If my last two trips are any indication, we're in for one heck of a fall/winter bass bite. First off, I spent a day chasing spotted bass on New Melones with Folsom Bass Pro and Bass Angler News contributor Albert Berends. It had been three years since my last trip to New Melones. At that time, the lake was dominated by largemouth bass and a day on the water in late October usually involved a lot of hard work for a few keepers at best. Not any more! Spotted bass now rule the roost at Melones and a typical day will produce non-stop action with anglers commonly catching 40 to 50 fish a day.

I must admit I was a bit skeptical on the numbers, but it didn't take long to convince me otherwise once we located a big concentration of fish up the Stanislaus River Arm. Catching these fish was almost laughable as they willingly devoured just about anything we threw at them. Topwater baits, jigs, plastic worms and spoons were all on the menu.

Of course, most of the fish were small, running 8 to 12 inches on average, but we found plenty of keepers in the mix and even managed a few respectable spots in the 2 pound class along with a 2-1/2 pound largemouth. It was textbook fall fishing. Look for the full details of the trip in our New Melones Map feature coming up in the next edition.

A few days later, I was on my way to Clear Lake to cover the Bassmasters tournament, then spend the following day fishing with our local bass fishing phenom, Skeet Reese. Actually, I was a little worried about this trip. Clear Lake had just been hammered for six straight days by 130 of the top professional bass fishermen in the country and reason would have it that any fishing willing to bite had most likely been caught. To be honest, I was afraid we might have trouble catching a decent fish for the article.

Fortunately, Skeet managed a fourth place finish in the event and didn't seem concerned in the least about catching a few quality "picture" fish. I didn't have to worry for long as we got off to a quick start throwing Lucky Craft crankbaits and Speed Traps in the Lakeport area. In a matter of two hours, we had a solid 18 pound limit in the boat and plenty of fish for an early morning photo shoot.

It didn't stop there as we continued to put one quality fish after another in the boat and our final stop of the day produced an incredible seven fish to just under 5 pounds. Once again, this is a trip you'll be able to read about in full detail in our next issue of Bass Angler News (print edition).

As we head into the middle of November and early December, this is when fish will really strap on their feed bags in preparation for the upcoming winter months. Yeah, we might have to deal with a little wet weather and fog this time of year, but the rewards can be tremendous when you hit it right. Don't let these next few weeks slip away without a trip to your favorite fishin' hole.