fall time bass

[angelus40]

since it's sept and the water's gonna cool down
what lures will bass hit on... even if it's live bait

[Vabass22]

Superflukes, twitched above the weeds, swimbaits, or crankbaits, bounced off of cover, wieghtless, or t-rigged plastics, wacky senkos. I like to use soft plastics in the fall (as I do every other time of year), but many people throw nothing but crankbaits, and spinnerbaits this time of year. I wiull also flip, and pitch jignpigs.

[angelus40]

thanks VA i'll try those

[skeeter944]

sup angelus,havent seen you in a while. i would use softplastic stickbaits in white or a shad looking color along with big spinnerbaits in white and super flukes in pearl or albino. just try different lures and techniques until a pattern shows up.

[angelus40]

hey skeeter it's been awhile.. last fri my aunt passed away
haven't been around in a while... thanks for the tip

[keithdog]

My fall bass fishing mainly consists of using a topwater very early along with a spinnerbait. As the sun gets higher, say around 9 - 10 am I switch over to crankbaits worked around submerged weedbeds.

[ironman]

Originally Posted by keithdog

My fall bass fishing mainly consists of using a topwater very early along with a spinnerbait. As the sun gets higher, say around 9 - 10 am I switch over to crankbaits worked around submerged weedbeds.

That is exactly what I do.

[ROBZILLA]

Fishing Fall Bass

Step outside and you can definitely tell that fall is in the air. As cool fronts usher in from the north, we are beginning to see water temperatures drop. As the water cools down, bass fishing begins its fall transformation. With such a strong and sudden change in the weather, the fishing, too, will change quickly. As bass anglers, we must switch gears, changing tactics and presentations in order to catch fish.


As the water temperatures begins to cool down, the shad in the lake start moving around. They will eventually migrate to the creeks surrounding the lake. The bass will surely follow. The trick is to locate bait fish that the bass have also located and are feeding on. Just because the shad are in a creek or at the mouth of a creek doesn't’t mean the bass are already there, too. Sometimes it takes the fish a little while to find the shad to begin feeding on them, making them easier to catch. Thus the challenge that lies before the 300 or so professional anglers entered in this tournament.



In the fall, bass migrate first to the main lake points at the mouths of creeks. They will then follow the bait fish into the creeks where they can be found on secondary points and along the banks, too. Often times, the bass are suspending rather than being on the bottom.

Crank baits are a good tool to help you locate feeding bass that might be suspending over flooded treetops or brush piles. Begin with a shallow diver like a Norman’s Middle N and move to the deeper divers such as the Deep Little N, DD 14 and DD22’s. Try a variety of shad patterns, since that is what the fish are usually feeding on this time of year. Along the shorelines you can throw a spinner bait to help you locate the bass. A white or white chartreuse Bulldog spinner bait should do the trick, water clarity permitting. I like to use a gold Superdog blade on overcast days or a silver one on bright days. The Superdog blade has tremendous vibration in the water that can attract a bass and entice it to bite.

After locating an area holding bass feeding on shad, I’ll often choose to slow down and throw a Carolina rigged Zoom lizard, centipede or worm. The slower presentation of these baits will often trigger a strike, once you have caught the aggressive fish on the crankbait or spinnerbait. Let the fish tell you what they want. Sometimes this approach will work, other times it won’t. It is important to stay focused and be willing to adapt to the ever-changing conditions of fall fishing. Remember what I said, the pattern might be changing throughout the day, everyday.

Buzzbaits and other topwater lures can also be effective this time of year. This is especially true if the fish are schooling up in the creeks feeding on the shad. I recommend always having a topwater bait and/or a Rat-L-Trap tied on and ready for use in the event you find aggressively feeding bass. You don’t want to miss out on this opportunity if the fish begin surfacing and feeding because your rod is in the rod locker. Have it out and ready for use in an instant, should the need arise.

If a cold front passes through during the tournament, the fishing can get tough. It becomes necessary to slow down, way down, and scale down, too. By this, I mean decrease the size of your baits. Rather than use large crankbait or spinnerbaits, you might have the use the smaller sized baits to get bit. Decrease the size of your plastics, too. It is not uncommon for me to go from a Zoom lizard or centipede to a 4” finesse worm after a front passes. It is also important to remember to slow your retrieves way down, no matter what type of bait you are using. The fish are not as aggressive after the passing of a cold front and require more time and agitating to trigger a strike.

Fall bass fishing can be extremely rewarding. With the exception of the spring spawn, it can be the time of year that produces best opportunities to catch big fish. My philosophy is this: the larger a bass is the more it has to feed in order to fill up for the winter months ahead. The more often it has to feed, the more chances I have of catching it.

Remember to pay attention to what the fish are telling you. Once you find a concentration of bass, there is likely to be a bunch of fish there. They tend to group or school up during the fall season. It is not unheard of for an angler to pull as many as 20-30 bass from one treetop in a creek, if the conditions are right.

[DeadManwalking92]

I throw crankbaits over the last green weeds in the lake. Also i slowly twich a senko around standing timber. If all else fails go with nightcrawlers.