Hey, guys, Michael Neal here with Bass Resource. The fall time of the year is what a lot of anglers really consider to be the toughest time of the year, and that's because the bass are so focused in on baitfish. You really have to be mindful of your presentations, your colors, your shapes, and your sizes. Matching the hatch that time of year is probably more critical than any other time. So soft plastic jerkbaits and different ways to rig them is really one of the best times for the fall and best presentations.
So number one, that I'm going to start out with is something that you can cover a lot of water. Vibrating jigs over the last six or eight years have been super popular among tournament anglers, weekend anglers, everywhere in between. Straight out of the pack, almost all of them are going to come with a skirt.
But in the fall, like I just got through saying, they're so focused in on those baitfish, the more streamlined, the more you can make it look like an actual baitfish, the better you're going to be. And most of the time in the fall, I will take the skirt off and just put a soft plastic jerkbait as you would a trailer but just single by itself. So this is a much more streamlined presentation, much smaller presentation. I like a 4-inch bait. Typically, in the fall, these fish are starting to key on the smaller bait, even sometimes, you know, 2 inches long. You get too small, it's really hard to mimic with anything that you can actually throw and be very efficient with. But a 4-inch, like this Scentsation Slim Minnow on here is going to be really good. For a vibrating jig, I like one that doesn't have a slit. I like a solid one and a very thin streamlined profile.
A vibrating jig or a chatterbait is very well known for its hunting action. And when you take a skirt off and you put a Slimbait on here like this, you're going to get even more hunting action. So as you're winding it, you're going to notice it kind of kick out sideways or blow out. And the blade's going to stop turning, and that's just going to get some reactions out of those fish that are so keyed in on that baitfish and let your bait set apart from those big schools that they're often focused on. You know, you go into a lot of pockets, and you're seeing the big clouds up on the surface, and wherever you're starting to see that is always a good place to start, but there's no good one place to go in the fall. Sometimes it's main lake points. Sometimes it may be windblown sides of pockets. Sometimes it may be the very backs.
So when you're needing to cover water and figure out what depth area, what range those fish are moving into, that's when the vibrating jig to me is the best. I like a 3/8 ounce in the fall. A lot of times, a lot of these fish that you're chasing are in really shallow water, and that's why the 3/8 to me is better, especially without having that skirt to keep your bait up. It's going to act more like a 1/2 ounce almost with a 3/8 because of the skirt not being on there.
So I just got through talking about the shallow water and the 3/8, and this is the only time of year that I will throw a vibrating jig on a faster reel. This is the Denali Novus Elite, and it's a seven-to-one. Any other time of year I'm always going to throw a six, but I like this seven when the fish are up high chasing bait really hard. I think you get a little bit more of a reaction on this little bit faster reel. I'm not saying to burn it any faster than you normally would say on a six-speed reel, but I think if you just maintain that same cadence that you do on a six, move your bait just a little bit faster, I think that makes a big difference on getting a few extra bites.
For line, I like 20-pound Sunline FC Sniper. That's my go-to for a vibrating jig. Nothing really changes there. A rod, this is probably the most versatile rod in the Denali lineup. It's a Kovert 7-foot-2 medium-heavy rod. I throw a spinnerbait, vibrating jig, swim jig, topwater, buzzbaits, things like that on this rod. You want something with a vibrating jig that's got enough tip to cast and skip around tight covering things and let the fish get the bait good, but you also want some backbone to where you can drive that fish home and get him out of sometimes those heavy covered grass areas or lay downs and things like that.
The most popular way to fish a soft plastic jerkbait, and the way everybody really knows it for, is just weightless on a single hook like this. And that's a great way to catch them. The only thing about this time of year in the fall is a lot of times this is almost too big, but the action of it is so natural to them, they really can't resist it. And they make some smaller ones. This is a 5-inch jerkbait from Big Bite, and I'll always stick with something that's going to be shad pattern. The more natural, the better.
This is the time where matching the hatch matters more than any other time of year in my eyes, so the more natural of a shad pattern I can get, the better off you're going to be. Even something with a little bit of clear in it. When you're having to throw a bait that's a little bit bigger than the baitfish are, that's when I like something that's got a little bit of clearness to it. Like this back is just kind of clear and got a lot of glitter in it.
The hook to me is a big deal on this soft plastic jerkbait, the Gamakatsu Hybrid Worm Hook. It's called hybrid because it's a cross between an EWG and a round bend, so it's a little bit different bend. To me, I like this on your bulkier plastics, your soft plastic stickbaits, your soft plastic jerkbaits, things like that that have a little bit more meat to come through, because when you actually get a fish to bite, this bait is going to go this way. If you've just got a traditional round bend right here, you're not going to have very much gap to actually get that fish hooked and the hook penetrated in him good.
The G-Finesse series has tournament-grade wire. It's also got a little bit smaller barb, so it doesn't take near as much to get those fish hooked. And that's a big deal to me, especially in the fall when they're so keyed in, you get so few bites, you want to be able to capitalize on every single one that you get. I prefer totally weightless that time of year because you're going to be looking for those fish that are feeding upwards. Schooling is a huge deal that time of year, so if you can get this bait to them when they're up and schooling, it's almost a guaranteed bite.
For a line, I like a smaller line on this. These weightless baits, they don't weigh a whole ton, so you want to go as light as you can to be able to maximize your casting distance, but you also don't want to sacrifice all your strength. So I go with Sunline Shooter and a 16-pound, just kind of a good all-around line for me.
With the rod, I think you need a longer rod, especially in the fall because, like I said, when they are up schooling, you really have to maximize your time. The longer the rod, the longer your casting is going to be. This is a 7-foot-4 medium-heavy Denali Lithium Pro. It's labeled a worm and jig rod, but to me, it's just fine for doing that.
In the fall, most of the time, you're going to be twitching your bait upwards, having your bait actually skip up out of the water, and that's where I really like this 7'4" because you're not worried about slapping the water. You've got your bait coming up, you've got a lot of backbone, a lot of length to get a good hook set on a long cast.
For a reel, you want something that's going to be able to take up a lot of slack in a hurry. The same reel as I had the vibrating jig, the Denali Novus Elite, and a seven-to-one. Not really worried about moving the bait with your reel, you're just wanting to take up that slack with those steady twitches.
You always got to have a spinning rod rigged up, some form or fashion for every season. This right here is a scrounger-style jighead. So it's just a jighead, and it's got a little soft plastic bill on it, so it's not going to be nearly as aggressive as a vibrating jig or anything like that. One key with it is you either want to throw a snap or you want to tie a loop knot in it, just to give that bait the natural free action it has. These scrounger-style jigheads have kind of gotten a bad name at times because people think they don't work enough. We've gotten so used to big paddle tail swimbaits, vibrating jigs, super aggressive action baits, but these smaller ones like this are really just going to have a real subtle swimming action.
And if you think about it, the baitfish, when you watch them swim by, they're not creating a whole ton of commotion. You can hardly even see their tail swim, so that's why this scrounger gives it just enough action to be lifelike instead of rolling side to side like a lot of your boot-tails and things like that. Aaron Martens had a big hand in designing some of the original scrounger heads, and he's one of the most in-tune people there's ever been in the bass fishing industry with those fish, and he really went down a great direction with this scrounger head.
You can really change the weights up, but for me, I like a 1/8 to a 3/16, no heavier than a 1/4, but typically a 1/8 is where I start. And I'm going to throw this on a spinning rod just because of the weight, and like I said earlier, you want to be able to make those long casts.
And you could throw this on a casting rod with a 1/8 ounce, no problem, but you're not going to get near the distance, and I like this Denali Kovert. It's a 7-foot-6 medium, so you've got that long rod again for those long casts, because when they come up schooling, you're not going to have much time before they go back down a lot of times, so you got to be able to make sure that you can get to them. I like really small braid. This is Sunline SX1 10 pound.
The leader size is really not going to make a whole lot of difference. I'll just typically stay somewhere in that 8 to 10-pound class, but I don't make it very long. I think the braid just gives you such a better casting action. The longer your leader is, if you've got it actually coming in your reel, kind of hinders that casting action just a little bit, so I want my leader outside of my reel to maximize my casting distance. A 3000 series reel, this is the Fission Pro. The less time that your braid has to come off of the spool, the further you're going to be able to cast. Again, big deal in the fall.
So let's talk about where to key in on the fall. The number one thing again is just the bait. So typically, they're going to be more related to the creeks. In the fall, you want to go check the back of every single major creek on whatever impoundment you're fishing, whether it's a river system, you know, a big natural lake, whatever it is, make sure you go check the backs of every creek. That's going to be my number one stop. If they're not in those places, then I'm going to start coming out with a vibrating jig and looking just on windblown places, things like that, and then I'm going to work out on the points on the main lake.
So points, the windblown sides of pockets, backs of creeks, those are my number three. If you're in a place that's really just kind of a bowl and doesn't have those options, you're more natural lakes. I'm going to look for the shallow flats. That's still where the bait's going to be congregating. It's been out deeper, you know, all summer long, the water temperatures are getting below 70. They're really starting to think about feeding up for the winter. Bass the number one thing it has on its mind is those bait fish. They're transitioning to shallow flats, points, backs of creeks, backs of pockets, things like that. That's where you're going to find them.
So hopefully, these three ways to rig a soft plastic jerkbait, a scrounger head, just a traditional weightless on a single worm hook, and on a vibrating jig with no skirt, hopefully, those will help you out catch more fall bass. Check out bassresource.com for more tips.
