Secret Word 10/12-10/14

[bassfshin24]

Thanks guys. It was a blast to get them on a jerkbait. I was using a x-rap. For some reason I like to throw a jerkbait on a spinner reel more then a baitcaster. So it was spinning setup with 8lb fluro. Wasnt working the bait too fast. Every fish hit the bait on the pause.

[TonkaBass]

Bassfishin, way to go! Those are all awesome fish! Nice pig again as well Jalberg.

[bassfshin24]

Those are some pig largemouth Jalberg. It's embarressing for me to say but I have yet to get a largemouth over 5lbs this year. I've had a few around the 4.75 mark but nothing over it. Im heading out to a small metro lake Thursday where I pulled three 5lbers out of there last fall. Hopefully I can get one of the pigs to bit. What were you catching them on? Jigs?

[Juan Grande]

Yeah, Jalberg always has a green with envy in the fall. I've never caught a LMB even close to 6 lbs.

[Craigums]

What depths are you guys finding fish? I was on Big Marine and the shallows were barren. Pulled out to 10' of water and put one in the boat but had to leave shortly after.

[RuddyDuck]

RuddyDuck, glad to see I'm not the only one that struggles in the fall! I'm going to try to take a halfday tomorrow and give it another try. 46-47*F water temps were I was fishing. Caught my only "keeper sized" bass on a DT6 in Perch color

Yeah I could hardly buy a fish! But, this is the first fall that I have tried some Bass fishing so I realize I have alot to learn. Usually I duck/goose hunt once Sept 1 hits and never touch a pole, but for some reason I wanted to keep Bass fishing this year, so I decided to give it a try a few times this fall. Wife thinks I am kinda crazy though! Sept was fairly decent for me.

I definately think I was fishing too fast of baits this weekend for the water temp, tried buzz baits, spinnerbaits, cranks mostly. Did try some wood cover with jigs for awhile I guess, but that didn't work either, they were there, two weeks ago, but not now.

I fished mostly in 12ft or less. When the wind finally let up I tried some deeper water, but only fished there for 20mins and had to quit for the day. The one I caught was on a lipless crank in about 6-7ft of water

Hoping to get out once or twice yet and then call it quits. Sure wish I could go tomorrow, I think the warmup would be good!

[EBass]

My motor broke over the weekend. We were going for walleyes, so figures the motor revolted. That may be it for the season.

[Juan Grande]

I'm sure it doesn't hold true in all cases, but one thing I've found in the fall is the bite seems to be good in shallower water later in the afternoon on a sunny day. Once the water warms up the fish move up and/or become active. I've had days where I've fished all morning with not a bite and then they hit like gangbusters from 2-5 PM.

That mid to late day sun really warms things up in the fall. The fish we caught yesterday were all shallow and were hitting a lipless crank as fast as I could reel it.

[thatoneguy]

I was out for two hours on Saturday, and zeroed for the first time in my bass fishing life. Not even a follow from a pike - that's when you know fish are really negative on Leech!

[river rat316]

I don't know that your baits are to "fast" I fished part of the day today on a local lake and caught all my fish on swim jigs, tried slowing down in areas where I picked up multiple fish on the swim jig and couldn't buy a bite, back to the swim jig and I kept catching fish, one of the keys for me in the fall is warming water, if the sun is out and the water is warming during the day the bite seems to be in full swing and they will chase baits like swim jigs, spinnerbaits and cranks. If the water is cooling or staying the same it seems to slow things down a bit, also when the water is warming I have caught fish amazingly shallow like there back is out of the water shallow, although most fish today were in that 4-6' range hanging on the edge of remaining pads with scattered green weeds around, if the weed cover was heavy or dieing it held little to no fish, if the weeds were scattered and green it held pretty good numbers. I truly think the key to figuring out the fall bite on a body of water is paying really close attention to the smallest details and trying to reproduce the same conditions in other spots. Paying attention to who, what, where, when in the fall is the difference between getting into a load of fish and not catching any.

[jalberg]

So do you have a few big fish spots that you visit frequently or just cover allot of water?

Like everyone else, there are spots i always check, but to be honest none of the big fish I have caught recently have come off spots I've caught big fish before. Just lucky I guess Seriously though, i put a lot of effort into finding big fish.

[bonebaby0]

Hey Chris - had an epic day fishing your flip swim jigs on a local lake. Caught all my fish 14-18 fow where there was green weeds. Green weeds and bait were key. Caught them in 6 different spots ... had to have green weeds and visible bait on my graph in the area. Top five fish were 21", 20", 20", 20", 19" - only caught 12 fish total in 5 hours.

Did you guys get any pigs on the swim jigs?

Guys if you haven't tried NorthStar Custom Baits Jigs your missing out. They have put soooo many pigs in my boat - Plus Chris has the best customer service on the planet!

[bonebaby0]

Craigums - I fish Big Marine a fair amount and catch my best fish in 14-22 fow. Sounds odd to fish that deep in the fall but as I proved today on a different lake if you have green/heathy weeds out deep the fish/bait will be there too. I'd try deeper if your on a clear lake like Big Marine.

[kt]

Fished two lakes on saturday. First one was a dud, 2nd one we smoked em pretty good on the deepest green coontail we could find. Ended up with five 4 lbers and a handful of 3's in a couple hours. Big 5 went 22 lbs.

Sunday we fished a different lake, and smoked the largemouth. Caught em in a number of different areas from 4-14 feet on jigs/plastics. Big 5 went 24 lb 12 oz. Ended up with two 5 lbers and 12 four lbers with 20 or so in the 3 lb range. Just a perfect fall day!

4 12

4 14

4 14

5 lbs

5 lb 5 oz

[bassfshin24]

Wow! Nice fish KT. Those are some beautiful fall largies!