It won’t be too long before the first big rains of fall start up around the country, and before bass make their transition to the very backs of creeks.
As I mentioned earlier this week in my blog about fall jerkbaiting (Change pace for fall jerkbait success), fish are currently on the move from the outside/entrance of creeks into the shallower waters further back into the creeks. As I write this, I’m looking at a forecast for heavy, heavy rains here in North Carolina thanks to Hurricane Joaquin. Now that’s just a little too much water, but the point is that we’re about at that time of year when you have lots of water pouring into the backs of creeks.
That’s a combination of conditions that adds up to banging stumps with a squarebill like the PRIMETYME SQUAREBILL 2.0 with Electronic Baitfish Sounds (EBS) MultiTouch™ technology.
Ask most people how they fish flooding creeks in the fall and they’ll say “spinnerbaits” or maybe “chatterbaits”. Those are great baits, but if you want to take a different approach, get just a little deeper into the back of a creek, and get a few more reaction bites, a Primetyme SQ 2.0 is the way to do it.
The process isn’t much different than in the spring, when you bang a squarebill off of riprap or wood, but you have to be gear up right to do it effectively. Here are a few stump-banging tips with the Primetyme SQ 2.0:
Mono is your friend: A lot of guys will run fluorocarbon or braid on their cranking rods, but for this particular application, I prefer P-Line CXX mono. I feel like the slight give and stretch of mono helps keep the bait free, instead of loading up and burying the hooks in wood.
Best EBS settings: It’s a reaction bite, so the EBS sound will make a difference. Either EBS Shad™ or EBS Craw™ are great for banging stumps. You’re up shallow where both crawfish and shad live, so both/either setting will work.
Choose colors accordingly: You’ll be fishing different levels of water clarity, so you’ll want a variety of different colors: shad colors like XXX Shad, Clearwater Shad, Charteuese shad, etc., and craw colors like Guntersville Craw and Yellow Craw.
Terminal gear: I throw the Primetyme SQ 2.0 on a 7-foot medium-heavy rod with a fast tip and a 6:4-1 Abu Garcia Revo MGX reel spooled with 17-pound P-Line CXX. This is slightly heavier then I’ll fish in the spring (15-pound CXX).
Keep a Primetyme CB 1.5 handy: As it gets a little cooler and fish move out a little, a PRIMETYME COFFIN BILL 1.5 is a good option. It’s more of a flat-sided bait, and flatsides are always a little better in colder water.
-Hank Cherry
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