Great Fall Fishing Tactics

The second big bass fishing wave of the year is upon us. Autumn is coming, the leaves are turning and the air becomes fresh. I love this time of year, the hunting seasons open up and the bass are back to biting.

It is the beginning of autumn and the low ones are like the other creatures of God. They feed heavily in the fall in preparation for the lean winter months ahead. Fall fishing is a bit like spring fishing with a couple of twists. The fry bait fish that hung around the edges of the moss in the spring have grown over the summer and become a complete meal for a hungry bass. Additionally, tarpon that have survived the summer have doubled and in some cases tripled in size. The upside to this natural growth is that with maturity comes a sense of adventure. In the fall, bait fish no longer stick to weed beds around shorelines. Instinct pushes them to venture into the waters away from brush beds where large bass are isolated under stumps and rocks.

I find that bass will venture even closer to the shallows in the fall. I was out and about the other day inspecting one of my best bass spots and was not at all surprised to see mature bass lying on the floors. They could have been in two feet of water. It was time to crush the dragon flies. Every one of them that touched the water became dinner for a bass ready to ambush them.

The extreme heat of summer creates a shortage of oxygen in the water, driving bass to deeper water to lessen the stress factor. That problem has dissipated in the fall and the bass become very active due to the favorable water conditions. Cold fronts bring lower temperatures, which balances the oxygen supply in the water. But now another handicap has emerged for the bass. The hours of the day are getting shorter fast and the sea bass have to try to eat as much as possible in a shorter period of time. It’s time to take advantage of that fall bass activity these situations have created.

I usually go straight to the areas where I had good luck in the early spring. I will fish in the shallows and coves with an old creek bed running around or through it. Tarpon will be in the creek beds this time of year. If you can find the tarpon, you can count on the bass to be close by as well. Take your time and fish the areas carefully, making a mental note at how deep the fish hit your lure. That same depth should work for all locations in that body of water. In my experience, the water usually goes down in the fall. We usually don’t get the heavy downpours in the fall like we do in the spring. These conditions are actually more manageable to fish. The water is much clearer. The decrease in rainfall during the summer months has given the lake or pond a chance to settle.

Again, I fish in the fall the same way I fish in the spring with a few simple but effective variations, using more stick bait and topwater lures in this situation. Remember that the bait fish that bass feed on are larger in the fall. Your optimal morning and afternoon fishing times will be extended as a result of the fall feeding frenzy. The competition for the food source is quite intense at this time of year. A bass’s instinct tells it to devour and store as much food as possible for the winter. The bass is basically letting their guard down a bit in search of these food sources. Now is the time to go out and take advantage of the situation.