Fall Shallow Water Fishing
When fishing shallow water in the fall there are many obstacles to overcome and when every bite counts like in a tournament you can't afford any mistakes. Missing fish is unfortunately part of bass fishing but when every fish counts like in a tournament and when bites are hard to come by then there are some things you can do to protect against some of those shallow water misses.
First of all you must be rigged correctly for the shallow bite so matching your bait to the proper rod and line strength is a must. I have 14 rods in my boat and in the fall I rig 8 of them with 50 lb. Vicious braided line and each reel that braid is paired with a sensitive fast tip Duckett rod with at least medium heavy action, but more likely a fast tip heavy action rod. I want to be able to get a strong hook set, not worry about the line breaking and get as sensitive a rod as I can find. I also generally rig with at least a oz weight and sometimes even a 3/8 oz. because a bullet weight that is a little heavier than the you would use in the spring helps you detect every bite regardless of whether the bass hits it hard or just lightly picks it up!
It's also important in the fall that you can locate the grass edges, and as the grass dies off and hangs underneath the water it is not always easy to see. So I use a good pair of Solar Bat sunglasses. They are equipped with extremely clear polarized lenses that can see the grass lines even though they are under water. This allows you to work you're bait directly on the grass edge; the fall is a time of year where we get a several blue bird days and being able to see the grass edge in imperative. The closer you work the bait to the grass line the more chance you have of getting bites.
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry