November 12, 2012
Fall bass fishing is underway way here at Lake Amistad. The water temps have finally dropped into the high 60’s to 70 degrees. Overall the bite has been a little slow though. We are catching anywhere from 12-18 keeper bass on a typical outing. Over the past 2 months several championship tournaments have been held on the lake and it is taking weights in the high teens for a five fish limit to win nearly event…. not your typical fall bite at Amistad. I have been able to wrangle a few quality fish in the 5-6lb range every couple trips, but we are grinding away to get those bigger bites. Water levels have become steady over the last week or so and the current lake level is 1083.44 which is 33.56 ft below conservation pool.
Current Patterns -
Shallow: I am able to see pods of bait in the backs of the creeks and some fish are there feeding. These fish are best targeted with jerkbaits and lipless crankbaits. I am having excellent success with the Ima Flit 120 jerkbaits in Ghost Tennessee Shad and Ghost Minnow. I am also casting squarebill crankbaits in Tennesse Shad to points with grass and ticking to top of the grass to provoke a strike. Fan casting these grassy ponts and any grass flats that you can locate are providing action with the ½oz Ima Rock-N-Vibe lipless crankbaits in the Hot Craw and Ghost Ayu colors as well. I have been working dark colored chatterbaits with Optimum Double Diamond swimbait tails and catching fish through grass as well. We have had 2 fairly chilly cold fronts the past few weeks and now the pondweed is basically gone for the year so the topwater frog bite is basically over. Some action can still be had on walk-the-dog type topwaters… but it is nothing to rely on.
Mid-Depth: Last week I saw some decent action on Texas rigged plastics in the 10-15 ft zone around points and quick drops. Smaller profile baits like the El Grande Lure Gila Monster Jr. were much more productive than bigger plastic offerings. I have also connected with some solid fish on crankbaits in the drains with bait fish present as well.
Deep: The past week I spent limited time our fishing deep but had one good 6lber on a football jig. This depth zone should get better and better over the next several weeks.
See you on the Lake!
Kurt
