Table Rock // On-water notes

Table Rock Fall Fishing: My Game Plan After Today

By Ryan Bass · October 25, 2026

I fished Table Rock today, and this is the game plan I wrote down afterward.

My read was that the bass were chasing shad as the water cooled down. That puts finding the bait at the center of how I would break this lake down. I can pick a good-looking bank all day, but I want a reason to believe the fish are using it.

I would start on secondary points

Secondary points are where I would focus first with a drop shot or a small swimbait on an underspin. Those are the presentations in my notes for slowing down and working through an area I want to look at more closely.

I would pay attention to whether the bait and fish are actually there before giving a point too much time. The point is a starting place. What I find on it decides whether I stay.

Cover water and make contact with the rock

I would also spend time covering water with a Rock Crawler or a deep-diving crankbait. I want to bang the rocks. For me, the reason to pick up that crankbait is to work through water and find something I can build on.

I would choose between those crankbaits based on the depth I am fishing and whether I can keep the bait working against the rock. There is no fixed depth in this plan. I would let the bank and the contact tell me what fits.

Do not skip the transition banks

The other part of my plan is small walking baits and poppers around banks where gravel changes to chunk rock. That change gives me a specific piece of bank to focus on instead of treating the whole shoreline the same.

I would keep a topwater ready while working through those stretches. If I get a response, I want to pay attention to where it happened and what was different about that spot before running down another hundred yards of bank.

That is what I came away wanting to focus on: secondary points, rock contact, and those gravel-to-chunk-rock transitions, with shad driving the search. I would rather work through that plan and adjust to what the fish show me than keep changing baits without learning anything.

My top five bait picks for this plan

This is the lineup I wrote down after today’s trip:

1. 2.8-inch Keitech in Electric Shad on a 1/4-ounce Dirty Jigs underspin.
2. Rock Crawler in Phantom Green.
3. Lucky Craft Gunfish in Ghost Minnow.
4. Small Lobina Rico popper in Ghost Minnow.
5. 3/8-ounce D&L green pumpkin jig with a Baby Menace Grub.