(Editor's note: "Catching Bass with Dustin Wilks" airs three times per week on Sportsman Channel – 9:30 a.m. ET Friday, 4:30 p.m. Sunday and 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. He provides BassFans with supplemental information about each episode in these weekly submissions.)
This week’s episode was filmed in October on a reservoir with the low water. Unless there's a hurricane or tropical storm, usually reservoirs are at their lowest after a long summer, with some being pulled down purposely for winter. This was the setting for this week’s show.
The show was really cool – the first one that I actually filmed for the season (TV shows don’t air in order). It was my first day fishing from my Caymas boat and the first day with my videographer using his new high-end camera equipment. The CX-21 was a pleasure to fish out of and so remarkably solid and quiet. Those were my first impressions.
I used to dread the low-water period of early fall, typically associated with smaller and fewer fish, but anymore I love it. Little fishing pressure and techniques that are fun and fast prevail. Relatively simple processes for catching fish, too.
On the show, I encountered a quick water temperature drop from 80 to 70. Oh no, all is lost! Not really. Think about surface temperature vs. the entire water column when you think of water temp.
In order to catch bass in the fall, you need to understand the summer and what has happened to the water.
In the summer, the surface temps are hot and then cool significantly usually about 3 to 5 feet down (think about being a kid and how those toes are cold down there), then to the actual thermocline where the oxygen levels below it are not good. This varies depending on size and clarity of the lake. The smaller the lake and the murkier the lake, the shallower the thermocline will be.
The thermocline on many reservoirs will be somewhere between 12 and 20 feet, but varies wildly from that. That is my focus to try to pick up on where it might be quickly. Electronics can detect the water density change at the thermocline. I often don’t even look at that line, though. I just idle in open water for a few minutes to get an idea of where the bait is suspended and fish at or above that level.
So the 10-degree drop in surface temp simply made the shallow water more comfortable to the fish from the week before. Most of the fish were probably positioned between that 3- to 5-foot first temp drop and the main thermocline. Now the whole water column would be the same down to the thermocline, which itself will begin to go away, leading to the dreaded "fall turnover."
My thought on all this — with change comes opportunity. We all hate to see things change when we have everything figured out, but that is what makes fishing fun — all the changes.
During the show, I commented that fish like to be near a drop, and that is always true, but what I figured out as the day went on is the fish actually began roaming more than I had anticipated, making a bladed jig and crankbaits the best options for the day. The roaming was a result of the water cooling and fish spreading out looking for food. Now that the water temp had dropped, they were free to roam with comfort.
I used a couple of lures. First was a Yo-Zuri 1.5 square-bill shallow diver in -erch and also a 3/8-ounce bladed jig but with a Culprit Water Dragon trailer instead of traditional offerings.
The Yo-Zuri is a really cool crankbait, really natural color flash and painted on the inside. At first glance you will think this is the same as other square-bills, but the sides are flat. The flat side allows it to flash in that dingy water, catching the bass’ attention. I’m a big fan of flat sides, but you also need a bait that will really cast to cover water. This is the bait! On this show, the limiting factor was an algae that was covering the bottom. I fished this on 14-pound Yo-Zuri Top Knot Fluorocarbon and a 7’4’’ Falcon Low Rider heavy-cover jig rod (has a nice tip).
I also mixed in a 3/8-ounce bladed swim jig that I caught two monsters on that day. The unique thing I did was to add a Culprit Water Dragon as a trailer rather than traditional swimbaits and fish tails. Usually I fish a bait called a Culprit Incred-Slim, which is a skinny version of the popular Incred-Craw series of flipping baits. Ninety percent of the time I fish the Incred-Slim, purely a confidence thing for me. The bait looks great on the back and I have a couple of unique colors tailor-made for bladed jigs. That bait just looks good and I catch lots of fish on it.
But on this special day, I chose to fish the Water Dragon for its wide, flat body similar to the flat sides on my Yo-Zuri. I wanted more flash, basically. This flat bait also provided more lift, so it was good in the shallow water I was fishing. I fished the bladed jig on 16-pound Yo-Zuri Top Knot Fluorocarbon and a 6’10’’ Falcon Expert rod.
When I say flash, I don’t mean spinnerbait-blade flash, but rather a flat side that when it pivots the entire color is reflected back to the bass’ eye. Rounded baits, of course, work great, but when I’m covering miles of water and I want a reaction, flat sides are high on my list of shapes to catch fish.
The longer I fished, the more I realized that fish were roaming. The first couple where right on a drop, then I threw a bomb up on the flat and got bit, and away we went, immediately into flat-covering mode. Always be aware of the channels and ditches, but when they are roaming, he who covers the most water wins. I had over 25 pounds, which was a really good day for the fall especially!
