Fall is “Fairy Wand” Time
Spinning gear has a unique reputation among bass anglers. For the most part, anglers either love it or hate it. But, nobody can deny that light line and finesse techniques get bit, especially when it comes to fall smallmouth fishing.
Minnesota’s Josh Douglas competes on the FLW Tour and relies on spinning gear to cash checks. When not fishing professional tournaments, he guides on the famed smallmouth mecca Lake Mille Lacs. In his split profession, spinning gear is must-have equipment.
When the water starts to cool each year, Douglas is always armed with a Ned Rig, small swimbait, and a blade bait attached to his G. Loomis rods and Shimano spinning reels.
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Ned Rig
This is the hottest technique in bass fishing right now, and Douglas is fond of it since it works in many situations.
“It is so versatile, and you can fish it at all depths. I’ll fish it as shallow as three-feet and down to 30-feet,” he said. “I think it works so well because it imitates both crawfish and small baitfish.”
For the most part, he uses a 1/8-ounce Outkast Tackle Perfect Ned Head with either a Z-Man Finesse TRD or 10,000 Fish Sukoshi Bug. Both of these baits feature the durable and buoyant plastic material that prolongs the life of the bait and helps with the action.
Douglas fishes the Ned Rig as deep or as shallow as he needs to based on where the fish are positioned. He prefers a G. Loomis NRX 872S JWR rod and pairs it with a size 4000 Shimano Exsence reel.
That size of reel is larger than many anglers opt for, but Douglas has found it to be better suited for his needs for several reasons.
“I started off fishing the 2500 size reels, but the bigger reels in the new models are slimmed down from how they used to be. They are still light, and with a bigger spool, you get better casts and less line twist,” he said.
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Swimbait
When fishing this time of year, Douglas will often have several swimbaits tied up. Some for spinning gear and some for baitcasting gear. His rule of thumb is to use those with ¼-ounce or lighter heads on spinning and everything over 3/8-ounce on baitcasting gear. But, he added that there is a need for both.
“We fish a lot of reefs and offshore structure, and you could be casting up onto them in two or three feet of water or off to the sides of them in much deeper water,” Douglas said. “If I am casting to twelve feet or less, the ¼-ounce is going to hang up much less. I also use the 1/8-ounce jig head but prefer the ¼ a lot of times because you get a harder fall to the bottom, and you can still get a nice violent kick out of your swimbaits.”
He prefers the Outkast Tackle Goldeneye Swimbait Jighead with a 3.25” or 4” BioSpawn ExoSwim swimbait depending on the weight of his jighead and the size of the baitfish.
For swimbaits on spinning gear, he opts for the G. Loomis NRX 852S JWR and again pairs it with a 4000 size Exsence reel.
“The larger spool is a big plus for swimbait fishing because it has a faster gear ratio than the smaller sizes. This lets you catch up with fish much quicker and helps your landing percentage,” he shared.
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Blade Baits
Once the water starts to creep into the 40’s, Douglas goes to the metal. A blade bait is one of his top-producers, and when the water gets cold, and he likens it to the action of a ChatterBait.
“When the water gets cold, the schools of fish get bigger, but they start to get lethargic. A blade bait is something you can keep in the zone, and that violent vibration matches the forage they are eating and attracts them like a ChatterBait does,” he believes.
He fishes blade baits from a host of different brands and uses the same rod and reel as he does for fishing a swimbait.
“The Exsence is my first choice, but Shimano makes a bunch of other great spinning reels. I always tell people to get the best one you can afford, but the 4000 size is a big plus for all of their reels,” said Douglas. “The Stradic Ci4+ is going to be your best ‘bang for your buck’ reel. It is really light, and I know it has won guys a lot of money over the years.”
No matter where you stand on fishing “fairy wands” for bass, they are not going anywhere. For certain techniques, they are the only way to go, and each year, when fall rolls around, Josh Douglas and many others will bee using them to catch some of the biggest smallmouths of the year.
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