Bass-Addict

Typically it seems to be down to the Ned rig at this time of year, although I’m wondering if switching up the color or profile may offer any advantage, and what everyone has tried with success?

Letting the rod load up and “springing” the bait. Is this not how it happens when you have a little more bend?

See I find all of these advantages - concentration/holding to cover/shade - to be outweighed by the fact that they are just so much less likely to bite or at least chase.

Yeah I have been using the SB Jr and I like it pretty well I guess I just wish it was a tad bit more moderate, I was thinking this would allow me to sling shot baits better?

I’ve seen a variety of lengths but generally these rods tend to have longer handles. Is that the reason for this?

Yeah honestly this low clear water has made the fall bite very difficult.

So 45+ swimbaits/glide baits and spinnerbait still game?

When in your opinion do they stop hitting moving stuff?

When you say peak you mean fall feeding frenzy?

Water was 55 here today, does that change anything?

It would seem like with most of them concentrated around wintering areas now it would make it difficult to cover a bunch of open water, and better to stick to stretches with shallower runs punctuated with intermittent deep holes to make them easier to locate.

In the smaller river I fish I am limited to only 4-5 stretches to choose from. I have done better on some than others, but I get tired of beating the same stretches over and over and often want to break away and get a change of scenery by doing a float I haven’t done in a while. However, I am always torn between this and sticking to the runs I have done better on.

I don’t think these tactics really match the pattern I’m describing, reaction strikes or putting it right in their face is not quite the same as chasing.

I generally find them to be only actively chasing lures when the water is in the low 60s and upper 50s, and once it gets below 55 I have to really slow it to a crawl (jerkbait/finesse.) Every time the notorious “fall bite” rolls around, I see all sorts of ideas start to fly. People insist they will eat topwater, spinnerbaits, swimbaits etc into the low 50s and upper 40s, many even proclaiming that this continues down to 45. Yes I realize there are obvious exceptions, and worked slowly enough they will eat anything, even a rico or a spook but as a whole it’s just not consistent. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong but I have found this to be entirely inaccurate, and only really have success on Ned rig, tube, fluke, jerkbait etc at those temperatures.

Yeah I think you’re right. I used to curse rain and stain but now find low, clear water to be the most devastating of any possible conditions.

It’s wild how people seem to interpret and present it as fact

I’ve heard everything from high pressure (bluebird) to low pressure (clouds/rain) to everything in between. What is the final word? Surely there is science behind how it effects their swim bladder or whatever the mechanism of action is.

Yup actually just looking at that, just wish it didn’t have the fish head. Yeah I get that, I just feel like I want to give myself every advantage possible as it isn’t *entirely* a reaction bite and they do follow it on occasion

I have had more success on translucent paddle tails in clear water than solid, figured I might see if this translates to the Alabama. Only issue is you have this perfectly obscure, barely visible school of fish led by these floating, shimmering blades and a big honker fish head. Is there a way to remove these or do they make a bare bones rig with only the wires for this application? Seems it would be much more realistic.

Ah yeah, I guess the river I fish is the main river in question.

I meant north north, like Great Lakes region or Minnesota/Canada. That’s crazy, I heard they are slaying them on the Susky right now. They just had the Bassmaster this weekend and people were catching almost 100”.

I’m guessing you are somewhere up north lol, fall bite literally just kicked off here.

Bull Shad isn’t a glide, it’s a multi-jointed Swimbait but yeah everything else you said agreed. Depends if you’re talking glides or other style swims. Glide baits are big fish baits, intended to be worked slowly. Mike Bucca has himself personally said the Bull Shad is intended to be burned. All have their place at different times of year.

Thought so lol. Midwest can be all over the map, here in southern Ohio is a completely different climate. I’m on the northernmost rim of whats considered a humid subtropical climate, and so it is currently pushing 90 today. We are all patiently waiting for the water to get down to 65 and our fall bite to begin. So then what triggers the transition in their feeding behavior and migration around the same time every year? So you believe they do move to their wintering areas around this time?

Yeah but what is the water temp and what part of the country you in?