Fall 2025
with mixed gravel and hard clay. These areas often hold roaming bass corralling schools of shad in cooling water temps.
How: Use a steady medium retrieve to maintain bottom contact and maximize the bait’s tight-action roll. Mix in occasional pauses or rod twitches to trigger followers,
especially when fish are trailing but hesitant to commit. In stained or windy water, a stop-and-go cadence with brief pauses allows the floating action to mimic injured forage, drawing reactive strikes.
Rig It: Use 10– to 14-pound fluorocarbon to help the bait achieve full depth while maintaining abrasion resistance against rocks and cover.
Color Tip: In clear water, go with Citrus Shad or Natural Bluegill to match subtle forage tones. In dirtier or overcast conditions, use Blue Back Chartreuse to deliver high visibility and trigger reaction strikes.
and laydowns. It’s perfect for fishing tight to structure and using deflections to provoke following bass.
How: Cast it to near-cover spots and retrieve it with a moderately fast, steady roll, allowing it to deflect naturally off woody structure or rock surfaces. Brief pauses after deflections can entice bites from following bass.
Rig It: Tie directly to the split ring using a loop or direct knot. Use a rod with a sensitive tip and strong backbone—something like a 7’ medium-heavy with a boat-side tailkick ensures accurate casting and solid hooksets.
Color Tip: Select natural forage-matching colors like Green Gizzard Shad, Red Crawdad, or Citrus Shad for normal conditions. In low-light or stained water, opt for high-contrast options like Hot Copper Green or Chartreuse Black.
®
OG ROCCO - 05 RAPALA – OTT’S GARAGE SERIES
Why: In fall, bass often push shallow chasing baitfish as water temps drop. The Rocco 05 is a shallow-diving squarebill crankbait (dives 3– to 5-feet), which perfectly matches that depth range—especially when bass cruise flats, riprap, shallow laydowns, or rocky banks in search of easy prey. Fall bass are often more aggressive than in summer or winter, but they can still be pressured and selective, especially on lakes with heavy traffic. This silent, balsa wood design creates a tight, rolling wobble that mimics fleeing baitfish without over-alerting bass like a rattling bait might. During the fall, when baitfish are grouped tight, and bass ambush them by pinning them against structure, this crank’s wide squarebill shape helps it deflect off wood and rocks, triggering reflex bites when it bounces unpredictably. That’s critical during fall, when fish often respond to erratic or reactive presentations.
Where: This lure performs best along cover such as submerged brush, rocky banks, riprap, shallow stumps,
THE CHAMP SWIMMER -
BERKLEY POWERBAIT
Why: This shad-imitating swimmer has a lifelike baitfish profile, offering realism that bass key in on during fall when schools of shad are on the move. The bait’s large thumping paddle tail displaces ample water to help bass locate it in cooler, murky conditions, ideal for triggering reaction strikes in slowing fish.
Where: Rock banks and ramp points where baitfish gather during migration is a good focus as well as submerged grass lines, along secondary points, and flats adjacent to deep water. Look for sparse wood cover, open flats transitioning from warmer to deeper zones. Target depths can range from 4- to 16-feet deep to capturing feeding or staging bass.
How: Start with a steady, burn-and-pause retrieve— allow the bait to track clean and thump consistently. When fish are following, a stop-and-go approach, stuttering retrieve helps: burn it hard briefly, then let it pause and rise naturally to provoke reaction strikes.
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