After months spent baking under the hot summer sun, the cooler days and longer nights of October feel like a breath of fresh air to sweaty anglers everywhere. Anglers aren’t the only ones that enjoy the transition into fall though, the bass also relax, moving from their summer deepwater haunts to shallower, more accessible locations and unlocking their jaws in anticipation of the autumn feed.
Typically, the harbinger of the fall transition is the movements of the shad. In response to shorter days, the shad will start to group up and move toward the mouths of creeks and flats to prepare for the coming winter. The bass follow, and this move triggers some of their most aggressive feeding of the year.
When bass are aggressively feeding on baitfish, there aren’t many presentations more effective than a walk-the-dog style topwater. The back and forth sashay of a “Spook” type bait perfectly emulates a shad skittering across the surface and is a huge trigger to October bass. Across many parts of the country, Spook fishing in October has taken on almost legendary status.
With all the colors, shapes, and sizes of walk-the-dog topwaters available it can be difficult at times to figure out the best rod to throw them on, so this month we checked in with Denali FLW Tour pros Ray Scheide, Darrell Davis, and Robert Collins to see how they choose a rod for “Spook” fishing.
Ray Scheide – 6’8″ M Rosewood Jerkbait
In his eleven seasons on the FLW Tour, Ray Scheide has seen a lot of different water in the fall. What he hasn’t seen is a place where fall bass won’t eat a walk-the-dog style topwater. “It doesn’t seem to matter where you are, once that water temperature starts to drop, they just start eating Spooks. In my experience, the best rod to throw a Spook is the Rosewood Jerkbait rod. It has a good flex, enough tip to really put a good action on the bait, and it’s perfectly balanced in the hand.” Scheide said.
The reason Scheide wants an ideal Spook rod to have that flex is because he fishes the bait on zero stretch braided line. “In the fall, you’re making really long casts with a Spook and fish often hit it with a ton of line out there. The braided line helps get a good hookset at distance, and I want the flex in the rod to provide some forgiveness so a big fish won’t straighten the hooks out.”
Zero stretch is also important to Scheide when working a walk-the-dog topwater around grass, which is one of his favorite ways to fish in the fall. “When you’re walking the dog around grass, it’s common for little pieces of grass to get hung on the hook” Scheide said, continuing “With braid, I can usually just snap the rod tip and clean the hooks without losing my cadence. If you’re fishing on mono, one little piece of grass usually means you have to reel it in and you lose the cast.”
To complete his Spook setup, Scheide pairs the 6’8″ Signature Series rod with a 6.3:1 Shimano Curado reel spooled with 50 pound braid. His favorite bait is the original Heddon Super Spook, in any shad imitating color.
Darrell Davis – 6’9″ or 7’2″ MH Kovert Worm and Jig
Choosing the right rod for fishing walk-the-dog style topwaters wasn’t as easy for Power Pole pro Darrell Davis. That’s because he cannot narrow it down to just one rod. “I love throwing walk-the-dog baits in the fall, but narrowing it down to one rod just isn’t possible. I use the Medium Heavy Kovert worm and jig rod, but I like it in both lengths depending on the brand bait I’m throwing.” Davis said.
About half the time, and when he throws bigger baits like the Reaction Innovations Vixen, he relies on the 7’2″ version of the Kovert rod. The rest of the time, or when fishing more subtle and smaller versions like the Lucky Craft Sammy or Barely Legal Vixen, he turns to the smaller 6’9″ version.
About the rods, Davis said “They both handle walk-the-dog style baits perfectly. Enough tip to work the bait properly, they load well, and do a great job getting a good hookset. For the smaller baits, the 6’9″ rod is a little more accurate, and with the bigger baits, the 7’2″ rod handles them better and gives you the longer casts necessary.”
Davis pairs both rods with an Abu Garcia Revo STX spooled with 20 pound monofilament, which he has found does the best job of keeping fish buttoned up. “With the mono, I need a faster rod to bury the hooks, and the Kovert flex pattern is absolutely perfect for it.” Davis said.
Chad Morgenthaler – 7′ MH N2 Worm and Jig
After wrapping up a successful rookie season on the BASS Elite Series in which he logged an 18th place finish in the AOY race, Denali pro Chad Morgenthaler is looking forward to spending some serious time on the water fun fishing this fall.
While fun fishing, one of Morgenthaler’s favorite fall techniques is to throw a Heddon Super Spook or Lucky Craft Sammy 115 for schooling fish. “There’s nothing better than getting out there on a nice fall day and throwing a big Spook around and seeing multiple bass come up and eat it. The technique calls for long casts, and the best rod I’ve found to do it with is the 7 foot MH N2 worm and jig rod.” Morgenthaler said.
At 7 feet, the N2 rod has enough length to bomb the heavy Super Spook, but is short enough to work the bait properly and accurately, a huge key for Morgenthaler. “It’s also got the perfect amount of flex to get the hooks buried. That becomes even more important because I fish Spooks on braided line. It’s pretty common to have fish eat the bait when your body is in a weird position, and the braid buries the hooks no matter what your hookset form is like.”
Morgenthaler pairs the Noirwood rod with a Shimano Chronarch CI4+ in the 7.6:1 gear ratio spooled with 40 pound Gamma Torque braided line. Because the rod is fairly heavy and the line has no stretch, Morgenthaler recommends upgrading the treble hooks. “I generally upgrade to at least a size two hook, and I use the Owner 2X strong treble hooks so they don’t bend out and cost me a fish. I have seen guys using braid with Spooks lose a ton of fish due to hook flex.”