bass talk

[Chrisper4694]

so lets talk bass fishing. shallow weedy nj lakes and ponds. early fall (right now). as i'm sure we all pretty much know trying to research species/seasonal strategies yields a lot of information that we, in NJ, can't really use as we have a pretty unique fishery in general as far as forage and weeds go.

so anyway I notice a pretty significant decrease in the effectiveness of certain summer patterns as the days get shorter and the nights get cool. Wacky rigged senkos under and near structure will still work but it def starts tailing off.

I'd like to think with fish getting more aggressive (in general...in theory haha) searching lures would be the best bet. I've caught fish on spinner baits, chatter baits, top water buzz lures, swimbaits, etc...but as far as largemouth bass fishing in shallow weed lakes I don't think i've really ever found that go-to strategy for the early fall. at least not to the extent of light jigs in the spring and wacky worms in the summer.

[Skunk City]

Put the Bass toys down Chris, you should be stocking up on jigging raps, lead and chicken livers .

[buzzbaiter]

Since I only fish form shore/wade, my summer options are limited by weeds The "mats" can extend out 100' or more from shore. Water Lily and Water Shield are the worst as they are quite dense with their leaves overlapping creating zero openings. Good news is that soon they be turning yellow and dying off. Between the time they die off and the first real cold spell(generally late October) can be the best time to target shallow water bass and my personal favorite - pickerel. No mystery for me how to fish - topwater. Most bass and pickerel are slamming schools of baitfish either just above submerged weeds or near structure. Basically I go topwater with buzzbait, surface popper and even a light spoon buzzer(not many types out there but they are effective and cast a mile) in that order. Buzzbait best in choppy water while the other two are best in calm waters. I go gold/black/silver and skip the fancy colors. Summer its early/late; fall its just like spring with mid-afternoon until dusk being best. If its in the 40's early morning, forget it. I don't leave the house until after noon. A cloudy night means less radiation cooling and warm mornings. Those can be the best days.

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by buzzbaiter

Since I only fish form shore/wade, my summer options are limited by weeds The "mats" can extend out 100' or more from shore. Water Lily and Water Shield are the worst as they are quite dense with their leaves overlapping creating zero openings. Good news is that soon they be turning yellow and dying off. Between the time they die off and the first real cold spell(generally late October) can be the best time to target shallow water bass and my personal favorite - pickerel. No mystery for me how to fish - topwater. Most bass and pickerel are slamming schools of baitfish either just above submerged weeds or near structure. Basically I go topwater with buzzbait, surface popper and even a light spoon buzzer(not many types out there but they are effective and cast a mile) in that order. Buzzbait best in choppy water while the other two are best in calm waters. I go gold/black/silver and skip the fancy colors. Summer its early/late; fall its just like spring with mid-afternoon until dusk being best. If its in the 40's early morning, forget it. I don't leave the house until after noon. A cloudy night means less radiation cooling and warm mornings. Those can be the best days.

Some of the lakes I fish don't have great weeds. They're starting to change and float around already

[nate01]

I'd love to figure this out too. I fish for smallies pretty religiously during summer with soft plastics and topwaters. Last weekend on the Delaware (I.e. 9 days ago) we crushed smallies on those baits after the water temps came up 7 degrees in 4 days. Wanted to use bait with two youngsters on the boat (both of whom got their first bass and many more) but oddly enough medium shiners only caught one fish. By this weekend that just passed water temps had come back down and the same plastic and topwater baits didn't work nearly as well. We still caught fish but they were tentative and not aggressive at all, playing with the plastics instead of engulfing them which resulted in many many missed fish. Only one on topwaters also. And search baits don't seem to be the answer for me at least.

[logs22]

I caught three nice 18-20" LMB last night in super shallow water using a weightless strike king plastic frog (sort of like the zoom horny toad). I was having most luck on a slow retrieve with frequent pauses and the occasional light twitch. My go-to black/blue wacky rig senkos has also lost all their effectiveness but I am still doing really well with Texas rigged green Pumpkin/black flecks senkos.

I also recently started using one of those lure scents that I bought on a whim at Walmart. It's called Lunker lotion or something absurd like that and is fluorescent green. I caught a nice bass the first cast using the stuff and have been catching way more fish since I started slathering it on all my plastics. At this point I don't care if it really works or the placebo effect makes me fish better because I think it will work - I am catching more fish and therefore most likely am hooked on the smelly green slime for life.

[logs22]

Originally Posted by nate01

I'd love to figure this out too. I fish for smallies pretty religiously during summer with soft plastics and topwaters. Last weekend on the Delaware (I.e. 9 days ago) we crushed smallies on those baits after the water temps came up 7 degrees in 4 days. Wanted to use bait with two youngsters on the boat (both of whom got their first bass and many more) but oddly enough medium shiners only caught one fish. By this weekend that just passed water temps had come back down and the same plastic and topwater baits didn't work nearly as well. We still caught fish but they were tentative and not aggressive at all, playing with the plastics instead of engulfing them which resulted in many many missed fish. Only one on topwaters also. And search baits don't seem to be the answer for me at least.

Caught this fatty on Paulingskill River Sunday on way home from Poconos. Stopped at White Lake since it wasn't far off 80 but shore access there is awful so I decided to try the stream I drove over on my way to the lake. I didn't even know the name of the stream until I looked it up later. The water was clearer than I have ever seen in jersey and the bass were feeding in tight schools. I have seen schooling behavior like this in dinks but never seen a school with 6-8 14-18" bass in it. Ended up just sight fishing a green senko Texas rigged. Even 20 feet downstream with senko at bottom of a 6 ft pool I could still see perfectly the exact moment when a fish gobbled the senko. Then my leader broke and I left the mono in car so tried just tying same senko straight on 30 lb power pro braid. As I suspected the braid completely spooked the same fish that couldn't stay away from my lure when it was on 8 lb mono leader.

[tycomps]

Originally Posted by Chrisper4694

so lets talk bass fishing. shallow weedy nj lakes and ponds. early fall (right now). as i'm sure we all pretty much know trying to research species/seasonal strategies yields a lot of information that we, in NJ, can't really use as we have a pretty unique fishery in general as far as forage and weeds go.

so anyway I notice a pretty significant decrease in the effectiveness of certain summer patterns as the days get shorter and the nights get cool. Wacky rigged senkos under and near structure will still work but it def starts tailing off.

I'd like to think with fish getting more aggressive (in general...in theory haha) searching lures would be the best bet. I've caught fish on spinner baits, chatter baits, top water buzz lures, swimbaits, etc...but as far as largemouth bass fishing in shallow weed lakes I don't think i've really ever found that go-to strategy for the early fall. at least not to the extent of light jigs in the spring and wacky worms in the summer.

besides senko/powerworm (wacky/texas respectively) the only consistent lure for me (lmb) has been a frog but I'm still trying to improve the hookup ratio. added a lake fork trailer hook but the jury's still out on improvement.

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by tycomps

besides senko/powerworm (wacky/texas respectively) the only consistent lure for me (lmb) has been a frog but I'm still trying to improve the hookup ratio. added a lake fork trailer hook but the jury's still out on improvement.

Idk what rod your using but if your timing is good (not setting the hook too fast) most bass worth catching will not let go of the soft frog so you can drop the rod on impact to give them slack and then set the hook. It def takes some practice.

Rob, bass are fish too! Plenty of time for all species! Hahaha

[Chrisper4694]

Here's what I get when I targeted big bass last Friday haha