By TAM Staff:
The days are shorter. The nights are cooler. Cold fronts are sweeping in, and bass are in the transition that brings some of the best fishing of the year.
For tournament anglers or weekend warriors, the fall feed-up is one of the most exciting times to be on the water. Whether it’s a large reservoir or the backyard bass pond, fish are on the move. They’ve left the deep-water structure where they were schooled up all summer, and they’re tailing baitfish into the creeks and shallows. Catching bass right now is less about patterning structure and more about finding bait than it is at any other time of year. Of course baitfish, even on the move, will often relate to some type of structure or cover.
Fall fishing is very similar to what you’ll find in the spring for bass that are in pre- and post-spawn patterns. The bass and baitfish use the same channels and ledges to migrate as they did in spring. On the big lakes, you’ll find them by graphing the mouths of the creeks and then moving in as the fish progress back to the secondary points and finally the backs of the creeks. On a pond, go where you see the bait. It could be on that prominent drop off the flats or just off the creek channel.
The key here is finding the shad, or whatever the dominant bait species is where you fish. Bass have one thing in mind, and that is to pack on as much weight as possible. They’ll require energy for the cold months ahead and to fuel the production of eggs and sperm for the spawn on the other end of winter.
It’s a fun time of year to fish. Get on the trolling motor or walk the banks with your favorite fast-moving baits. You can cover a lot of water with crankbaits, spinnerbaits and even buzzbaits to prospect available cover like docks, laydowns, brush and stumps. Or maybe the bait is up in the grass. There’s nothing more fun than working a swim jig or fluke in and along the grass edges.
No matter what you do, keep your favorite jerkbait, topwater walking bait or swimbait easily accessible. When fleeing baitfish scatter around a cove and bass are busting on top, you’ll want to have something you can throw a long way to put yourself in the action.
There’s no secret to patterning bass this time of year. Find the baitfish, and the predatory fish will be with them. This is generally not a time to slow down and dissect structure. Fan casting an area that is holding baitfish can result in fast action.