Oct. 20 Big M area

[Quillback]

Nice cool October day, not much wind early, but it did pick up later in the day.

Really tough fishing, it was a ghost town out there, if I had not been given a tip on where some were schooling deep I probably would've caught only one or two.

The spot I was given a tip on was near the channel drop and the fish were holding in 30-40 FOW.  Quite a few on the screen, would've been a great time and place for the drop shot, except I did not have any drop shot stuff with me.  I picked up a few dragging a c-rig on the bottom, three of them were keeper spots and a couple of shorts.  Used a UV Speed Craw and a Fish Doctor on the c-rig.  Eventually those fish moved out and that was it for that spot.

Did some bank pounding with a jig and crank for a while, and just nothing, one pick up on the jig was all I got.  

Left at noon.  

WT 71.

Tough, but it beat a day at work.

 

[Johnsfolly]

3 hours ago, Quillback said:

Tough, but it beat a day at work.

You keep rubbing that in 🙄! With work I can get out maybe once per week. Still glad that you got out and caught a few. Living vicariously through your posts Jeff!

[Bill Babler]

Guided the Rock same day, out of KC. We only had 7 with 4 solid keeps. 

2 keeps shallow on a GP NED and 2 deep on a drop shot. 

 

Tougher than 20 year old leather boot. 

[Sprint21fter]

Just got back from Dardanelle practicing for the state tournament in Arkansas Bass Nation, only mustered 5 bites, caught 2 dinks.

[m&m]

Jeff, hard fishing right now for sure. 
 

Bill, healthy looking fish in the photos. 
 

Mike

[techo]

The last two times out, we have been skunked.  Yesterday was a gorgeous day to not catch anything though.  

Had one on shaky head but lost it.

[dtrs5kprs]

Fall is pretty, but it's a long way from cold enough to be good.

[Champ188]

10 hours ago, dtrs5kprs said:

Fall is pretty, but it's a long way from cold enough to be good.

Won't get right until we've had a couple of frosts. At least that's a "mile marker" for me when looking for the shallow fall bite.

[willyfish]

1 hour ago, Champ188 said:

Won't get right until we've had a couple of frosts. At least that's a "mile marker" for me when looking for the shallow fall bite.

Is water temps in the 50s the "right time" ? All the research I've done on the fall it seems like the crankbait bite gets going when that water gets there. I think the Fall confuses people the most.

[Champ188]

Anywhere from mid-60s down into the 50s works best for me to throw a crank bait in the fall. When the water is above 60, don't be afraid to reel that crank bait pretty fast. Some days they seem to react to it better that way. 

What I've noticed lately is that the fish don't seem to want to move into the creeks yet. Everything I've caught has either been on the main lake or just inside the creeks. And I mean JUST inside them. Every year seems to be a little bit unique, depending on water temp, water level, etc.