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Skunked all fall

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I thought fall was gonna produce a better bite then summer time. Been out 3 times since the Temps have started to fall and havnt got a single bite. 

Should I be throwing somthing different? I tried top waters, crank baits, and buzz baits. Even tried the tried and true soft plastic worm. Still hasn't produced anything. Gonna go Monday and fish again. Maybe even Sunday. Any ideas of what to throw. 

I would have thought you would have caught some thing throwing those baits. Are you fishing the same lake each time?

  • Author
25 minutes ago, pawpaw said:

I would have thought you would have caught some thing throwing those baits. Are you fishing the same lake each time?

I'm going to a little community that has a source small and canals connect everything. I typically catch at least 1 2 lb bass if not more. The people that live there tell me they have 8+ lb bass in there since it's all catch and release on the bass. Still searching for my monster. 

Could it be that I'm going to early? I'm typically getting there around 7 and fishing till around 12 or so. Maybe the water temp is to low that early? 

Well, I would say that your bait selection isn't the reason you haven't caught anything. Maybe the lakes have recently turned over and the fish are still messed up.  Not sure what the reason is but I'm pretty confident it's not the baits. I might add a spinner bait, chatter bait and a rattle trap or some thing but I would be fishing the same stuff you were. Keep trying, you'll eventually catch something.

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1 hour ago, pawpaw said:

Well, I would say that your bait selection isn't the reason you haven't caught anything. Maybe the lakes have recently turned over and the fish are still messed up.  Not sure what the reason is but I'm pretty confident it's not the baits. I might add a spinner bait, chatter bait and a rattle trap or some thing but I would be fishing the same stuff you were. Keep trying, you'll eventually catch something.

I've been going to the same canal that my uncle caught a big 6 lb in. Maybe it's just my location. It's hard to reach areas of the lake. Half of it is people's back yard. Hopefully Monday will produce for me. Should be a bit on the warm side. 

try a jerkbait

  • Author
17 minutes ago, "hamma" said:

try a jerkbait

I'll need to pick one of these up. I don't have any in my box yet. 

  • Super User

:idea2:When things really get tough go to a 4" senko with very little weight and fish it very slow.  Let it free fall all the way to the bottom and then just slowly pull it slowly a foot or two and sit again.  If that doesnt work, after the free fall, jerk it along the bottom with some pauses along the way.  If that doesnt work let it free fall half way to the bottom, then walk it back half way through the water column, just like a zarro spook on the surface.  You might have to go weightless to get a walking motion out of the bait.  It has saved many tough days for me.

Try fishing smaller lures slower. 

  • Author
29 minutes ago, geo g said:

:idea2:When things really get tough go to a 4" senko with very little weight and fish it very slow.  Let it free fall all the way to the bottom and then just slowly pull it slowly a foot or two and sit again.  If that doesnt work, after the free fall, jerk it along the bottom with some pauses along the way.  If that doesnt work let it free fall half way to the bottom, then walk it back half way through the water column, just like a zarro spook on the surface.  You might have to go weightless to get a walking motion out of the bait.  It has saved many tough days for me.

I've thrown the 5" Senko. It's my go to out there. Always get a bite on that. I'll have to try switching it up tho. 

 

 

7 minutes ago, MBB Nate said:

Try fishing smaller lures slower. 

I'll have to pull somthing out of storage. 

With this transitional period of time, shad activity increases. Bass begin to buIk up for the colder months, so reaction baits tend to be more productive. I would recommend either a shad pattern squarebill, a spinnerbait, or a swim jig/ chatterbait. Works these around rip-rap, shallow cover, isolated cover, points, and drop offs and see if you luck changes. 

  • Super User
6 hours ago, iiTzChunky said:

I thought fall was gonna produce a better bite then summer time. Been out 3 times since the Temps have started to fall and havnt got a single bite. 

Should I be throwing somthing different? I tried top waters, crank baits, and buzz baits. Even tried the tried and true soft plastic worm. Still hasn't produced anything. Gonna go Monday and fish again. Maybe even Sunday. Any ideas of what to throw. 

Spinnerbaits, structure spoons and tail spins along with soft plastics  jigs and baitfish swimbaits (A-rigs) are the staples of fall bass fishing.

Afternoons are better than mornings in the fall.

Tom

46 minutes ago, MBB Nate said:

Try fishing smaller lures slower. 

100% this.

I'm in So. IL. and this fall has been terrible. Nobody knows why. Everyone I talk to says the same thing. They've got to be eating something! I just haven't figured it out.

I'd try a small jig. And the swing impact with the nail weights. I second the 4" senko. And the fat ika is worth a mention. The other day I had success on a bomber 4a In chartreuse with a rip and pause retrieve 

Just keep trying, fish will get hungry and they have to eat

If the temps are falling drastically, the bass may be moving to deeper water. Do the canals lead to deeper pools? After cold fronts bass will often stick close to cover and will refuse to chase baits. You can still catch them by dragging soft plastics or jigs very slowly through cover. Of course, some cover is better than others. I have a stretch of river that we fished in spring and we caught 26 bass on about 150 yards of shoreline. Went back to the same area in the summer twice and could not get a bite. Mysteries, mysteries. ??

Me and my dad have fished from the shore this fall using nightcrawlers on dropshot. We have both caught more LM Bass this fall than ever before. 

We cast out and SLOWLY reel it in, it has worked for us here in upstate NY.

I was doing very poorly until I did almost the exact opposite of what everyone is saying here...lol.  Temps haven't really fallen too much here in NOWEMO (it's 80 right now) but I was fishing like they had.  Then I tied on some Rat-L-Traps and used a fall-rip-fall yoyo retrieve.  Pretty fast and violent.  Worked like a champ.  Gonna try it again tomorrow......might not work at all  LOL

  • Super User

If I was going to the same lake and repeatedly getting skunked, I'd go somewhere else.  And then if that lake didn't produce after a thorough effort, I'd go somewhere else, and so on.

  • Author
1 hour ago, Jaderose said:

I was doing very poorly until I did almost the exact opposite of what everyone is saying here...lol.  Temps haven't really fallen too much here in NOWEMO (it's 80 right now) but I was fishing like they had.  Then I tied on some Rat-L-Traps and used a fall-rip-fall yoyo retrieve.  Pretty fast and violent.  Worked like a champ.  Gonna try it again tomorrow......might not work at all  LOL

Here in Missouri the temp has been all over the place. Last week high was 65-70. Now we're back into the 80s. It's just all over the place. 

  • Super User

Fall is the period between summer and winter a transition period when bass are targeting bait fish that are grown all summer, not small baitfish. The bass are seeking prey to fatten up for the winter.

Winter is when you down size to match the reduced food need or up size for big bass to offer easy meal.

Tom

 

 

  • Author
28 minutes ago, WRB said:

Fall is the period between summer and winter a transition period when bass are targeting bait fish that are grown all summer, not small baitfish. The bass are seeking prey to fatten up for the winter.

Winter is when you down size to match the reduced food need or up size for big bass to offer easy meal.

Tom

 

 

I kinda wanna buy one of those live target baits because of how real they look and the size. This place is known to hold some big bass so I figure they want a big meal. 

15 hours ago, iiTzChunky said:

Here in Missouri the temp has been all over the place. Last week high was 65-70. Now we're back into the 80s. It's just all over the place. 

Yeah......that's what NOWEMO is.  North West Missouri

 

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