Bass Fishing League Regional and Super Tournament events held in September or October, plus a pair of Weekend Series wins in the fall – all with topwater baits on Kentucky Lake. And he owes every one of his victories to the lessons he’ s learned about targeting gizzard shad-eating bass.
Location
Summertime is ledge-fishing season on many Tennessee River lakes, particularly Kentucky Lake, when bass school up on main-lake river ledges and bars. Once those schools start to disperse in the fall, many anglers head toward creeks and the backs of shallow bays where keeper bass are often seen busting young-of-the-year shad at the surface. Those bass, while fun to catch, usually don’ t win major tournaments, which is why Anderson takes a different approach beginning in early September.
His first step is to determine what section of the lake was most productive throughout summer. The biggest bass don’ t move far, he reasons, and so he keys on the same stretches of main-lake waters that produced big bags in summer.
“ I look for any bar or flat offshore that’ s 3 or 4 feet deep that’ s got some stumps scattered around and deep water nearby,” he says.“ It [ deep water ] can be 8 feet deep, or it can be 25 feet deep. You want to be sitting in water a little deeper throwing into the shallowest water. I stay on the main lake all the time.”
Some bass will stay on the same bars they occupied in late summer, but because autumn is reservoir drawdown season on Kentucky Lake, the fish have less water overhead in the fall and become more willing to rise for a topwater lure. But usually they’ re within close proximity.
Also, it’ s not as critical to cling to the edge of a drop-off in the fall as it is in summer. The better action often takes place up on top of broad mid-lake flats, provided gizzard shad are present.
Big Mouthfuls
Gizzard shad are the key element in Anderson’ s strategy. He locates them visually as he trolls along – the areas being generally too shallow for searching overhead with electronics. Where there are mature gizzard shad, there are usually mature bass.
The other way to locate key spots is through constant casting and covering water. According to Anderson, the 4- to 5-pounders that he’ s targeting don’ t often show themselves on the surface with obvious schooling activity such as anglers see from schools of smaller fish. Yet, they’ ll hammer a big, lumbering topwater bait that walks overhead.
Key areas can change from day to day as gizzard shad come and go.
“ I’ ve had a lot of these places where I’ ll be catching big ones and seeing gizzard shad, then all of a sudden the smaller shad move in and I don’ t catch the big ones anymore,” Anderson says.
Two Kinds of Targets
Anderson divides fishing spots into two categories. The first is what he calls a“ onesie, twosie hole,” which is a spot that usually doesn’ t hold a big school of fish, but might hold quality bass. He fishes them quickly and moves on.
“ Basically, you’ ll pull up and fish a 15-yard stretch, and you may or may not get a bite, but if you do it’ ll probably be a big one,” he says.“ These are places I fish really fast, and I may hit them several times during the day.”
Onesie, twosie holes are spots that Anderson keeps to himself because they tend to produce year after year. Strangely, there’ s rarely an apparent reason why the spots remain so good. Anderson has done some winter-pool recon when the water is very low, expecting to find a depression, large stump or some other type of“ spot on the spot,” but there’ s seldom an obvious piece of cover or structure. His best advice for finding the big-fish holes is to put the trolling motor down and cover water – and save every waypoint, even if the spot only produces one or two bites.
The other type of autumn spot is the“ mother lode hole.” It’ s the kind of place that can produce a solid tournament stringer, possibly over multiple days of fishing.
“ Those are the ones that I’ m willing to sit on and kind of wait on them,” Anderson says.“ Normally, you don’ t have to wait on them, though. Normally, when you get there it’ s happening.”
Big schools usually span larger areas where there’ s plenty of gizzard shad to go around, yet the fish aren’ t predictable from year to year. In fact, according to Anderson, most of the spots that produced his big, tournament-winning schools never came close to providing the same sort of results in subsequent visits.
Autumn Weather
Weather patterns are as unpredictable as the bass in autumn, but Anderson believes that once the“ topwater season” kicks off on the main lake in September, the weather won’ t keep the fish from biting until the pattern changes a couple months later.
“ I have yet to find conditions they won’ t bite in, but they’ re almost impossible to find if it’ s windy,” he says.“ You need a little ripple for ideal conditions, and it’ s good to have sun so you can see and look for the gizzard shad swimming around when you’ re working your way down those bars. But once you locate those suckers and you locate the‘ danger zone,’ it’ s on. I’ ve caught them in 4-foot waves and even in muddy water.”
Tactical Topwater
There’ s a particular Heddon Super Spook in Anderson’ s boat that he’ s used to pocket well into the six-figure dollar range during his career. It’ s a sentimental favorite that is probably
ILLUSTRATION BY JOE TOMELLERI
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