This is just a weird year. By now they should be hot and heavy in the grass all the way back in the pockets, bays and creeks. Here we are looking at November and that just has not happened. emoDoh The lake has been a year behind all summer and now I would say it is over a month behind. They are just now showing up in force in the back areas. But the issue is a lot of the grass on top is gone. emoSorry The coots have showed up by the 100s and a big flock of coots can take out a whole mat really fast. There are a couple places I was catching some good fish in the grass along the river and the mats are totally gone! Waves, boats, coots, sun, wind have all played a roll in making that happen. We needed cool weather to move the bait, then the bass back into those places and it has been way too hot.
The only good things I can come up with is there is some grass still not exposed and the lake still has about two foot to drop. Then I will say I am finally seeing some bass show up in the back waters shallow in the grass. Best thing is to just keep moving until you find an active mat where the bass are working. Then try and get them to commit to eating your bait. Really frustrating when you have big bass just come up under your bait and bump it or lift the mat up without eating it. You will have more slaps and misses then you will have them eating it. Reactions strikes are your best bet. If you have to have two rods rigged with a frog. Then if you have another rod out and a bass busts on something by you, pick the other up really quickly and cast it on top of the bust. emoGeezer Good luck on your trip, let us know how it goes. Jmax
