Been too busy to post, so this one was a Mid-September outing to a heavily-vegetated dishpan-contoured gravel pit. Plan A was some good fall buzzbait and topwater action. But the powers-that-be had other plans. I hit it at the peak of the "Funky Soup" decomposition period following an intense weed die-off. ?Considered pulling out for another pond, but decided to stick it out. Stuffed Plan A, and... made lemonade. Glad I did!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What did plan B end up being?  

On 11/8/2019 at 9:44 AM, plawren53202 said:

What did plan B end up being?  

Plan B was to slow down, since they wouldn't chase. Best they would do is follow. Went to a belly-weighted soft jerk. And they would take it on the fall. I found that waking that bait would draw attention, the fall would seal the deal. Two were "big" fish for these ponds, a 19 and a 20.

Good job figuring them out, Paul.

Thanks, Will. It was fun. Sure beat the alternative!  It helped that the water there is shallow enough that I was able to spot the wakes of a few followers.

 

My next forays are into my Jungle Warfare pond from this summer -a truly dense mess of veges; Just to see if I can figure that one out in winter. Always avoided that, heading for my coverless "swimming pools" by the time we're flirting with ice-up. Won't the bass just bury in that remaining jungle of veges! I should be able to still find a few in the openings. But, can I punch some out of the junk... in 40F water? At least their gorgeous winter colors and markings will help balance the expected catch rate. Wish me luck.

One of the HOA lakes I fish is a "wildlife preservation area" pond. It's basically a marsh with max depth maybe 5-6'. I've caught a lot of decent (2-3lb.) during warmer months using slop tactics. Tried it a couple of weeks ago with ned rig since there's enough open water to do so. Still had to use heavier spinning than I really like to because of big chara mats around the edges. Don't know what the water temp was but suffice to say it was cold. Was able to pull several in a short time. Yours should bite too. Good luck.

Thanks Bassman. I'll be Ned'ing too.