Bassmaster Elite Series Pro
The key to finding and catching these shallow fall bass is to cover lots of water, and a lipless crankbait is a great tool to do just that. This is a great time to tie on a 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad in chrome Sexy Shad and get cranking. It's a great baitfish imitator in clear water, but if the water's stained or cloudy, use the old standby, Sexy Shad. The 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad is just right a lot of the time, but if the bait's smaller than that, drop down to the 1/4-ounce model.Three places the Red Eye Shad is great at this time of year are around boat docks, submerged grass and rocks. When fishing grass, make a long cast and use a lift and drop retrieve that keeps the bait just above the cover. The Red Eye Shad has a terrific shimmying action when it falls, and you can get lots of strikes then. You want the bait to fall to the top of the grass before you lift it up again. Be sure to let it fall on a semi-slack line so the lure has plenty of action. If the bait gets into the grass on the fall, just rip it free. You'll get a lot of strikes just as it pulls loose. If the lift-and-drop retrieve doesn't work, try a straight retrieve. You have to experiment to find out just what the bass want on a particular day.
While grass is great for this pattern, docks and rocks can be good, too. Riprap and retaining walls are excellent targets for your Red Eye Shad. The algae that collects on these rocks and concrete really seems to attract baitfish, and, of course, that draws in the bass.
When you're fishing boat docks, be sure to get your Red Eye Shad as close to the pilings as you can. They'll usually deflect right off when you bump them, and that can also get you a lot of reaction strikes. It's also good if you can get the Red Eye Shad up underneath the dock. Those bass may see some lures, but they're not often lipless crankbaits.
