Squarebills for round bass!

Throwing a crankbait for largemouth bass is, in fact, one of my favorite fall activities.  Lots of my past fall stories have been about bass living on deep weedlines in clear lakes that are susceptible to deep diving crankbaits.  This story features weedlines, but in shallow, more “off colored” lakes that are often best fished with a squarebill crankbait.

Shallow lakes with some color in the water often have “deep” weed edges in say 5 to 10 foot water depths.  These fertile lakes often have prolific baitfish populations and big, fat bass too!  As the weeds start to thin and the baitfish populations decrease as the result of bass, northern pike, and other fish eating them, squarebill crankbaits really become productive baits in many, if not most, of these waters.  Many squarebills dive in the 5 to 9 foot depth ranges making them perfect for these lakes and they have unique hunting, erratic actions that triggers bites.

Moving down the weed edge and throwing a squarebill up on the flat and then working it down the edge and back to the boat is a great way to quickly cover lots of water and trigger bites.  Once a fish is caught, using the anchor mode on a boat’s trolling motor is a great way to make multiple casts to the area the first fish was caught, often resulting in multiple bites.  Once the bite slows, the angler can be back on the move searching for the next bite and next bass school!

As for particular baits to use, the KVD 2.5 bait is a model that runs true, gets bit, and is a favorite of many dedicated bass anglers.  At times, however, bigger baits get bit better in the fall and switching to magnum baits can lead to bigger fish.  Recently, for example, a fishing partner and I had a productive afternoon using the 2.5 baits.  When the bite slowed, I switched to a KVD 4.0 Magnum version and put several 3 pound plus bass in the boat in short order.  My partner, not to be outdone, went even bigger choosing an 8.0 Magnum model and he quickly got in on the action too!