Autumn Tactics
So we in the middle of Autumn, water temp in the high twenties, no hiding from the sun and only 3 lures to figure a decent pattern out and increase your chances of a ‘pb’ fish, these would be my 3 battle tested choice of lures this autumn and make it a memorable trip.
Jerk Minnow
On a dam with extensive weed cover, nothing beats jerking a soft minnow over and around weed cover. Weed always supports a good population of bass as the aquatic vegetation oxygenates the water and provides concealment for both bass and prey species.
The Big Bite Baits 5’’ jerk minnow rigged up with 12lb fluro is my go to setup, especially when fishing a new dam I’ve never been before. It gets you bites quickly and therefore you can locate the areas holding fish quicker. You can fish it a few different ways depending on the mood of the fish, may it be dead sticking it like you would with a trick stick/senko or twitching it to give you a walk-the-dog or darting effect, just about any technique with the jerk minnow will entice bass to react, so just let the fish tell you what they want for that day.
Texas Fighting Frog
Many dams in South Africa lack vegetation which makes it difficult for these low light feeders to hide from the blistering sun. The bass gets forced to go deeper and ambush within a brush pile or sits under a log awaiting for an easy meal coming past, but let’s face it, finding brush piles and laydowns can be time consuming and not all of us anglers have the electronics to find these. Luckily not all bass go deep and there’s an easier way of targeting them- Shade! Overhangs, cliffs, stumps, jetty’s etc. all provide excellent shady areas relative to the sun and is always worth a cast.
If there had to be one lure I could keep on my boat and still be able to fish a variety of different cover , may it be a 15ft brush pile, a shaded part of an overhang, stumps, jetty’s or even any sort of vegetation there’s nothing that beats a texas rigged Big Bite Baits fighting frog pegged with a tungsten bullet weight. This bait is an excellent imitation of a bream, tilapia and crawfish
TIP: Bass will always sit real tight on the shaded side of a stump, so make sure your first cast is spot on
Spinnerbait Revenge
Whenever I’m planning a fishing trip I’m always watching the weather forecast to see what the wind is going to do for the day and not so much if it’s going to rain or whatsoever. My fishing has revolved a lot around wind and it has saved me in a lot of tournaments before especially on pressured dams with inactive fish. Windblown banks have a higher percentage of active fish as the bait gets pushed onto the bank thus increases your chances of getting fish in the boat. This is the perfect time to get that spinnerbait out. The disturbed water and vivid flashes of the blades is enough to entice bass from a distance to come and devour the bait.
In today’s market there’s a variety of different blade combinations and colours skirts and one cannot help but wonder what to start off with that will give you the confidence to throw it for a bit longer than usual, well I say you can never go wrong with a 3/8oz chartreuse and white with double willow blades. There’s plenty of brands but one that I’ve been really successful with is the Revenge spinnerbait.
These 3 lures will always give me the edge on boating a bag of fish and increase my confidence for catching bigger fish to tackle any venue no matter the cover.
