Entry 220-4

Mid-September until Mid-October Fishing with Roger Stegall at Pickwick Lake

Part 4: What to Do When the Bass Won’t Bite

Question: At this time of year, what’s another bait you really believe in fishing?

Stegall: I don’t go fishing at this time of year without a Diamond Shad. You can fish it in shallow water or deep water, and I like it in the 1/4- or the 1/2-ounce size. During the fall, both largemouths and smallmouths are keying in on shad as their primary bait. I like either a white, a silver with a blue back or a silver with a black back Diamond Shad. I also have to put the Red Eye Shad in the Diamond Shad category. I fished this bait last fall because I had some prototypes. I also like this bait in the silver-blue back and the silver-black back as well as the new Sexy Shad color.

The Red Eye Shad won’t take the place of the Diamond Shad, but it’s another lipless crankbait we can use to offer the bass a little something different. I like to fish the Diamond Shad and the Red Eye Shad around stumps, grass, shallow water and depths out to about 10 feet of water. I like to use the Red Eye Shad in deeper water because when you stop this bait, it swims to the bottom instead of fluttering to the bottom like the Diamond Shad.

I don’t know how many times I’ve been fishing the Red Eye Shad, stopped the bait and let it fall, and then the bass took the bait before it’s reached the bottom. When those fish see that Red Eye Shad swimming to the bottom, it looks just like a shad that’s become tired and is diving to the bottom, or a shad that’s dying. I had a customer a couple of weeks ago who caught a 6-pound smallmouth using the Red Eye Shad by killing the bait and letting it swim to the bottom. When he saw his line jump, he set the hook and caught that big smallmouth.

Question: In what kinds of places are you fishing the Red Eye Shad?

Stegall: I fish it over pea gravel and any other areas where shad will probably hold at this time of year. Sandy, pea-gravel or grass bottoms are your best spots to fish the Red Eye Shad. Another technique I use at this time of year that most people don’t use is a 3X watermelon-colored finesse worm with a chartreuse tail on a Carolina rig. I fish it in 3 to 5 feet of water. Many people don’t fish the Carolina rig during the fall, and they rarely, if ever, fish it in shallow water. But during the fall, when the bass won’t take any other lure, I’ve found that this tactic works.

Question: Most of the time, people fish Carolina rigs on long points, ledges, drop-offs and humps. How did you decide to fish the Carolina rig in shallow water?

Stegall: I could see bass killing shad on the surface of the water in shallow water. So, I started throwing top-water lures at them – crankbaits and Diamond Shads – and I still couldn’t get the fish to bite. Since all of those baits were fast-running baits, and the bass weren’t taking them, I decided to try a slow-moving bait. I threw a Texas-rigged worm and still couldn’t get a bite. Then I started throwing the Carolina rig with a chartreuse tail on the lizard.

During the fall, the shad minnows often will have a chartreuse-like color on their tails. I’ve never seen a lizard in the water. The bass may think the lizard is a shad because I’ve never seen them eat a real lizard. When they see that chartreuse-tailed lizard, they think that the tail is the tail of the shad, and that the legs are the fins of the shad. The bass believe that the lizard is a shad. In the spring, the bass may think the lizard is a crawfish. Now, that’s just my own personal opinion. Everybody’s got one, and that’s mine. When you find bass hitting on top in shallow water, and they won’t take any of the baits they’re supposed to take in those circumstances, I’ve found that you can fish the Carolina-rigged Strike King lizard, and the bass will eat it.

Another lure that has the same effect on bass in shallow water at this time of year is the Strike King finesse worm fished on a shaky-head jig. I like the 7-inch Strike King finesse worm made of the ElaZtech material because that worm floats up off the bottom. The bass think that this worm is a shad that’s been injured and is standing on its nose on the bottom.

To contact Roger Stegall, call (662) 423-3869, or visit www.fishpickwick.com, or email rogstegall@fishpickwick.com.

Next: Lunker Smallmouth – How To Catch Them

Contents:

• Part 1: Bet on the White Bass
• Part 2: Stripers That Will Break Your Line and Your Heart
• Part 3: Largemouth Now
• Part 4: What To Do When the Bass Won’t Bite
• Part 5: Lunker Smallmouth – How To Catch Them