This video is about five shad imitating techniques for fall bass fishing, starting with buzzing a frog. Yeah. Take a Zoom Horny Toad or maybe a Rage Toad and buzz them across the top of matted vegetation really fast. A lot of times the bass and the fish are active, they're up and moving, they're chasing baitfish, so you don't want a slow retrieve here. Just buzz it right across the top of this matted vegetation or along the outside edge of the vegetation.
It depends, again, depends day to day. The bass are moving around a lot, the forage is moving around a lot, so sometimes they'll be back up underneath the weeds, and other times they'll be roaming on the outside edges. So you have to try it out each day. It's a different pattern each day, but the key thing is a fast retrieve. So get that keel-weighted hook if you have to. That way the Frog will go straight, doesn't flip over. Toads are better I think in this regard because they can move in a straight line. So buzz and a toad.
Next one is bringing back a Zara Spook or a walking bait, at a very quick pace. Again, you're capitalizing on this fall feeding frenzy, and then, when you see the fish busting baitfish on the surface. That's when you grab this Spook or a Sammy, and chuck it out there, past the frenzy, and bring it back at you, at a very fast pace. Now, typically, when you're just using a walking bait it's doing this, right? Side to side, big sashaying, yeah? Not this time a year. Here, you're just popping it and reeling it so fast it's almost like doing this. I mean it's crazy. It's nuts how much it's just barely moving and coming back at you very, very quickly. So, that fast action often triggers a bite.
The next one is a lipless crankbait. Again, bringing it back very quickly. Wameku Shad works really well, it's from SPRO. I like using that and fishing that 1 to 5 foot range because they sink, you can let it fall and then bounce it along rocks which can trigger a lot of bites. And you use your shad colors. Your chrome and blue, your shad patterns, those type a things work really well in that color. If you notice the baitfish is a smaller size, then instead of using the normal half-ounce, you might wanna downsize to a quarter-ounce.
The next technique is swimming a jig. It can be very productive. This is one of my favorite ones to do during the fall. Throw a swim jig and you just wanna keep it, like, really shallow, less than 3 feet deep, and bring it back at a steady speed while shaking the rod tip and get that action in there. It's almost like a bladed jig action but without the blade. A white three-eighth ounce jig with a boot tail type trailer or a shad imitation type trailer works really, really well. Throw those around docks, floating docks, floating boats work really well. Over the cross of roadbeds, and even in and around weeds can be very, very productive fishing this stuff. Just a white is all you need, maybe a white and chartreuse but that's it. You don't need to go too crazy with colors.
The other one is buzzing. I wouldn't even call it buzzing but it's bulging or waking a spinner bait, bringing it back very quickly. Now, typically, guys, we'll fish a three-eighth ounce spinner bait with a double willow leaf that works really well throughout the year but in the fall, you gotta heavy up a bit and I'll tell you why. You wanna use a half-ounce spinner bait, double willow leaf, white spinner bait, silver blades, and what you're gonna do is when you throw it out there, bring it back very, very quick. You want it to get right up on the surface. You don't want it to break the surface but bulge under the surface. Just cause this bulge and bring it back rapidly as quick as you can, and, a lot of times, that elicits a strike because it imitates a fleeing baitfish. Those blades got that baitfish silhouette, you know, shaped to it and the white color, maybe you have a little bit of chartreuse in there, that's all you need. A small trailer in the back and you're good to go.
However, sometimes even a half-ounce doesn't really work. You start to get that bait to lay over. That's why you wanna move up to a half-ounce instead of using a three-eighth ounce is the bait will lay over when you're bringing it back that quick, half-ounce won't lay over as much. But I like to go to a three-quarter-ounce spinner bait and sometimes I'll even go to Indiana Blades. Gives off a little more vibration. That three-quarter-ounce is not going to lay over. It gives a bigger profile. A lot more vibration, and sometimes, that's what it takes to trigger those bites.
So don't be afraid to experiment with weight and blade combinations to figure out what the bass are biting. The key thing is you wanna make long casts so you don't spook the fish with a big bait like that and bring it, you know, throw it beyond them and bring it back through to them. Matter with all those baits, that's kinda the deal, but if you notice, they're all real fast-moving. So I hope that helps. For more tips and tricks like this, visit bassresource.com.
