For Jeff Spague , it ’ s all about downsizing in the fall to match the size of the young baitfish bass are after .
PHOTO BY JACOB FINE
JOSEPH WEBSTER
Location : Southern herring lakes Species : Spotted bass Pattern : Suspended spots on long points
If Pro Circuit vet Joseph Webster launches his boat on a brisk fall morning with a bit of fog on the water , whatever game plan he had in mind , he ’ s scrapping . He knows exactly what he ’ ll be doing instead .
“ I ’ m going to start running every long , shallow , main-lake point I can ,” Webster says .
Once the water dips below 70 degrees , the spotted bass in Lewis Smith Lake and others like it will start suspending in small groups on the sides of these points , waiting for a school of blueback herring to swim by . The points make perfect spots to push the bait up on and gorge , and they ’ ll stay perfect until the water dips down below 50 degrees .
The points Webster likes best are anywhere from 50 to 100 yards long , going from only a few feet and gradually tapering off into 40 feet .
It ’ s All About Angles
Of course , suspended bass are rarely the easiest to catch , especially on a large section of structure 100 yards long . What Webster starts by doing is setting his bow just off one side of the point or the other and working his way from shallow to deep using a two-pronged approach .
His main weapon is a 3.8-inch Berkley PowerBait Power Swimmer on a 1 / 4-ounce head , which he ’ ll throw on a 7-foot , medium-power Abu Garcia Veracity rod and 10-pound-test Berkley 100 Percent Fluorocarbon . He ’ ll cast it both parallel to the point and across it , as he ’ ll never know how the bass with be set up at any one time .
“ The schools aren ’ t big ; more like small wolf packs that are always roaming ,” Webster explains . “ You have to try different angles .”
Sometimes the bass make it easy on him and reveal their location when they push a school of herring up shallow , at which point , Webster with have part two of his plan to employ : a topwater like a Berkley Choppo or J-Walker . When the school goes down , he ’ ll then “ mop up ” with the swimbait .
As much fun and productive as this pattern can be , it ’ s not a given that every point will be a bonanza . Often , he ’ ll have to hit several points before locating a school , then it ’ s game on .
PHOTO BY CURTIS NIEDERMIER
JEFF SPRAGUE
Location : Highland reservoirs in Texas Species : Largemouth Pattern : Schooling fish in the back of pockets
While many pros are tossing bigger baits come fall , don ’ t count Bass Pro Tour pro Jeff Sprague among them .
“ You have a lot of young baitfish swimming around , which are super small ,” he says . “ I downsize my baits a lot to match .”
How small ? Sprague likes the Strike King KVD Sexy Dawg Jr . with a white-feathered rear treble hook , sometimes going with translucent colors to further represent a smaller baitfish .
Bust Out the Spinning Gear
While this diminutive offering can be thrown on casting gear , Sprague ops for a Lew ’ s spinning rod and 10-pound-test Strike King Tour Grade Yellow Braid to 8-pound-test Strike King monofilament . The reason is simple : casting distance .
Sprague ’ s target may not always be close and can come up randomly . Waiting around in the backs of pockets , Sprague will cast around a 2.75-inch Strike King Rage Swimmer while biding his time for the suspended schools of bass roaming the pocket to push the bait up on the flat and start feasting on the surface . When they do , being able to fire that topwater as far as possible comes in handy .
“ Eventually , you ’ ll get dialed in on where they ’ re schooling ,” says Sprague . “ But until you do , you need that distance .”
Sprague says he looks for deeper pockets with significant shallow flats in the backs of them , as they offer the best opportunities for bass to push baitfish up to feed .
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2020 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | FLWFISHING . COM 43