Fall Bass Fishing on Lake Russell with Guide Wendell Wilson

[Jay]

Wendell Wilson of Elberton, Georgia guides on all three lakes of the Savannah River chain, but the closest lake to his home is Lake Russell. He fishes the middle and smallest of the three lakes more than any other body of water and will take clients out after any species that swims in Lake Russell, including striped bass, catfish, crappie, perch and bream. But when the summer heat begins to break, night temperatures drop and football season arrives, among Wendell’s favorite fish to pursue are black bass. The bite for largemouth and spotted bass can get downright hot even as the water cools.

In the heat of summer bass fishing slows down statewide. Since the bait schools are deep the bass generally stay deep and for a month or more the Lake Russell fishing report on here resembled a broken record, telling anglers to fish for largemouth bass suspended about 30 feet down over deep cedar timber with a Texas rigged worm pegged behind a 3/16 ounce sinker. For spotted bass fishermen were told to use a spot remover and look around deep, main lake rocky points this summer.

In most years this summer pattern continues through the first week or two of September, and then from mid-September until the very beginning of December a fall pattern will begin. Water temperatures from about 60-70 degrees are ideal for the fall bite. This year, however, fall may have come a little bit earlier than usual as Wendell says that the fish have already started to move into a traditional fall pattern.

According to Wendell there are three major ways to catch bass on Lake Russell in autumn. The first pattern is jigging main lake coves with a spoon or drop shot rig, the second is trolling the main channel or larger creeks with a crankbait, and the third pattern is going up the creeks and casting at the banks with a large spinnerbait.

Particularly in the fall bass follow bait, and early in the fall bait schools will not have traveled up the creeks yet. To fish the first pattern use your electronics to look for large schools of bait 25-30 feet deep in large coves just off the main channel. The mid to lower lake is the preferred location and a clean bottom is important. Once you locate the bait schools drop a 1/3 ounce Berry Spoon to the bottom and jig it just off the bottom. Crappie and perch will be mixed in with good numbers of spotted bass; largemouth bass are more likely to be caught on this pattern if there is also brush nearby.

One of the biggest advantages of this pattern is that it is fairly consistent and weather does not seem to affect it very much. If the day is overcast bass may run the schools of shad up to the top, and you should always have a Tiny Torpedo ready and also a small Shad Rap tied on. On occasional days when the fish are not as active, for whatever reason, and don’t seem to be hitting the spoon as well a drop shot rig is a good way to target more finicky bass. Use a ¼ ounce sinker and fish a green pumpkin or cotton candy colored worm.

The second major pattern, the trolling pattern, has already started this fall and for a couple of weeks now Wendell’s boat has been catching bass this way. To fish the trolling pattern head to the main channel in areas 50-70 feet deep. Later in the fall this can also be an effective way to fish in large creeks where there is sufficient room to troll. Let out 150 feet of line and pull a crankbait as slow as the outboard motor will allow.

Years of experimenting have taught Wendell that the ideal trolling depth is 12 feet deep. Catching bass this way involves fishing over heavy timber, and the timber on Lake Russell was not topped evenly. In some places it was cut off about 20 feet below the surface, but in other places it was cut off higher up, and so if you try to troll at 20 feet you will get hung up far too often. If you troll at 8 feet you will very rarely get hung up but you are also not fishing deep enough to catch numbers of bass. 12 feet seems to be the perfect depth.

Wendell’s preferred lure for trolling is an appropriately sized Norman Deep N, which is smaller than the DD-22 and made by the same company. He likes it in pearl color. He also fishes a Rapala Shad Rap, sizes 8 and 9, in shad color, and a Rapala DT-10 in silver and black.

Like the jigging pattern the trolling pattern works all day long, but Wendell again notes that on overcast days the fish will often push the bait up to the surface. About half of the bass caught will be spotted bass and about half will be largemouth bass, although the largemouth will usually top off at about 3 or 4 pounds. Trolling may not be a legal pattern in many bass fishing tournaments but this pattern may be modifiable to comply with tournament rules. Perhaps it is possible to use “long-lining” technique, where anglers let out long lengths of line with their trolling motor and then reel through the area, to fish similarly. Regardless it is useful to know that a substantial number of spotted and largemouth bass will be suspended and feeding about 12 feet down in the main channel over timber.

The third and final major fall pattern generally develops the latest in the year, usually in about mid-October and lasting until the beginning of December. It is not as effective a pattern for catching numbers of fish but usually generates the biggest bites, mainly from largemouth, and so it is an excellent tournament pattern.

When creeks like Beaver Dam, Coldwater Creek and Allen Creek cool late in the year schools of shad will go up them and bass will follow. Wendell believes that the traditional assumption that early in the year shad are small but late in the year they grow to a good size is a myth. In fact he finds shad of all sizes in the lake all year round, but they will usually be grouped by size and they will inhabit different areas at different times. Right now the shad which are in the backs of creeks are tiny – an inch or less long – and the larger 2-3 inch threadfin shad are in the main channels. However, by mid-October these larger shad will have moved into the creeks.

To target these fish Wendell likes to fish fairly shallow, around 5-10 feet deep, up against steeper banks. The water is often dingier than in the main lake and he likes to throw a ½ ounce white spinnerbait or a shad colored spinnerbait in the same size. If the spinnerbait is not working he likes to throw a small crankbait that will run about 5-10 feet deep. The fish are feeding on schooled up shad and so it is very important to look for activity.

The fall largemouth and spotted bass bite on Lake Russell can be very good, especially if you fish these three patterns. However, when water temperatures dip down to about 54 or 55 degrees the bass will follow the schools of shad and return to deep water.

Captain Wendell Wilson has a wealth of knowledge about largemouth and spotted bass fishing on Lake Russell, and he enjoys helping anglers learn the lake and become better fishermen. In addition to guiding for any species on Lake Russell he will also guide on Lake Thurmond, particularly the upper end, for almost any species including striper and hybrids, crappie, and shellcracker. Recently the white and yellow perch bite has been on fire there and he has made some customers very happy with that hot action. However, he confines his black bass guiding to Lake Russell. Wendell also guides for striped bass on Lake Hartwell.

When I interviewed Wendell for the article about spring bass fishing on Lake Russell he did not have a website or any immediate plans to build one, but he now has a developer building http://www.wilsonsguideservice.com. The site is not up as of this article’s publication, though, but even after it is Wendell says the best way to get in touch with him will still be to call (706) 283-3336.

No guide can guarantee that you will catch fish but I can guarantee that you will learn a lot from Wendell, as I have. Thank you to Guide Wendell Wilson for so generously sharing his knowledge of fishing in the Savannah Chain lakes with SCFishingReport.com’s readers.

[timmerberg]

Jay, thanks for this report. This is the type of info that makes it so much easier for the rest of us to catch them! I can't wait to get back on Russell and give some of those tips a try. Bank Pounder Jim.