![]() ![]() I was explaining to a buddy recently that I have been landing no fewer than 50 bass a trip in recent weeks, with some days upwards to 70 bass. Or you could be tossing a subsurface bait and getting blasted on every toss out. You could toss five different surface baits and maybe land a fish or get a blow up or two by total accident after tossing 30 casts. It may seem odd, however, sometimes busting fish do not want something on the surface. If you’re not making a change when you’re not getting bit and you know fish are there, you’re also making a huge mistake. another, you can truly be making a huge mistake. Away from the bait schools, that small minnow bait was exactly what they wanted. One would think a small fly-lined minnow-type bait tossed directly into the middle of a busting frenzy would get ripped straight off. If I tossed metal into the fish that were not on bait, I had very little to below average success, whereas if I tossed it in the areas around the bait, I’ve often had amazing success. And if it were the schools away from the bait, they wanted a small soft plastic minnow-style bait. If I was fishing busting schools, a small metal bait was their choice. One style of bait worked while one was a total zero depending on location. The approach to both I found to be very different over these past two months. And those fish are eating still or want to eat. While fish are busting like mad on the huge schools of bait there are schools of 30 bass well off the bait. That may seem a bit odd, yet what I have noticed is that many of the fish are not on the bait schools 100% of the time - not sure if they’re taking shifts or it’s simply too crowded. I’m following the baitfish and at times, following the fish. It has been an interesting last two months for me on my home waters. And with that it could be within 50 yards or less of each other. And at times, of those three, one of them is correct at one location while another is correct elsewhere on the lake. What we end up with is that two or three baits are the right ones for whatever body of water we’re on. I can rattle off 10 different baits that would be a decent choice for fall fishing. loading the boat back up and wondering what the heck happened to the fish?įor me, it comes down to bait choice. FIND BIRDS, FIND BASS – A cast just a handful of feet ahead a bird resulted in a solid largemouth.Īnd finally, your electronics - you pass over a school, so then what? Do you ignore them or do you stop and see what’s going on?Īll of this in combination or any single one of them could make the difference of an epic day vs. If you know there is bait, 80% of the time it equals bass being there as well. They’re giving you a clue as to what’s there. They may not be able to dive that far down, yet they do spot the bait in the water. Same with birds overhead, what type of birds are they? If you know they’re birds that usually dive on bait, pay attention to their patterns in the sky. It’s very much worth the 10 minutes of time to check it out. If the birds’ food is there, so too is the food for the bass. There is only one reason they’re there, and that is because food is around them. Something many overlook is the presence of birds on the shoreline. You see fish busting or chasing bait - while at other times you need to look at other visual keys that can tell you what might be happening. Meaning essentially that we need to look around a bit to see what’s happening and where the fish may have moved to in pursuit of schools of baitfish. I say this to my fishing partners all time when I feel we need to make a change. The fish and the bait are moving and it can be different from day to day, and even minute to minute. The key here is not to get locked into a single bait that has worked in the past or one location that has produced well at one point. ![]() You could be tossing all the right baits in all the wrong spot on your home water, and/or tossing the wrong baits in all the right spot on your home water. You still have to present the correct bait choices. You still have to find the active schools. However, as great as that sounds, it’s just not that easy. It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet for the fish from late September through November in SoCal. While the water is still warm and their metabolism is high enough, the baitfish can get easily corralled. Their job now is to get as much food as they possibly can with winter fast approaching. ![]()
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