No Secrets in Fall Bass Fishing

All right, what's going on? Today we're gonna talk about October baits. It's October, 2022, it's in the fall, early fall, not really fall by my standards, but it's definitely the start of it. The shad are moving, the fish are moving, everything's changing. Depending on where you are in the country, this is an extremely diverse time of year to be fishing. You know, if you're on the Tennessee River, it's all about the grass right now, the frog bite's phenomenal, and the mats, the puncher bite's really good. If you're up north, I think they're pitching a jig, getting a lot of meal full, a lot of stuff like that. I've got some pictures of people catching some really big ones. On the ace up north recently, flipping it in, what's left of the grass, and cabbage, and meal full, and all that stuff. So, depending on where you are in the country, very, very diverse month for fishing. But for where I am, in the southeast, it's all about chasing the shad, it's all about catching fish that are primarily on the shad, they're sitting in places that are ready to ambush shad, it's all about that type of stuff. So, your channel swings, your deeper docks, the last deep dock going into these backs of these pockets, all this type of stuff can be really good fall places that you can catch some really big fish that are ambushing these shad. But I'm gonna kind of walk y'all through the baits that I use this time of year. A couple of them are a little bit newer, and a couple of them are just tried and true, everybody knows them, everybody fishes with them. So, a lot of these baits though, you're gonna notice there's a profile that I'm looking for this time of year, because a lot of the lakes that I fish on have spotted bass in them, and largemouth in them. And this time of year, a lot of times, it's really difficult to catch five big largemouths, so you're gonna have to weigh in some of those two pound spots, or two and a half pound spots, in some of the tournaments I fish. So, I do fish a lot of tournaments when I'm home this time of year, but you really don't wanna throw a bait that's gonna catch mostly spots, and you don't wanna throw a bait that's gonna catch mostly largemouth, and won't catch any spots. So, you don't wanna throw a huge, big, bulky jig, like you might throw in March, because the spots don't really eat it, and you don't wanna throw something just ultra-finesse-y that are only gonna catch the spots, because you still wanna catch some of those big largemouths. So, get right into it. A lot of these baits are, well, a couple of these baits are newer, like I said. This is a Gamakatsu weedless underspin hook, with a 3.8 inch swimbait on back. This is something I've not been throwing for that long, to be honest with you, but I really, really like it. I've found myself throwing this more, and more, and more, this year, than I ever have before. And, you know, it's a really, really good bait. Like, they eat it surprisingly good, better than I thought they would. But, that's all it is. It's got a little blade hanging down on a wire. I'm throwing a three aught one right now on a 3.8 inch swimbait. So, 18 pound Sunline Shooter, seven foot three medium heavy Envy, and this is the new 13 Fishin' Inception Slide. So, that's what I'm throwing that on. That bait is just really good for imitating shad in the tips of trees, under docks, tips of brush piles, any type of place where you really wanna imitate those shad, but you also want something weedless. That's a really, really good one for that. Now, another one that's a little bit newer is the Spro Haint. This bait will be out next year. This is a top water walking bait. I mean, it's really kind of a Sammy style bait, because it has that more of a subtle walking action, but this one is really, really loud. It's the loudest top water that still has a subtle action that I've ever used. So, I've been catching really good on that this fall. Started throwing it this year on the Mississippi River up there on La Crosse. Caught some really nice ones on it. And then, since then, brought it home and been catching them on it ever since. So, you know a walking bait is just a really good bait in the fall on these flat points, deep points, steep points, around docks, over brush piles, all that type of stuff. Anywhere these fish can be set up, ambushed, and shed, a walking style top water is a really, really good bait to throw this time of year. I did upgrade it to the Gamakatsu G Finesse medium heavy trebles. So, when those fish are swatting at it, especially those spots, those smallmouth, the largemouth seem to get a little bit better, but the spots in the smallmouth really swat at it. I really like those G Finesse trebles. I feel like I just, I mean, I just stick them in the back of the head, I stick them in the side sometimes. I just seem to snag them a little bit more often when they're swatting at that top water and end up landing those fish. So, I don't wanna throw like an EWG style hook because if they eat it, you land them really good, but if they're swatting at it, like they do this time of year, the EWG just doesn't hook them quite as good. So, that's a treble hook I throw on that. This is a seven foot one medium Almond rod. This is a eight to one gear ratio Inception and 30 pound Sunline Asagi, Asagai, whatever you wanna call it, X-Plasma, Brave. That's, you know, the setup I use for throwing that top water bait. Now, this one right here is the people's favorite, the choice, everybody's favorite bait to throw. This is an H-Jig, this is in Dirty Craw color. You can see I got this skirt really, really thin down. I actually caught one four pounds on this just yesterday or the day before. I actually caught one four pounds on this exact same bait. Really cool, love this thing. I've got it cut down to a weedless, I mean, not a weedless, I got it cut down to like a finesse jig profile. You see how I did the collar? This thing is, you know, the skirt's pretty wore out on it, but I trimmed that collar up to where it's like a, like a finesse jig profile. Got a small little chunk on the back. 20 pound Sunline shooter. This is actually a three eights, downsize it. Just wanted a really small, compact profile for this time of year, but that's here or there. That's the jig that I've been skipping around docks. Like I said, spots, love this thing, and I've caught tons of four to five pound largemouth on this jig rigged exactly like this. So it catches big spots. It catches big largemouth. We don't have any smallmouth down here, but if we had them, it would catch them, and it does catch a show bass or two also. So 20 pound Sunline shooter, seven foot two, heavy, fast Envy, and this is a eight to one gear ratio Inception. So 13 fish in Inception. So that's it. Couple more baits that are just tried and true. Basically, everybody knows these two, but we're gonna go one at a time. Number one, this is what I like to keep in my hand the most in the fall. It's a buzzbait. This is a Lost River Lures buzzbait. I mean, listen to this thing. I mean, that is the sound you want from a buzzbait right there. It's really important. So the guy who makes these, good buddy of mine, he's like I said, Lost River Lures. This is their pro model buzzbait. I like how it goes up, how from the toad, there's a little bit of a up, kind of a bend in the actual wire. So whenever you're skipping that bait across the water, everything, the blade, the wire, everything's kind of elevated on top of the toad. So it's really a system of skipping a buzzbait, but you want that bottom to hit like this, obviously. And then everything's elevated when there's that bend in it, so that's really good. Another thing, when those fish bite it, that toad's just a little bit deeper in the water, so they get a little bit better. So a lot of benefits to just having that little bend right there in the wire. It's also a really heavy gauge wire for a buzzbait. I like that because I want to throw it on braid. I don't want to throw it in heavy cover. I want to be able to get those big fish out. So it's also really important, the blade, the rivet or crevice or whatever you want to call it, this little device down here, it's really important, the material that it's actually made out of and what type of, you know, the quality material that the wire's made out of to get this squeak out of it. So this is a really good put together buzzbait. I love this thing. It's one I'm throwing all the time. I throw it on 30-pound Sunline X-Plasma Asegai braid, skipping it around, getting in that heavy cover. Love that thing. That's a bait to catch them from daylight to dark, all day long. Everybody loves throwing a buzzbait and there's no reason not to. I mean, you just catch some big ones and it's a lot of fun. So now let's give my boy John Cruz a little bit of love. This is like everybody's favorite crankbait. Everybody loves throwing this thing. The color I got right here is Root Beer Chartreuse, but this is the Spro Little John, the regular one. Got the circuit board bill, you know, dives, gets down to depth really, really fast, but it has kind of a tighter wobble. It still has a good bit of thump, but it doesn't have like a super wide wobble like the Fat Papa 55 or like a normal 1.5 square bill. It's got a little bit tighter of a wobble that imitates those shad a little bit better. Like I said, one of my latest videos, those shad don't create a ton of thump. They're not very erratic. They almost glide through the water. You want something that gets their attention when you're throwing an artificial bait, but you don't want something that has so much thump that it doesn't actually imitate shad very well. So the Spro Little John, the original one, that's one of the best crankbaits for throwing in the fall. And I never go fishing without having a square bill tied on. Throw that on 12 or 10 pound Sunline Sniper or Sunline Shooter, I prefer the Shooter, seven foot one cranking Envy, and then a 6.6 to one or seven to one gear ratio, 13 fishing Inception. So that's why I'll be throwing that on. That's my fall baits that I like the absolute most. If I was going anywhere in the country right now, I would definitely have all five of these tied on at all times. So hope y'all enjoyed that video. Let me know if y'all have something that y'all deviate away from what I'm using. Just let me know because that's how we get better, how we learn, what are y'all's favorite fall baits. That's mine. If you have not subscribed, hit that subscribe button. 35% of y'all are not subscribed. So go ahead and hit that subscribe button and let's help the channel grow. So appreciate it guys. See y'all in the next one.