With a scorching hot summer behind us, it’s time to enjoy lower temps and, typically, more success fishing for bass.
October is when the fall bite for bass usually gets pretty hot and heavy and, for most of the month, it’s pretty pleasant to be out there. With the pool level at 168.7 as of Sept. 5, there’s a little more water in the pond than usual for this time of year. The grass coverage is in excellent shape, especially on the Texas side. It’s the best its looked in a long time.
Lure selection opens up to include everything from topwaters to shallow-diving crankbaits to lipless crankbaits to soft plastics. There’s a good reason for that. Toledo Bend’s bass historically are found in a wide range of depths during October. I usually spend significant time fishing in the creeks, anywhere from the bank all the way out to 20 feet deep, focusing on channel bends. Deep drains also produce much of the action as bass push shad like cattle.
Top bait colors
Some of my best bass fishing days happen when bass are showing themselves, bustin’ shad in those deep drains and eager to chomp on chrome, white or black topwaters such as the Berkley J Walker. Watch for feeding fish breaking the surface, sure, but also fish topwaters along grass lines and timber lines.
As for shallow-diving crankbaits, a Berkley SquareBull gets the nod, along with a Berkley Frittside. Shad or crawfish colors produce most of the fish these days.
Crawfish? Yep. When October gets here, crawfish become a delicacy again for bass. Browns and reds really do the job.
Working your way down the water column from the bank out to 20 feet, a solid bottom bite can be had with a Bass Assassin Skunk Ape or Lit’l Skunk Ape. I like those soft plastic creature baits in green pumpkin whether you’re fishing around shad or crawfish. If it’s the latter, add a little orange dye to the pinchers. This applies mostly to creek patterns.
Out on the main lake, in deeper water, there will still be bass in summertime spots, with many of them starting to bite even better. Out there I like to throw a Bass Assassin Tapout Worm in red bug or June bug in 10- to 20-foot depths.
One more thing. With more grass in the lake, especially on the Texas side, and looking vibrant going into fall, there’s bound to be a consistent lipless crankbait bite. Try a ½-ounce model in chrome, white and crawfish patterns.
Aggressive crappie
Crappie fishing ought to improve considerably compared to the last part of the summer. As the boat-baking days stretched on, they bit when they felt like it, so the bite was off in August/early September to the tune of averaging 20 to 40 a trip. It was a grind.
There have been years where we didn’t experience this lull. But in late summer, it seems most of the crappie were fat, lazy and hot, feeding only when they felt like it.
It should be different any day now as the crappie become more aggressive. They’ll be moving into creeks like the bass. Try for crappie anywhere from 10 to 25 feet deep, especially around bridge pilings and natural timber. Fish with live minnows tight-lined or with Panfish Assassin Jigs, with monkey milk and pumpkinseed the top colors for October.
Like I wrote earlier, enjoy the weather and, hopefully, more tugs on the business end of your fishing line.
Call Living the Dream Guide Service at (318) 256-8991 to make a dream fishing trip come true at Toledo Bend.
