Fall Topwater

[wlewis55]

I was curios how late in fall will you continue to throw top water. its been real hit or miss for me lately, weather has been shifting and its getting down into the 30s at night high 40s low 50s during the day. Im waiting for mid day usually before I head out to let the waters warm up, it seems they are hitting top water mid day and dies off in the late afternoon. I guess I need to put my frog down and start throwing jigs!

[Grizzn N Bassin]

if you catching them on frogs mid day then it dying off try wweightless soft plastics or jigs...  unless you wanna fish fst to find fish use rattle traps, spinners, or sqaure bill's in shallow water.. most of my fish have been off either outside weed beds, or dragging jigs by rock piles in deeper water..   if they dont hit top water or moving baits... i deffienetly would suggest slowing down ! go get em tiger!!!!!

[bigbill]

In the fall I been targeting the Lilly pads and the flats and the areas inbetween. I find using the dying minnow presentation with the YUM Money minnow or any other plastic minnow works well at this time of the year. I find a slow presentation with a twitch till it stops moving will pay off. Just keep an eye on it and go slow.

[BennyB]

I have been doing great with top water here, but it is early fall here still in North Carolina.  Water temps are in the low 70's still and the mornings and overcast days have been awesome with a buzzbait.  As usual in the fall, go shallow!  Good luck in old CO!!!!

[Marty]

I don't fish deep into the fall, but I don't rule out topwater and have had excellent results in water as cool as low to mid-50s.

[wademaster1]

Keep throwing the top water lures until you stop having luck with it....I'm still getting some hits on top but plastics c-rigged have produced best for me lately.....cranks are still catching fish for me occasionally also

[papajoe222]

There are basically only two top water baits I'll throw in the fall; a buzzbait and a loud chugger style hard bait.  I'll work that chugger with aggressive pops and long pauses. With either bait, hits are rarely explosive and I've actually had fish just grab onto the skirt of the buzzer.  As the water temp. drops into the 50's I'll lengthen the pause time and once the water temp. drops into the 40's I'm pretty much done for the season so I can't comment on their effectiveness then.

All that said, there are much better presentations for this time of the season as far as numbers are concerned although there isn't much more in the way of downright fun that can compete with top water.

[einscodek]

Here in the NE 60's degrees, topwater bite is there but its nowhere near what it was in the Spring / Summer..

Quality of bite has also tailed off as the quality fish are deeper

I still throw it first though but eventually end up going subsurface

 

Spinnerbaits / swimbaits are getting the job done for me where the topwater left off..

[Snakehead Whisperer]

I was curios how late in fall will you continue to throw top water. its been real hit or miss for me lately, weather has been shifting and its getting down into the 30s at night high 40s low 50s during the day. Im waiting for mid day usually before I head out to let the waters warm up, it seems they are hitting top water mid day and dies off in the late afternoon. I guess I need to put my frog down and start throwing jigs!

Might want to try a slower presentation fishing around dusk. Perhaps a popper with a twitch/chug, long pause, repeat cadence. I have been encountering a similar situation on waters that I fish, but dead sticking a popper or walking bait has been drawing bigger fish. When I say dead sticking, I mean pausing with no movement for up to 30-45 seconds or longer. I also would try only subtle movements of these baits. 

[Brian Brazier]

I havent had any topwater hits here, been geeting pretty cold overnight, had frost a few morning. Last Bass I caught was a 4lb LM about 10ft off a dock, maybe 8ft of water, on a Zman Chatterbait. I have been tossing pretty much everything in my box since then with 0 results. I did pickup some Rebel Pop R lures in firetiger, perch, and black n silver recently, maybe my luck will change.

[thehooligan]

Its in the mid 60s right now in south jersey and im getting small bass on sammys. For the past few years its been pretty mild so ill throw sammys, poppers, and buzzbaits all the way till christmas.

 

If the bass arent biting, the pike will take topwater all year long. 

[MacP]

Our water temp is still really warm.  75 last weekend.  Hopefully, after all the rain we got this week it will have dropped alot.  Fish are still deep here.  Three weeks ago everything was below 20 ft.  Two weeks ago everything was at 18-21 ft.  Last weekend everything was at 9-15 and the top water bite was better.  This weekend, I'm hoping it'll be on!

[Creekcrappie]

MacP, did you catch that bass on your avatar at the Caney? All I have caught there is a crappie and a few trout.

[MacP]

Yup.  That was this year.  I could've smacked the dam from where I caught him.  I caught 4 that day all over 3 lb. 

[PABASS]

Here in PA mid to late November depending on how the temps have been.  It seems you may be able to catch them but there are better lures to get the job done.

[Bluebasser86]

50 degrees is about the cut off for a good topwater bite here. I like walking baits in the fall because most lakes have lots of shad in them but buzzbaits seem to get the big bite.

[wlewis55]

thanks for the input guys, Im still getting some top water bites on my frog! caught a 3 1/2 on the frog yesterday just inches from the bank, kinda surprised me but I guess these blue bird days are keeping that surface temp up and the bass shallow.