Jeremiah T. Bagwell

By Jeremiah T. Bagwell

In the fall of the year the temperatures start to drop, the wind starts to blow and a lot of anglers put away their rods and reels for the season. If this is your routine, you are doing a huge disservice to yourself and your fishing season.

Statistically, I catch the largest majority of my big fish in October and November. Granted, the weather isn’t always that nice but if you dress in layers, you will stay warm long enough to start catching fish. After that, the excitement of catching big bass will have you stripping off your coat and stocking cap.

One of my favorite and most productive fall techniques is to fish a ¾ ounce Lucky Craft LV500 Max lipless crankbait in, around and over submerged grass. Although the temperatures are dropping like a rock and the water is cooling quickly, the bass are very active and very aggressive so I like to fish fast. Some folks watching me fish like this might think I am crazy and going way too fast but I don’t even know if that is possible this time of year.

LV500Max

What I do first is try to locate good amounts of submerged grass using a combination of my electronics and my polarized Wiley X sunglasses. Once I have the area located, I will make really long casts with my LV500 Max (Lucky Craft) along the edges and over the top of the grass, trying to catch the most aggressive fish first. When I do this, I typically have 3different colors of the LV500 tied on, just to offer a different look and to take full advantage of my area.

After I make several casts along and over the grass, I then switch it up a bit and purposely allow my bait to fall a little deeper and get hung up in the grass. Once it is stuck, I drop my rod tip slightly and rip the LV500 out of the grass. This fast, erratic movement triggers some ferocious strikes from nearby bass. This whole process of getting hung up and ripping it loose only takes a second or two. It is not long and drawn out and can be repeated multiple times in the same cast if you don’t get any strikes.

The equipment I use for this technique is a 7’ Med-Heavy rod with a fast tip, 12-14 lbs test monofilament line and a high speed retrieve baitcasting reel. One thing that is very important, because you are using monofilament line, is the need to check it frequently for abrasions. At the first sign of a weak spot, retie or you will lose your bass and your bait.

Some of my favorite colors of the Lucky Craft LV500 Max are Aurora Black, Aurora Brown, Ghost Minnow and my all-time favorite Lucky Craft color, MS American Shad. The reason I always have multiple colors tied on, is because I can make several casts to an area with one color with little success and then throw a different color in and immediately get a bass. Then that color will go dead for a little bit and the first color I was throwing will start working again. I don’t really have a scientific explanation for this but I suspect it is similar to how humans will eat a couple of pieces of sausage pizza and then grab a slice of pepperoni. Whatever the reason, this is what works for me.

So rather than cutting your Bass fishing season a couple of months short each year, grab a handful of Lucky Craft LV500 Max lipless crankbaits, find some grass and start getting Big Fall Bass. Don’t put your bass gear away for the season until ice starts to form on the lakes.

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