PotatoLake

I fish mostly on reservoirs that don’t have a ton of vegetation, it’s mostly gravel, rock and timber. The bass do the classic fall herding of the shad into shallow flats, backs of coves etc. I enjoy following that bite and trying to see what I can throw that’ll attract a bite when they have thousands of the real thing to eat. So I’ve done a deep yoyo retrieval of lipless before, but for this particular fall pattern something shallow and smaller is what I’m after. Totally off the subject, but I’ve been tinkering with what works in this situation. One thing that has stood out is lures with a “reflective” material in them work the best on my home waters. Glass shad raps, lucky craft 1.5 that have “CF” in the name of the color, Yo-Zuri 3DR. I was thinking a chrome 1/4 lipless might also fit the bill of being flashy. Who knows.

I did watch Randy, but *** had a clip out the week before, and I also read an article about fall techniques in one of my fishing mags. They all suggested this approach. I went digging through my liplesss box thinking surely I had one that size. Nope. All good suggestions everyone. Thanks!

I’ve seen multiple pros tout throwing small 1/4 oz lipless cranks in the fall to cover water, match the shad size, etc. Does anyone throw one? Do you have a certain one that has produced?

I use a 6 10 medium shimano expride for most of my topwater baits (short enough that I can walk the dog), all shallow cranking (moderate enough action to land the fish), and for jerkbaits as it’s been known as an excellent jerkbait rod.

So your comment about struggling to catch bigger fish made me think about location, location, location. If those three ponds don't have a population of bigger fish then you can throw whatever you want and they aren't going to produce fish over 2.5 lbs. Like @A-Jay said, he has confidence locations. He may mean specific locations on his waters , but I have certain bodies of water I fish that I have much more confidence that I can get into a bigger class fish than others. If you have the means maybe try some new places to fish if you're wanting to tangle with a big girl. That being said and it was mentioned earlier, time creates confidence. Time on the water with trial and error develops confidence when, what and where to throw a certain lure. Enjoy and welcome to the addiction of bass fishing.

Storm largo shad, damiki armor shad, gambler ez, XZone swammer have all caught fish for me.

Has anyone ever given their reels a spin? I never hear them mentioned around here. That deal is tempting for the rods.

All of the above stated lures are really good answers. I’ll add another. This is my fav. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-SPROCRANK.html?from=basres Tight wiggle and runs fairly deep. Also if you’re a highland reservoir guy, your wiggle warts and rock crawlers catch cold water bass.

Clear water: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Damiki_TOT_Type1_Double_Willow_Spinnerbait/descpage-DTOT.html Really small blades. You can burn it. Dirty Water: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/River2Sea_Ish_Monroe_Bling_Double_Willow_Spinnerbait/descpage-R2SBSBT.html I dig the Iced color. White blades…

If you can swing it, try this. Catches fish. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Evergreen_SB_Topwater_Plugs/descpage-EGSBS.html

All the Jackson County lakes and down at Pomme have a pretty typical pattern right now. Find the shad on the flats and the bass will be there. Feeding frenzies for sure in the morning and at sunset. Obviously topwaters have been a big player, but my old man and I have been catching larger than average fish by burning squarebills around isolated cover on the flats. Think shallow.

Always for me.

Here’s a little bait I’ve been playing around with. Been catching the tar out of them. The price is a little steep, but they give you a ton of them in the package. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-TACKHD.html?from=basres Creek fish cannot pass up hellgrammites.

I use this exact jig with a flick shake worm and you’re right, it’s Ned rig level of creat code stuff.

I like Damiki Vaults.

Speaking of "Stone Cold" I finally got my hands on this color of Rk Crawler that has been extremely difficult to find.

Me too. ☝️I sometimes know I’m sacrificing catching something by playing around with new lures, but I have fun anyway.

This is the exact 3 I’d pick, I will sub out the spoon in favor of tailspins sometimes.

In the highland reservoir I fish a lot, it doesn’t matter what month it is, hot / cold whatever, you can get bit with a plain old 05 sized shad rap. My dad also always used a green pumpkin zoom trick worm wacky rigged anytime we fished weeds or lay downs in our neighborhood lakes. Boring but he always caught numbers.

☝️ This.

These guys are in my area. https://www.goodysresort.com/Cabins.html They have a covered marina dock right near the entrance of the cove from the main lake. Never been in their cabins, so I can’t speak to their quality. Hit me up if you need fishing suggestions. I’ve been fishing Pommy since I was 9 years old.

I second the Fusion 19.

What underspins do you all use for like 2.8-3.3 keitechs or 3” largo shads, etc.? Mostly I’m looking for a jig head style underspins. Man the ones I’ve looked at are kind of expensive for one jighead.

I just wait till the sun starts getting lower, try and search for bait balls, look for boiling on surface. I’ve been have some fun nights walking a Shower Blows 105 in these areas.

Blaukat knows best