It's October, and there's five main bait types that are working all across the country right now. Let's start with swim baits. Swim baits, I'm talking like paddle tail swim baits, you want a little bit smaller size, like a 3-inch to 3.5-inch size, maybe up to 4-inch. That's what the bass are keying on, a little bit smaller size baits right now. So, not the giant, you know, 6-inch or larger size paddle tail is what I'm talking about. I want the smaller size, like the Rage Swimmer or a Keitech. You can put them on a ball head, jig head, or, you know, if you want a little more action, you can use an underspin. I typically use a quarter ounce to start with, and you can vary the depth at what it goes by just varying your speed. A little bit slower, a little bit deeper. You can go faster, a little bit higher.
And what you're looking for is, you wanna go over suspended balls of baitfish. These are the things that the bass are keying in on. Try over the top of the baitfish and then underneath it. You want it not to be necessarily in the middle, you want it to stand out. So, sometimes those baitfish can be a bit deeper, and sometimes the bass want a little bit faster retrieve. For those, you wanna up your weight to three-eighths or a half ounce, something you can get it down deep and still retrieve it at a fast retrieve underneath those balls of baitfish. So, swim baits, man...Oh, oh, oh, and the colors. Now, you want the colors to mimic the baitfish they're feeding on, right? The forage. So, shad is definitely one that you wanna have handy, especially if you're down South. But if you're not in a body of water that has shad, perch works really well, and bluegill. Bass are just gorging on bluegill and perch right now. So, make sure you have those colors in your arsenal as well. You don't always have to have shad.
Topwaters are working really well now. The water's cooled down, you're not in the middle of summer, the bass are more active, they're chasing baitfish, they're up shallow, and they're gonna be susceptible to a topwater. But the best topwater to use right now are walking baits, like the Zara Spook or the Sammy, or, you know, Megabass has some walking baits out there. They're all really good right now. You can try different sizes. I find that the smaller size works really well right now because they're looking for small baitfish. But if you wanna go after a trophy-size bass, go full size, man. Go big or go home. The large-size ones will get those bigger bass. You won't get as many bites, but the bites you get will be big ones. And so, you wanna fish these over points, over humps, over flats, you know, the areas where the bass are feeding. Color-wise, you want to go with the natural colors, shad, perch. And if you're fishing for smallies, they like the big, gaudy, bright colors right now. So, make sure you got some chartreuse in there, and some reds, something that's really bright and vibrant to attract them.
Spinner baits and chatter baits, you gotta be throwing those right now, man. Those are great baitfish imitators, and you can cover a lot of water. And basically, anything that a bass may be hanging out on, that's where you can fish these. They're pretty weedless, and you can bump them into cover. You can fish them super shallow along docks, laydowns, outside weed lines, inside weed lines, be sure to hit those, isolated rocks, isolated cover like stumps, things like that in shallow water work really, really well. These baits can cover all of that. But you can even fish them slower, and you fish in deeper areas, like those points and those channel swings that come up next to the bank, and the steeper banks, docks in deeper water. You can slow-roll those baits right along that, or deeper weed lines that are on steeper banks, you find some isolated rocks in there, that could be a hot spot.
Make sure you hit those bridge pilings too. Those can be deep. Go, try...You know, some of those bridge pilings are in deep water but bring the bait back quick, near the surface first. Don't assume because they're in deep water, the bass are naturally gonna be at the very bottom. Bring it across fast, near the surface first. Sometimes those bass are up in the water column, getting after those baitfish, and they're up shallower. So, don't miss that opportunity. And then, if you're not getting bites, then start to work your way down deeper. Particularly if these pilings break current, that can be real hot spots right now. So, make sure you're targeting those if you're fishing a river system.
Alabama rigs, yeah, they got their notoriety by winning a number of tournaments during October. I mean, for a reason, it looks like a ball of baitfish, and that's exactly what the bass are targeting right now. I mean, come on, you can't get any more perfect than that. They have a number of, you know, paddle tail swim baits on them. Again, go with that smaller size, that 3-inch to 4-inch size is what you want, as some of them have multiple hooks in them. Now, you gotta be careful about your local rigs because it varies from state to state how many hooks you can have on a rig. Sometimes you can only have one. So, make sure you're compliant with regulations and you don't get, you know, in trouble. But you can fish. They still have, like, multiple baits on them. They don't still all have hooks on them.
These work really well around bridge pilings, like I just mentioned, and also along deeper weed lines. This is not a type of bait that I would use to cover a lot of water because, let's face it, man, they're hard to throw. They wear you out. They're heavy rigs, they're hard to throw, they're hard to reel back. There's a lot of resistance to them. Yeah, it just wears you out. So, be, you know, judicious in where you target, where you throw them. So, those points that's got some kind of cover on it, might be weeds, might be a weed line in there, or maybe some scattered rocks or stumps, those are the things I would target. Isolated docks, those inside weed lines on steeper banks, outside weed lines on shallow coves, like, be specific in what you're targeting. And if you are in an area where it doesn't really have much, then don't be throwing it, because you're just gonna wear yourself out. Go to the next area that's got the ideal stuff, and then start throwing it. You are gonna be more productive that way, and your arms and wrists are gonna thank you for it at the end of the day.
And then finally, jigs, right? The perennial bait that works year-round. Well, jigs work exceptionally good in October as well. I would downsize. Instead of using the full-size jigs here, I'd be using a quarter-ounce jig or even a finesse jig. Again, that smaller profile is what they're going after. And natural colors, the browns and the greens, I would be targeting that. And if you got smallmouth, fish in those rocky banks, those rocky points, rock piles, things like that. Fishing on spinning gear, there's nothing wrong with that. You can fish on lighter line in those conditions, and you'd be surprised. You can catch a lot of bass on it, even big bass. Don't think that small baits are gonna be small fish. This time of year, those big bass are feeding on small baits. So, make sure that you downsize. You're gonna get more bites that way, and fish them in the areas I just told you about.
But slow down here, you're dragging on the bottom. So, you're resembling more like a crawfish or a sculpin or a goby, something that's on the bottom of the lake this time, rather than horizontal-moving baits like the ones I just mentioned previously. This is a different type of presentation, particularly when the bass are feeding on baitfish that are on the bottom, or crawdads. If you're fishing riprap, rocky areas, jigs are the key right now. That's what you wannna be doing. So, those five baits, right now, use them because you're gonna catch a lot of fish using them.
Hope that helps. For more tips and tricks like this, visit bassresource.com.
