Fantastic spotted bass fishing on the Chunky River

Lamar Arrington of Meridian holds a nice bass.

“Wham!” A feisty Chunky River spotted bass slammed into Lamar Arrington’s beetle spin not too long after we started fishing. Arrington cast towards the bank and the spotted bass sucked in the lure and fought wildly. After a few minutes of battling the bass Arrington landed it and we took a picture and released him back.

After a long hot summer, fall harvest time is here. As the leaves turn different shades of red, yellow, and orange the fishing is getting hot. Whether you like to fish in the large lakes or smaller creeks and streams, the bass are biting now. If you like to get away from the crowds and enjoy a day on the water, then you might want to spend an afternoon or morning on the smaller waters as we did last week on the Chunky River near Meridian.

I joined Lamar Arrington for an afternoon fishing trip after working on deer stands and feeders and had a relaxing and successful trip.

One good thing about the fall is that the creeks and small rivers are usually down to their fall levels. This helps to concentrate the fish in certain areas so that you can find and catch them easier.

Locations

Finding current breaks around shoals, stumps or other structures in the small creeks and rivers is the key to catching bass in the fall. On the upper portion of the Chunky River near the community of Chunky there are numerous rocky shoals that impede the water flow. When the water is lower, as it is now, bass and other fish stage below the shoals and attack insects, shad, small fry and other forms of bait and lures as they are swept over and through the shoals.

As the water comes thought the shoal’s areas there will be eddies flowing back along the river and bass often position themselves in the slack water and dart into the swift water when an easy meal comes back.

Arrington prefers using a kayak to position himself to the side of a shoal’s area and he casts his lure into the current. He then works it through those areas letting the current carry the lure into the prime-time zone.

Another hot spot for catching bass is finding a stump or treetop in the river that has current flowing into it and around it. Bass and other fish position themselves right beside or on the downstream side of the object and they feed on the bait or lures that flow past.

While you’re fishing on the river you must keep moving, but it’s worth the extra time it takes to cover the areas below the shoals with an extra cast or two before moving on. Sometimes you will get a bite or two, but usually no more than two or three bass from one are.

Lures

I’ve been fishing the Chunky River for about 50 years, and the spotted bass are still biting the same lures that they did when I first started fishing. Small spinner lures like a beetle spin with a single spinner produce well in white, yellow, orange and chartreuse colors. Choose the smaller ones with bream-sized hooks to catch the shellcrackers and smaller fish and the 3/8- or ½-ounce lures for the larger bass.

The author, pictured here, and Lamar Arrington caught and released 28 spotted bass on their Chunky River trip.

One of the newer lures that I’ve had a lot of success catching spotted bass from a half pound to 2 pounds is a 3 ½-inch Bass Pro Shops Sassy Sally Swimbait rigged with an Owner Flashy Swimmer with TwistLOCK hook rigged Texas style. You can swim the bait around stumps, submerged treetops and through rocky shoal’s areas without hanging up and the bass really love them. I prefer the crawfish color and Houdini colors.

If you are looking for the biggest spotted bass in the Chunky or similar size rivers, then try a smaller crawfish-colored 3/8-ounce bass jig with a crawfish trailer. While the smaller bass may hit them too, I catch bigger spotted bass on the larger baits.

Topwater baits

Small topwater chugger style lures like the Baby Torpedo and Tiny Torpedo, or Smithwick Devil’s Horse in shad or white colors are good bets for larger bass as well. Simply cast them beside banks or shoal’s areas and the bass will strike with fury when they are feeding.

Another favorite of mine is the Smithwick Rattlin’ Rogue shallow diver with a chrome black back and orange belly. I usually cast it to the edge of the deeper banks and let it sit for a second, twitch it twice and then reel it in. Sometimes they strike the lure when it hits the water or just after you twitch it. Other times they may strike it when you are just retrieving it fast under the water on the way to the boat.

A Rebel crawfish the author used to catch bass lays alongside a real crawfish that one of the bass spit up on the same day.

Finally, I also caught a few nice bass on a Rebel Crawfish crankbait. I prefer the crawfish-colored bait in the larger size for the bigger bass and the smaller lure for the smaller bream and bass.

As we fished the last couple of hours of the afternoon the bass started striking more frequently and we both caught and released fish with a few of the spotted bass in the 2-pound range, which is a good size for a spotted bass.

If you’re looking for a peaceful fall day on the water then try the Chunky River, Okatibbee Creek or Chickasawhay River in East Mississippi or similar waters around the state and you should have an enjoyable outing and catch a few fish. Keep a few to eat if you want a taste but practice catch and release and you can feel the thrill again and again!

About Michael O. Giles 416 Articles
Mike Giles of Meridian has been hunting and fishing Mississippi since 1965. He is an award-winning wildlife photographer, writer, seminar speaker and guide.

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