Hey, Keith here. The air has finally cooled down following this last cold front, and the bass are reacting.
Normally this time of year, I focus my attention on shallow water, with weightless Flukes and Slug-Go’s, but after Kaden Buchmann's recent win on Norfork Lake, I may need to start fishing REALLY shallow water.
I'm talking six inches deep.
Buchmann won with a topwater bait in water that skinny.
Today, I break down how he did it, why ultra-shallow water is home turf for bank anglers, and how you can fish it this October.
BEST LINKS
What I watched this week
Buchmann takes wire-to-wire win in Bassmaster Elite Qualifier at Norfork Lake (Bassmaster)
Bass angler couldn't use LiveScope, so he followed whitetail deer to find the fish instead (OutKick)
Tricks to catching shallow water bass in fall (Tactical Bassin')
3 best fall bass fishing lures for shallow water success (Sports Illustrated)
Brian Snowden's early fall bass secrets: shallow water, big bites (BassResource)
Deals of the week
Bass Pro Shops has an XPS Tungsten Finesse Jig on sale, regularly $3.99, now $1.97.
Sportsman’s Warehouse is selling a Quantum PT spinning reel for $39.77, regularly $119.99.
Walmart marked down the Plano Edge Master Bladed Tackle Box from $39.99 to $20.84.
DEEP DIVE
The six-inch water that won Norfork
I’ve fished Norfork Lake before.
It’s a deep, clear reservoir where you'd expect the winning fish to live 20 or 30 feet down.
But forward-facing sonar wasn't allowed at this Bassmaster Elite Qualifier, and an early cold front had the bass stuck in that moody summer-to-fall transition.
Kaden Buchmann, a 22-year-old pro from Troutman, North Carolina, handled it better than the rest of the 134-angler field.
He took the lead on day one and never gave it up, leaning on just two baits all week: a black Berkley Choppo 105 topwater and a 1/2-ounce Queen Tackle jig with a Zoom Z-Craw Jr. trailer.
Without his electronics, Buchmann needed a way to tell which pockets hadn't already been pounded by other boats, so he watched for deer.
He knew that deer feeding calmly at the water's edge meant nobody had come roaring through recently.
That's a bank angler's trick if I've ever heard one.
On the final day, the dock bite dried up and the Choppo carried the load. Buchmann kept his trolling motor on high and ran every shaded spot he could find, both natural cover and manmade structure.
The fish that won him the tournament came from between six inches and two feet of water.
He finished with 42 pounds, 7 ounces, beating runner-up Cody Stahl by 1 pound, 14 ounces, and took home $71,317 along with an invitation to the 2027 Bassmaster Classic.
Think about what Buchmann was doing out there.
He sat in a boat facing the bank, casting into water shallower than a bathtub.
When you fish from shore, you're standing on that same bank, and the water he targeted is right at your feet.
Every bit of ultra-shallow water on a lake or pond touches the bank.
As the water cools this fall, it will push baitfish up into the shallows.
The boat angler's only real edge is mobility, and you can match that with your own two feet by covering the bank instead of camping on one spot.
Kaden Buchmann swings a Norfork Lake bass into the boat just a cast away from the rocky bank. (Andy Crawford/B.A.S.S.)
How to find ultra-shallow bass from the bank
Start with shade. Buchmann ran every shaded area he could find, and you should too. Overhanging trees, docks, bridges, culverts, and even the shadow cast by a steep bank will hold fish in shallow water long after the sun gets up.
Pick pockets over straight banks. Small coves, cuts, and indentations give bass a place to trap baitfish against the shore. A long, featureless stretch of bank is much harder to read and usually holds fewer fish.
Read the pressure like Buchmann did. Deer feeding along the edge, a heron standing undisturbed in the shallows, baitfish flicking on the surface, or spider webs still hanging near the waterline all tell you nobody has walked through that stretch recently.
Keep your feet moving. If a shallow pocket doesn't produce after a handful of good casts, move on to the next one. Fall bass roam with the bait, and the angler who covers the most water usually finds them first.
A prop-style topwater like this Choppo can pull bass up from water only a foot or two deep.
What to throw in water under two feet
Plopper-style topwater. A Berkley Choppo or any prop-tail topwater lets you cover water fast and draws bass up out of cover. It's exactly what won Norfork, and it's easy to work from the bank. My pick is the River2Sea Whopper Plopper 90 in Bone, because its smaller, 3.5-inch size matches the little shad pushing into the shallows this time of year.
Skipping jig. A 1/2-ounce skipping jig with a craw trailer is perfect for sliding under docks, overhanging limbs, and brush that you can't reach with a normal overhead cast. A sidearm skip from the bank will get it deep into that shade. I like the Berkley Skippin' Jig in green pumpkin paired with a Zoom Z-Craw Jr., the same trailer Buchmann used at Norfork.
Squarebill crankbait. A shallow-running squarebill deflects off wood and rock without hanging up, and it mimics the shad that are pushing into the shallows this time of year. I reach for a Strike King KVD 1.5 Squarebill in Sexy Shad, since it runs less than three feet deep and has no rattles to spook fish in skinny water.
Weightless soft jerkbait. A Zoom Super Fluke or similar soft jerkbait rigged weedless barely makes a splash, which makes it a great option when bass are spooky in super-clear, super-skinny water. My go-to is the six-inch Lunker City Slug-Go in Albino Shad, rigged weightless on an offset hook and twitched right over the top of shallow cover.
A shallow-running squarebill bounced along the bank grass did the trick for me at my home pond.
