My Facebook fans are really great about showing their sincere interest in the sport of bass fishing. One of the ways they do that is through the questions they send me. I appreciate this interest, so I like to feature some of these questions in my blogs.
Here’s a good one that I got recently: What are your top four baits for clear water in the fall?
That’s a very timely topic because as the water gets colder, it tends to clear up. Barring any heavy rains, the lakes really clear up as we move into winter.
You might find that the fish are a little more tolerant this time of year because they’re so focused on feeding. Also, in the fall you have more wind and that camouflages you and that allows the fish to commit more to the bait.
The fish are definitely more aggressive this time of year, even when the water starts getting cold, so I like to use reaction baits a lot. Instead of starting the day dragging a jig, I’m going to start out with a moving bait. I’ll slow down and fish a jig once I go through a good area with my reaction baits, but bass are visual feeders when that water’s clear, so I’m usually fishing something that’s moving pretty quickly.
So, to address the specific question, here’s the lineup of my top four baits for fishing clear water in the fall:
1. Spinnerbait – I go with a 1/2- to 3/4-ounce Booyah spinnerbait depending on depth and in the fall, I’m switching from willow leaf blades to Colorado blades. I like shad color baits for largemouth and chartreuse for smallmouth.
This is a great fall bait because of its diversity. I can fish all different depths; I can go slow or fast; and I can fish anything from laydowns to bluffs.
I’ll try different casts and speeds and let the fish tell me what they want. Sometimes, you’ll be amazed at how aggressively fall fish will bite that spinnerbait. I’ve even caught them when it was snowing. I was burning that spinnerbait and they were eating it.
2. Jerkbait – I like several baits in the Smithwick Rogue line the whole line from the 4 1/2 inch, to the 5-inch, to the Perfect 10 based on depth and bait size. I can fish shallow or go deeper and fish ledges for suspending fish with Perfect 10. You can be fishing in 20 feet and the fish will come up and get it.
I may have three different jerkbait rods up there and I may fish on the bank for one stretch and then move deep and go back and forth. You have to have different tools. It’s kinda like a 5-pound sledge hammer and a regular claw hammer – you’re going to use different ones for different jobs but they’re all effective.
In clear water, I like translucent colors for sunny days. On cloudy days, blue chrome is one of my best colors.
3. Crankbait – In the fall, I like a Bandit crankbait and I’ll have three models that I’ll use in different scenarios. First is the Bandit 100 squarebill, which I throw around shallow logs when the water is still in the 60s and the fish are still up on the bank.
The Bandit 200 is my most common choice because I can fish it up on the bank to catch those shallow fish or move off a little and fish it down to 6 feet. When the water drops to 50 degrees or lower, I’ll go with the Bandit 300 and target a lot of 45-degree banks.
As the waters colder fish get on the crawdads, so I like my craw colors – brown crawdad is my favorite.
4. Finesse Jig – I like a Booyah Football head Finesse Jig with Yum Craw Papi. I like this trailer’s craw profile, but it has very little action. The fish are not going to be as active in the colder water, so I don’t want an active trailer like I’d use in warmer water.
I use this as my cleanup bait. I have three moving baits that I can use to cover water and move quickly but when I get around a good area, I may want to go back through with a slower presentation to target brush, rocks or wood. Also, on a sunny day if you can’t get them to bite those reaction baits, it seems like you can almost always get them to bite a jig.
Now one thing to keep in mind for your fall fishing is that with the clarity increasing, you can cover so much more water because the fish can see so much farther. Instead of each cast being a couple of yards apart, they’ll be maybe 10 yards apart.
Take advantage of this seasonal change to cover lots of water and find active areas and then slow down to pick apart specific cover with you jigs.
Thanks to everyone who sent in questions. I’ll be answering more in the coming weeks.