Clint does this because he gets more strikes by retrieving the lure from deep water into shallow than the other way around. The reason lies in a fish's mindset about the direction in which its meal is traveling. "I think I get more strikes sitting in shallow water and casting to deep," he stated, "because the bass know that if that bait gets by them they may not have another chance to eat it, and so they are more aggressive. If the bait is moving out to deeper water, they know it has to come back by at some point so they are less aggressive about chasing it."

When Texas-rigging these brushpiles in the fall, Clint noted, you should keep a couple of details in mind. First, peg your weight. You'll be dragging the worm over, under and through limbs, and thus need the weight to stay in contact with the worm so that it'll bring the plastic through the brush easier and with fewer hangups.

Second, use a long-shanked 5/0 to 7/0 hook instead of one with a wide gap. "When you hook a bass with a wide-gap hook," he said, "it will have a lot of the hook sticking through its lip that can get hung up on the brush. A long-shank hook will lay flatter against its face." (That certainly makes sense, when you think about it.)

Last, your standard-sized worm won't do. Big worms catch big fish, so find the biggest thing in your tackle box and tie it on. Clint is a fan of the Reaction Innovations Big Unit in either California 420 or Hematoma (those are colors, by the way). This big 9 1/2-inch worm is deadly on monster bass.

The final bait that Clint likes to toss in the fall is a deep-diving crankbait. His preferred crankbaits are the Flat Shad and the Koolie Minnow by Sebile; the latter can get down to a depth of 18 to 22 feet if fished on fluorocarbon line. I've seen these baits at first hand, and they're not only visually outstanding but have great action as well.

Keep in mind that when you fish these lures at these locations, the goal is to catch fish larger than the slot -- which in most cases might be the biggest bass you've ever hooked into.

However, in the fall there's also the chance to catch bass that are schooling -- potentially good news for tournament anglers looking for five fish under the slot before catching a kicker. But bass at Fork don't school in the way that bass at other lakes do.

At other local lakes, schooling bass can be found at the same time just about every day at locations long recognized for the activity, but at Fork, the schooling's sporadic at best, so chasing schools of fish is a frustrating endeavor. The best advice I can give on catching these bass is to be prepared in case they pop up next to you. Have a topwater popper tied on and readily available at all times, particularly when fishing over humps and on lake points.