Summer to fall bass movement?

[GoneFishingLTN]

So, I know that it's typical for fish to move towards shallower water like coves as summer comes to an end and temperatures start to cool, especially at night. This transition indicates the arrival of fall. However, I have noticed that in Iowa, many of our lakes lack shad, which are typically followed by bass. Given this difference, I'm curious if bass in Iowa still exhibit a high percentage of heading towards shallow waters during this time, or if their behavior differs.

[MN Fisher]

No shad? Follow the sunfish and shiners.

[LrgmouthShad]

Fall is gonna cool the water and sometimes bring rain. Both of which I think are inevitably going to push some fish shallower, or at least higher in the water column. This is just because everything else in the food chain is gonna do the same. Shallower is relative though

[GoneFishingLTN]

37 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

No shad? Follow the sunfish and shiners.

Do the sunfish move shallow? I always thought they stayed on deeper structure prepping for winter

[MN Fisher]

Just like any other predator - and make no doubt that sunnies and crappies are predators, just smaller prey than bass (who are close cousins). They're gonna follow their prey, and search for cover to hide from those that hunt them. As deeper weeds die off, quite a number are going to move into the shallower weeds to keep hiding...and that's where their prey will be (minnows, insects, etc) trying to hide from them.

 

The bass are going to follow their prey - the sunnies and crappies.

[Texas Flood]

2 hours ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

So, I know that it's typical for fish to move towards shallower water like coves as summer comes to an end and temperatures start to cool, especially at night. This transition indicates the arrival of fall. However, I have noticed that in Iowa, many of our lakes lack shad, which are typically followed by bass. Given this difference, I'm curious if bass in Iowa still exhibit a high percentage of heading towards shallow waters during this time, or if their behavior differs.

What lake(s) do you fish at? Pretty much all our lakes are river or creek fed, so I've seen my share of shad. 

[GoneFishingLTN]

all the smaller lakes so not big creek,red rock etc 

[gim]

No fall transition happening here today.  Its 95 and the heat index is 108.

[WRB]

We have Threadfin Shad and few big creek arms, a few larger reservoirs have River arms like Shasta.

What I watch is the thermocline starting to break up and the lakes turning over, sure sign the fall period is starting.

Baitfish are not going to leave their food source and sanctuary aquatic plants (grass or weeds) unless those plants are dieting back, turning brown in lieu green.

The bass stay close to the primary food source whatever that is. If the bait is up shallow then the bass will be, if deeper they will be there.

Tom

 

[GoneFishingLTN]

Most of our shallow grass if not all has died down. I agree though I just need to learn where the bluegill go and when the crawdads are more active (as far as water temps)

[BFS-Angler75]

I've actually been catching all my bass up shallow this summer. They were hanging around the bluegill beds which was nice. There's shad all over the shallows in the lake I fish normally as well. I never really fished deep this summer, but I never caught much fishing deep either in that lake. 

 

I'd average 5 catches per day on the weekends between 2 - 5 lbs. Recently though they seem to have disappeared lol. I did track them down though, in the 2 rivers that feed the lake. The water is 10 to 20 degrees cooler which is why I think they went there.

 

Where I am, the vegetation isn't going to die off until mid - late October. They're going to feed off the remaining shad, bluegill and craws. October into November is an awesome time for my normal lake up shallow.

[papajoe222]

No shad in he natural lakes I frequent. Do the bass move shallow in the fall? YES They also move shallow in the summer, because that's where the forage is. Remember this, shallow is relative to the body of water. In some lakes here, weeds grow to 15ft-18ft. That depth, to me, is shallow in a lake with 45ft.+ depths. The question you likely want answered is how shallow do they go in the fall.

[Swamp Girl]

^This^ sounds right. 

[Pat Brown]

Here is why it's critical to find bass in the summer.  In the fall, they tend to slide up on the same pieces of structure, either suspending near pieces of cover or baitfish schools in the area and usually as the surface temps cool, you see them push 'up' more.  The fall is tricky though because some days they're shallow in the cover and on hotter days they'll be right back where they were all summer until the water stabilizes in the 70s.  In my lakes the bass spawn again until the water hits 50 and you typically get pre-spawn/spawn/post spawn bites.

[scaleface]

I dont know where the bass are going to be in the fall. I have caught boat loads in the back of creeks , deep on points and everywhere in between .

[T-Billy]

On 8/22/2023 at 11:50 AM, MN Fisher said:

Just like any other predator - and make no doubt that sunnies and crappies are predators, just smaller prey than bass (who are close cousins). They're gonna follow their prey, and search for cover to hide from those that hunt them. As deeper weeds die off, quite a number are going to move into the shallower weeds to keep hiding...and that's where their prey will be (minnows, insects, etc) trying to hide from them.

 

The bass are going to follow their prey - the sunnies and crappies.

This, and perch too if you have them.  I always run into big schools of perch around the remaining weeds close to the break into deep water in the fall. 

 The bays are an early/mid fall deal for me. Once the turnover happens, it's all about the main lake basins.

 

 

[WRB]

Bluegill like fresh water Black Bass are Sunfish family and warm water fish. If you could control the water temp 75 degrees is ideal. The temp range is somewhere between 39 to 90 degrees because within that range dissolved oxygen stays between 3 to 12 mg/L,  higher starters to over oxygenate the brain, lower starves the brain both can be fatal.

When the water freezes it’s 32 degrees and starts supersaturation DO @ 39.4 degrees, getting lighter density floating up towards the surface until the water freezes.

Long story shorten when summer warm water surface cools it gets heavier and sinks. When the top layer water out weighs the lower layer the thermocline stats to break up and the lake turns over. Easy to see  and smell a turnover with chunks of decaying meter floating up to the surface.

The transition from summer to fall is complete when this happens. Shorter days and colder nights continue until it winter or the cold water period. 

Where are bass? The column is homogenous temper so bass can be shallow, deep or in between but always near the food chain. Sonar is your friend to locate both bass and bait fish.

Crawdads tend to burrow around 58-55 degrees, look for clay banks around 8’ to 10’ deep.

Tom

 

[Bankbeater]

The bass in the water I fish don't really head up into creek channels, but they do start to move around more.

[Catt]

Where do the resident bass go that are already in the back of creeks?

[Jar11591]

No Shad in my waters either, but the bass still move up during the transition. The most noticeable is in late august the fish return to the shoreline timber, the same timber that they somewhat abandon in late June, July and most of August. 

[Cody28]

On 8/22/2023 at 11:34 AM, GoneFishingLTN said:

Do the sunfish move shallow? I always thought they stayed on deeper structure prepping for winter

In my home Lake the blue gill/green sunfish/warmouth stay shallow all summer long. Crappie and shad tend to stay out deep until it cools. Bass seem to start the spring shallow, move deep, and return shallow in fall as expected. I’m assuming they’re following the shad, but it is interesting to me they don’t seem to care about the large amount of sunfish that stay shallow. Maybe they just have bait in both locations and it’s all temperature related movement. Who knows honestly.