Fishing during the late summer and early fall can be some of the most challenging times to catch bass all year. The weather is hot and fish are scattered, shallow and deep and not as active as other times of the year. One of the best ways to find consistent success this time of year, according to Major League Fishing pro and Bassmaster Classic Champion Ott DeFoe, is to use topwater baits and focus on high-percentage locations.
Up a Creek
Part of DeFoe’s fishing style and massive success as a pro angler is to head up rivers to target fish in current that others ignore. He uses the same approach this time of year and heads up a creek.
“This is a tough time to fish because the fish are in transition,” said DeFoe. “The deep schools of fish are mainly busted up, but some are still out deep and some have moved shallow. This is when the creek pattern comes into play if you have them entering the lakes you fish.”
DeFoe says the creeks are important because of water clarity and some current. “Most of the time, the creeks are going to be clear unless there have been recent rains,” he said. “The bite is best when the main lake water temperatures are higher, maybe because the current has stopped on the main lake, and baitfish start to move into the creeks. Threadfin shad will almost always be there, but if you see any gizzard shad swimming around, that’s a sign of a good area and the bass won’t be far away.”
There’s a specific window for when this is the place to be, according to DeFoe. “The creek bite is the best when the water on the main lake is warmer than the creeks,” he said. “Once the main lake water drops down 5 or 10 degrees and gets to the same temperature as the creeks, the creek deal starts to fade pretty quickly.”
Made in the Shade
One of the essential things that DeFoe looks for is not a type of cover, depth, or part of a body of water: it’s shade. Bass love to take shelter where it’s comfortable for them, making shade vital for positioning fish.
“I like to look for the small strike zones and make targeted casts to the cover, whether grass, trees, or root balls. But, one of the most important things to look for is shade,” said DeFoe. “If it’s grass, I’m not looking for the big mats. My favorite is the little pockets of grass that get blown up into the corners of trees and bushes by the current.”
One of DeFoe’s primary weapons for targeting the shade is with a topwater popper, the Storm Arashi Cover Pop. “It’s a topwater that’s a good size and oversized compared to other baits,” says DeFoe. “This really helps with castability and you can make those tight little roll casts into the shade. The line tie is in the perfect spot and it sits differently than other topwaters and it’s really easy to walk.”
He has his best success fishing topwaters in the shade and around cover and working them very slowly. “That bait walks very easily and you can get it to go back and forth without moving it forward a lot,” he said. “When the fish are lethargic, you have to do that to aggravate them and make them bite.”
Shad and Bluegill
Part of the reason the creeks are so productive is because there is plenty of food for bass. The shad are moving back and the bluegill are already there, according to DeFoe. That’s what makes the popper and his other top bait, the frog, so effective.
“There can still be a little bluegill spawn going on in parts of the country this time of year, especially the further south you go,” he said. “I like ghost pearl shad and all of the bluegill colors for the popper. For frogs, I like coco camo, which imitates a frog and smoke silver shad to imitate baitfish.”
Defoe’s top frogs are the smaller size of the Terminator Walking Frog and the Terminator Popping Frog.
“Both of them walk very easily, and I’ll always mix it up with walking and twitching them,” he said. “I never just ‘bloop’ it right back to me and let the fish tell me what cadence they want that day; it’s important to listen to the fish adjust it until you get it dialed in. Both of those frogs are excellent this time of year and hook them very well.”
Fishing topwaters in creeks is one of the best ways to beat the tough fishing times in the late summer and early fall. The cooler waters and presence of baitfish are enough to turn on the switch and capitalize on a solid bite during an otherwise challenging time of year.
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