A day on the lake with Gerald Swindle

The reigning Angler of the Year demonstrates how trying to find a pattern in fall may be the worst pattern you could opt for

By Don Wirth
Bassmaster, Nov. 2004
(Archive)

Updated: October 5, 2006, 5:24 PM ET

BASS tournaments take place on huge bodies of water over several days of competition. But did you ever wonder how a BASS pro would fare on your home lake — that little body of water down the road where you and your buddies fish for bass? That's the premise behind Bassmaster's "reality" series, "A Day On The Lake." Here, we put the top names in competitive bass fishing on small lakes they've never seen before, then give them seven hours to figure out a viable pattern, logging everything they do to find and catch bass in timeline fashion.

This month it's Gerald Swindle's turn at bat. The 34-year-old Hayden, Ala., pro (www.geraldswindle.com), a four time Classic qualifier and 2004 Bassmaster Angler of the Year, has been on the pro circuit for seven years. His technical approach to the sport, tempered by his refreshing sense of humor, makes him one of the tour's most charismatic anglers. Here's what happened Nov. 12, 2003, when Swindle tackled Lake "T," an 850-acre lowland reservoir somewhere in the mid-South. If you've ever had trouble putting a bass-catching pattern together during the fall season, we're certain you'll pick up some useful information here.

7:05 a.m. After launching his boat on Lake T, Swindle readies his tackle for the day's fishing.

6:45 a.m. Swindle arrives at the launch ramp at Lake T, his pickup towing a Mercury-powered Triton Tr-21. The air temp is 60 degrees, it's spitting rain, and the wind is blowing 15 mph out of the southwest. Thundershowers and falling temperatures are forecast for the day.

7:00 a.m. While Swindle prepares his boat, I ask him about his game plan: "I'm not gonna start out cruising the whole lake; I'll just start fishing and let the bass tell me where to go and what to do. It's unseasonably warm for mid-November; I'm anticipating a topwater or shallow crankbait bite. The fish should be shallow and relating to secondary points leading into feeder creeks. As this storm front moves through, we should see a pretty good bite."

7:05 a.m. Swindle launches the Triton and lays out his arsenal of American Rodsmith rods paired with Shimano reels on the front deck. He ties on an assortment of crankbaits, spinnerbaits and surface lures. Lake T is 61.3 degrees and murky.

7:15 a.m. Gerald begins by chunking a 1/2-ounce War Eagle spinnerbait, white-and-blue with small willow blades, at a laydown tree near the boat ramp.

7:10 a.m. "This oughta work!" claims Swindle as he displays a Lucky Craft lipless vibrating crankbait, one of his favorite fall lures.

7:20 a.m. He switches to a 1/4-ounce War Eagle buzzbait, black with gold blade, and progresses up the lake from the ramp, following the snaggy shoreline. The rain has stopped and the wind is picking up.

7:22 a.m. Swindle flips a 3/8-ounce Arkie jig, brown with black pork chunk, into a laydown tree.

7:25 a.m. He tries a chartreuse shad Lucky Craft CB001 shallow crankbait, running it past shoreline stumps and brush.

7:31 a.m. Gerald follows the depth contour by moving two cast lengths off the bank and fan-casts a Lucky Craft LVRD7 lipless vibrating crankbait, chartreuse/black back, around the middle of a big pocket, searching for bass relating to isolated pieces of cover. He uses a fast, ripping retrieve: "I let the bait fall to the bottom, jerk the rod so it pops up, then let it fall back down. It's a total reaction-bite presentation — bass usually hit it on the fall."

7:34 a.m. Swindle approaches a laydown log three cast lengths off the bank in 5 feet of water and saturates it with the jig, buzzbait and lipless crankbait. No takers. A big fish blows up on top near the opposite shore.

7:38 a.m. Back to the lipless crankbait. He rips the lure, his rod buckles, and he rears back to set the hook into a stump: "That felt good!" He retrieves the lure and comments, "There's a whole row of big stumps out here."

7:40 a.m. He moves to the opposite shore and rips the lipless crank around some laydown logs.

7:42 a.m. Swindle has located a ditch that drops from 2 to 4 feet. He runs the CB001 crankbait around it.

7:50 a.m. The pro works his way back downlake with the short-lipped CB001. It's starting to rain again.

7:52 a.m. Swindle cranks his 225 Merc and runs downlake to a stump point on the western shore. We're sitting in 14 feet of water. "There's a well-defined lip off this bank that drops off fast," he observes, checking his Lowrance graph. He starts with a deep diving Lucky Craft Big Daddy Strike 3 crankbait, Tennessee-shad color, and promptly hangs it in a stump.

7:53 a.m. Gerald switches to a 3/8-ounce black/blue Arkie jig with a matching Zoom Super Chunk trailer; it lodges in a submerged tree on his first pitch. "Can't you fast-forward to where I catch something?" he asks with mock annoyance.

8:00 a.m. Swindle casts the buzzbait near a shallow point and hangs it in a bush. He flashes me an evil glance and warns, "Don't you dare tell 'em I'm hung up again!!"

8:02 a.m. Gerald switches to the lipless crankbait. "Fall is a time when many different lures and presentations can work," he notes. "This can be confusing, because there's seldom one definite pattern like in summer, when deep crankbaits and big Carolina rigged worms rule. Often, you'll start out catching several bass on several different lures; then you can key on the baits producing the biggest fish."

8:08 a.m. He tries the white-and-blue spinnerbait around some laydown logs. "A spinnerbait is a pretty exotic lure; I figure the bass in this lake have never seen one," he says with a poker face.

8:12 a.m. Still working the western side of the lake with the spinnerbait. Several laydown trees extend off the bank over 14 feet of water. Swindle switches to the jig, dabbling it in the branches.

8:16 a.m. We move into a short tributary arm, where Swindle rips the lipless crankbait. He casts again and a 30-mph wind gust practically stops the lure in midair.

8:22 a.m. Gerald hangs the lipless crank in a stickup. I assure him I won't mention the mishap.

8:28 a.m. The rain has stopped, and we make a quick run downlake to a steep bank on the western shore. Swindle breaks out a 3/8-ounce chartreuse shad Lucky Craft Gunfish topwater stickbait and moves into a nearby pocket, casting to shallow wood cover.

8:32 a.m. Swindle walks the surface lure past a laydown log, and it disappears in a swirl. He sets the hook, works the bass to the boat and swings it aboard; his first keeper weighs 2 pounds, 4 ounces. "That fish was at the end of the log in 4 feet of water," he says as he releases the bass. "I'll stay with this bait for a while to see if I'm on to something, or if that strike was a total fluke. Most bass fishermen wouldn't use a topwater lure in 60 degree water, but I really like 'em in fall."

8:40 a.m. Swindle casts the Gunfish past a mat of floating pine needles. A small bass slaps at it near a stickup. "The morale of the troops is beginning to rise," he observes.

8:45 a.m. Swindle works his way out of the pocket toward the main lake, with the stickbait. "To me, the hardest part of locating fish in fall is having to go through the process of fishing so many different lures in a lot of different areas," Gerald explains. "Sometimes you gotta fish through a bunch of junk to discern whether or not the pattern you think is working, is really viable. For example, I don't like to fish flat, sandy areas where there's not much cover, but I make myself check 'em out because the fish just might be stacked up there. In fall tournaments, the places you don't bother checking are invariably where the other guy catches the winning string. Fall is such a transitional period, the bass could literally be anywhere."

8:53 a.m. Swindle cranks a clay point opposite where he caught his first keeper with the CB001.

8:55 a.m. Gerald puts his MotorGuide trolling motor on high and shoots downlake to another steep bank. "Looks like the channel swings in here," he comments as he works the Gunfish across the surface.

8:56 a.m. A deer bounds through the woods. "I don't need any distractions," the avid hunter says.

9:05 a.m. The pro enters another pocket and targets scattered wood cover with the Gunfish. "I'm seriously thinking of trying something totally different," he comments.

9:08 a.m. A small school of shad surfaces in the middle of the pocket. Swindle shoots the Gunfish to it; immediately a big bass sucks it under, but doesn't hook up. "Did you see it roll on that lure?!" he exclaims. "That was a good fish!"

9:10 a.m. Swindle cranks the Big Daddy through the same area. "I don't see the baitfish anymore," he says under his breath. "That bass must have scattered 'em."

9:12 a.m. Gerald pauses to apply some chartreuse paint to the back of a Tennessee-shad-colored Lucky Craft Flat CBMR medium-diver with a dye marker. "It's so cloudy, I wanna give 'em something a little brighter to key on."

9:17 a.m. Swindle motors to the eastern side of the lake and cranks the CBMR on a shallow point. The plug picks up a wad of slimy grass.

9:28 a.m. He lets the wind blow his boat uplake while he cranks a series of short points, wondering aloud, "Where are you, fish?" Some patches of blue sky appear through the dense clouds: "We must be on the outer edge of this front; I'll bet it's pouring north of here."

9:35 a.m. Gerald digs through a spinnerbait box and proclaims, "I'm goin' for Mr. Big!" Searching for a presentation with maximum flash, he settles on a 1/2-ounce War Eagle, blue-and-white, with big willow blades.

9:45 a.m. After unsuccessfully slow rolling the spinnerbait around some shoreline wood, Swindle returns to the Lucky Craft medium-diver and continues wind-drifting uplake.

9:50 a.m. Gerald tries a chartreuse-and-blue CBMR crankbait, but can't come up with a taker. Black clouds are piling up in the distance.

9:55 a.m. Swindle runs downlake to the western side of the dam, where he dog-walks the Gunfish. "The only baitfish I've seen all day was back in that little pocket; if I can find a bunch of shad, I think I can load the boat," he says hopefully. Progressing quickly down the dam, he chunks the surface lure to the riprap.

10:02 a.m. He switches to the 1/2-ounce spinnerbait, slow rolling it around the rocks.

10:05 a.m. Gerald quarter-casts the Big Daddy crankbait, careening it off the riprap without success.

10:12 a.m. Swindle idles back to the western shore and enters a tributary arm, where he tries the blue/chartreuse crankbait on a stump point.

10:20 a.m. He moves the boat to the headwaters of the tributary arm and pitches the jig to scattered wood cover.

10:35 a.m. Still pitching the jig. "Guess it's time to get the grenade out," Swindle says. "If you pull the pin, I'll throw it!"

10:37 a.m. He tries the Gunfish and the lipless crank in a shallow pocket, then takes a ham sandwich break. What's his take on the day so far? "The word 'unproductive' comes to mind, plus a few others you can't print," he laughs. "To be honest, I don't know what's up with this lake. There's very little bait present, and I'm not getting any bites around some great-looking wood cover — I've fished everything from surface lures to jigs, with only one keeper. This may sound like one of those 'Duh!' comments, but maybe the fish just aren't biting! But I know there's got to be some big bass in this lake, and I haven't given up on 'em yet."

10:45 a.m. Swindle takes his time downing the sandwich, some chips and a Sprite, then ties on an assortment of new lures, including a 1/2-ounce smoke green War Eagle spinnerbait with small willow blades, and a 1/2-ounce blue/black Arkie jig with a matching Zoom trailer ("so I can probe deeper into that wood").

10:50 a.m. Swindle moves to the mouth of the tributary and cranks a purple/chartreuse/orange Lucky Craft Flat CBDR on a point. "They recommend these colors on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," he jokes.

11:00 a.m. He moves across the creek arm to a deep channel bank with a series of laydown trees, and pitches the

1/2-ounce jig into the cover, his boat sitting in 25 feet of water. The skies are clearing again; Swindle puts on his shades.

11:07 a.m. The pro spots a disturbance on the surface ahead of him, casts the Gunfish to it, and a big turtle sticks its head out of the water to examine the lure. "Come on, hit it!" he pleads. "I can use the weight!"

11:20 p.m. Swindle tags his biggest bass of the day, a 6-2 largemouth. The fish was suspended over deep water under a laydown tree and hit a jig.

11:20 a.m. Gerald has been patiently probing the laydown trees with the jig. While working his way toward the tributary point, he flips it far back into the branches of a tree, shakes it, and detects a bite. He sets the hook hard, his rod bows, and a big bass surges out of the cover for deeper water. He plays the fish out, lips it and comes up with his second keeper: a beautiful 6-2 largemouth. High-fives follow. "That fish was suspended under that tree; usually when they're set up like that, they'll whack a falling bait. But he barely tapped it, which tells me these fish are really nonaggressive. It's warm, cloudy and windy, all conditions normally conducive to an active bite in fall, but you really gotta be patient and work for your fish today. I'm gonna stay with this jig awhile and see if I can come up with another big fish."

11:35 a.m. Swindle jigs the laydowns on the channel bank.

11:45 a.m. He moves to another steep bank with laydowns, still pitching the jig.

11:50 a.m. Gerald tries the shallow running CB001 crankbait around some laydown wood. It bumps into the cover, skitters sideways and a bass loads on. He swings it aboard; his third keeper of the day weighs 1 pound even. "I got 'em figured out now!" he laughs. "There's just not enough of that deep laydown wood to fish, so I'm back to casting to whatever I see that looks good!"

11:55 a.m. We're back in the cove where the big bass hit Gerald's topwater lure in the school of bait. He cranks the Big Daddy parallel to the bank in 8 feet of water.

12:10 p.m. Swindle bumps his crankbait off a stump and hangs a good bass.

12:10 p.m. Swindle idles across the mouth of the cove to the opposite shore and promptly catches his fourth keeper, 2 pounds, on the Big Daddy: "I bumped it off a stump and he ate it!"

12:16 p.m. Gerald moves to a clay point at the mouth of the cove. "If the wind would only pick up, they might bite!" he says as a gust blows his hat off his head.

12:30 p.m. A bass nips the Big Daddy and Swindle swings it into the boat. He lays it on the measuring board; it barely passes muster. He weighs his fifth keeper: "Wow! Thirteen ounces! Excitement reigns on Lake T!"

12:40 p.m. Swindle runs across the lake and cranks the Big Daddy parallel to a sloping bank.

12:30 p.m. "It measures, all right!" Swindle cries. His fifth keeper weighs 13 ounces.

12:45 p.m. He runs back to the opposite shore to crank the Big Daddy on another steep bank.

12:50 p.m. "It's cullin' time!" Swindle says jubilantly as he boats his sixth keeper, 1 pound, 4 ounces: "It hit the Big Daddy when it glanced off a little stick jutting up from the bottom. Let's see — six keepers caught on four different lures off six different kinds of places — yeah, I've pretty much got things figured out!"

12:55 p.m. Gerald moves uplake to a round point and boats his seventh keeper, 1-15, on the Big Daddy. "There's a little tree out there and the fish hit right at the end of the branches, over 12 feet of water — I saw a bigger fish swimming with the one I caught. Bass suspending under cover hanging over deep water are easily overlooked."

1:00 p.m. Swindle moves uplake into a short cove, where he flips the black/blue jig under some overhanging trees.

1:05 p.m. With one hour remaining, Swindle is fishing with the CB001 in a shallow cut on the upper end of the lake.

1:07 p.m. He tries the Big Daddy in the cove without success.

1:12 p.m. Swindle cranks the Merc and roars back to the steep bank where he caught the 6-2. As he approaches the bank, he slows to an idle, then changes his mind and shoots back into a nearby cove, where he cranks the CB001 around some shallow stumps.

1:27 p.m. Back to the laydown trees on the channel bank, where he pitches the 1/2-ounce jig.

1:47 p.m. With only minutes remaining, Swindle rockets across the lake to a tributary arm. He casts the Big Daddy at a laydown tree in a narrow pocket and nails his eighth keeper, 2 pounds, 3 ounces: "That'll help a little."

1:55 p.m. Swindle moves past the pocket to a sloping bank and cranks the Big Daddy.

2:00 p.m. Gerald pitches the 1/2-once jig into a laydown tree. He detects a bite, swings, and misses. "Felt kinda spongy — was that you, Sponge Bob?"

2:05 p.m. Back to the boat ramp. Swindle has logged eight keepers on Lake T; the five biggest weigh 14 pounds, 8 ounces.

The day in perspective

"It was harder getting something going today than I expected," Swindle summed up. "The bite didn't pick up until late morning; I caught seven of my eight keepers from 11:20 on. Fall bass fishing has traditionally been portrayed as being fast and furious; in reality, there are a lot of days like this when you won't get many bites. You have to detune yourself, slow down and try to pick up a few fish here and there. These fish were on no discernible pattern other than relating to wood, although the two best were suspending in trees over deep water. My best advice: Be versatile; don't burn up your whole day trying to formulate a solid pattern when there's none there. I would've loved to have spent 11:30-on flipping jigs into deep trees after I caught that 6-pounder, but there wasn't enough wood hanging over deep water to make it a viable pattern. In fall, you need to be a lot more open-minded about where and what to fish than in spring or summer."

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A day on the lake with Gerald Swindle

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