Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Wednesday, 16 August 2023 06:59

Flipping
by Mike Gerry

One condition you can count on in the fall is clear water – the reason being, generally we do not see a lot of rain, and the thickness of the hydrilla causes the water to clear as it acts as a filter and clears the water. The water levels in the fall generally stay high. Even if we get rain, it eliminates a lot of fall water runoff. Also, the hydrilla cleans the water very quickly after a rain, and clear water means it’s time to flip a heavy jig or creature bait, or maybe even a tube bait into the holes around the hydrilla.

One of the things I have found over the years that makes the fall a great time to flip is that in clear water, the faster your bait gets to the bottom the more bites you get in the sunny, fall time of the year. The late morning bite is generally great as it’s still low light, yet enough sun to push the fish into the grass. This allows you to be very successful around the hydrilla grass where the bass are buried in the grass in the sunny part of the day. If you enjoy flipping there may be no better time than the month of September on Lake Guntersville. The grass is thick, yet it has holes in it, and you can generally catch good fish with decent size by flipping the grass.

Some of the best areas of the lake for this is at the mouth of the creeks. The bass are starting to stage around the mouths, and as soon as we get the first low 50-degree night, they will move more and more toward the creeks. September is just the ideal month, and we will shortly be seeing these cool nights. If the bass haven’t already moved, they will shortly.
One key to flipping in September is the larger the presentation or bait you are flipping, the heavier your rig should be. The key is to get that bait to the bottom quickly. The larger the profile, the slower it drops, so if you do not account for the size and profile, you may not get bites. Flip the holes, account for the size and catch fish in September. You will have a blast!

Captain Mike