(Editor's note: "Catching Bass with Dustin Wilks" airs at 6:30 a.m. on Sundays and at 3, 7 and 11 p.m. on Mondays on the World Fishing Network. The six-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier writes about various aspects of the sport in these periodic submissions.)
Fall is feast-or-famine fishing on many days, especially in the south. Lakes are turning over and end-of-the-year tournaments are putting lots of pressure on the fish, so I’m always looking for new areas or methods that will put the odds in my favor.
I’ve noticed a couple of things lately. The water temperatures are in the upper 60s and low 70s and the lakes have just recently turned over, allowing fish to go both super-deep with good water and also go really shallow with lower temperatures.
Since I prefer shallow water, I start there and have noticed tight balls of shad that are being hunted just by just a single fish in 1 to 3 feet of water. These are tougher to catch than you might think. They are often so honed into the school it's hard to get them to bite, especially after you see one bust.
The other thing I’ve noticed is there are bass in less than a foot of water way up on flats as long as there is some stain to the water.
Always looking for an edge, I’ve discovered a really nice bait to use for both of these scenarios – it’s a Yo-Zuri 3DR-X Vibe. What makes it so special is that on a fast retrieve you can fish it in inches of water without it hitting the bottom.
When I first tested it in my pond, I was giddy like a little kid because I was buzzing the thing, making a V-wake in and getting awesome bites, then I moved on to some lakes with it and had excellent results. I most compare it to the old Mann’s Baby 1-Minus, which is a great bait and very effective in a foot of water. You can fish the Yo-Zuri 3DR-X in that same range with a different profile and action and you can fade it deeper whenever you want.
With a 7’8’’ Falcon Expert Toledo Special rod and 16- or 20-pound Yo-Zuri Top Knot line, I make a long cast, hold the rod high and reel fast with an 8.1:1 reel. Fish in this super-shallow range are not used to seeing a flat lipless bait and have been reacting really well to it for me this fall.
Obviously, there has to be fish present to catch them, but usually if you have some stained water, there will be some. The bait is so new, I haven’t yet fished it in shallow grass, but I imagine that for anglers at the Potomac River or any grassy fishery, this will be a fantastic choice to buzz over high-tide grass and show those fish something different.
The next thing I found is tight schools of bait out a little farther on the flats in 3 to 5 feet or so. Fish hitting those are notoriously hard to catch. The 3DR-X Vibe I can fish slower than a traditional lipless bait in that depth and water and caught fish in about 50 percent of the balls of shad that I saw a fish bust in. My normal ratio is like 10 percent. Time will tell, but I think this bait will be my top performer for that scenario.
These are just two scenarios, so as always, be prepared for anything on your local lakes. But if you encounter these, the Yo-Zuri 3DR-X is a solid choice to try and hopefully this gives you some ideas of where to explore this fall as well.
