Hi all,

 

I never get to fish this late in the year.  I also never fish plastics as much as I have this year. My default shape is a beaver of some type- usually a rage bug, sometimes a palmetto bug. This year I also caught bass on craws/craw worms, a swimming worm, a boar hogs, stick worm, maybe a couple more. I fished big worms and neds.  I’m curious what others do as the water turns cold.  Traditional wisdom is that bass will usually prefer less motion and appendages in the colder water.  But what about your preferred shape?  Do you stick to a worm and change between ribbon tails, swimming, and straight worms depending on the water temp or do you swap from a worm to another shape?  Beaver vs worm vs creature?  

 

im probably heading out tomorrow (Saturday was awful between 47 degree air, 1” rain, and generally miserable conditions) so that my last trip isn’t an awful one. I’ll have two Texas rigs ready to go (one on a new to me rod I want to try before I put it away).  One will be a beaver. The other might be a jig instead of a Texas rig. I figure the water will be 55-60 degrees. 
 

thanks

rick

Rage menace , tube , and jig head/minnow are good in colder water, I throw finesse worm year round regardless of temp, just can’t help it 

Yeah hard to beat beavers and finesse worms.  Swimbaits also seem to work 365 days a year.

41 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Rage menace , tube , and jig head/minnow are good in colder water, I throw finesse worm year round regardless of temp, just can’t help it 

I don’t make too much change from any other time of year, but I do start keeping one rod rigged with a 5”Shad/Gold Zipper worm at all times…..don’t know why, but they seem to be extra effective when the water cools off. 

Fall is a broad term 😉

 

What's the weather patterns?²

What's the water clarity?

What's that available cover?

What's the body of water?

River system, reservoir, natural lake, marsh, pond.

 

I never take anything off the table simply because it's winter, spring, summer, or fall. 

4 hours ago, Catt said:

Fall is a broad term 😉

 

What's the weather patterns?²

What's the water clarity?

What's that available cover?

What's the body of water?

River system, reservoir, natural lake, marsh, pond.

 

I never take anything off the table simply because it's winter, spring, summer, or fall. 

 

ok, I can specify more.  I was intending the period when the water temps are dropping from their late summer highs down into the pre-winter temps.  For me, that means we've gone from low 80's in late august (clear summer temps) down into the mid to high 50's around now (clear fall temps).

 

Still water, largemouth.  In my case natural lakes with clear water (2-8' clarity), but I'd love to hear others experiences in other conditions.  Cover sparse (isolated strands of grass, occasional single branches, some hard spots) to light (dying grass beds thin enough to get a spinnerbait through clean but not a treble hook crankbait, an occasional full tree laydown, some boulders here or there).

 

Weather is what it is- variable fall weather.

As it gets cooler use baits with less action.

Colder water temps slow the plastics too. I wish I could tell you for sure but I will say that in the cold water a black maribou jig is deadly so I tend to leave the rage tails for summer

If it gets warm enough in the afternoon for the turtles and bugs to come out I will fish with a Texas rigged UV Speedcraw.  Other than that I stay with a weightless finesse worm, a weightless 4" Dinger, or a 3" Stiko on a split shot rig.

I dont stop pitching to targets in fall so use the same stuff that was working before fall . I like worms.

same all year round.....

I might downsize in colder water, but that's about it.  And even that isn't 100%.

If the temps are in mid to upper 50’s the bass are still actively feeding, use what worked a month ago.

My soft plastic jig trailer is a 3” Chigger Craw or Smallie Beaver.

Tom