®
Fall 2018
page 58
BOTTOM: If I’m going through clouds of shad on the bottom of my Lowrance, I love fishing lipless crankbaits like a Strike King Red Eye Shad in Chrome Sexy Shad or Sexy Shad. After making a long cast, I’ll let the Red Eye Shad hit bottom, before I start my retrieve. From there, I’ll vary my retrieve, until I find exactly what will trigger strikes. Keeping an open mind with the retrieve is key here and I can’t stress that enough.
At times, the ticket will be popping that Red Eye Shad off the bottom, with a hard snapping motion of the rod, over and over again. Other times, a fast-paced stop and go retrieve is money. Keep mental notes of how you’re working your bait and once you find what they’re looking for, duplicate it.
MID-DEPTH: If I’m pedaling through large clouds of shad on the Lowrance, that are suspended in the middle of the water column, it’s hard to go wrong with an umbrella rig. I prefer the Hog Farmer BFL Rig with Bass Pro Shops Speed Shads rigged on Trokar Swim Blades. This set up has a ton of flash and grabs the attention of anything swimming nearby.
I don’t do anything cute when I’m fishing this setup. at all. I cast out as far as I can, let it sink for a couple seconds, and then steadily retrieve this rig until it gets trucked.
When fishing this setup make sure to net your fish. Boat flipping a fish wearing the Hog Farmer jewelry with Trokars swinging around is a recipe for disaster! Please check the governing bodies rules and regulations, regarding multi-hook rigs, before fishing one.
work out perfectly: but every now and then, I’ll get lucky and find a nice little path down to the reservoir near six or seven pins that I have dropped. I like to have at minimum three launch locations picked out on Google Earth before moving to the next step; but sometimes on bigger reservoirs, I’ll have as many as 10.
FROM GOOGLE EARTH TO LOWRANCE
The next step is to import all the pins I dropped on Google Earth into my Lowrance unit and download the social map. Lowrance has an amazing YouTube library with tons of informative videos showing how to get the most out of your electronics.
If you aren’t familiar with downloading social maps or importing Google Earth waypoints you can find all that information on their YouTube page.
WATER COLUMNS AND LURES
In early fall, I’ve caught crazy numbers of bass on everything from topwater walking baits to Alabama rigs. Until the water really starts cooling off, you must be prepared to target bass all throughout the water column.
I’ll cycle through the waypoints imported from Google Earth, paying close attention to both my Lowrance and any indicators Mother Nature might give me – like birds dive bombing into a school of shad on the surface.
SURFACE: If I see a predatory bonanza of birds attaching from the top and bass attacking from below, I fish a few different baits. Although I love using walking baits like Super Spooks or a BPS XPS Slim Dog; sometimes, I’ll simply opt for a good old fashion white buzzbait and make sure I’ve got an Eagle Claw trailer hook attached to it.
When it’s a full-on feeding frenzy, it’s easier to bomb out the buzzbait and burn it through the carnage; but when the action on top is a little slower, you’ll want to use the walking baits to better match the baitfish profile.
WATER TEMPS DROP
As fall progresses and the water temp cools off dramatically, I start playing video games. I’ll sit on top of bait balls of shad and watch my Lowrance as I drop a size 9 Jigging Rapala in Chrome and Blue or Silver down to the bottom. From there, I’ll tweak my jigging cadence, until I find exactly what they’re looking for. This can vary from “I’m all hopped up on Mountain Dew” power jigging to a subtle lift of the rod tip followed by a pause. I’ll alternate between Jigging raps and 5/8 oz Chrome XPS Lazer Blades.
With a little bit of homework and paying close attention to your electronics, fall can be the best time of the year to be a kayak angler. If you’re patient enough to find the bait before taking even a single cast, you’ll be rewarded with crazy numbers of bass and a good shot at toad with a belly stuffed full of shad! •