Big Baits in the Fall with Bait WrX pro, Richy Laughery
Fall time is feed bag time, when bass start packing on the pounds, for the slower winter months, and the spawn. So chasing around 3" thread-fin shad in 60° water, doesn't help pack on the weight like it would eating 6" and larger gizzard shad, baby carp, creek chubs, etc.
In this day and age, we have a plethora of very realistic swim baits & glide baits, and the proper rods and reels, at our disposal.
Having the proper equipment makes throwing 2oz to 6oz lures all day much easier on the body, and the mind.
I attack the fall with 2 baits, a floating multi-joint/wake baits and a glide bait.
WakeBaits: Starting on top.
The Spro 4" Shad and BBZ1 Jr 6" (both floating models), 6th Sense Speed Wake & new floating 6" Trace swim bait.Retrieved super slow, while fan casting over main lake points and parallel to bluffs, you'll know pretty quickly if there's active fish in the vicinity.
I also like throwing them around standing timber. Casting past the timber, burn the bait within a foot or two of a tree then pause, start the retrieve again but really slow until it is past the tree. If you line up your cast just right, you can make this presentation to multiple targets.
GlideBaits: Taking it below the surface.
The River2sea S-waver 168 & 200, Storm Arashi Glide, Megabass I-slide 185, KGB Swim baits 7" Chad Shad & 9" Legend, all great baits for this technique.If you had a few swipes on a wake over that main lake point, try throwing the glide in that same area. Glides are essentially "count-down" baits, with most sinking at 1ft/3 seconds to 1ft/1 second. They are really effective at covering the water column. Another area I prefer to throw glides is on 45° chunk rock banks, and I mean basketball to car hood size, chunk rock. Bass being ambush predators, like big cover to hide in.
Retrieved near the bottom, steadily, with intermittent reel pops (quick 90° or 180° turns), every 5 to 10 turns of the reel.
The reels pops can be essential in triggering strikes, especially when the lure is out of sight.
I throw both baits on the same combos. Lighter (3/4oz-2oz) lures are thrown on a Lew's SuperDuty Wide spool 6.4:1, spooled with 17 pound P-Line CXX, on a 7'8" 3/4oz-3oz rated custom rod.
Larger baits (2.5oz- 6oz) are thrown on a Lew's SuperDuty 300 Speed Spool 6.5:1, spooled with 20 pound Berkley Big Game mono, on a 7'11" 2oz-8oz rated KGB Swim baits rod.
Thanks for reading,
Richy Laughery,
aka the MO Swimbait Slinger
