I live in Ohio, and have been fishing several well fished, and normally known as good Bass Lakes. Over the past month I have been throwing Jigs w Trailers, Spinners, Shakey Heads w 3" brush Hogs, as well as an aray of other well known trailers, I have fished slow, I fished fast, shallow and deep. But have been producing very low Bites, and fewer catches???
 What the heck are others having success with??? I am about to put the Boat up for the Winter in frustration????

Fall is kind of weird that I have two particular time periods that I'm more successful in catching fish. The typical early morning when it's many times too cold to cast much. the other time is the late afternoon from 2-4 pm, sunny calm and warmed up. I still start with shad or crayfish profiles. I haven't pattern the fish in those other time periods.

Some lake information would help direct some suggestions your way. In general in your area there ought to be a well defined thermocline deeper than what we like to call shallow. Use a sonar to locate it. Find a channel passing along a flat at or above the thermocline. Try a 1/4 oz willow bladed spinnerbait, being sure to hit whatever lies on bottom or is sticking up off bottom. Let it swim then stall and drop frequently, always when it hits something. Also, be sure you fish wherever bass are feeding on the remaining juvenile baitfish. If your lake still has some green water (plankton) that's where baitfish should spend the day.

Jim

dear thicksie .. i was reading your comment .. and i have a tip for ya ... try tipping ur lures with a piece of berkleys power bait.. and by tipping i mean place a small amount of PB on the hook .. ull be suprised!! crowder83

This morning a friend asked me to help test a used boat before buying, so we launched. The boat was fine, but we couldn't believe we actually did that without figuring in some fishing, though it appeared not to be a good day for catching. The air was cold, the water cooling off fast, and hardly anyone else was on the lake. We returned to his pickup, found a spincast rod, a Mepps inline spinner, and a worn out purple plastic 8" worm with a rusty bass hook still in it. I removed the treble hook, put the bass hook on the split ring, and we headed back out. His first cast got a 3-4 pound bucketmouth in the boat, followed by second cast catching a 4-6# walleye.

I say all that because it was all on a whim, no good reason for not just pitching the original Mepps, no planning, no thinking about how to approach the lake. You might call it pure luck. But it reminded me sometimes the most unlikely choices pay off.

Act, not just think, out of the fishing box.

Jim

A great point about the Mepp's and inline spinners in general Jim. Too many folks watch the pro's use other things...and these types of lures are vastly over-looked IMHO

@ thicksie...if you're seeing a lot of dead / dying vegetation in the water...this process cuts down the amount of oxygen in the water. Look for spots that still have green. Baitfish are part of this key as Jim stated...as they will avoid the brown areas.

With water and air temps dropping...the mid-afternoon bite looks the best I think. Bass metabolism slows down in cooler waters.

One last thought...is that if you happen to hit the water after a majority of the predators have already gorged themselves...fishing will be super slow as those pred's are digesting what they ate...and not very active.