Suspending Bass

[JOSH]

I,ve recently joined a bass club, and alot of the club events are on the Ohio River. Well at least the last two, the only ones I got to fish in due to my late joining. Anyway the events were held in late October, and I blanked both of them. What amazed me was the amount of bait fish getting spooked out of the water, and on the graph. The problem was catching the bass. I saw bass break the surface a half dozen times, at least, each tourny. The Conditions: The water was stained to muddy both days. Oct.11 threatend rain but cleared up around 10 a.m., air temp. mid 50's, water temp.59 deg., w. depth 8-20 ft., w/ a front approaching. The water was still both days, little to no current, but the water had been pulled down 1-2ft. the day before each time, from what other fisherman said. Oct 26 started off rainy w/ temp. in the mid 40's. The sun popped out around 9:30a.m. w. temp low 50's. Basically I tried just about everything I could think of, from the carolina rig to jigging spoons. What Am I doing wrong. oh, i also used top waters. the only keeper boated was on an orange rattle trap by the boater.

[johnnie crain outdoors]

Pugs,
Under those conditions I would have used a large tandem spin spinnerbait with a chartreuse skirt and either gold or copper blades. Bass in October will suspend under the shad and attack them, trouble is they don't stay up top long enough to get a good fix on them. I run the spinnerbait about two feet below the shad pods, this way, the first thing the bass sees coming from down under is my spinnerbait. And I don't want it to look like a shad, why add one more to a million shad? Sometimes I use a yo-yoing retrieve, so it appears may bait is wounded and an easy meal. I can see the Rat-L-Trap working too, but it would have to be fished below the shad, everything gets lost when pulled through big shad schools. Spoons were a good idea, but not in stained water, clear water-yes! Better luck next time, keep at it. Johnnie