northern fall bass?

[bassin baller]

ok i have always heard that fall is one of the best time to go bass fishing. well the fall is here for sure where i live. me and my friend went fishing and all we caught were three smallmouth who were very active. the largemouth on the other hand would barely move and i lost 3 of them one good one. but it wasnt crazy good like everyone says. idk it might have been the lake because we have only been there once.  maybe we should go to a lake that we know. were going again tomorrow  and the lake is clear has 3 main points and has a lot of tall grass comin up from the bottom. im just wondering what lures to throw and how deep to fish. and will topwater work in the morning? thanks please reply.

[roadwarrior]

Whenever I have an option of fishing for largemouth or smallmouth, I always opt for brown fish. You can catch green bass fishing for smallies, but it doesn't usually work the other way around. This time of year I would HIGHLY recommend jerkbaits, especially in low light. Shallow running crankbaits early and Rat-L-Traps later are other options. Soft plastics and jigs are the ticket throughout most of the day.

[GAMEOVER]

I agree with Kent, jerkbaits are excellent baits year round but in fall they really can come to life. I highly recommend Lucky Craft Poiners, Rapala X-raps, Rapala Husky Jerks, Flukes, etc. The Largemouth Bass you will have to give some time. They usually go on a feeding frenzy in packs and chase all the bait fish inturn forcing them to corners and creeks to feed massively on them. This is when you will nail all the Largemouths you want. Look at the body of water your fishing in, find the forage in it and when you do fish there because chances are there's a bunch of Bass right behind them.

[Banor]

While I completely agree with the RW on this, I need to make another point.  I'm up here in Michigan and fished a tournament on your classic definition of reservoir - Wixom Lake.  This is a river impoundment that only gets water pulled on the weekdays.  They dont pull water on the weekends... crappy eh?  Anyway by anyone's standards we are deep in a fall pattern up here.  Water is 65 degrees on the main lake, temps getting cold at night, and the leaves are turning.  

The tournament was won on a toad pattern in the pads (a summer pattern) on a limit of LM.  Only one smallie was weighed in for the entire field.  No fish were caught on cranks and the only spinnerbait bite was if you completely killed the spinnerbait and let it drop on the breaklines.  They'd either hit it on the fall or after it hit bottom(I'm not disputing this makes perfect sense for any time of year  ;D ). No topwater bites were reported.  I threw X-Raps and pointers with not even a follow.  I caught several 13 7/8's smallies on a T-rigged hula grub in 20 FOW doing nothing but let it sit.  My partner caught a couple on drop shot in 25 FOW.  I caught 2 on a chatterbait but only if I mimic'd the spinnerbait pattern stated previous.  Senko's deadsticked produced as well.  

I spent most of my time at the mouth of feeder creeks, points in that general area and further into the canals.  There was also a decent dock bite going.  

I said all that to say dont rule out the slower patterns and "cookie cutter" summer patterns.  They can still produce when nothing else will.

It didnt help that I didnt get to prefish this lake and didnt find out until too late that they dont pull water on the weekends.

B

[Garnet]

Largies take a little time to adjust to the colder water but when they do they get shallow and they get active. You will read about the lakes turning over for the most part that starts the adjustment then after largies get acustom to these fronts going thru everyday or 2 the effect becomes less. And the bite starts. the best part stay in bed until mid morning get on the lake about 10:30 - 11 and quit early 3.

Garnet

[mferris]

the only luck i've had is slow rolling a spinnerbait along the tops of the weeds and letting it fall along the weed edges..i'm in the north east and the lake i usually fish isn't real clear right now..i have tried everything from topwaters to jigs and the spinnerbait is working the best

[fishingJ]

That grass sounds perfect. If I were fishing that I'd fish a worm through or above the grass depending on how tall it is.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Jigs. rock bottoms with grass nearby. I'm limited in my fall patterns however, I never got past his one. If it ain't broke,lol.

I should probably try a few of these suggestions in the next few weeks, It's just tough to break away from what you know sometimes.

One slight variance I noticed this year was that in early fall, they have seemed to prefer a horizontal presentation. Not my forte but my partner has shown consistent results throwing a super fluke and speed fishing a husky jerk with alot of rod snapping and extremely brief pauses.  I like to stick with what I know but he likes to catch on all different stuff.  Good match when we are teamed up.

[Nick_Barr]

One of my fav's in weedy lakes with sunfish in it!!!! I throw a Black HART Spinnerbait with a colorado Blade over the tops of weed Flats and weedlines in about 6-10 feet of water.