Shorter Days Cooler Nights
‘Shorter days and cooler, longer nights is the signal for many of natures creatures to start getting ready for winter.’
And bass are no exception. It’s early fall up here in North Jersey. The bass are seemingly still in their summer haunts as water temps are still in upper 60’s to 70, but migrating to the shallows more frequently in search of, and following baitfish.
As water cools and the bass search shallow for food, I’m going to throw my 3/8 oz tandem willowleaf spinnerbait around cover (weeds, stumps, rocks, stickups, etc). I wanna cover water and find these fish.
And of course topwater baits, I like walking baits, spook type baits and tried and true, Rebel Pop-R. On my lake, I’ve already seen packs of hungry bass migrating during the early part of the day towards the shallow end of the lake (I live on a small lake).
Knowing the bass movement and behavior in a certain lake might make things a little easier. If year after year a certain pattern holds up on your favorite lake, go with it again.
I’ve noticed that on this particular lake, the larger bass tend to hold on these rock piles on the edge of a drop that goes from 5 feet to 20 feet of water, easy access to the shallows and I also see clouds of baitfish being blown against the drop off when winds are from the south.
I love to jig a small 4″ swim bait or a soft jerk bait like a Dirty Bird lures Dirty Dog on a drop shot rig. Many bass have come on this set-up. A scenario like this often produces many fish in a short period of time.
Deep is a relative term dependent on conditions of a particular body of water, here deep would be 15 to 18 feet. On the lake a few miles away, deep would be 20 to 25 feet.
So now in this instance, I’m gonna work the west shoreline with its gradual sloping flat that’s basically around 8 to 12 feet deep from the shoreline to about 30 to 35 yards out.
I’ve had success with a lip-less crank bait here so I will go with that. Here the bottom is quite interesting. Stumps, rocks, grass pockets, and pods of perch inhabit this stretch. And bass are holding on the various pieces of cover and structure.
The few docks that dot the shoreline also usually hold fish as well as the floating swim platforms, skipping a senko under these never disappoints.
So all in all
- Bass are starting to feed up for winter
- They are moving off deeper structure and cover for shallow cover
- They want the baitfish
So if I find the baitfish, some good cover/structure, cover some water, I should be able to catch a few good bass.
This is early fall and as the water cools more, I anticipate the bite to grow and the fish to feed more aggressively. But I need to be on the water for this, I might miss that “magical”day if I’m not.
Author Bio
Bill Peraino is a co-host of “The Reel Deal” with Richie Moschella. The show can be found in northeast New Jersey where it’s been running for4 years. He is an avid Kayak fisherman, where he can be found fishing with his Ocean Kayak. Bill has been bass fishing for 20 years and brings his knowledge, tips and tricks to Bass Fishing Gurus.
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