Late summer and Fall bass

[Mr.Sheephead]

Its mid august here in MN and hunting seasons coming up so i have not gone fishing a whole lot. I mainly fish these multiple ponds in Blaine and latley the bite has died. Before the bite was not that bad when summer started and around late july but since august came about the bite just died. I also fished this one lake and was landing pretty big bass until summer started settleing in all the bassed moved out of the shallows were i would wade around. I only shore fish, so with fall coming soon will thae bass bite pick up both at the lake and pond? will the bass be back in the shallows at the lake? what lures will produce big bass? Im thinking of throwing 4 inch hard swimbaits and big lures, or is my tactic wrong?

[Shane J]

You might wanna try a keel weighted Rage Craw, and work inside and outside weedlines for lurking lunkers. Sometimes the big girls are sluggish, and the slow horizontal fall of that rig is a good way to get them.

[WRB]

Summer to fall transition in northern lakes isn't very different from warm water regions, the change just happens quickly. The shorter days coupled with colder nights tends to affect the entire ecosystem, including the bass.

As the weeds change color from green to brown, they stop producing dissolved oxygen and the smaller bait fish leave looking for shelter and food....the bass follow their food source.

Feeder creeks offer more DO and nutrients for the bait fish, the bass start feeding more on bait fish. When the water gets below 55 degrees, the bass feed less often and start to locate in the warmest areas of the lake that contains prey and stay in those areas for the winter.

If you see feeding activity; any bait fish type reaction lure should work. If nothing is moving, then try slower bottom lures like jigs and worms. Colors depend on what the bass prefer, experiment with both size and color until you discover what the bass want to eat.

WRB

[Mr.Sheephead]

just today I was fishing at the small pond briges pretty hard and only had one bite (missed her) around 7:30pm on a spinnerbait.... It was getting late so i worked my way over to the tunnel were there a current were water flows through and had zero bites on that pond so i swithched to the other side (pond) were the waters being sucked into the tunnel and had zero bites all i can see is schools of small panfish. Well it was about 7:45-8:30 when i first had a bite from something huge but lost it! T-rig tossing and only thing i can come up with is a bass since the only things that would bite a T-rig in the pond is either a sunny or a bass but it was huge if it can splash and swirl away like a carp. I soon lost another 3 bites one might have been small since it tor off my worm... well i made my way to a corner and tossed my T-rig and had a bite! i barley noticed it was so unexpecting but i landed her and she was a nice 2 1/2 pounder the next cast was another bass! I barley notice them on! and soon after i was being attacked by mosquitos and left.

so What does this tell you guys about the bass in the ponds? all i can come up with this is that i got lucky and unlucky and that there is a big bass in there and i keep missing the hookset.

after 3 tries today is finaly the first day i finally caught something there from around 5:00-8:30

does it mean the bass are only biting at night or what?

[TJHfishin]

it might be some big panfish i have had days were my senko color would just get attacked by bluegills or they would chase a jig ive been tolld that id the panfish are hitting it then ur diffinitly using the right color try tying a very short leader with a size one or a trailer hook and hook it to the tail and u well find out. or the bass is telling you to slow down your presentation.

[saint romain]

Work on a better hook set. Sounds like if you could have set the hook you would have fish. What are you throwing T-rigged? In ponds I tend to throw baby brush hawgs more than worms. My secret to producing numbers/quality fish out of ponds...weightless white trick worm (most of the ponds I fish have plenty of structure)

[Mr.Sheephead]

Work on a better hook set. Sounds like if you could have set the hook you would have fish. What are you throwing T-rigged? In ponds I tend to throw baby brush hawgs more than worms. My secret to producing numbers/quality fish out of ponds...weightless white trick worm (most of the ponds I fish have plenty of structure)

one prob is i havnt caught fish for so long i lose focus and wen a fish does come im not ready, another prob is i barley feel them on, as for the panfish thing i can surely tell the dif between a pan fish and a bass

[Glenn]

Try flipping matted grass: http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/late-summer-bass.html

[WRB]

Define your T-rig setup;

rod

reel

line

hook

weight

worm

WRB

[Mr.Sheephead]

Define your T-rig setup;

rod

reel

line

hook

weight

worm

WRB

T-rigged random worms (senko style or curly tail) anywere from 4-6 inch worms Matzuo worm hooks weightless setup and sometimes weighted

rod is a G.loomis glx baitcaster 6'6" heavy fast action quantum response reel 30lb moss green power pro braid

as for pitching the matts i have had nothing bite when i toss the worm weightless in the thick weeds the worm just dosnt sink in there and with a weight weeds get all tangled up into the weight.

[WRB]

Define your T-rig setup;

rod

reel

line

hook

weight

worm

WRB

T-rigged random worms (senko style or curly tail) anywere from 4-6 inch worms Matzuo worm hooks weightless setup and sometimes weighted

rod is a G.loomis glx baitcaster 6'6" heavy fast action quantum response reel 30lb moss green power pro braid

as for pitching the matts i have had nothing bite when i toss the worm weightless in the thick weeds the worm just dosnt sink in there and with a weight weeds get all tangled up into the weight.

Good tackle!

With T-rigged worms the high flotation styles work far better than heavy salted "Senko" styles. You would be better off using a wacky rigged "Senko" style with a nose nail weight. Rubber o-ring and weedless Gamakatsu wide gap finesse hook works great for this rig.

T-rigged straight, paddle, or curl tails depending on the weeds, have good swimming action as the weight slips doown the line and then float off the bottom at rest, allowing the bass to strike it more often, then just on the fall.

You need to peg a heavy bullet weight to penetrate weed mats, you may just want to hit the open pockets and shady zones when fishing a pond.

WRB

[Mr.Sheephead]

Define your T-rig setup;

rod

reel

line

hook

weight

worm

WRB

T-rigged random worms (senko style or curly tail) anywere from 4-6 inch worms Matzuo worm hooks weightless setup and sometimes weighted

rod is a G.loomis glx baitcaster 6'6" heavy fast action quantum response reel 30lb moss green power pro braid

as for pitching the matts i have had nothing bite when i toss the worm weightless in the thick weeds the worm just dosnt sink in there and with a weight weeds get all tangled up into the weight.

Good tackle!

With T-rigged worms the high flotation styles work far better than heavy salted "Senko" styles. You would be better off using a wacky rigged "Senko" style with a nose nail weight. Rubber o-ring and weedless Gamakatsu wide gap finesse hook works great for this rig.

T-rigged straight, paddle, or curl tails depending on the weeds, have good swimming action as the weight slips doown the line and then float off the bottom at rest, allowing the bass to strike it more often, then just on the fall.

You need to peg a heavy bullet weight to penetrate weed mats, you may just want to hit the open pockets and shady zones when fishing a pond.

WRB

I love you all! thanks so much for giving me advice and hope! the T-rig worked that one night and just today it worked once (first bite) after that i was feeling sluggish fishing slowly and waiting for a bite so i swithced to a buzzbait i had lying around im like well lets just give it a try, well im glad i did because i caught my last 5 fish on it and thery were all in the 1-3 pound range! the 3 pounder took a nice bite out of my thumb and drew blood, man i dont know what it was that the buzzbait triggered them to bite visciously but im glad it worked, i just tossed the bussbait along the big weed beds underwater and all around and over the weeds and that worked for me.

any other advice or answers you guys can give will be great and possibly an explaination on my great day with the buzzbait will be great