Top 2 Fall Bass Fishing Lures + Where To Throw Them

Oh, there's one. Boy. Hey everyone, James Niggemeyer here, thank you for tuning back into my YouTube channel. Today's video is brought to you by BassResource.com. They have a tremendous website and forum for all things bass fishing. So go over there and check out their website.

Recently, I was able to hit the water and fish two of my favorite shallow power fishing lures, especially for the fall. So in this video, I'm gonna go over the retrieves, the presentation, and what to look for when fishing these two tremendous fish catching baits. These two baits are not new, but they're great for covering water, eliminating water, and establishing fish-holding areas.

So with that, let's go to the on-the-water footage and check it out. So the two lures that I'm gonna talk about is the spinnerbait, 3/8 ounce tandem, which is Colorado Willow, and a 1.5 square bill. These are the two guys that I like to go shallow when it comes to power fishing, trying to catch fish from targets and cover just like that. And we will see just how many bites we can get. If nothing else, we'll show you some of the ideas and some of the different things and mindsets go that go into presenting these two baits in the shallow water. Let's get after it.

So starting with the trusty spinnerbait, this is a KVD spinnerbait. And it's nothing really fancy. It's kinda just like a white spinnerbait, but it's got a little bit more of a natural color. It's called green gizzard and we're up here in the shallow stuff, let me pull up my Power-Poles and we'll get right up there close quarters.

When it comes to catching them in super shallow water, presentation is key. So I'm looking at presenting my baits at any kind of cover. So like there's a piece of wood, and I want to get it nice and close. But I also wanna get it where I'm presenting it. And it's not really gonna scare the fish. I wanna be able to get it in there without much of a splash and see if I can pull the bait by the fish without alerting him too much. Or having them turned off just by the presentation of the splash and things like that.

One of the things that have really drawn me to this area is the fact that it's got hardcover and softcover. And the softcover is obviously that shade. The hardcover is all those stumps and laydowns and wood. Those two in combination really set up nicely for fish to really wanna be in here and try to ambush any baits, whether it's bluegill or whether it's threadfin or whatever type of prey items they have in this lake. So I love the fact that you've got shade. And then obviously, I don't know if you can see this, but I've also got the creek channel is swinging right in up against this bank, which is why you can tell just by looking at it that this bank is falling off into the water. So this creek, natural creek runs right up along this bank. So I've got a lot of different things going on.

It's a natural place for me to try to catch a fish with my power baits in shallow water, my power fishing tools in shallow water. I don't know if you can see this, but I'm trying to run my spinnerbait into the targets. I wanna try to just cast past it. And then I'm gonna run it into the cover and then try to ricochet it off of the wood. And then I'm twitching that making the blades flutter and dance in the skirt below. So it's a lot of different things that I'm doing with it.

I love the fact that I have a little bit of wind blowing in here. And I like the fact that I've got overhanging branches. It's just a nice environment to try to catch fish in shallow water. Now if we can just get them to cooperate, I feel like we will. It's really shallow.

I mean, I'm not even picking up the bottom here. It's probably less than a foot. GoPro stop recording. As soon as I turn the camera off, of course, one slams it. There's a nice one, my first spinnerbait fish. He came off the cover. He was actually over the channel and maybe he followed it away from the cover. But got him on that old KVD spinnerbait, Strike King KVD spinnerbait. Put him back.

Normally your bites are gonna come right by the cover. But he maybe followed it out some or maybe was suspended over the channel. It's hard to say with this water. It's a little bit more stained in here. I can't really make for sure where that fish came from. But I'll try to fish around and see if there's another one in there.

Up nice and tight, up in that cover, shallow, shallow, a lot of brush and wood in here, stuff falling off the bank. And it just settled in the bottom of this little creek here. All these little stick-ups right here, natural spot. Several ambush spots going on at different angles and different positions in depth, but also shade lines crisscrossing, so you've got to try to hit as many of them as you can.

Nice presentations, I use that roll cast so that I can get it to lay in there. If you do an overhand cast, it has a tendency to have more elevation. And then obviously, it comes down with more force and then creating more of a splash and kind of alerting fish to your presentation and it coming in not as natural to baitfish in here.

A lot of times I like a little trailer on the back of my spinnerbait like a grub or twin tail trailer or a little swimbait, something like that. But sometimes just straight without a trailer can work too just like it is right now. I tell you, whenever you're fishing the spinnerbait in shallow water like this, or any kind of power fishing, like the spinnerbait or bladed jig or topwater, that shade in conjunction with all this cover is really a big plus.

There's one. Got it right as it hit the water. Yeah, spinnerbait bass. You know, over the years, I think the spinnerbait kind of fallen out of favor with a lot of fishermen. But it's still as effective as it always was. It's just. conditions do matter. Stained water, low light conditions, shade lines, and wind. They all help spinnerbait, right? But the stained water will enable you to fish that spinnerbait longer. That's awesome.

All right. So something cool there is, I mean, that fish was in real shallow water. It was up in that scatter brush right there, which obviously there's a beaver dam right there. When you're in that real shallow water with your power fishing baits like your spinnerbaits and your crankbaits and bladed jigs and stuff like that, a lot of times that bite is gonna come as soon as it hits the water because that fish is so shallow. He actually sees it traveling through the air before it hits. And then when it hits the water, he's ready to intercept it which is a lot of fun. You'll get some bites like that in real shallow water like that.

I'm trying to get my presentation near the cover. And then run it into the cover and let it fall, let it ricochet, different things like that. You get some fish to react to it. It is key to try to get fish to react on a bait is just moving that bait around those targets, hitting them from multiple angles. nice, quiet presentation, stealthy approach. And you can get some bites in really shallow water like I'm in right now.

Well, I got a couple of bites on the spinnerbait. But something about the spinnerbait isn't quite getting the fish to react like I think they should. So I feel like we should have had more bites on the spinnerbait. So maybe it's time for the old square bill. This is the Strike King 1.5 square bill. And with this, we can get it a little deeper.

And sometimes just a little bit different action is what they want. Again, same principle, throw it right up against the cover.

Oh, there's one. Golly, that... Boy. I'll tell you when you have the right bait, those fish will tell you immediately. You get a bite on the first cast with the 1.5 and look at how he's got it. I mean, guzzled it. He has got it. It's the perfect way to know that you've got the right bait. Time for the pliers. Got it down in the crushers. The hemostats. All right. Nice fish. They're in here. All right.

So clearly that square bill was more along the lines of what they wanted on that laydown right there. Hope you can see it, actually see some little bait fish or something around there.

Because I just hit the spinnerbait down the sides of that laydown and over it. And not necessarily down the sides but over it. And it might be just an angle thing. But that's first cast with the square bill and boom, right on the end of it down here. Of course, this is gonna run a little bit deeper than a spinnerbait. But I am seeing a lot of bait fish down there, that's always a good sign, when you pick up another bait and you get a bite real quick boom, obviously, that's the positive affirmation you're looking for. And sometimes they just want one over the other on a given day. So you got to keep an open mind. But that's what makes this combination so powerful.

It's the spinnerbait, crankbait combo because on a given day, they'll want one over the other and you wanna keep your mind open and available to take advantage of it when they do. It's just, I mean, you gotta be bold with it, though, you can't be afraid to get hung up with it, running it into it, I'm actually trying to run it into stuff now. And that's the thing too, you're gonna get hung up. So be prepared for that. You can try to slingshot it back out. Sometimes that'll get it and sometimes it won't. So you just gotta go over there, take trolling motor over to it, nice and gentle. Cut out the damage of the boat or anything else. One of the best things is just running the rod tip down to it jiggling it a little bit and just get it right back out just like that.

There's definitely... It looks like some baby bluegill, maybe some shad, and obviously there's some fish in this little creek channel and in this little section of it as well. A couple of keys to catch them on a spinnerbait and a square bill in shallow water is generally people don't want to throw where they feel like they're gonna get hung up. And that's where the fish are. They wanna throw their worms and their jigs over there because they feel like they're gonna get those back. But if you can throw your square bill or your spinnerbait in a place where you don't think many people have thrown a crankbait or spinnerbait because they think they're gonna lose it, it's a more expensive bait than a worm or a jig.

And a worm or a jig has a tendency to come back. Well, you throw that square bill in there, that spinnerbait and you can catch some fish that otherwise wouldn't have bit other baits. Just throw it up there. Or it's just hairy. Multiple casts, different angles, change in retrieve speeds, pausing it, cranking it, trying different stuff. I switched back over to spinnerbait and got a little guy. Just a one-two punch for shallow power fishing.

There's one. Spinnerbait again. Yeah, look at that one. That's a prettier one. Look how thick that one is. Kinda came out to the edge of this little creek here. Pretty, look at how it's got that orange or goldish film or goldish color, not film but color to it. Gosh, it's so pretty. Nice.

I love catching them on that spinnerbait. And there's just times when they want one over the other. I'm kinda fishing it just not out of sight, just barely out of sight. That kinda twilight area where not quite out of sight but not quite just barely visible. I could see the bait blades flashing every now and again. Marking some bait down here.

Oh, there's another one. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they're in here. Yeah, they're in here. Oh, the spinnerbait. Nice. Gosh, I love catching them on that spinnerbait. They will just come for that bad boy. Nice. One of the things about that spinnerbait is you've gotta kinda figure out what level they want it at. Do they want it up high in the water column? They want it down low?

Where do they want it and what retrieve? Sometimes they want a slow roll, not much action, just blades turning, bouncing along the bottom, different things like that. And then other times they want kind of aggressive and the blade flashing and clanking together and drawing reaction to them and drawing attention to them. So you gotta have to figure that out. You gotta play with that retrieve.

So that's my one-two punch for shallow power fishing. Whenever I need to cover water, in order to find fish, eliminate unproductive water, and establish areas where fish are holding, I'm gonna rely on a 1.5 square bill and a spinnerbait.

They're great at drawing reaction strikes triggering fish to bite when they're wholly in and around shallow targets, especially in stained water and in the fall. Now, remember, these two baits are great at being fished in and around areas where you would probably throw a worm or a bait that is more weedless. A bait that won't get hung up as much. Well, these baits you can get them in there and actually run them into those cover types. Again, that square bill was gonna ricochet off because of that square deflecting bill. And then the spinnerbait, of course, because of the wireframe like that it acts kind of like a weed guard, but also the head will actually move in and around and ricochet off targets as well.

The key to remember is those roll cast. You can lay the bait nice and easy in the water with not a lot of splash, but with some practice, you can actually make pinpoint cast with the shorter rods, which enable you to really present the bait right where you want it to go.

Don't forget to head over to BassResource.com, the tremendous website, and forum for all things Bass fishing. Thanks guys for watching this video. If you like this video, give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and, of course, make sure you hit the subscribe button and until next time, thanks for watching and good fishing.