Metro Lakes Fall Hog Bassin’ report

Dropping fall temperatures often times signals time for the fall feedbag for fat largemouth bass here in our northern regions. Although I don’t chase bass all that much besides some random tournaments throughout the summer, fall is definitely my favorite time to target these crockpot mouth critters. With all the hunting seasons kicking into full swing you can often times find yourself the only boat fishing on a given water, thus it’s my favorite time of year to fish. What started as a Tiger Muskie adventure soon turned to bass as no Skllunges showed their faces on this particular day Although the bass fishing was not fast and furious the size made up for it in spades. Here’s a photo of a ridiculous girthy fish measuring in at 21.5.

As stated in the previous paragraph the fishing has not been fast or furious. Simple slow presentations have worked the best in my boat over the last couple trips. We’ve been mainly pitching Lake Fork craw tubes rigged on a 1/2 to 1 oz. Fin Tech Title shot jig into remaining green weeds in the 7-10 foot range.

Slow, slow, slow seems to be the way to go. Sometimes these fish are just barely hitting as you let your bait sit on the bottom for 20+ seconds at a time. Unlike summer fishing we haven’t really been able to key in on a school of fish..It’s been more of a random approach to certain key areas.Although all lakes tend to differ in what areas produce I’ve had the best luck fishing the deep weedlines on the edge of shallow bays with deep(20+) foot water nearby. Sometimes 100 yards or more from shore. Basically, just look for the initial break off these shallow bays and you should tie into some of the shallow water staging fish.

This fall has been weird with the weather and it seems to be affecting all species no matter what you are targeting. One day it’s cold and you think the fish should be shallow and they are not. The next day it can be almost 20 degrees warmer and they are deep again..or maybe shallow. All I can say is open water season is coming to a close, and for those who aren’t too keen on the hardwater, now is the time to get out there and chase some fishy fishes. GOOD LUCK!