Big and Likely Promising To Get Bigger

'Twould seem the "big" fall bite already is in full swing. Last Friday, for example, Wayne Hayes plucked a 9-5 largemouth from the Chickahominy River, while prefishing for the Virginia Bass Chapter Federation 2017 Fall Classic.

Just yesterday, then, during the final 2017 trail event at Bob's Fishing Hole, Steve Albertson boated a Northwest River bass that tipped the scales at 9.49 lbs.

It wouldn't surprise me none if these two trophy-sized catches prove to be just the start of something better than good this fall season. I don't doubt but what we may see some double-digit beauties weighed in before all is said and done.

Heard last week that some "big bass" also had been pulled from Milldam Creek on the North Landing during VDGIF's fall sampling in the river. I subsequently emailed their local fish biologist, Chad Boyce, who acknowledged they indeed had sampled Milldam on 10/4. His report, however, didn't quite measure up to what I earlier had been led to believe.

According to Chad, "We did see decent numbers of bass and good numbers of crappie in the upper portion of the creek. The largest bass we captured was around 21 inches (somewhere in the 5-plus-pound range), and the average size looked good. All in all, the fish populations in the creek were pretty healthy."

While we're talking about all things big, let me also include the contents of an email I received earlier today from my kayaker buddy, Charlie Bruggemann. Seems he ran across a couple of monster cottonmouths fighting for territory and mating rights today in Back Bay. As luck would have it, Charlie had his video camera handy and captured some of the "arm wrestling" contest, including the final "pin to the mat" by the bigger snake.

Here's the link for that video footage, which Charlie agreed to let me post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qRvnbokfVg. Enjoy.

In the meantime, if any of you are looking to catch some big fall bass of your own, here are a few lure recommendations from the so-called experts:

     * Shallow and mid-depth crankbaits. If the conditions line up well, you certainly can catch big fall bass by deep-cranking creek ledges throughout the fall.
     * Shallow jerkbaits. These baits are extremely overlooked for catching schooling bass in the fall.
     * Big swimbaits.
     * Topwater.
     * Lipless crankbaits.

Happy hunting to one and all.