A walleye guy in serch of Bass.....

[herefish101]

Like the subject states I normally fish walleye, but I have a shot at gettin into a friends small but possibly lucritive contest. The reason I'm posting is I really have no clue as to early fall bass patterns. I busted out a bunch of older in-fisherman mags as well as Minnesota sportsman mags, they really shed some light on where to start as far as a late summer early fall bite being on deeper humps and even suspended over really deep water. But with the weather already cooling down i'd assume the water temps are doing the same. So, my million dollar question, should I be working deeper structure? or my favorite way to bass fish, Casting cranks up around docks? I'm just torn! Should I try some finness stuff like soft plastics, or should I be rippin spinner baits and lipless cranks? The lake this contest is on has some really deep water(60ft) adjacent to emergent and submergent vegitation, as well a two very well defined points. My thought is to start shallow and work my way deeper as the sun comes up. I could be way off on all my assumptions, thats why i'm hoping some of you bass pro's could help a walleye guy show his buddies up, just for some humility....lol...... Thanks to anyone that posts anything, I'll keep checking this post and try to answer questions. Thanks....

[mww24]

your friends small but possibly lucrative what? you talking money tourney here or something. Also, when is this happening? If its this upcoming weekend or in 3 weekends would make a huge difference. Your on the right path. You can usually always find a few fish shallow no matter the time of year. I would say your start shallow move deep is on target. thats what I would do If i didnt know the body of water. If were talking beginning of october, I love to start throwing large spinnerbaits to whats left of green weeds. If you can find some isolated clumps on a shallow flat, always seems to work well in fall for me. I've allready said to much. the rest of the bass guys are going to kill me. good luck.

[herefish101]

your friends small but possibly lucrative what? you talking money tourney here or something. Also, when is this happening? If its this upcoming weekend or in 3 weekends would make a huge difference. Your on the right path. You can usually always find a few fish shallow no matter the time of year. I would say your start shallow move deep is on target. thats what I would do If i didnt know the body of water. If were talking beginning of october, I love to start throwing large spinnerbaits to whats left of green weeds. If you can find some isolated clumps on a shallow flat, always seems to work well in fall for me. I've allready said to much. the rest of the bass guys are going to kill me. good luck.

Thanks for catching my typo, I fixed it. The contest is in two weeks, so water temps should come down a touch. Thanks again, maybe all I need is a little reassurance.

[mainbutter]

I fish bass using 5'' senkos, wacky rigged on #4 VMC drop shot hooks, in spring/summer/fall all in the same place.. Where they can have some oxygen, non-drastic water temps, and protective structure.. in other words, nothing surprising.

LMB I tend to stick to shallower water year-round. Though october on a lake last year, I found plenty of bass in an area that is 6-8 feet deep, with weeds that are roughly 4' tall. The key to this spot for me was that the weeds were still green. I like to rip a search crank through some weeds and find out if they are green, and then switch to slower presentations when I find an area that looks promising.

However I also like fishing deep structure in the fall with deep cranks, but the key is a lake HAVING deep structure. Most of the lakes I fish have NO structure, and that's just the nature of the beast since I target smaller lakes that are close to the cities.

If there is deep structure, hit it with deep cranks. This is exactly what I'd do on a SMB lake with rocky structure.

[Wayne Ek]

If you can just give out the name of the lake. I'm sure someone has fished it for fall bass at one time or another.

[mww24]

or even the location in the state. late september in mankato and grand rapids would be two different beasts more than likely.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Arnt you walleye guys always telling us bass guys how easy our species is to catch? Haha, kidding, kind of...

Fall can be difficult because the fish will spread out all over the place. They will still use deep water, but more will move to the shallows with the cooler water. Finding good healthy weed beds in the fall is always a plus but there will probably be plenty to go around in a few weeks. Id say scratch your suspended fish idea, probably too time consuming to find and get these fish to bite. Go for the easier fish to find and catch.

Sometimes you just got to put your trolling motor on, keep moving and cover water. Cast weed flats with buzzbaits, swimjigs, paddle tails or shallow cranks looking for active feeders.

Pads can be good if the lake has them. Hollow frogs or pitching plastics into pockets will work here but make sure you have proper gear, baitcaster, 50lb + braid, heavy action rod.

working docks or laydowns with a wacky rigged worm or jig is always a possibility any time of the year.

Deep water is still a viable option. Any place you'd look for 'eyes this time of year could have bass too.

[tolle141]

For docks I'd throw 3-4 inch tubes or flukes. The best docks are pretty easy to pick out. Just send it way up in there a few times.

Searching weedlines with spinnerbaits & cranks always works well for me. If you locate a rocky end to a point I like to crawl tubes deep.

Should be able to tie into something like this. Just remember they usually school the same size so if you're getting 1-2 pounders, might want to keep looking.

[herefish101]

Thanks evryone, and TurnUpTheFishing, small bass are easy to catch, but the bigger ones are a whole nother story, thats why yourguys' info is very appreciated, if you want to catch big bass you need to know what your doing. So far it sounds like i'm rigging a couple of worm rigs(texas and wacky) and some spinner baits, i'm going to key on shallow structure like docks and weed beds, and if all else fails try some deeper humps. Keep the info comming if you like i'll post more as I know more. I'v been cramming for this like it's a final test or somthing. I'm going to get out and pre fish this lake this saturday, i'll post my results then, and the name of the lake. Thanks again everyone.

[jac714]

If you are out early something like a frog across the lilly pads can produce some big fish.

[delmuts]

Just be warned; that toothy critters LOVE those lure as well!

[davebar]

Stick by Dave bar and you will be just fine ... ps don't throw your cellphone in the air while

other people are shooting

[herefish101]

I'll be following you around, "wacky style"

[basssmasher*]

if you target docks ( I would) make sure you find ones that have cover like a T style dock or even a boatlift with a canopy. I use 3 -4 inch chartreuse tubes and fish every little corner, ( even the washout hole from an outboard). It takes a bit of time but it's worth it

[herefish101]

The contest was on Big Carnelian, I found out that I am very good at catching small bass. I fished shallow all day because the the darn fish just kept biting, but they were all small. The biggest fish was 4.5 lbs I think, it was caught deep in like 18 feet of water. Thanks Dave for putin it together, what a blast. And thanks to everyone who helped with the advice, it was all great.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Should've gave the lake name I could have, and Im sure others could have, given out much more specific info.

What did you do to catch your fish?

[mww24]

what place did you finish? having a 4.5 pounder in the bag had to have helped

[herefish101]

Sorry, I was not very specific, the 4.5 pounder was caught by the winner. My partner and I finished 7th out of 8 boats with only six pounds and 7 fish between the two of us. I think I got hung up on the willing biters that were shallow in what was left of the green weeds, while a bunch of the guys were fishing deeper on some of the submerged weedlines and humps. I threw multiple varations of spinner baits, then went to a wacky rig, I got a ton of bites on the wacky rig but just could'nt hook the fish, even with the funky wacky hooks, so I went to the good ol texas rig and pretty much fished that for the rest of the day. If I had it to do over again, i'd go deeper with some heavier jigs and some crank baits, but it's alot of fun fishing with money on the line, especially for a biting species like bass. I am definatly going to put some more time and money into bass fishing, I think I just got board of it as a kid, but there is tons of fun to be had, and i'll definatly be part of it. Thanks again for the info everyone.

[mww24]

ahh. big fish for the tourney was 4.5. I see. Oh well. Sounds like you still got a lot of fish. thats always a plus.

if you want to put some of that money into a flipping stick send me a personal message.