reSerVoir bASS
sumertofall transition:
By Jim Novotny
A
s summer starts to wind down, even
with the temperatures remaining warm
during the heat of the day, changes
are occurring in the underwater environment. Those who take these changes
into account will benefit evidenced by more bites
throughout the day and quality bags at weigh in.
Changes are taking place that are not readily
evident without some acute attention to changes in
the environment. look at the color changes in trees,
fall berries that are ripening, and summer berries that
are drying out as examples. if you’ve been fortunate
enough to make it out fishing this summer and found
yourself able to stay on fish, it won’t be long until you
are wondering where they went. if you are like most
of us and have had limited opportunities this summer
due to family vacations, working longer hours, or just
not wanting to battle all the other water craft sharing
the water, now that labor day is just around the corner,
comes with it a drastic decrease in pleasure boaters and
more opportunities to enjoy getting most of the lake to
yourself.
take note of changes taking place. The nights are
getting cooler, you are noticing moisture on your vehicle
first thing when you go to work, and yes, it’s even
getting darker earlier in the evening. all changes that
are not going unnoticed by the fish we love to chase
around so much. as the nights continue to get longer
and cooler, the water temperature is sure to slowly start
to drop. This triggers a movement of baitfish from their
deep water haunts back into the creeks, river arms, and
even large coves. The bass are sure to follow.
This time of year, my fishing focuses on following
the bait. First thing in the morning, you can expect to
see minnows, especially the threadfin shad dimpling
the water right along the shoreline, literally in inches
50
of water. The bass know this and follow them to intercept as they move out as the sun rises and the day warms. after the shad are done spawning for the morning, they move back out to deep off shore water where the bass will again follow. So how do you keep on these fish and get them to bite?
top water is definitely my first choice. Bass spend most of their time right now looking up at the shad, hoping to pin them against the surface of the water. Sometimes the topwater bite will last only for an hour or so, but as long as you follow the baitfish off shore, over deep points and flats, you can almost always count on some more topwater bites throughout the whole day. This time of year, the bass are very active so a fast presentation works best. My two favorite topwaters right now would be a lucky Craft Gunfish followed by a Heddon Superspook and Superspook Jr worked just as fast as you can possibly work it. if all you get are followers without committing, switch to a Zoom Superfluke and work it just fast enough to keep it breaking the surface. When you see the fish follow, just stop your retrieve and let it flutter down. This seems to be a sure fire way to get those followers to commit.
if you can’t seem to get the bass to come up to the surface, which does happen at times, then my next option would be to trigger a reaction strike with a spoon. When pond smelt is the dominant baitfish, i choose a pirk minnow in ½oz for down to 20 or 30 feet and a 1oz when having to search water deeper than that. if the primary bait is threadfin, then it’s a Hopkins 3/4oz spoon. if i am still unable to elicit some bites, then it’s time to pull out the dropshot. roboworm in a shad color is my confidence bait, suspended just below the depth of the baitfish. at this point it’s more like playing a video game than anything else. Quality electronics are critical for