Paddletail Swimbaits for Late Fall/Early Winter Bass

Despite the season, if you take a simple jig head, add a 4" paddletail swimbait, you create one of the most productive, easiest to fish bass lures around: the paddletail swimbit. 

Even in the late fall and early winter, paddletail swimbaits mimic many different types of bait fish; a favorite forage of the smallmouth bass as they feed up before settling into their winter haunts.

Rigging and presentation of paddletails is very straight forward as pro fishing guide Tony Roach details in this video produced by the folks at W2F. Enjoy!

My choice regarding gear used for fishing paddletail swimbaits (live links):

Rod: Daiwa Tatula XT Spinning Rod (7' M)

Reel: Daiwa Revros LT 3000 Spin Reel

Line: 10 lb P-Line Floroclear

Paddletail Swimbait: Storm Lago Shad (4")

Jig Head: VMC Hybrid Swimbait Jig Head (5/16 oz)

Soft Stickbaits as Chatterbait Trailers?

Most bass anglers use some style of soft plastic lure as a chatterbait trailer including fluke-style baits, split-tail spinnerbait trailers, twin tail grubs, blade style minnow baits, and in some cases even paddletail swimbaits.

Some folks, like bass pro Matt Stefan, believe that trailers with few moving appendages work best since they do not interfere with the chatterbait's natural side-to-side, erratic hunting action that helps trigger strikes.

But does it make sense to use a soft stickbait, one of the most subtle action soft plastic baits on the market, as a chatterbait trailer?

Matt sure thinks so and describes why in the following video on his preferences when selecting a chatterbait trailer...

Interesting points though I still believe a small, thin-profile paddletail like the Swim Senko or Yum Swim'n Dinger work well with limited impact to the chatterbait's hunting action.

Small Crankbaits Can Trigger Big Fall Bass Strikes

No bass angler questions the effectiveness of crankbaits to cover water and trigger fall bass into striking. If you look at the rods rigged on the decks of fall anglers, you're likely to find a variety of squarebill, flat-sided and sometimes even deep running crankbaits among the mix.

But there's one type/style of crankbaits many bass anglers leave out of their fall arsenal; the micro to small sized baits that offer many different advantages over traditional crankbaits especially in highly pressured situations.

Take a moment and listen as Bassmaster Elite Series pro John Crews spills the beans on his approach when fishing small crankbaits for big fall bass...

And by the way, John Crews isn't the only fan of ultra small crankbaits. 

Bass fishing OG Rick Clunn has been a propenent of micro-sized crankbaits dating back several decades including in some of his early career tournament success!

Fishing Natural Ponds Using Jerkbaits In Late Fall

After fishing Cape Cod's natural ponds for a number of years and I can attest; fishing with jerkbaits from early spring through late fall (as well as a lot of other baits) can be phenomenal.

In this video, two avid Cape bass anglers seem to have more of a pickerel than bass bite happening even though they were targeting late fall bass. Looks like they're on a Cape pond I am very fond of (Santuit Pond in Mashpee) which can be great anytime of year.

Skipping Tubes

Like many bass anglers, I love fishing shallow anytime I can successfully catch the bass living there. Since most shallow water bass are cover oriented, bass anglers often target bass hanging around docks, laydowns, anchored boats and overhanging brush. 

Whenever the available cover creates a canopy (docks, overhanging brush, pontoon boats, etc.) bass hide beneath, the ability to skip a bait back under that canopy is key to consistently catching bass living there. 

Though there are a number of baits and rigging methods that can be skipped under overhanging cover, a simple 3" to 4" tube is a great skipping bait that many bass living in those areas seldom see.