This month of November is a month that some really big fish can be can be caught in any of the warm weather fisheries. The truth is that the bigger bass are now moved back to the shallow water and into the thickest, ickiest, nastiest grass and or cover on the lake; if you have the patience to work slow be methodical you can put some trophy fish in the boat. You see there is a old belief that comes into play this time of year that the big bass start to prepare for the spawn in November, hence by feeding and filling their bellies they are preparing for next years spawn now before they become dormant in the cold of the winter.
The catching part is this, the bigger fish move to the water that is less than a foot and find the easy prey bait and feed several hours of the day until they are just stuffed and the cold weather has set in. This is the only time of year outside of the spawn that the fish move this shallow, and its all about them preparing for the spawn early, feeding and getting ready for the winter cold.
The opportunity is that you can get your traditional hollow belly frog or rat out and find those areas and work it slowly over this icky area and find these big females preparing for the spawn, up-coming winter and feeding. When you do you get a monster blow-up and if you're skilled enough you can catch a trophy bass. The down side is this, you are fishing probably for a few bites so numbers are down but rewards for that trophy fish is high. You can catch a 25 plus pound stringer in this period and reap some big tournament rewards.
As is always the case there are a number of ways to get this big bite hitting these shallow areas, not only will the rat produce but so will fluke, swim baits, buzz baits and other similar pattern baits work. You just need to pick your favorite, bring patience, work slow and stay alert, as your trophy bite could be the next blow-up.