bad fall luck

[Jig Thrower]

has anyone else had a very bad start to fall? the past few times i have gotton an empty bag. what is the secret nothing works and the conditions are perfect.

[Tin]

Bushes, docks, floating pieces of plywood, anything that gives the fish shade and has been in a foot and a half of water or less. 1/4 jig or tiny 2.5" tubes (skipped). Make sure when that jig is entering the water, it does so like a Chinese Olympic diver. Since they are so shallow too much splash and they spook.

[Bass Fear Me]

I normally fish ponds and I have been having pretty decent luck with Gulp sinking minnows (which look like worms to me).  Deep or shallow water, they have worked for the last month or so.  

[Sam]

Yes.

Today I took my brand new $80 ultra light setup to a local pond, slipped, fell feet first into the water and landed on the new spinnig reel.

Bent the bail.

I think I pushed it back in place but I am very upset.

As for fishing, I used the new ultra light yesterday eventing and caught over 20 bass and a crappie at another pond. I was surprised as I did not know crappie were in the pond.

Not going back to the local pond as the fish are not biting so I feel your pain.

My hand and wet feet and dirty jeans and scraped elbow feel your pain, too.  ;D   ;D   ;D

[Sam]

And to answer your query.

Scale down. Go with a buzzbait.  Try a crankbait in shad or with a crawfish tone.

Go with a Chatterbait, too.

Don't forget to fish s-l-o-w with plastics. Ever heard of dead sticking?

Dead sticking is when you throw your plastic Senko or finesse worm out and just wait.  Just stand there, like an idiot, and wait.  If you are a Type A like me, you will have a hard time waiting.

Then, after two or three minutes, give it a twitch.  Do this until it comes back to the boat or shoreline.

Try a jig and pig.  Peanut Butter and Jelly; blue and black; something brown with a few strands of orange to mimick a crawfish. Put a chunk trailer on the jig for its pig.

You just have to see what they want.  

Now I am catching them on moving baits, like crankbaits and grubs with big curly tails that give me a lot of line twist on my spinning rig.

Try a deep diving crank in shallow water to stir up the bottom.

And keep trying.  The bass are feeding and they should hit your baits if they are in the water.  

[Bass Fear Me]

Yes.

Today I took my brand new $80 ultra light setup to a local pond, slipped, fell feet first into the water and landed on the new spinnig reel.

Bent the bail.

I think I pushed it back in place but I am very upset.

As for fishing, I used the new ultra light yesterday eventing and caught over 20 bass and a crappie at another pond. I was surprised as I did not know crappie were in the pond.

Not going back to the local pond as the fish are not biting so I feel your pain.

My hand and wet feet and dirty jeans and scraped elbow feel your pain, too. ;D ;D ;D

If a spinning reel could feel.....it could talk about pain. :'(

[89MJ]

I have gone out about 6 times in the past two weeks and only caught one pickerel. Today I watched a bass swim in with my lure then sit there and watch it swim by him as i reeled in the next cast. >

[Wayne P.]

I'm still catching bass with a weedless wacky rigged finesse worm just like I have been since March. All but one of the 57 bass I caught today was with that presentation. One was caught using a Norman Crappie Crankbait.

[Bass Fear Me]

Damnnnnnn Wayne, you just can't hardly beat a day like that.

[guitarkid]

I have caught 1 fish this fall. I did'nt even think it was a fish until I saw the line move. I have hit weeds harder than that. This fish was not even worth it. I caught it on a trick worm, but the bass was an inch or two bigger than the worm itself.

                         -sm

[Jig Thrower]

i have been hitting a jig hard its all i use no matter what. it used to be i could always depend on it now i cant maybe i am moving it too fast im used to constantly shaking and moving it.  

[FD.]

I caught a bunch of bream and baby bass last week with my daughter but not a real bass in the last 4 weeks...

[Bass Fear Me]

You know guys, I really hate to hear of bad luck.  But on the other hand it makes me feel really good about my year.  I know I have well over two hundred bass this year.  Next year I will keep a running tally.  Also hope y'all who are not getting the action have better luck than I the rest of the year.  That does not mean I want my luck to run out, I want yours to greatly improve.  Keep the faith and don't give up.

[Catt]

There have been cold fronts moving across the US and during post frontal conditions it is best to slow down. Although the conditions appear perfect to you they are less than ideal to the bass. The bass will be holding tightly to the cover so fish structure methodically making multiply cast to each piece of cover from various angles.

[Bankbeater]

I've caught 1 bass for October. It is slow all over around here.

[Joel W]

Regionally where you fish makes all the difference in the world as to where the Bass are in their yearly cycle. I fish Southern NYS; the NYC reservoirs to be exact. Water temps have fallen into the low 60s.

A few weeks ago with water temps in the high 60's I was still fishing my summer patterns. 1/2 oz jigs, & wt'd plastics, along the outside edge of weedbeds with deeper water close by. Also pulled in a few by pitching into some weed holes. The fishing was typical summer methodical, but I put Bass in the boat every time.

Now that the water temps have fallen to the low 60s the Bass have started to move shallow and should continue to do so. Saturday I concentrated on the outside weedbed lines but with deep diving cranks bounced along the bottom with a pause every now and then. 1/2 oz Spinnerbaits along the same edge, but also cast to the shore and worked over the weeds. Put 4 nice LMs in the boat on Saturday to 4lb 2oz.

Like I said, as the water temps drop, the weeds will get knocked down, and then it fall heaven here. Rattle Traps, shallow cranks, and spinnerbaits over the tops of the weeds just ticking them, then a pause, and usually a reaction strike will happen.

Will pitch jigs into weed holes and the outside and inside edge for those big females just hanging around waiting for a easy meal.

Come Nov with water temps falling into the low 50s, I'll tie on a Jerkbait as my primary weapon, put the boat in 16 FOW, and cast to the shore working the jerkbait back to the boat. The shorelines I target have steeper drops offs rather then the shallow slopes I target in the spring. Will also work a 1/2 oz jig exactly the same way on the bottom. Backup presentations will be a wt'd tx-rigged creature bait, and occasionally a deep diving Crankbait.

[Grey Wolf]

i have been hitting a jig hard its all i use no matter what. it used to be i could always depend on it now i cant maybe i am moving it too fast im used to constantly shaking and moving it.

You really should try some other techniques. I 've been doing very well on cranks.

[Rich K]

We were out night fishing Saturday night and had high hopes with the full moon. Dodged the skunk by catching one 14-15" fish off a deep point.

I fished a lake for over 4 hours yesterday and caught 3 bass (2 were tiny; 1 was 14-15") and a northern that was about 30" and 5 lbs.

I drifted past this point with a steep drop off and could see bass in the shallows, but they were totally negative - no matter what I threw at them they ignored every presentation.

I am starting to think that I was fishing too slow. One of the dinks I caught hit a spinnerbait right after it entered the water. Thinking that was a reaction strike. I should have started fishing faster.

That northern I caught put up a great fight. The typical ones I catch lay over after a couple of tugs and then give one last little fight before rolling over again. This one burried in the weeds. To the point where my rod started creaking as I was pulling him up outta there. When I first saw him I was really hoping it was a trophy bass - then it got closer and I saw it was a pike...

1 dink on a white spinnerbait - all other fish on a #4 mepps aglia - gold blade with brown/yellow squirrel tail.

Not sure of what the water temps were, but it was very cold to me. We pulled everything out of the water and the initial adjustment to the water temp was tough. I felt my legs go kinda numbs - could be those cold night effecting the temp way more than any sun during the day.

[wagn]

Fall for me has been mostly about location instead of the baits. I've been fishing the same location for the last few weeks and depending on the day the fish seem stacked up on certian spots, I just have to find them.

I keep 2 rods rigged up with fast moving baits, a crank and a spinnerbait, and 2 rigged up with slower baits, a senko and a jig or something similiar. Then I just keep moving and trying new areas and coninually switching between fast and slow until I find out where the fish are and if they want it moving that day or slow. Once I find a spot I'll usually fish it for a couple of hours and pull out a good number of nice fish. Hope this helps

[Bassboss]

Haven't really been able to go out fishing this fall, most of the lakes I fish are pretty far so I can't ride my bike to them. And with us being a bit short on cash my pa has been doing to be a deputy at the polls for November (he's a hardcore Obama voter ;D). So we haven't really been able to fish this fall, we only have gone once, I did ride my bike to a crappy little pond to fish, but I didn't get many bites worth mentioning ( ). But the on trip I did go on was one of my better days!!

[Bassboss]

Don't forget to fish s-l-o-w with plastics. Ever heard of dead sticking?

Dead sticking is when you throw your plastic Senko or finesse worm out and just wait. Just stand there, like an idiot, and wait. If you are a Type A like me, you will have a hard time waiting.

Then, after two or three minutes, give it a twitch. Do this until it comes back to the boat or shoreline.

Or if you have ADHD like me!! ;D

[Mike 12345]

i have been hitting a jig hard its all i use no matter what. it used to be i could always depend on it now i cant maybe i am moving it too fast im used to constantly shaking and moving it.

You really should try some other techniques. I 've been doing very well on cranks.

Ditto that.

Shallow water crankin is where its at.