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Bucket Mouths in the Fall
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10-30-2003, 06:29 PM
[cool] Hey there Anglers, As the fall season is well upon us, so are the LMB. Do you have any favorite techniques for catching them in clearwater lakes?? Is there something that you prefer for the most finicky bass??
If so please share it with me and anyone who reads the thread.[cool] [signature] 
10-30-2003, 09:03 PM
[cool]Hey, TubeKid, I'll toss out a couple of things for ya ta chew on.
The first consideration when fishing for bass...and most other species...at any time of year...is what are they keying in on for forage? As the water cools in the fall, there are two main forage species that start going deeper, and the bass follow. The first is crawdads and the second is shad...at least in most of the western lakes. When fall water temps drop, a lot of successful bassers break out the "jig N pig" or large profile plastics that can represent crawdads. The main key to success is how they fish them. During the warmer months you find the depth at which the bass are holding and then cast parallel to the bank, fishing the right depth. In the fall, you do not know, because it can change during the day, and from spot to spot along the shoreline. A trick I picked up from an old timer (older than me) was to cast in toward the bank...from a boat or tube...and then lift and drop the crawdad jigs down the slope of the bank. Stay alert and watch your line. Most hits are just light ticks, or twitches on the line, as a waiting bass intercepts what it perceives to be a crawdad heading for deeper water. Keep track of how far out you are getting most of your bites and then remain especially alert whenever your jigs get into the "zone". Threadfin shad are sensitive to cold water. They prefer it warmer than the cold temps of winter. In fact, some shad die of cold stress during the first couple of cold snaps. Their shiny bodies flutter to the bottom and bass often wait down there...looking up...waiting to conduct their own form of funeral services. Munch. That's why "spooning" is something knowledgeable bassers look forward to in the fall. They find an underwater hump or depression where wimpy bass are huddling up against the coming cold weather and then drop flutter spoons vertically, while holding position with the electric motor. Of course, with sonar on your tube, you can do the same thing. Plain old Kastmasters and Hopkins spoons have accounted for many thousands of fall bass, when they are paying their respects to the dying shad. However, some of the newer flutter spoons, with the fancy finishes, can make your deep spooning more productive. a lot of spooners add strips of prism tape to enhance a plain metal finish. Drop shotting is a great fall technique...especially during the dying shad glut. Fasten a good shad imitation plastic a couple of feet above the bottom sinker and either cast it, vertical jig it or bottom bounce it as you drift or move with wind or fin power. Again, pay attention. The aggressive strikes of summer have been replaced by tentative takes. Often all you will feel is a "rubber band" feel...more pressure than you know should be there. If you feel anything unusual, set the hook. By the way, casting a drop shot rig into the bank and hopping it back is a good trick for much of the year. However, it is especially effective in the fall. What colors do you use? In the summer they hit whatever best represents a primary food source. In the cooling waters of autumn, you may need to go to contrastng colors, just to get the fish to see them in deeper water and to stimulate a response. The fish has to see the lure before it will hit it. Usually. Good combo colors for fall jigs are black...with red, white or chartreuse, And, if you are trying to mimic a crawdad, try using light blue highlights in your black jigs. Some crawdads have a bit of blue in them, but never as bright as some of the most effective black and blue combos available on jig N pig or plastic tails. Strangely, a plain old black 6" plastic worm can be a good fall color...as can a plain purple. Sometimes less is more...fishing the worm so slow you hardly move it. That can be a deadly way to stimulate a sluggish fall fish. As before, stay alert for any twitch or pressure on the line that should not be there. In some of the deepest and clearest western lakes, some guys like to bring out the motor oil and various shades of green for deep water time. Those can be hot colors all winter in some lakes and nothing in others. The final big fish technique for late fall and winter is following the hatchery truck. Whenever rainbows are planted, it doesn't take long for the largies to hear the dinner bell. When they move in, you will get more action on big lures designed to imitate the troutlets, than on any wimpy grubs. You may not get the numbers of bass in a days fishing, but the ones you hang will scare you...and they will bend your stick and stretch your string. There. Does that give you any ideas? [signature]
10-30-2003, 09:53 PM
I could fall for that Hook, Line, and Sinker. Thanks for the heads up. I am desperate for the Torpedo and he will require aggressive measures.
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10-30-2003, 10:27 PM
[cool]I neglected to mention "Dupont Spinners" (dynamite). I suspect that nothing short of such extreme measures might capture those wise oldsters in the lagoon at Cataic. I suggest passionate purple.
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10-31-2003, 07:22 PM
Hey tubeN2...
Well, to me, fall time means to start fishing some reaction baits. As the temps begin dropping from the hot summer days, the bass key in on this and realize that winter is getting closer! So they start feeding heavily...primarily on shad but like tube dude said, crawdads too. So since the fish are now running around looking to stock up for winter, that means I can start fishing with baits a little faster. My favorite fall time bait is a suspending jerkbait. Fish around submerged weeds, rocks, and points. In the mornings, if it's not TOO cold, which it may be now since that sudden huge drop in the temps...I dunno about down south there, but the temps dropped like a rock up here...but ya, if it's not too cold, you can even threw a floating jerkbait just to have some fun with some more topwater action. I lost a HOG the other morning throwing a large floating ripbait early in the morning...but that was when it was still hot. LOL. Anywho, Rat-L-Traps can also be great for covering a lot of water and picking off the active fish...particularly various shad colors, but the red craw colors work well too. Now while jerkbaits and rat-l-traps work great for picking up a quick limit, when it comes time to put a bigger fish on the line, like Tube Dude said, it's time to bust out with the jig-n-pig. I personally prefer to throw Bass Stalker Jigs. Very high quality jigs that I have personally found to outfish other brands of jigs that I've fished in the past. They feauture a very unique head design. It's got a flat head, but it's also concaved to catch water and act like a parachute slowing down the fall of the jig even more, thus keeping it in the strike zone longer. Not only that, but the flat head design allows for the jig to stand straight up nearly everytime just like a crawdad with his claws waving around in the air in a defensive position. As opposed to other jigs that have a tendency to roll onto their side while sitting on the bottom. ([url "http://www.bassstalker.com"]www.bassstalker.com[/url]) ANYWHO, tube dude already gave ya some good ideas with the jig-n-pig, so I'll just leave it at that... [signature]
10-31-2003, 07:46 PM
[cool] Hey there SturgeonKid, Thanks so much for the info. I figured that between you and TubeDude, I could pretty much get all the info that I needed for better success.
I also have him making me some custom stuff for the rigorous CA waters. We have some good size Hawgs here and there is one in particular that I am after. Take a look at some of my other post for Castaic Lake and you will see what I am talking about. Do you have any tricks for the most stubborn and finicky of LMB??? I have 2 in particular that I am stalking but my time is limited as the lake I go to might be closing at the end of the year. I would sure appreciate any help you could give me and I promise to reward you for any success. You will know if I caught the beast because it will be all over this site. Thanks again and please let me know if you have anything. If it is something tooooooo secret then feel free to PM me with the info. Happy Fishing. [signature]
10-31-2003, 09:53 PM
Hmmmm...well, it's hard to say what I would do to nail these 2 hogs unless I were there to actually check out what they were doing for myself. I guess really what I need to know is...are these fish a couple of lone cruisers that you see every so often or do they seem to have a permanent home address? If these fish are in the exact same location each time you go back there, these bass COULD be on a nest. I know, I know...bass spawn in the spring...however, there's a pretty rare phenomenon called the Fall Spawn. Occasionally (remember this doesn't happen often), a bass will spawn in the fall. I mean think about it...the water temps are right around where they were at in the spring time right? Makes sense doesn't it? Anywho, give me some more insight as to how these fish are acting / reacting when you see them and present your lures to them, and I should be able to hook you up with some tricks that MAY work.
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10-31-2003, 10:27 PM
Well the main Hawg that I am after is there off and on throughout the year. The Secondary Hawg that has been nicknames Torpedo Tommy hangs around all year long.
This particular lake maintains water temps during spring, summer and fall around 70-75 degrees before sunrise. Tommy tends to stalk drop shots from a distance but does not engage. He will watch the swimbaits move and not care at all. I even tried some of those swimbait Charlies by Megabait. He just kind of laughs at them. I have scented, colored, dyed, wiggled, jiggled about everything you could imagine in front of him. some of the things hold his attention for awhile before he swims away and other things dont ammuse him and he will leave instantly. The water is very clear in the area and usually you can tell when he is around because the bluegill dissapear from the area and the ducks all take off as well. Do you need any more info? Or should that be enough? Lets work together on this.[cool][cool] [signature]
11-01-2003, 12:36 AM
Hmmmm...sounds like T² has got some experience under his belt and has seen a lot of baits in his days! I would imagine this to be particularly true if he's livin' in Castaic Lagoon. Also, I imagine that he got his name because of his quick appearances while running in to snatch of a bluegill eh? [cool] It also seems like he's got a bit of a thing for drop-shotted items, but doesn't want to totally come on in for it huh? Here's what you need to do...you've gotta give this Tommy character a little somethin' totally unlike anything he's ever seen before!! You gotta start thinkin' way out of the box and just some totally off the wall kind of things. Think of some odd things that you could drop-shot *
 , , nudge, nudge,* *cough, swimbait!* I've got couple really odd suggestions of what to try drop-shotting, but I've got to run off and go to work and teach my breakdancing class now!! Maybe I'll send you a PM when I get home sometime later tonight...[signature]
11-01-2003, 06:09 AM
[cool]A few weeks back when I banged on a bunch of helpless bluegill, Tommy was lurking around. I kept the bluegills in a live floating basket and every 5 to 10 minutes he would come up and try to crash the basket. He jumped over it once and I didn't have the camera ready. He was close to 35inces around and was fatter than a 2 liter soda bottle.
My son, TubeNtoo watched in awe and I think his breathing stopped for awhile while Tommy cannonballed back into the water. It was quite a site and gave me an idea. I went and bought some of those little bluegill looking lures in a few colors as well as some shad ones. They have a realistic look to them and they swim very natural. They can be parraled together at varied hights to look more like natural small schooling. Unfortunately the day I took them out for trial, was the day the fires were at their peak and they were scooping water from the lake. One of Tommys cousins was hanging around but was not arroused neither to those lil gills, buzzes, drop shots, carolinas, texas rigs, swimbaits,different sizes of megabaits, castaic swim baits, poppers, spinners, spoons, rapalas, (floating,sinking or countdowns in all colors) jumbo night crawlers, crawdads, or anything. The fishing was dead for the day with all of the airplanes around. These guys (Tommy and cousins) hang out under the dock there but don't make their appearance until about 8 to 8:15 PST. By then the water will have gone up around 3 to 5 degrees. I hope that I have been able to give you enough info to help me trouble shoot the problem. I have also been very maticulous about line types in all of the combinations that I have mentioned above. I have even gone as far as hiding out of his site with all of the combos aformentioned. Lets see if you can help me crack the code. I would really appreciate it and like I said earlier. I am willing to compensate you for any advice that works. [signature]
11-01-2003, 09:06 AM
Check your private messages!!!! HAR HAR!! [
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11-01-2003, 03:57 PM
[cool]Hey, Kid. Any reports on the most recent field testing kit?
I'm working with some great new glitter colors now too. See attached pics. I am also going to be making up a bunch of new bunny fur jigs. I just ordered some new colors and will be working on jigs and buzzbaits, using the "bunny buster" style of construction. Wanna try some? [signature]
11-01-2003, 05:49 PM
buddy I tell you what, there aint nothing like fall bucketmouth action. they hit better this time of year than they do any other.
I was out up here in michigan doin a little perch and gill fishing. I could not get past the bass to get to the gills. cast after cast, bass after bass, I must have thrown back a good 60 bass in a two hour period before I decided to settle on bass for dinner..... Budds. that water is cold enough to make ice. I was standing in it with thermal waders. I guess I will keep going out in till the ice set in so I can walk out upon the waters once again. a tube would realy be nice about now, the boats are finaly leaving the lake, yesterday I had the entire lake to myself, it was a bit windy but still nice all the same. It would have been nicer if I had a tube to cick out over the drop off to get at them bass dwelling over the edge. every thing seem to have moved out to the deeper waters. (their ice season positions.) yep I have graduated from a tuber-wannabe to a realy wannabe a tuber.... I dont think it will be long now before I make that final transformation.... [signature]
11-01-2003, 06:16 PM
Hey Dave, there is nothing like a good tube, toon, or u-boat. You can access more areas than the bank fishermen and some of the tighter spots that the boats cant really get to. That will be ice when you can join the realms of the other fellow tubers that are on this site.
Alot of the places I go to allow bank, tube, or small boats. But not wading. That is a shame too. Sometimes you can reach a special spot with waders that the bank fisherman cannot. But a mans got to do what a mans got to do. [signature]
11-01-2003, 07:15 PM
[cool]So, ya think we will get you afloat one of these days, huh? I'm willing to bet that once you try it you will be kicking yourself for waiting so long.
Two things I'd like a pic of. 1. Your first launch 2. You falling on your butt when you try to kick yourself. All things in their own time, my friend. You know we are always here to lend immoral support when you get ready to "jump in". [signature]
11-01-2003, 08:04 PM
[cool][size 1]Hey TubeDude,[/size]
[i][b][size 1]You are always mentioning the great possibility of falling on [/size][size 1]one’s butt the first time out. At first you had me a little concerned [/size][size 1]that I would make the clowns list for the day. Found the best way [/size][size 1]for an old dude like me to launch was to place my tube parallel to [/size][size 1]the shore then knell in front of the tube and then just settle back. It worked for me.[/size] [size 1]Was tubing and dry.[/size] [/i][/b] [signature]
11-01-2003, 11:29 PM
[cool]I would like to think that with age comes wisdom. In float tubing, using your head to figure it out, and then proceeding slowly will help insure that you don't go butt over teakettle. Some young fellers get all charged up and think they are invincible. They just splash out and flop in the water any old way they can. That's what results in getting wet clothes and broken rods. I have seen it happen.
You did it right, Dryrod, my friend. Although, when some of us kneel, it is only to pray that we can get back up. Having owned or field tested a major number of the tubes, uboats and mini pontoon craft on the market, I have been surprised by the liitle eccentricities each has in designs and capabilities. You have to develop a separate checklist of things to do on each launching and beaching, for each different craft. This is especially true when your craft has a stabilizer bar to hold the two sides of a uboat or vboat together. Different designs reauire different procedures for attachment. Once you have taken a new craft out and worked out the processes it becomes second nature. The first time you try to launch a new craft, however, you are reminded that you still don't know it all. But, it is always fun...especially for the onlookers sometimes. It is not a prerequisite that you make a fool of yourself when you get your first float tube. The newer open front models make things a lot easier. But, the old round tubes sure lassoed a lot of rookies around the ankles and threw them for three point takedowns (wrestling term). [signature]
11-01-2003, 11:54 PM
Hey TD...
I haven't had much of a chance to test out many of the recently sent goods so far...or at least conditions haven't really called for them yet. I've thrown the new fat bodied floating buzzers that have got the new hooks up front a couple of times and have gotten a few fish on them up to about 2.5lbs (hooked on the front hooks every time...LoL). I also tried throwing one of the in-line spinners a little while ago and caught three bass up to about 2lbs. I haven't really tried any of the new flat-headed buzzbaits though because I haven't gotten around to putting any skirts on them yet. I've been having success lately though with one of your older buzzers that I put a blk/blue/red (the blk strands have got blue tips) skirt on (blk head w/ chart eyes). I made a bit of an adjustment to the buzzbait though and bent the blade closer to the main wire so that when the blade turns, it clacks against the wire. Not sure if it makes that big of a difference or not, but whatever works! LoL. Bunny jigs and buzzbaits huh? Hmmmmm...sounds interesting and sounds like somethin' the fish around here probably haven't seen before! LoL! I'll give 'em a shot... [cool] [signature]
11-02-2003, 08:08 PM
[cool] Hey SturgeionKid, You'll be glad to know that those flat headed buzz baits have a nice casting distance and good feel on the return. I have a purple one which was the hot summer color here in SoCal. Although I couldn't get any of the bigger hogs to jump on it I did manage a couple smaller 5 to 6 lbs to whack at it. You will like it once you get the chance to try it.
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