Maynor Creek for November bass

Maynor Creek is an old reservoir, but it still holds some quality fish.

Work the riprap near the bridge, and you’re likely to get numbers of bites.

Three baits are key to cool-weather bite

During November, we’ll be fishing 500-acre Maynor Creek, located just outside of Waynesboro, where numbers of big bass live.

Once the water starts cooling off, the bass fishing at Maynor Creek really gets good. At this time of the year, the big bass move up into the shallow water where they’re easier to catch in several different ways with a variety of lures.

The lake is owned by the Pat Harrison Waterway, and there’s a launch fee to fish there, but the cost isn’t much.

Buzz ’em up in the lilypads and vegetation

The first way we’ll be trying to catch bass here is fishing buzzbaits above the bridge and on the north end of the lake, around lily pads and other vegetation.

After Hurricane Katrina, the dam at this lake had some problems, and the lake stayed really low for over a year. Many willow bushes and other types of small trees grew up on that dry lake bottom.

Once the water level of the lake came back up, all that new growth that had been out of the water then was underwater.

Today Maynor Creek is home to plenty of new growth, not only at the shoreline but also on the bottom, several feet out from shore, creating lots of shallow-water cover where you can fish for bass.

If I have a cloudy day to fish in November, I’ll fish a black Boogerman buzzbait with a trailer hook and a black 3-inch Mann’s HardNose Grub as a trailer.

On a bluebird day, I’ll be using a white-and-chartreuse Lunker Lure buzzbait with a trailer hook and a white 3-inch, white Mann’s HardNose Grub as a trailer.

Since bass are notorious for short-striking the buzzbait, I add the trailer hook and the grub. I’ve found I catch more bass rigging this way than without using the trailer hook or the grub.

I enjoy fishing a cloudy day best. Even then I may fish both these lures on the same day, because the Boogerman makes a clacking sound as it comes across the top of the water and runs to the left. The Lunker Lure, on the other hand, produces a squeaking sound when you retrieve it — and it runs to the right.

So, I can throw one buzzbait past a piece of cover, retrieve the buzzbait and let it crash into the cover. If I want to fish the other side of the cover, I can cast the other buzzbait and let it hit the cover.

Both buzzbaits sound and look differently, and I’ll fish them on 20-pound-test-Berkley 100% fluorocarbon line and a Seeker 6-foot-9-inch fiberglass rod.

Crank the bass

Don’t overlook fishing the old roadbed that runs east and west under the bridge at Maynor Creek, since its riprap should be really productive in November when fishing with a Mann’s C4 Square Bill crankbait in the shad color.

I’ll be using 12-pound-test 100% Berkley fluorocarbon line with a 7.3:1 Pinnacle reel and a Seeker 7-foot-2-inch square-billed glass rod.

This crankbait will run about 4 foot deep, and I’ve chosen a square-billed crankbait because I want to bounce it off the riprap.

The four corners of the riprap on either side of the bridge should be productive. I’ll also cast from the south side of the bridge, underneath the bridge, to the north, between the rocks, to fish the rocks that you can’t see under the bridge. You’ll find the bass holding on the rocks, right on the edge of the creek channel, all the way to the shoreline.

I’ll also fish down the roadbed on the north side of the creek. One of the reasons we’ll be fishing this bridge region so heavily is because this site is often where the bass school once the weather cools down.

Fish the stone jig

The third tactic I like is to fish a 3/8-ounce Mann’s black-and-blue Stone Jig with a black-and-blue HardNose Craw as a trailer in the same spots where I’ve fished the C4.

If the bass won’t take the crankbait, often they’ll take the jig. I’ll be fishing this jig slowly, hopping it off the rocks, and also out somewhat deeper from the bridge than I have the crankbait.

If a cold front moves through, the bass will be concentrating more in that deep water than in the shallow water. I’m not hopping the jig as much as I’m dragging it off the rocks and working it very slowly on 15-pound-test 100% Berkley fluorocarbon line with a 7-foot Seeker medium-heavy-action graphite rod.