Late Summer Spotted Bass

To catch the biggest spotted bass in September, the best times to fish are from daylight until mid-morning. Fish main river points in 15- to 18-foot-deep water with 3/8-ounce jigs and jerkbaits in the ghost-minnow and the Tennessee-shad colors. Keep the bait moving on a fast twitch type of retrieve. Pause the bait once or twice during the retrieve, but generally keep it moving at a relatively-fast pace. Casts jigs prepped with plastic trailers on 14-pound-test line far out on main points. Big spotted bass may break your line, if you use 10- and 12-pound-test line. Jerk off the bottom, and if you don't get a bite as the jig falls or as soon as the jig hits the bottom, jerk it up off the bottom quickly. Fish a 1/2-ounce jig for spots, if there's a lot of wind. Motor your boat over points, look for manmade brushpiles in the 12- to 16-foot depth range, and then fish the jig around those brushpiles. You'll generally find the biggest spots on rocky points with brush on them, except on windy days. In such cases, fish the jig across the windblown points. The wind needs to blow on the bank for at least 1 or 2 hours before the spotted bass begin to congregate on the windy points. Fish points with a jig and a jerkbait at sunup. Then, if the wind begins to blow, move to the windy banks. Big spotted bass still will be holding on the points, if there's not current running through the lake during the first few hours of daylight. A perfect day for big spots will have cloudy, overcast weather with plenty of wind.