Tough Fall Fishing!

[Bill Babler]

Look for the locations. fish will not always be there but if you find enough of these river channel dump off spots they will be on some of them.

[Guest big c]

This is great info, cant thank you all enough!

[Champ188]

I would add that while there are always fish shallow, they haven't been there in appreciable numbers for the past couple of years. I believe this is because there just aren't many shad up shallow. In past years when the shallow fall bite has been strong, you would see the little threadfin shad running from your lure and some of the big ol' gizzard shad would follow it to the boat. This year and last year, it's been hard to get around good numbers of shad up shallow. For some reason, they seem to be staying out deep, and I believe most of the bass are staying out there with them.

It's still possible to catch a good bag up shallow or even to have a trip like Huntest and I did a few weeks back and catch 50-plus in a day. But it's also possible to fish a lot of good water in some very good conditions and have an incredibly tough day.

[merc1997 Bo]

I would add that while there are always fish shallow, they haven't been there in appreciable numbers for the past couple of years. I believe this is because there just aren't many shad up shallow. In past years when the shallow fall bite has been strong, you would see the little threadfin shad running from your lure and some of the big ol' gizzard shad would follow it to the boat. This year and last year, it's been hard to get around good numbers of shad up shallow. For some reason, they seem to be staying out deep, and I believe most of the bass are staying out there with them.

It's still possible to catch a good bag up shallow or even to have a trip like Huntest and I did a few weeks back and catch 50-plus in a day. But it's also possible to fish a lot of good water in some very good conditions and have an incredibly tough day.

champ

you have just stated the key, and that is food. in the past, there always seemed to be an abundance of food (shad) up shallow, but that does not seem to be the case anymore. in the right areas, there were even deep and shallow shad, and when mike sowders and i found an area like that, we would work on the shallow source first, and then move out to work on the deeper bass. on good days, we could keep yo-yoing woking both shallow and deep. when you are not detecting much bait up shallow, that leaves crawdads, and unless there is a massive amount up shallow, there is just not a large enough food base to hold large amounts of bass shallow.

a day like today, being very cloudy and windy is a day that shad will tend to come up shallow, but not always. downstream where the most brownies live, there is a better chance to find them up on windy banks because, in table rock, the brownies like to be shallow, and they are great crawdad hunters. just wish there were more of those brown critters on the upper end. it is nice to be able to target some shallow bass, at least part of the time.

this is a great time of the year to catch bass, but sometimes you just have to adapt to different depths and methods than how we would prefer to catch them.

bo

[Bill Babler]

Bo, that post is so very informative and possibly the very key was the sentence at the end. You have to adapt to different depths and methods than we would prefer.

Man this is so hard for folks, and most of that is that they just do not get to spend the time on the water. Another is Table Rock itself.

On Lake of the Ozarks, Grand, Truman you can pretty much with just a few different areas and a few minor presentation changes catch fish at anytime of the year doing the same thing.

The Rock is a much different animal. You have to ADAPT. Had a great visit with RPS yesterday discussing locations. We spoke about areas that we both fish and both know well. It just amazed me the perspective that I learned that I should have already know in just a short visit.

Right now there are fish on the Rock from 1' to 80' Watch Pete's videos and you can see the versatility and the adaptability of what it takes to find them on a continuing basis.

Good Luck

[merc1997 Bo]

Bo, that post is so very informative and possibly the very key was the sentence at the end. You have to adapt to different depths and methods than we would prefer.

Man this is so hard for folks, and most of that is that they just do not get to spend the time on the water. Another is Table Rock itself.

On Lake of the Ozarks, Grand, Truman you can pretty much with just a few different areas and a few minor presentation changes catch fish at anytime of the year doing the same thing.

The Rock is a much different animal. You have to ADAPT. Had a great visit with RPS yesterday discussing locations. We spoke about areas that we both fish and both know well. It just amazed me the perspective that I learned that I should have already know in just a short visit.

Right now there are fish on the Rock from 1' to 80' Watch Pete's videos and you can see the versatility and the adaptability of what it takes to find them on a continuing basis.

Good Luck

bill

since we are talking about being able to adapt, lets talk about how important trolling motor skills come into play when deep water fishing. from general observation, i see many fisherman struggle fishing deep, just because the boat is never in position to have a shot at catching a bass to begin with. boat position is just as important catching them shallow, but not as hard to do when staying on a spot out in the middle of nowhere and the wind is blowing.

since you guide, explain how important that it is to be able to fish, watch the electronics, and fish all at the same time. of all the bassers i have fished with over the years, there are only two that i would fish back seat with any day, and they are mike sowders and kelly williamson, and i taught both of them.

i have fished with lots of people that can catch bass deep without problems when i am running the troller, but it all goes out the window when they are on the troller. this is because they are either fishing or running the trolling motor, and never both at the same time.

what would be some of your tips that might help others to learn the art of boat positioning. of course, practice rates right up there.

guess this might make a whole other discussion.

bo

[Bill Babler]

Mine is pretty simple. I'm 99% of the time not fishing when I'm on deep fish. The point is well made however. I know Bobby Tindle always placed his transducer on the back of the boat as it is extremely hard to keep that line up and down when fishing at depth.

Perhaps the greatest asset now of days is the GPS as soon as I see fish I can hammer it. Even in open water and clear bottom with very little cover, they will remain in location and not move at times.

Also even with any type of scan it is very easy with just sonar to tell the direction of the fish and I can usually tell you if they are left, right, ahead or behind.

Main reason is cause I'm old and have ruined my eyes looking at the durn thing. Wonder If I can get disability from Lowrance.

[conorsixtakc]

Seems to me that list isn't everything, just a lot of moving baits. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and scale down. When they're not chasing, scaling down to a smaller shaky head or finesse jig can pay big dividends.

[merc1997 Bo]

bill

i think the eyes part is just because we are old . that is part of why i have disdain for the new electronics. to be able to see to read the directions, it requires me to get out the cheaters, and so does tying knots. .

bo

[rps]

Mine is pretty simple. I'm 99% of the time not fishing when I'm on deep fish. The point is well made however. I know Bobby Tindle always placed his transducer on the back of the boat as it is extremely hard to keep that line up and down when fishing at depth.

Perhaps the greatest asset now of days is the GPS as soon as I see fish I can hammer it. Even in open water and clear bottom with very little cover, they will remain in location and not move at times.

Also even with any type of scan it is very easy with just sonar to tell the direction of the fish and I can usually tell you if they are left, right, ahead or behind.

Main reason is cause I'm old and have ruined my eyes looking at the durn thing. Wonder If I can get disability from Lowrance.

That is a slippery slope Bill.