I don't have lot of experience with a 5 inch flutter spoon but over the last two years when I see schooling bass busting on top and can't get them to bite a moving bait anywhere in the water column, I've had some success dropping the spoon straight down through the bait schools and just holding it perfectly still. I will occasionally slowly lift it a foot or lower it a few inches to touch bottom... but no sudden movements to scare them. The bite is very subtle and rod just loads up. I call it turbo crappie fishing as it reminds me of fishing for crappie when they aren't biting much either. Had two trips in November last year to Fork where it was the only way I got bit. Never got bit on the fall or pumping it and didn't see any fish under the bait on graph.

Would like to hear from anyone else that uses that technique. Still can't imagine why a fish would hit a non moving 5 inch piece of metal. I don't enjoy fishing that way but the more I try it the more I like the results.

Yes, that is deadsticking a spoon, mimicking a big shad that has died, fluttered to the bottom

If the current is making it difficult to stay perfectly still, just barely slowly lifting it a few inches and letting it fall again so that the spoon just turns over and over slowly on the bottom can work also

Bring a plug knocker

If you are getting snagged repeatedly, let it fall to the bottom, then just a couple of turns of the reel and repeat the technique with the spoon just a couple of feet off the bottom

Same techniques work with the blade baits�silver buddy, xps blade bait, etc as the water temps get below 55

From what I have noticed this fall, I fished a lake this fall two weekends in a row. First weekend a nasty cold front hit and wind was howling and most of our better fish came off of the first couple cuts on a creek. Also secondary points were holding fish but what this showed me is that the shad had not moved to the backs of the creek but were beginning too. I fished the very, very back of the same creek that weekend with no luck in about 2-3 hours of fishing so I moved back out towards mainlake and began to catch fish. Second weekend I went to the lake it had been cold(for Texas) the whole week in between. The secondary points and small cuts I was catching my fish out of just simply weren�t holding fish. I made my way to the back of this major creek where I previously didn�t get a bite. And a light went off in my head, first flip I had a fish on ( that I shook off). I could just notice in the area I was fishing that the shad finally made it back there and I could see life I previously wasn�t seeing. Shad were flickering and what not, I proceeded to catch a three pounder on the next lay down and then left the area realizing the fish are there. What I took away from this: the bass were following shad. Even though they were not literally blowing up on top, it was obvious that the bass began to make the migration with the shad into the skinnier water. Have a tournament on the lake next weekend so pretty excited to see if some more fish have moved back into the creek for me to catch.

Yesterday at Fork:

https://www.facebook.com/lee.livesay

Lee found a time machine or something!!

I have found that fall fish are more scattered than summer or winter fish thus harder to zero in on and if your where food is the fish are not far away.