Culprit

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It is important to remember that bass are cold blooded. When the water temp drops, their metabolism slows and they need less food. However bass are moving more and using more energy in the fall in pursuit of food and good water, thus they tend to feed frequently despite cooler temps. In the summer they are more sit and wait predators and rest in between short bursts of feeding.

Bass in the fall feed on the most available food source which varies from lake to lake. Some lakes it may be crawfish and others shad or even bluegill. Shad get the most attention because of their fall migration into creeks which attract bass.

The way I like to approach the fall is to fish fast and find the best areas of the lake and then pick it apart with multiple presentations to specific cover. It may appear haphazard, but going through areas at lightning speed with reaction baits like spinner baits, buzz baits, and crank baits is the quickest way to find concentrations of fall bass. You may only get a handful of bites fishing really fast, but you are just trying to locate them. Most of the time I'm fishing 5ft or less unless the water is unusually clear which tends to put fish deeper. I'll test all major creeks on the lake until I find the one or two that are best. Once that is accomplished I pick apart the specific cover in those hot areas with multiple lures and multiple angles.

It is not uncommon for me to make as many as 20 casts to a single piece of cover to finally catch a bass. For example, you can imagine one brush pile on a shallow flat with thousands of shad in the area. One cast by the brush is not likely to interest a bass with so much bait in the area. Persistence is key for this situation. The more casts from different angles you make the more likely you will make your lure and easy meal. Yes, some bass will be chasing shad around in open water, but they will still stop and ambush from cover and this is your most likely spot to catch fish from.

I try several lures after I've located the bass in the area. I may keep bouncing shallow crank baits off shallow cover in an effort to get as many easy ones as possible. Once they get stubborn however is when I reach for baits that will penetrate the heavy cover better. One of my favorites is a white jig with a matching Tailgate special or Culprit frog for a trailer. The white screams bait and I can drop it right on their heads generating a reaction strike.

My other favorite is the Fat Max worm. It is a new worm which is bulkier than the Original Culprit and flips well. Once I've caught all the easy ones in the area I'll fish this worm slow through prime spots. Again this is not aimless. I'm not simply casting down the bank, but rather jumping around within an area that I know well and hitting the high percentage areas with a slow bait. The Fat Max worm fishes well in heavy cover and is one of the most efficient baits for getting the most out of an area. Often I'll catch bigger fish once I slow down with this bait making it an ideal tournament lure.

Once the action goes away, I simply move to another creek and look for similar conditions. In the fall though, it pays to keep checking areas and different times of the day, because so many fish are on the move.

Dustin Wilks Culprit Pro Team

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