the Spot seems to work better. It is more of a deep gold. Gold X-Rap, War Eagle spinnerbait in gold shiner, bubble gum flukes, bubble gum and limetreuse Trick Worms all produce. I use topwaters whenever they'll bite them and color seems to not matter much at all for those. And then there's the frog. Aside from these they like the black/blue jig.

The Spot you are referring to you mean CC Rattling Spot? You are correct the gold is a lot deeper in my opinion also. BL Traps are more of a bleached out sun faded Gold look. I have and do use some CC Spots they are a good lure. I’m a BL die hard but truly don’t want to mislead anyone about ever using a CC Spot. I’ve successfully fished their chrome and gold versions. Must admit they are as good. There is most likely a slight difference internally, they are missing that tiny fin. But for a reaction strike bait they work. 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

I fish a bunch of blackwater lakes that don't have shad.  The bass and certain kinds of bluegill have a light chartreuse pearl hue to the bellies.  Its not easy to find a bait with a large amount of that color on it.  The closest I have found is Imas' Bluegill pattern, LC BE gill is good too .  That color seems to make a difference especially in the spring and fall.  Im not saying shad colors wont work, because they do, Ive just consistently done better with colors that match the forage a little more.   

 

The fish in shadless lakes don't seem to key in on just smaller fish higher in the water column.  Craws seem to be most consistent food source.  So just because you see a school of shiners getting busted, don't hesitate to throw a jig or creature bait.  That's a good way to target the better fish around the school that are just waiting for an easy meal. 

 

I don't understand why the fish key in on red in my area.  We have some lighter color clay, like tan and orange but no red.  When I was a kid my buddys favorite lure was a rooster tail with a crimson red blade, body and hackle.  In the spring that rooster tail would catch as many or more bass then the black blue fleck senkos I was throwing.  The size of the fish was also similar.  Years later I learned that red was a killer in the spring.  He just picked out the red roster tail because it was his favorite color lol.