What do you do to fish in the fall?

[lape0019]

I went out this afternoon for a few ours of fall fishing. Water temps were 60 degrees and aside from three small bass on tubes, we didn't have much luck.

Questions,

People like Brad Guennette state this is the best time to fish! I agree that size is there but I always have issues finding the fish.

So what do you guys like to use? I know to find green weeds and rocks but I would like to hear how you go about finding this structure.

Secondly, what techniques do you guys use? Our fish came off of Texas rigged and texposed tubes. And I am just wondering what you use? I am going to try my luck with C-rigging again this fall and I always jerkbait but is there anything else I should be trying?

[BradGuenette]

In my eyes all you need is a drop shot& tube setup in the fall, but I fish for smallies. I'm still lost when it comes to green fish come fall.

[Todd B.]

I find in the fall when the water temps cool, crayfish will have hunkered down into their burrows for the winter. The SM will in turn focus on baitfish to put on winter weight. Baitfish patterns are my choice this time of year. The colder the water, the slower the presentation.

[StarTzar]

Flats and creeks are (IMO) prime locations to fish this time of year. Nothing new here.

When the first few cold fronts make their arrival towards the end of summer, bass will start to shift to their typical fall behavior.
Their instincts cause them to begin feeding in preparation for the winter, and return to where they spent their time during the spawn.

Here is something that might be new for some of us.
The deeper weeds are dying off and the bait-fish are needing to find some cover.
They will start to move towards the flats and creeks where they can still find some cover (weeds don't die as fast here).
Or hopefully be in shallow enough water where the big bad toothy critters won't be able to follow.
They are in survival mode. Trying to swim away and hide from anything that wants to make a meal outta them.

Unbeknownst to them is that the Smart Bucket Mouths will get on the flats early, waiting to greet them.
We all know what that means. "Ding a ling a ling a linggggggggggg" said the Diner Bell ... It's feeding time on the flats.

Follow the bait-fish and the Bass will be close by. No rocket science degree needed here.
If you know where the bucket mouths spawned, that would be a good place to start.

Here is what I prefer to fish with at this time of year:
1 - Jerkbaits floating and suspending.
2 - Spinner baits (slow roll)
3 - Lipless crankbaits or tight wobbling shallow running cranks.

[SeaMonster]

Am I wrong here saying that's only true for a few weeks in sept? By the time thanksgiving rolls around ( what I would call fall) you got to go deep and slow. Nothing going on in the shallows but pike. Tube dragging and dropshotting. Give them plenty of time to look at it.

[Butch420]

[quote="StarTzar"]
Unbeknownst to them is that the Smart Bucket Mouths will get on the flats early, waiting to greet them.
We all know what that means. "Ding a ling a ling a linggggggggggg" said the Diner Bell ... It's feeding time on the flats.

kinda what i was thinking but alittle higher up the food chain lol

[lape0019]

Beauty fish!

I guess I am just not patient enough and dragging will be my grid this fall season.

[StarTzar]

Unbeknownst to them is that the Smart Bucket Mouths will get on the flats early, waiting to greet them.
We all know what that means. "Ding a ling a ling a linggggggggggg" said the Diner Bell ... It's feeding time on the flats.

kinda what i was thinking but alittle higher up the food chain lol

I'm going to have to start fishing for those Muskies ...

[StarTzar]

Am I wrong here saying that's only true for a few weeks in sept? By the time thanksgiving rolls around ( what I would call fall) you got to go deep and slow. Nothing going on in the shallows but pike. Tube dragging and dropshotting. Give them plenty of time to look at it.

Yes, some call it "Indian Summer" ... By the time thanksgiving rolls around ... I call that winter.
I always used a worm (lots of scent) - texas or carolina rigged.

[Chevy Champagne]

This time of year is when those big gals put on the feedbag!
I tend to move away from the usual largie spots that we have been fishing all year like docks,slop and trees during this time and go to find deeper weed edges or flats in the 7-12 feet of water range and slowly work it with a big jig.
you sacrifice getting lots of bites doing this but can be rewarded with some BIG BITES!

[beachburger]

When the water temps hit 55F, then the only thing I'm throwing for largemouth is a suspending jerkbait over 8-12 ft of water and I'm throwing it until the day comes where I can't find water that will go over 40F. Last year this was Nov 20 in the waters I spend the most time on in the fall. Not only will you hook into lots of quality largemouth, you'll also get into some tussles with big pike and hungry walleye.

[tbone1088]

Personally I like to fish topwaters for bass until the water gets around 55 to 60, most people quit on this tactic much too early The other thing I try to figure out is where the fish are located in the water column, if there high then minnow baits get the nod here, if there on bottom then tubes or heavy jigs are good options. Finding green weeds is not very hard if you know where to look. Deeper weed should still be green, and if your not sure then cast out with a deep diving crankbait and see what color the weeds are that you snag into The fish are schooling very heavily this time of year, so find one and you might find them all, best thing to say is keep looking and don't stop moving till you get bit than work the area.

[Duper]

I honestly find Late June/Early July and mid-September/early October as the best bass fishing of the year. You have to search for them but they are usually schooled up when you find them. We have our family Thanksgiving up at the cottage every year and I always spend most of the day on the water. I found that tubes and topwaters (Zara Spook in particular) work best this time of year, even in choppy water over 10'. Jerkbaits would be a distant 3rd but produce the odd largie. Lake is about 10-15'. Here's one of about 20 I caught over Thanksgiving weekend last year.





Actually the largest bass I ever caught was an almost 6lber on a Smithwick Rattlin' Rouge on the final weekend of September a couple years ago on a local lake, it was a cold and windy day and we were only on the water for about 2 hours but this bad boy was worth it.