The First Day of Fall, Fishing Alabama’s Weedy Impoundment’s Targeting Big, Largemouth Bass!
Written By Reed Montgomery (See: Facebook) / Reeds Guide Service (See: Facebook) Internet Website www.fishingalabama.com Alabaster, Al. (205) 663-1504
Throughout the Spring and Summer season’s bass anglers have targeted big, largemouth bass while casting a variety of enticing little offerings in shallow water, usually in depths of less than five feet deep. Especially productive are those very weedy lakes found throughout all of Alabama. Places where big, largemouth bass dweel, places that feature a variety of aquatic weeds, where often the deciding factor (on whether or not you catch any bass!), is the weedless lure you choose to fish with.
So now that many of these bass anglers have fished those weedy banks, shallow main lake flats or shallow creek flats (those places big bass constantly inhibit, featuring a variety of several different types of aquatic weeds), for the last six months…Fall begins. Why then should they turn their attention to other types of bass holding cover like wood cover, rock cover or even an irregular bottom feature? Only if their favorite lake is being lowered for the upcoming winter season ahead, when most aquatic weeds slowly wither and die.
So now is the time! Before some of our man made lakes are lowered for winter pool, there are still many big bass to be located, mingling in or around the lake’s weedy, fish-holding cover. Or if you constantly fish a weedy lake, one that stays full pool year round, you still have many weeks ahead, fishing where big bass will reluctantly leave the shelter of their green, green homes in the grass.
So there you have two different types of situations that all bass anglers face each Fall and early Winter seasons. Either you will be fishing a lake that is dropping anywhere from 1-5 feet for winter pool or you will be fishing a lake that features aquatic weeds where big largemouth bass will be feeding and fattening up for the cold, winter months ahead. Until these many weed types slowly wither and die (as winter approaches with cooler water temperatures and cooler air temperatures), there will be both prey and predator like big, largemouth bass constantly on the prowl! Fishing these weedy places this Fall and early Winter season’s bass anglers will discover there are many different types of lures. However, the use of weedless lures always provide less frustration and a loss of today’s costly lures as well!
LURES FOR TARGETING BIG BASS IN THE WEEDS - Lures for targeting bass in the weeds are many. Like when fishing during more open water situations, there are always some bass to consider holding near the surface of the water, some in the middle water column and those bass buried deep in the weeds, on or near the lake’s weedy bottom.
* Weedless Topwater Lures - “Fake Frogs” 
are at the top of this list of weedless wonders! Why? You may ask. For one, they are very weedless and man made frogs, those featuring either one or two upturned hooks, come through the thickest of “messy weeds’ imaginable. Another very important reason is…bass like to eat frogs! Frogs have been a big portion of their daily diet for the last six months. So why would they stop eating them now? As long as there are weeds, there will be frogs around somewhere and bass nearby. Sharp hooks, strong line, and long stought rods of 7 feet or more, including a good long-handled net, are needed to successfully land these big, largemouth bass caught on frogs in the weeds! Short hops of the frog and a short pause, right before a good hook set…are a must!
* Buzz baits - Another very weedless lure (even with a trailer hook), is a buzz bait. There is something about the Fall season that attracts the attention of big bass to these often loud and very annoying topwater lures. Often the noiser, the better! Always include a trailer hook when fishing buzz baits! Don’t wait until you miss a big bass to do so, for then its to late. Like when fishing with fake frogs always sharpen the lures hook, use strong line and utilize long, stought rods, to get a good hook set and help you horse in and land these big bass with buzz baits!
* Spinnerbaits - Although spinnerbaits and bladed baits (like the chatter bait) are not topwater lures they often run very near the waters surface. The spinnerbait is much more weedless than the bladed bait. However, if an angler keeps these flashing, vibrating lures moving, they can see these lures come through the thickest of weeds without hang-ups. Added, enticing trailers like grubs or twin tail trailers may elicit extra strikes from some very interested bass!
* Weightless Weedless Lures - Fishing with soft plastics (those featuring only a single worm hook and no added weight), like Zoom’s “Trick worms”, their shad-imitating “Flukes” and Gary Yamamoto’s slow-sinking “Senko” fished on lighter line of 12-15 pound test with a 3/0 to 4/0 size worm hook, in and around the thinner variety of aquatic weeds, will fool a lot of big bass into biting. Bass that may ignore about every other lure in your boat!
* Weedless spoons - Weedless spoons have an enticing wiggle and fish-attracting ”flash” that many bass have not seen in and around most aquatic weeds on our lake. Older models like the Johnson Silver Minnow, the Moss Boss or Rapala’s weedless spoons still fool big bass today! Although many anglers fail to recognize the important aspects of fishing with weedless spoons, they should be a big part of any bass anglers weedless arsenal, at times even better, over more popular weedless lures.
* Bottom Lures - On or near bottom, there are countless offerings today’s bass anglers can successfully manuever throughout the thickest of weeds. One of the most popular is the Texas-rigged plastic worm. There are others. Lizards, crayfish imitations, beaver-type plastics, creature baits and the ever popular Jig combo. All of these lure types can be cast in and around aquatic weeds. Or a very popular technique is swimmng soft plastics and jig combos around the edges of weeds or along the thinner variety of weeds.
You don’t have to give up on fishing for big, largemouth bass in our lakes, while targeting them in and around the many varieties of aquatic weeds most impoundments have to offer in cooler seasons. Just because its getting cooler each week does not mean bass will leave the security of their weedy homes many have inhibited for the last 6 months. Even after some types of weeds have turned brown and have withered and died, many big bass still make these oxygen-rich aquatic weeds their “homes” for the cooler months of Fall and the early Winter season.
So give it a try and see!
Thanks and Good Fishin’ Reed Montgomery Owner of Reeds Guide Service (205) 663-1504. ”Alabama’s oldest, professional - bass fishing only - guide service, guiding on all Alabama Lakes for over 40 years” Website www.fishingalabama.com See us on facebook! Just type in the name Reed Montgomery and/or Reeds Guide Service!
