Jacob Wheeler's Top 6 Baits For October Bass Fishing

welcome back everyone today we're going to dive into some of my favorite fall fishing techniques the month of october is upon us a lot of things changing and it really made it tough on me to decide just a handful of lures that i'm going to go out and try to catch bass on right now because there's so many different techniques going on and it's tough typically the fall is translate into tough fishing the transition is probably the toughest time of year to go fishing um but it's the thing the nights are getting cooler they have to start feeding up so i'm going to sort of go over a can full of things actually my top six i know sometimes i'll do top three sometimes top five i just couldn't leave it all out and there's probably like five more that i did not put in this video that i would like to but i just wouldn't be too long so without further ado we're gonna dive into some of my favorite lures for the month of october um you know down here in the south to give you guys an overview um you know a lot of our southern impoundments our water temperatures are anywhere between 65 to 75 degrees really set high 60s to 75 76 we've got those cooler nights coming in and and those fish typically there are starts there starts to be drawdowns and what i mean by that is there's a lot of these lakes are starting to draw down now for some of my my friends uh up north uh canada and uh even further north going up you know canada and minnesota or fishing in new york i think i mentioned further north than that so um realistically up there this is really starting to become one of those times where the they have to start this is like the last hurrah these fish have to start feeding because within the next month you guys up there in the the top part of new york or even further into canada you guys are going to potentially start to see those frigid cold temperatures and and potentially depending on how the year goes and maybe even starting to see some skim ice and stuff like that so i'm not gonna dive too deep into that but for some of those up there you know the winter series i'll dive into some of these baits um when those water temperatures drop into those 40s and that's some of the stuff that you guys are going to want to start to utilize obviously um you know some of the cooler water techniques that are going to be major players right now i'm going to really focus on the water temperature between that 60 to 75 degree mark and that that transition and what's going on now these baits uh they've all caught fish all over the country for me um so let's dive into it right now let's go we're here in mexico we are in the dominican republic i'm going to tell you a couple of different tips that have helped me over the years wow unbelievable jacob wheeler makes history first up on my lineup i i wanted to pick a lure that i feel like is super versatile and it is a bait that works really well a lot of the fish that are out there that are out there feeding on shat or some sort of bait fish and so that's why i picked this lure this is called a googan dart this is a five inches of six inch and then i even picked a seven inch to show you sort of like what we have and this is a soft soft profile or soft plastic jerk bait um and sort of how i rig it up is a little bit more unique and this is what i'm gonna focus on now as far as colors go shad profiles this is sort of like more natural like almost like a hairness is more of like a really more of a green gizzard shad profile um and if the bait smaller you could even go downsize into a smaller profile soft jerkbait um but this is something that's gonna be super versatile you can fish it around flats you can fish around boat docks you skip it around underneath under cut banks uh skip it around like little places and and and really trigger fish in the body especially like grass flats and stuff like that this is what i'm gonna throw this now the way you can typically rig this is you can read this with a texas rig style hook uh and texas rig this bait where it's weedless now if you're fishing around a lot of weeds um or trying to skip this under underneath places um docks and whatnot or undercut banks and where there's a lot of overhanging trees or you know anything like that you might go for a typical for uh you know wide gap hook i like to go with a thinner profile or thinner gauge wire but this this is something the way my favorite ways to rig this bait right here so i actually have three separate hooks and i'll show you guys um i have two straight shanks and a buddy of mine ryan davidson actually sort of turned me on to this so i have two big strange shakes like what you would flip with and then i have a finesse nico hook this is sort of what i use to thread a lot of my plastics on for my drop shot so i'm going to start with my finesse nico because this is a bait that i uh this is a hook that i really like a one out this is uh right here actually pulled it right out of the package and it has a little bit of a uh fluorocarbon little keeper right there that where i could thread it on there you guys probably can't quite see it i'll try to put something where i could bounce it off of it there's a little bit of a fluorocarbon keeper and you can see on the back of here it's sort of that little fluorocarbon keeper allows for um your bait to sort of get locked in so that's what i'm using a lot of times on my drop shot this is going to be just weightless so i'll get the hook set up like that this is a five inch this is going to work really well for that five inch profile size wise i'm gonna really put him in there i'm gonna thread him on there open exposed and then i'm gonna really push down on that fluorocarbon keeper to lock that plastic in place okay so it's locked in place and now i can cast out there twitch it around fishing open water schooling fish anything like that if i want a little bit smaller profile i'll even cut down the head a little bit more and get that hook shank a little bit further back into the soft plastic so but that's really what i like i like that open hook because when they bite it i'll use this on a spinner rod and i can cast out there when they bite it just reel down got them this is a really good technique when those fish are not wanting to come up and buy the top water they don't want to break the surface actually qualified for the all-american back in 2010 and it was a flat calm day on kentucky lake and i was catching them in the grass i had school of fish in the grass and i could not give them a bite of top water and i picked up a little soft plastic jerkbait like this one right here and caught on this exact technique so something that's worked really well for me in october um and now that's the finesse nico hook that's the one i'm using in that five inch now if you're gonna go to a little bit bigger profile saw plastic this is a six inch right here um that's when i'm gonna pick up a bigger profile hook or you got bigger fish that you're trying to you really wanna set the hook on or you wanna throw the bait caster so you want a little bit thicker gauge of wire so this is where i'm going to switch it up same thing i'm going to put on my tie you know your favorite knot for me i'll just tie a polymer on this it's going to be again i'm going to thread this on there again you can just you could texas rig this but this allows it if it's more open water i don't have to worry about setting the hook real hard because the fish it's really just a pull set um it's just an open hook so then the same thing i have them locked in there but this way you actually have that hook point out it's a big profile gap hook you could put if you for some reason you feel like that's too big of a profile hook you can throw the three out and i'll sort of work back and forth depending on if i feel like the fish are looking at it i don't always you know a lot of people think that like oh man you see that big giant gaffle hook and fish is running up there looking at it when i'm twitching it really pretty fast they're coming up there and blowing up on it sometimes they're not really looking at that hook point but i have seen it when i slow it down if i can look at it especially spotted bass that that hook point can sort of deter them away that's when i'll sort of switch it up and go to that smaller profile hook if i have to where they really can't get a good look at what's going on so that's really the the two different ways i'm gonna i'm gonna rig this guy again that's the finesse nico and that's just a four ock heavy duty flipping hook that's from bmc so two different things five inch six inch googan baits dart shad profiles go to work cast them on flats you're gonna catch some bass second for me will be a swim bait i have not put a swimbait in my arsenal as of yet um and this is going to be more finesse swim bait this is a little three inch largo shad smaller profile swim baits because the bait a lot of times is a little bit smaller this time of year i'm more i'm trying to to to really imitate a thread fin shad so that little three inch bait is perfect again this is probably going to be on a spinning rod this is a 3 16 jig head from from bmc this is a little hybrid swim bait head with this is actually a little spro hook which is my favorite hook an inline tie and i'm going to throw this around grass around wood around any little type of normally you're gonna need a little bit of clarity of water for this um so i have this is the gizzard shad color there's a sexy shad color for a little bit of stained water and then if the water's a little bit more stained then i'm gonna pick up the white uh or like his albino or you know some sort of white hue to where i can have one of all all three you know so water clarity really determines what what bait choice or what color choice you're going to choose on your swimbait um this is one of my favorites this is super durable and and i'm using this and just winding it around those places those fish are blowing up on on bait or even current situations up in the river systems and stuff like that a lot of times the fish will get on little current seams little points and that's what i'm going to throw that little deal right there 316 sounds head because i'm going to be fishing this typically in five foot or less this time of year and so i'm trying to keep it over that grass keep it keep it up in the water column or swimming around shad schools in that shallower water and that's why i'm picking that 3 16 ounce head so that's number two for the deal okay so for some of you guys who are fishing grass places hydrilla milfoil um the water's starting to come to come down or the grass is starting to get to the top here on chicago this is my favorite time of year um in gunnersville for that matter anywhere really that has that that grass that hydrilla mats up and and it gets that scummy look to it a frog is hard to beat this time of year okay it just is the bluegill actually getting those mats so the bluegill actually get in a lot of these grass mats as it hollows out those bluegill get in there those bass will go in there and eat on the bait eat on bluegill eat on the on a lot of times there will be some shad that'll move in there as well so one of my favorite frogs for this application is a terminator walking frog this is the bigger profile and the reason i like this one is it has a bigger profile bigger profile body so when i'm actually walking that frog some of these mats are really thick and so i want them to know that that bait's there and i'm twitch twitch twitch twitch twitch twitch twitch switch i want it to displace a lot more water so that's why i picked that walking frog um and then you know 65 50 pound 65 pound braid um color you can switch it up bluegill colors this one's a shad profile but one thing one tip that i do tend to do is i cut my legs if i'm this is particularly for matte fishing i don't want those fish to to to feel that vibration of that bait and come up there and short strike it so i'm cutting those legs they're not really seeing the legs on my frog so i'm cutting my legs down as much as i possibly can that way when that fish comes up they only have a short really short window to be able to get to that to that hook point um the longer it is it could be all the way back here it could be dragging around and they just start biting the back of your frog and you aren't going to get the hook in the right hook hook into those fish so that's any any color you know really you catch them on black as well but you know realistically it's just figuring out the area of the lake that those fish are pulled up into those mats and then sitting down and really fishing that area thoroughly with a frog it's it's seriously probably my favorite way to fish this time of year is getting in that matter of vegetation and throwing that frog in that stuff so that is number three um number four spinnerbait spinnerbait spinnerbaits because of the transition of the year um this is something that i always have tied on sometimes a little bit more stained water sometimes clear water it really does not matter i have a three blade this is one of my three blades i use this for a shad spawn but i also use it for this time of year because again we're imitating a lot of thread fin shad or smaller bait fish this is a little bit bigger head especially a one ounce or a three quarter that i custom made up uh it's an accent spitter 800 series spinner baits and then this is a half ounce and this is the guy that i throw most the time so there's a little current a little bit of stained water blue glimmer is one of my favorite colors for this time of year just because it's real natural and the water starts to get a little cleaner this color works really well still in a little bit of stained water if the water is a little bit more stained go with your chartreuse and white go with your whites but overall a lot of people think that if the water's dirty you have to go to a big colorado blade i do not like a colorado blade and slowing that bait down this time of year even in stained water i want something that moves a little bit of water with a willow blade um but i also i want that profile that thumb moving through that area pretty quickly like a school of bait fish you got i think that small bait or that even those you know thread fin or even a lot of the times the gizzard shad that are in that zone at three four inches they're not making a lot of commotion those fish can really see them they're used to that stained water and that's why with i i'd really prefer a double willow leaf or or a tandem um or three blader uh if the water's a little bit more clear if the water's cleaner i'm going to go with more of a silver all silver blades like this one right here if the water um is more of just the in between standard a big gold blade and the silver works well for me this is actually my half ounce accent spinnerbait signature series and this is sort of my all-around fish catcher just double willow catches them pretty consistently i'm going to fish this around wood fishing on rock fishing around undercut makes typically lay downs is what i prefer or even like boat docks or something in the backs of pockets and stuff like that that's when that spinner bait's really going to shine or even on flats and some of the grass as well there's not a wrong place to throw a spinnerbait typically in a cleaner water you're going to need a little bit of wind or a little bit of weather so if you have a little bit of wind that day you're fishing out there on that body of water you're fishing a spinnerbait can be your best friend because you just cast out their wine and get bites so that is next on the line we have two more baits left before we're going to call october done with i have i don't know which one i'm going to do first let me think here let me think let me think i'm going to do this one first i'll save the best for last not the best but just you know i gotta have it always in there um next on the list is a jerk bait this right here is a raffle a jerkbait um it's just a shadow wrap deep and the one thing that you're gonna notice about this little dude is it's a little bit different uh the hook on this thing are a little bit different i have two um two hooks on the back but then i have a hook up front that has a little bit of it's a vmc hybrid bladed treble hook and that blade up there again typically this is the number one time of the year that i'm really really particular on imitating the bait fish that they're really keying in on most places where you're fishing for spotted bass largemouth even smallmouth they'll be blowing up on bait sometimes that that small that tiny little blade so i use this if you will as a sort of something to draw them from from a location draw them draw the fish up out of the cover or out of grass flash or grass edges and then if they're really getting fickle and for some reason they're not biting my jerk bait really well or getting the back hook that's when i'll put that front hook with that blade that blade's flailing around and they'll come up there and a lot of times and i've seen this several times especially in the fall it doesn't seem to matter as much in the springtime but in the fall it seems to matter a ton and they'll come up there and bite that front hook which will give you a better hook up ratio hook up to land ratio and get those fish in the boat colors all depends on the watercolor but i like the natural colors um overall something short of shad profile you know if the water's a little bit dirtier go with your whites if the water's cleaner go more translucent so but that vibra that little that little hybrid trouble is definitely a tip that you want to think about now the other thing is because the water is not as cold um this is not a jerk jerk pause let it sit there forever um i can put bigger hooks on any jerkbait that i want to throw because i'm not worried about that bait sinking as much i'm jerk stop jerk jerk stop my retrieve is faster their metabolism is faster they're really trying to feed up and so i have to make them react the longer they get to see it this time of year typically is not good so now do i want to be jerking out you know every no you want to still pause they still have to get a vibe on what's going on look up okay but i'm going to definitely be working this bait faster in getting those fish to trigger on that bait okay so that's five five we got five down one more to go okay so we went through all of that to get to the final the final lure selection and you guys are probably like where the heck's the top water this is the time you throw top water and i've thought obviously accent buzz bait's one of my favorite things to throw i've talked a little bit about you know talked about it a lot over previous videos that's something that i definitely would pick but this one if i had one top water to throw for more specifically this time of year i'm going to pick up this top water this type of top water and that's a walking bait day in day out this is skitter v this is a three hook bigger profile this is a two hooker smaller profile and the two really two colors that i throw a ton your chromes and then your bones bone is going to be more of my pick when i'm trying to ultimately let those fish really get to see what is going on they can't visually see it as well the water's a little bit dirtier and and when we get a lot of that wind and a lot of that that kind of um you know a lot of the windy windy days stir up the water and make the water a little bit dirtier and that's why i pick a bone or that more of a shad pattern for this time of year now the chromes are really good when you have the sunny days don't be afraid to not put the you don't need to put the top water down when it's a sunny day in the fall top water especially in the fall this is an all-day deal it actually sometimes gets better in the afternoon as the sun gets up and that's a lot of times when i'll go with more of a chrome base because when that that sun's out and it's flashing you got a lot of you got a lot of wind fronts are coming through you got a lot of north wind you're throwing that bait you're moving real fast and just shining they can't really see what's going on they just go up there and slap out or they come up there and get that bait and that's why i like chrome now the only other bait that i will color wise is more translucent colors so whatever walking bait that you're ultimately going to throw throw more of those translucent colors on the flat calm days when you don't if the water is clean and it's a flat calm day you you're going to want to work that bait pretty fast so they can't visually see it really well or even a clear top water so that's what my sort of my suggestion you know bone chrome more of a translucent color if the water is a little bit cleaner or you have a flat calm day and you have to trick those bass and they're a little bit fickle a little bit more fickle than normal and then just go to town i mean obviously i picked picked up about half of my tackle box right here i picked a lot of different lures that i think are going to be applicable for this time of year i know i forgot a handful because there's so many of them that can work at this point in time that's why fall fishing can be one of the toughest times of fishing um but i'll put i'll put these these particular baits on my front deck at any point in time and i and this time especially in october and i feel like i'm gonna have a chance at a good day no matter about where i'm at in the country so hopefully you guys learned a little bit from this video drop a comment below let me know what your favorite lure to throw in the month of october is and we will see you on the next one here we go you

Channel: Wheeler Fishing

Views: 45,196

Keywords: bass fishing, wheeler fishing, jacob wheeler, major league fishing, mlf fishing, fishing, jacob wheeler fishing, Brody McWilliams, BMac_Fishing, Fishing Vlog, travel, Outdoors, vlog, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, mlf, big fish, fishing help

Id: CMJ7swlfK9M

Length: 20min 50sec (1250 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021