situations like this. You need to see the bait and your drop shot under the boat. look for bait scattered and arcs. When you see this, drop straight down and just let your bait sit suspended. Give them a bit of time to come on over and the bites are almost guaranteed.
another option to this off shore and main body fishing is simply to head all the way up a major creek or river arm as far as you can go. This time of year the water levels are dropping rapidly and bass seem to want to stay near deep water, with the exception of the first hour of course. in the river arms, that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. i do like to idle right in the channel and when i get to about the 20 foot depth in the channel, i know i am far enough up. lots of times this is more like stream fishing than reservoir fishing. Keep the topwater handy but consider swimming a shad colored single tail Yamamoto grub on a darthead as well as a lucky Craft pointer 78 rip bait in Ghost or aurora Black. occasionally move all the way up as far as your boat will take you, just to keep the fish honest. occasionally you can really load the boat out of those ripples and white water eddies but usually, especially as the day wears on, the most productive area seems to be right in the middle of the creek channel where the bass will ambush both trout and minnows as they swim out of the creeks. as the water in a reservoir starts to turn over, this is
Issue 3 August 2011
definitely where i will spend most of my time, knowing that this water will keep good oxygen concentrations and a more stable environment for the fish.
So to summarize the summer to fall transition, look shallow, very shallow first thing in the morning using topwaters and flukes. as the day draws on, move out with the bait and expect the fish to suspend. Keep the topwater on until you are convinced they are done coming all the way up to the surface. Then move to a spoon for a reaction bite followed by using your electronics to “sight fish” for suspended bass. if you don’t find success with these tactics, go up river as far as you can and fish the running water with a grub, rip bait and top water.
Keep your eyes open for grebes as well as seagulls. They will all indicate the presence of baitfish, especially if they are grouped up tightly.
Good luck and i sure hope some of these tips will help you catch and stay on these fish as they make their daily movement following bait. enjoy the weather and the changes in the seasons. We are all so blessed to have the opportunities we do to enjoy such a rewarding sport in the best country on earth. Good luck and God Bless.
I’d like to thank my sponsors , dobyns rods, P-line, Costa Sunglasses, and Yamamoto Custom Baits.
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