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We can feel the season changing as footballs fill the air and largemouth bass prowl the flats.
Many bass move away from shallow cover during the hot summer months, but they return once the water temperature dips into the middle 70s.
When the bass are cruising shallow water, I reach for what has become one of the most reliable baits in my boat. They are the arsenal of bladed jigs I have stockpiled in the Bass Cat.
The sun barely crested the horizon last week as I fancasted the 3-foot-deep flat in front of my boat with a quarter-ounce vibrating jig tipped with a 3-inch boottail swimbait. I spied small clumps of coontail, the native aquatic vegetation that provides hungry largemouths with concealment from the perch and bluegills on which they prey.
I'd selected the vibrating jig after fishing buddy Ted Suffolk and I drew several strikes on topwater lures. Most of the bass missed our hooks, but nevertheless revealed their presence. I circled back to pass over the bassy waters with the versatile bladed jigs.
So named because they feature a flat metal "blade" in front of their lead or tungsten heads, bladed jigs produce a distinct vibration that in turn generates a kill reaction from nearby predators.
My bladed jig box includes three manufacturers' versions: Chatterbaits, Thunder Crickets and Slobberknockers. All are proven fish-catchers.
I rigged up a blue and green pumpkin colored Slobberknocker for last week's outing and threaded a green and chartreuse swimbait to add color resembling the perch and bluegills that also populated the flat.
The bass loved it. Each fish that connected had the hook stuck firmly in their mouths. When the fish are hooked so well, it is an affirmation that the angler is throwing the right lure and the right color.
Bass attacking bladed jigs often knock slack in the line. Anglers detect strikes as hard whacks that literally stop the lure dead in the water or as a mysterious cessation of the hard vibration created by the blade resisting the water as it moves forward.
Many of the bites last week were the kind that resulted in the loss of vibration. The fish literally charged the boat, forcing me to reel as fast as the Lew's Speed Spool could pick up line. Half-way back to the boat, the fish would change directions and pull against the strength of the rod. Several jumped 2 feet into the air as they bulldogged for freedom.
Vibrating bladed jigs are my first picks for spring and fall bass fishing. The vibration they send out signals either food or invader to predatory bass, both of which trigger strikes. They can be worked slow or fast, shallow or relatively deep, and cover a lot of water as anglers search for the pattern that will produce best on any given day.
White and chartreuse skirted baits with nickel or gold blades mimic baitfish like shad and shiners. Darker lures, including black-and-blue, and green pumpkin do a great job imitating bite-size bluegills and yellow perch.
I like to add a 3- to 4-half-inch boottail swimbait to add color and action. The kicking tail, combined with the vibration of the jig, is a matchup that proves time and again to agitate the bass. They feel it before they see it, and by the time it shimmies into range, they are amped up to attack.
As we flip the calendar closer to official autumn, the bladed jig bite will only get better - which is the kind of forecast that makes anglers happy.
Jack Wollitz writes weekly for readers of the Trib and Vindy. His two books, "The Common Angler" and "The Common Golfer," are available at www.tuckerdspress.com and popular booksellers. Contact him at jackbbaass@gmail.com.