The water has cooled off, and bass are feeding heavily in the shallows of your favorite fishery. During the fall, just about any lure in your tacklebox will catch these active bass, but there are certain baitfish imitators that produce best, so we asked Bassmaster Elite Series pro Edwin Evers to pick his five favorite lures for tricking bass this time of year.
The Oklahoma pro's top choice for fall fishing is a Megabass Knuckle 60 crankbait in black-back-chartreuse, sexy french pearl, or gill. "It's a lot of fun to fish," says Evers. "It creates vicious strikes when the fish get up shallow on logs and stumps.
"I can cover a lot of water with it and catch big ones on it." While fishing a stump in a recent tournament, Evers was reminded why the square-bill crankbait is his favorite lure in the fall.
"A little one missed it, and as it was coming over the other side of the stump, about a 3 1/4-pounder caught it," he recalls. "I fought the fish all the way around the boat, and it was stripping drag trying to get back up to that stump.
"I was babying it because I could see it just had the back hook in the top of its mouth. So it got back up to the stump and stopped, and I thought it was hooked on the stump. But a 4-pounder got the front hook, and I reeled both of them in."
The affable B.A.S.S. angler likes to throw the crankbait in any weather conditions and especially in stained water around stumps and laydowns less than 4 feet deep. "I like to reel it pretty fast and then stop it when it gets past a piece of cover," says Evers.
He works the crankbait on a Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier 7-foot medium-heavy cranking rod and a Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier baitcasting reel (6.4:1 gear ratio) with 17- to 20-pound test Bass Pro Shops XPS Fluorocarbon line.
Evers' other favorite lures for fall fishing include…
Spinnerbaits
- Spinnerbait Model: 1/2-ounce chartreuse-and-white Bass Pro Shops Lazer Eye Pro Series with tandem willowleaf blades.
- Situations: Sunny or cloudy, calm or windy. Stained water in the backs of pockets around docks, logs and laydowns from the bank to 7 feet deep.
- Retrieve: Slow rolling.
- Tackle: 7-foot medium-heavy Pro Qualifier rod and Pro Qualifier reel (5.2:1 gear ratio) and 20-pound XPS Fluorocarbon.
Buzzbaits
- Buzzbait Model: War Eagle in white or black. "If bass are feeding on big gizzard shad, I will throw a 1/2-ounce and if they are feeding on threadfin or smaller shad I will throw 3/8- or even 1/4-ounce in clear-water situations."
- Situations: Stained to dirty water on cloudy days with a "fairly calm" water surface around laydowns, logs and sides of docks from the bank to 7 feet deep. "It's really good along rocky banks like riprap or chunk rock, and on points."
- Retrieve: "I just try it slow and steady enough to make it bubble."
- Tackle: 7-foot medium Pro Qualifier rod, Pro Qualifier 6.4:1 reel with 50-pound braid.
Jigs
- Jig Model: 3/8- or 1/2-ounce black-and-blue War Eagle Jig with a Zoom Speed Craw. Situations: Any weather especially post-frontal situations.
- Retrieves: Crawling, hopping or swimming along specific targets such as wood cover and docks.
- Tackle: 7-foot medium-heavy or heavy Pro Qualifier rod, Pro Qualifier 6.4:1 reel and 50- pound braid with 20- to 25-pound XPS Fluorocarbon leader about 3 feet long.
Lipless crankbaits
- Lipless crankbait Model: Megabass 1/2 ounce Vibration X-Ultra in sexy shad color.
- Situations: "Sun or clouds doesn't really matter, but I like to have just a little bit of wind." Shallow grass and rocks out to 7 feet deep.
- Retrieves: "Sometimes I'm just burning it as fast as I can reel it, and sometimes I like to reel it and then sweep it with the rod and reel up the slack and sweep it again."
- Tackle: 7 1/2-foot medium Bass Pro Shops Extreme rod, Pro Qualifier 6.41 reel and 17- or 20-pound test XPS Fluorocarbon.
Originally published September 2010
