Here in the South East we will see our first cold front of the Fall tonight which means the beginning of cooler water temps for inland reservoirs and for shad to at least  think about moving shallow ! ... * What are your favorite  baits and colors for catching bass in clear water , inland reservoirs in the Fall when the shad move shallow and bass put the feed bag on ? For me , it would begin early or late  with a  bone color Spook for top water  followed by a Booyah shad pattern 3/8th oz. willow blade spinner as a search bait, then  followed by a shad color Strike King 1/8th oz. swim jig with a  4" Kietech Swing Impact in Sight Flash color as a trailer . If still no takers - I break out the pearl color 3" grub on a 1/8th oz. ball head jig . That about exhausts my bag of tricks for the Fall shad migration to shallow water . Let's hear from you - what baits and colors do you count on for bass during  the Fall shad migration shallow ?

I would add a shad patterned jerkbait as well, I like the rapala x-raps. And,... I dont go fishing without a jig usually black/blue with a trailer colored as well. Unless you can find one around the lake somewhere and copy its coloring.

A-Jay

Topwater walkers and poppers, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, crankbaits, lipless cranks, flukes, swimbaits,  and stickworms get the majority of my casts in the fall. As it gets colder I use more jerkbaits, blade baits, spoons, tailspinners, and a-rigs

I dont have special fall colors .Sometimes I have to avoid bluegill because I cant see it  due to the  bright colored leaves in the background .I need something that stands out so I can judge distance .

Last year I crushed them on flukes, a Keitech Fat impact 3.8 on a jig head, and jigging a lipless crank

Fished a lake a while back where there were shad everywhere.  Topwater.....zero interest, jerkbait....nope no takers, swimbait....nadda, spinnerbait & buzzbait....wasn't happening.  So scrambled around and got one on a 3/4 oz SK jigging spoon and then busted out a crankbait I hadn't used in a couple years.....a Heddon Swimming Image in Threadfin Shad color.  It was a fish almost every cast.  That bait had the right action the bass wanted that day so I'd say look into this little gem of a crankbait and give it a shot.

I hope this will slay one tomorrow.

5 hours ago, A-Jay said:

A-Jay

Is that a yum trailer?

these are money for the lakes i fish , perfect size , worked fast with brief pauses 

4 hours ago, camman said:

Last year I crushed them on flukes, a Keitech Fat impact 3.8 on a jig head, and jigging a lipless crank

Newb question....how do you rig your flukes? There were a couple of recent situations where I should have fished them, but I have no experience with hem, and wasn't sure how to rig. 

11 hours ago, A-Jay said:

A-Jay

A-Jay : Brand & Model of white trailer ?

7 hours ago, MikeWright said:

I hope this will slay one tomorrow.

Is that a yum trailer?

 

54 minutes ago, ChrisD46 said:

A-Jay : Brand & Model of white trailer ?

It's the Megastrike StrikeBack Colorado Willow Spinnerbait and a Strike King KVD Perfect Plastic Blade Minnow.

A-Jay

3 hours ago, IgotWood said:

Newb question....how do you rig your flukes? There were a couple of recent situations where I should have fished them, but I have no experience with hem, and wasn't sure how to rig. 

I rig with either a 3/0 or 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook rigged weedless.  I've also had success on the double fluke rig (just google it to see what it looks like)

Don't forget a squarebill its deadly in the fall.

14 minutes ago, bagofdonuts said:

Don't forget a squarebill its deadly in the fall.

You beat me to it! A squarebill can be a good bait throughout the spring and summer months, but it really shines during the fall!

I get a lot of good fish on the Pitt-bull SB from Berkley in Red Crawl pattern.... 

15 hours ago, Big Bait Fishing said:

these are money for the lakes i fish , perfect size , worked fast with brief pauses 

what crank is that? pretty good match to me

7 minutes ago, riverbasser said:

what crank is that? pretty good match to me

Duel Hardcore shad (pearl holographic shad )  , they have three sizes , it's best to have all three when on the water as you really need to match the shad size . i use the 50mm ( 2'' ) as the bass in the lake i fish are so keyed on these shad that a fluke does't come anywhere near matching them as the lake i'm fishing is really clear , i love this bait as i like to fish towards the bottom of the shad ball , not the top where there is mostly the smaller bass .

10 hours ago, camman said:

I rig with either a 3/0 or 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook rigged weedless.  I've also had success on the double fluke rig (just google it to see what it looks like)

Any weight? If so, how do you rig the weight?

4 hours ago, IgotWood said:

Any weight? If so, how do you rig the weight?

Weightless...occasionally I will use a 1/16 oz weighted Gamakatasu EWG Superline hook

-burner spinnerbait (willowleaf spinnerbait}

-caffeine shad (super fluke)

-chrome sexy dawg (spook)

When they're chasing shad really shallow in the backs of creeks I love to fish the caffeine shad fast, on top of the water. Spinnerbait for windy and cloudy days. Sexy dawg for schooling fish.