Buck Mallory shares his knowledge for throwing blade baits for bass.

Customizing
Most blades come with hooks that can be replaced with much better trebles. The stock hooks usually are pliable trebles with the hook shank split to make them easy to install in the blade’s small holes. Companies do install the hooks by cutting the eyelet, bending it open, poking a cut end through the intended hole on the blade and bending the gap closed. I’ve fished with these stock blades without changing the hooks, and they catch fish, but both kinds of those hooks make me nervous—they probably won’t fail right until I have that really big, hard-fighting smallmouth hooked. So like a lot of hard-core blade anglers, I replace the stock trebles, adding a premium hook. The shorter-shanked Mustard KVD Treble is my top choice, as not only does the premium hook get embedded in the fish’s mouth better, but the split ring also gives the fish less leverage when it’s fighting back. You definitely will lose fewer fish when you take the time to add good hooks with a split ring.

Favorite blades
Lots of different companies make blade baits; the originals were Heddon Sonars created in the 1950s. I think the standard 1/2-ounce Silver Buddy is hard to beat, and some friends do extremely well on the smaller 1/4-ouncer. Another really good one is the Bullet Blade, which instead of lead uses a zinc alloy for the weight. I like having a few different types, sizes and colors along just in case the fish get picky, but about 90 percent of the time a plain Silver Buddy in their Silver will catch the fish.

Target areas
As fall progresses, the shallows get colder and aquatic plants die providing fewer places for baitfish to hide, the bass’s food moves deeper, and so do the bass. That’s not to say you can’t catch them on shallower flats. Some of the best fishing of the fall happens when wolf packs of bass move up and hunt on expansive flats that still have enough vegetation for bait to relate to. A blade shines here with a long cast and a hopping retrieve that makes the lure vibrate, but not burn too quickly through the fish zone. The objective is to keep the blade north bottom, but not dredging the bottom and picking up weeds in the process.

You can also use a blade at a consistent depth across large flats with a retrieve just fast enough to make it vibrate and stay off the bottom. When you feel resistance it will be either a fish or a weed, and in either case, a sharp jerk of the rod will either set the hook or rip the blade free of the salad. Lots of strikes seem to come right after you rip the lure free and let it settle toward the bottom.

A second place to look for bass with a blade is on sharper drop-offs where weeds are present. Fish tend to hang on the outside edge of the vegetation, and positioning your boat so you can work your lure parallel to the weed bed edge can get your string stretched. Normally, a crankbait would be a better choice, and certainly easier to use, but when the water temperature dip below 50 degrees, bass seem to prefer a blade bait more in direct proportion to how much colder the water gets.

For more on blade baits including the best areas to use them, be sure to check out Buck Mallory’s full featured article in the November issue of MidWest Outdoors magazine, available the first full week of November at a newsstand near you.