Spots Are Willing Participants In The Fall

By Jonathan LePera
Special to BassFan

(Editor’s note: This is part two of a two-part series on how various pro anglers target spotted bass in the fall at different lakes around the country. To read part 1 about fishing for spotted bass at the Coosa River, click here.)

Fall is a favorite time of year to fish for many tournament and recreational fishermen, especially when spotted bass are the target species.

As winter nears, spots begin gorging on bait as they prepare for the colder months ahead. This process plays out in lakes across the country where spotted bass swim, from the deep mountain reservoirs of California to the deep, clear lakes of South Carolina.

One thing Brent Ehrler looks forward to each fall is heading up to Lake Shasta to target spotted bass as they hunt down shad. Primary and secondary points, especially those with stumps, rock or brush present, are his first stops. Fall is about putting the trolling motor down and covering water quickly and efficiently until the fish show themselves.

“You’ll go an hour or two without and bite and then in 45 minutes, you’ll get three or four bites or they’ll show you where they’re at,” Ehrler said.

If it’s apparent they’re grouped up on a point or in the back of a pocket, Ehrler says he eliminates a lot of water simply running key structure. He noted that that some anglers simply don’t cover enough water.

“If fish are moving, you need to move,” he said. “I’m trying to run a pattern where I can search through water and cover new water because those fish are constantly moving. I need to move with them. If you go back to every bite that you’ve had, you’re not going to catch fish because those fish are moving.”

Most of his spotted bass fishing is done in clear water. He’ll start off casting a Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 – chartreuse shad or striped shad or ghost minnow are his choices on cloudy days. He’ll fish it on a 7-foot medium-light Daiwa Tatula XT rod with a Daiwa Tatula Type-R CT reel spooled with 30-pound Sunline SX1 braided line tied to a short leader of 19-pound Sunline Defier Armilo monofilament or 16-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon line. He prefers a short leader because the Gunfish will turn on itself when he’s working the bait whereas employing a short leader eliminates that.

The Lucky Craft Staysee 90 is another option and he’ll work it with a snap-pause-snap-snap-pause-snap cadence. He fishes it on 10-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluoro with the same combo mentioned above.

He’ll work it at a fairly brisk pace, but after a “good cold snap,” he’ll add in a one- or two-count pause. He’s well aware that the fish he’s catching are suspended, chasing bait and always on the move. Ultimately, he’ll let the mood of the fish dictate his approach.

Using tradidition 2-D sonar on his Humminbird Helix 12 unit, he checks out the small pockets off the main lake and points. Later into fall and into winter, as the bait moves deeper so will the fish, he said. Or sometimes, they’ll just sulk and lay on the bottom in the mud.

“You’ll catch them and their bellies will be stained from resting their bellies on the bottom. Sometimes they just don’t want to bite,” Ehrler said. “One way I’ve found to catch those fish with a dropshot is don’t ever shake it, which is the way I usually fish it.”

Instead, Ehrler will drag the rig, just barely easing it along the bottom almost like a Carolina-rig to trigger a bite.

Consistently, he’ll dropshot a wacky-rigged Yamamoto Thin Senko or a 4- to 6-inch straight tailed Roboworm in Aaron’s Magic, Red Crawler, Ehler’s Edge, Blue Crawler in 30 feet of water.

For dropshotting, Ehrler opts for the 7-foot, 1-inch medium-action Daiwa Tatula Elite AGS spinning rod that bears his name with a 3000 series Daiwa Exist reel spooled with 12-pound Sunline SX1 braided line. He uses a crazy alberto knot to connect an 8-pound Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon leader. In most conditions, he’ll fish a cylindrical ¼-ounce Reins sinker but will step up to a 3/8-ounce when fishing in the wind or deeper water.

Ehrler stressed that fishing the moment is key.

“A guy will catch a good one or two on a point and they’ll continue to fish it because they caught fish even though there’s nothing on the sonar,” he said. “If you aren’t seeing them down there, they aren’t there.”

Combs & Texas Spots

Elite Series angler Keith Combs might not try to win a tournament at Sam Rayburn with only spotted bass, but he enjoys targeting them.

Using his Humminbird Onix 10 unit with Lakemaster Mapping to break down Rayburn, he’ll run side and down imaging from his console trying to key areas. Once he’s identified key structure, he’ll use 360 imaging to help him expand his findings.

Where a creek channel bends and finding possible brush piles on turns are key. “If the defined section of the creek channel is 100 yards long, they may move that distance in an hour. They’re going to be on bait so they’ll be on the move. Get over the channel and look for the fish and that will tell you where to start,” Combs said.

While it’s not a hard rule, Combs has found the outside bend to be especially productive because it usually has the best drop-off.

When approaching key structure, he’ll position his boat in the channel and cast to the edge. Fishing a 7’2” medium-heavy Shimano Zodias casting rod and 17-pound Seaguar Invizx spooled on a Shimano Metanium HG with 8:5.1 gearing, he’ll hop and stroke a jig aggressively. He’ll work the bait up the channel ledge believing it’s more visible.

“I want my jig falling more than crawling along the bottom," he said. "I like to hop it also. How high depends on how they’re biting. Typically, once you find them chasing bait, you can fish it pretty aggressively. If there’s a load of them and they’re lighting me up and its overcast, I might be stroking the rod 6 feet."

If the bite slows, he’ll drag the bait or short-hop it to trigger bites. His confidence bait is a 3/4-ounce Strike King Structure Jig, especially when targeting 15 to 30 feet of water. He’ll trim the skirt tight behind the hook and hack 3/4 of an inch from a Rage Craw before threading it onto the jig.

“It’s a heavy jig, but it’s not a big, bulky jig,” said Combs, who rarely has a fish come off when using that jig.

When there’s no cover and he’s not dragging bottom, he’ll cut the weed guard off or thin it out as much as possible. If the jig bite is slow, it may be because the fish are suspending off the bottom. In those instances, Combs will graph them and make short pitches with an 1/8-ounce dropshot rig and finesse worm, letting the bait free fall through them.

“They can’t hardly stand that,” he said. “You’ll catch the biggest ones in the school on the jig and you’ll catch every one of them on a dropshot.”

On a 7’3” medium-heavy Shimano Zodias spinning rod paired with a Shimano Stradic Ci4+ spooled with 20-pound Seaguar Smackdown, he’ll run a 8- to 10-pound Tatsu leader joined with a double uni-knot. On the business end, he’ll rig either a morning dawn 4-inch Dream Shot or a 4-inch Finesse Worm in green pumpkin on a 1/0 Owner Mosquito hook.

Gagliardi’s Structured Approach

FLW Tour angler Anthony Gagliardi prefers to target spotted bass because they’re easier to catch than largemouth.

“The aggressive nature of spotted bass is more of a sure thing in a lot of lakes around here,” he said, referring to the fisheries near his home in Prosperity, S.C. There’s a lot of confidence involved. If you’re going to target spots, most times you’re going to find them and be able to catch them.”

Some of his favorite bodies of water include Lake Lanier, Lake Hartwell, Lake Norman and Lake Russell. As with many lakes in the country, spots will be chasing bait, structure oriented and some will suspend.

“Spots tend to do really well on lakes with submerged timber as well,” he noted. “They suspend over timber in a lot of cases where the timber happens to come up shallow enough you’re able to find fish in the tops of it and catch them over top.”

Gagliardi suggests anglers target water from the mid-teens down to 10 feet and shallower with the latter possibly harboring larger adult fish. Bridge pilings can be easy pickings.

“You can graph pilings, mark the actual fish, or mark bait and once you know what pilings they’re on, concentrate your efforts there,” he said. “Those fish do get pressured quite often so you need to downsize and finesse them a little bit. A lot of times there’s a lot of schooling activity that goes on around bridges. When those fish aren’t schooling and breaking, you can guarantee they’re suspended on those pilings.”

He’ll use side imaging to find the bait, individual fish and determine far off the individual pilings they are sitting. He’ll use regular 2-D sonar to see how deep they are.

“You typically get a good picture because you’re over deep water and those fish are showing up in that black part of your screen,” he said.

Most of the time, spotted bass are going to suspend over some type of cover like brush or trees.

“If it’s just bottom structure, then they are going to be suspending on the break or just out from the break,” he said.

He cautions anglers not to position their boats where they should be casting.

“They should be sitting in deeper water just throwing to the break,” he said.

Gagliardi’s first choice is to fish topwater baits. At Lanier, he’ll throw bigger baits because the herring on the lake are big. Most times, a Sammy 100 or 115 and a Gun Fish 95 in chartreuse shad, bone and white if it’s cloudy, will get the job done.

Gagliardi ties his topwater baits on a 7-foot medium-heavy Level Fishing baitcasting rod strung with 50-pound Gamma Torque braid. He ties a short 16- to 20-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon leader, but will drop to 17-pound Gamma mono copolymer if fish are spooky.

If a topwater isn’t producing, he’ll resort to a wacky-rigged worm or shaky head fished on a 6-foot, 8-inch medium extra-fast Level spinning rod designed for small finesse baits. He relies on 6-pound Gamma Torque braid with a leader of 6-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon.

As an absolute last resort, he’ll throw an underspin. Normally, he’ll rig a Buckeye Spin Blade with a smaller fluke or a Yamamoto D-Shad in natural shad patterns like smoke and baits with light blue tinges. White is a prime choice when faced with cloudy skies. Gagliardi won’t work too hard to make the underspin deal happen – he’d sooner seek out active topwater fish instead.