I have a love hate relationship with the Chick this time of year. It is hard for me to figure out what to do on what days. Try as I do there does not seem to be a pattern that is consistent from one day to the next. You find the fish one day, return a couple days later and it is the dead sea. emoBang It seems the main common factor to a good successful day is the shad. Find the shad and you (may) find the bass. Sometimes there is shad but no bass. I wonder if they are so full they just have stopped eating. emoScratch
One day it is a frog bite, the next day it is the shallow scattered grass line, the next day is a shallow bill crank along the grass and the next day they have pulled out deep on a point and stacked up there. emoDoh It is enough to drive an angler insane. I am sitting here right now without any idea of where to start and with what this weekend for the Oct. CFF bass tournament. I have found active grass mats this year already only to return to them a couple days later and find the bass have shut down or pulled off. I found one mat right before the CBA last time, quality big bass in it, got all excited about filling my limit early, only to go there and not even get a single blow up. emoMad A couple of the places a month ago where I was catching quality bass deep on cranks, blades and chatters does not even have shad there now. Go over it with the graph and you wonder if it is working because nothing is showing up on it.
It does seem the shallow bite has become more active but it is a far cry from anything I would call consistent. If I was to advise someone right now on what to do I would have to tell them to come here with an arsenal and assortment of everything. There has been some mornings where points and shallow humps seem to be the ticket. Schools of shad move over these places and suddenly your dead spot erupts in a flurry of blow ups that looks like something you dreamed about. A couple casts later, maybe a bass or two and they are gone as quick as they showed up. Other times you are on an active grass mat where you can see shad, bream and bait fish working. Throw a frog over the mat and "Thank You Jesus!, boom! Bass on! Go back two days later and nothing. emoConfused
Other times you just put the trolling motor on high, get a quick reaction bait like a shallow bill crank or buzz, go to covering some water and look for a reaction strike. This works well during the week but on weekends there are so many boats on the water you are always having to deal with others who have set up where you may be trying to cover a lot of water. Then you have the complete opposite of this type of fishing. Get you a heavy sinker, 65 lb braid, some kind of plastic punch bait and hit the grass. As one other angler said on here a couple weeks ago it is like, "Watching paint dry!" Drop the bait down into the grass, shake it, move two feet, drop it again shake it, move two feet and do it again. emoGoofy My worst hated way to fish.
It is going to be interesting to see what works tomorrow the best. I really think there will be a lot of fish caught because they do seem to be getting more active. No...take the "seem" out of that, they ARE getting more active. The small fish that have been missing here lately are starting to show up in force. Now we just have to see who can find three quality bites in all these patterns. I believe there will be a lot of three fish limits caught tomorrow, just not sure how big. emoGeezer Jmax
What is your take on the Chick right now?
One day it is a frog bite, the next day it is the shallow scattered grass line, the next day is a shallow bill crank along the grass and the next day they have pulled out deep on a point and stacked up there. emoDoh It is enough to drive an angler insane. I am sitting here right now without any idea of where to start and with what this weekend for the Oct. CFF bass tournament. I have found active grass mats this year already only to return to them a couple days later and find the bass have shut down or pulled off. I found one mat right before the CBA last time, quality big bass in it, got all excited about filling my limit early, only to go there and not even get a single blow up. emoMad A couple of the places a month ago where I was catching quality bass deep on cranks, blades and chatters does not even have shad there now. Go over it with the graph and you wonder if it is working because nothing is showing up on it.
It does seem the shallow bite has become more active but it is a far cry from anything I would call consistent. If I was to advise someone right now on what to do I would have to tell them to come here with an arsenal and assortment of everything. There has been some mornings where points and shallow humps seem to be the ticket. Schools of shad move over these places and suddenly your dead spot erupts in a flurry of blow ups that looks like something you dreamed about. A couple casts later, maybe a bass or two and they are gone as quick as they showed up. Other times you are on an active grass mat where you can see shad, bream and bait fish working. Throw a frog over the mat and "Thank You Jesus!, boom! Bass on! Go back two days later and nothing. emoConfused
Other times you just put the trolling motor on high, get a quick reaction bait like a shallow bill crank or buzz, go to covering some water and look for a reaction strike. This works well during the week but on weekends there are so many boats on the water you are always having to deal with others who have set up where you may be trying to cover a lot of water. Then you have the complete opposite of this type of fishing. Get you a heavy sinker, 65 lb braid, some kind of plastic punch bait and hit the grass. As one other angler said on here a couple weeks ago it is like, "Watching paint dry!" Drop the bait down into the grass, shake it, move two feet, drop it again shake it, move two feet and do it again. emoGoofy My worst hated way to fish.
It is going to be interesting to see what works tomorrow the best. I really think there will be a lot of fish caught because they do seem to be getting more active. No...take the "seem" out of that, they ARE getting more active. The small fish that have been missing here lately are starting to show up in force. Now we just have to see who can find three quality bites in all these patterns. I believe there will be a lot of three fish limits caught tomorrow, just not sure how big. emoGeezer Jmax
What is your take on the Chick right now?
Deer Down does seem better though. I swacked a meseed up 5 point last weekend.
