Fishing tip of the week: – 08/26/20

Fishing Tip of the Week

Wednesday, 26 August 2020 14:29

Useful Fall Tips
by Captain Mike Gerry

With August on its way out the signs of fall are upon us, yes, we still have much hot weather left to go but the change toward fall is coming.
With that said, one of the first things to look for is the bait fish stacking up around the river ledges and the bass feeding on them aggressively. This could be an early morning thing, or it could go on all day long with some clouds and overcast skies. Regardless, be aware and keep your eyes open for some schooling and attacking bass as we progress into the month of September.

The bass will sense the weather changing; their body will tell them to feed up, and it will be like a light switch as they will turn on and off, depending on the day, but you can bet it will be lots of fun when they do.

This is a great time for running a rattle bait through the schooling fish, or maybe a Zara spook over the top, creating a reaction bite from the aggressive fish. When this occurs, there are not many reaction baits that will not work, take your choice, and give it whirl. Your chances are high it catches fish.

Sometimes, finding the bigger fish to catch when fish are schooling is tough during the fall, but a key here is to remember that the bigger bass generally are underneath the schooling, smaller fish. Dropping a jig or worm to the bottom, under the action, is a great way to find those big-uns. The bigger bass are looking for that easier meal and like to pick off the misses as they drop, wounded, toward the bottom and feed off the energy of those small attacks going on above them.

A bait that emulates those wounded bait fish is a small countdown jerk bait as it drops and rocks toward the bottom. The bigger fish have a hard time resisting it. Also, a lightly weighted small worm can give you the same effect as it will slowly drop down toward the bottom causing the bigger fish to react to its slow drop rate toward the bottom.
Fall is the time of year for attacking fish and can be lots of fun!