Fall Bass fishing - Fake News!

[fisherman92]

Okay so not so much fake news.. But..
I went out to a local clear water lake and didn't get anything from SMB or LMB fishing from 7am-1130AM. Fished mostly docks, some drops, and some flats mostly 3'-25' deep. Water was 58-61 degrees. Tried plastics, swimbaits, topwater etc.
The water seems very clear this time of year and all we had was a bite or two and tons of perch nibbles. I would usually be river fishing this time of year, but this great weather hasn't done much for that and I figured it'd be great fall bass weather.
Where are the bass at? Anyone have some suggestions. I will be trying a different local clear water lake this weekend that only has LMB. Are they in the shallows, or deeper still? Are afternoons better this time of year? What do these bass want? Maybe I could have just had a bad day lol
Thanks and better luck to you all!

[Amx]

Yesterday and today I caught them deep and shallow. Most were shallow.

[fisherman92]

Good to know. Thanks AMX glad to here your catching em!

[grubowski]

I tend to do better in the afternoon when the water is cooler. Suspending jerkbaits are one of my go to baits this time of year. Also try making long casts with light line and small 1/8 or 3/16 oz jig heads and a small swimbait like a Keitech Easy Shiner with a slow retrieve.

[grubowski]

Whoops, meant to say when the water is warmer. Hoping they’re still biting as I’m heading out for bass tomorrow.

[8theB8]

So much depends on the body of water. Small shallow featureless lakes are going to fish very different than say something the size of Lake Washington with massive structure variations. I have largemouth lakes I target in the Fall because they are shallow and vegetation filled and therefore can be a little more predictable.

Transition banks on larger lakes (think 45 degree angle) can be decent as the bass don't have to move far to adjust their comfort or forage level. In shallow vegetation I will almost always start as shallow as possible and work my way out. Don't need to necessarily commit to "down-sized" baits as the fish know Winter is approaching so they are targeting high protein to fatten up. Every smallmouth I have caught recently was packing a big gut and regurgitating crawdads. Aside from adjusting my cadence this time of year, I typically throw the same stuff I throw in early Spring, in most of the same areas.

In really clear water just use as natural a color as possible. Maybe use mop jigs instead of traditional silicone as they have more lifelike movement with less input needed to move the skirt. Thermoclines don't break down as quickly with our extended nice weather, that can cause bass to stay in the deeper more oxygen rich water. Once we start getting weather and the surface layer gets oxygenated with fresh wind, rain, running creeks and run off you may notice fish pushing really shallow to take advantage of it? This can be a short feeding window depending on how fast the overall weather changes affect water temperatures. I'm currently finding water temps in the mid to upper 50's. I will continue to target largemouth shallow (10' or less) until I see 50 degree water temps. I will then move out to outside weed edges until water temps dip below 47 degrees.

I fish November the same way I fish March, jigs and target wood cover in 15 to 0 feet. I fish 50 degree or less water with mop jigs, jerkbaits, deeper crankbaits and heavy swim-baits and just slow the cadence down. Getting skunked can be great if it makes you think and do more research....in the past 40 years, getting skunked drove me to fish just as much as catching a whopper has!

Old bass fishing saying: "When in doubt, downsize". I have found this rule useful as once you get a little bass to bite and tell you what color he liked, typically you can up-size in the same color and technique and get his larger kin folk to commit. I have found that very very true when using Carolina-rigs especially! Good luck out there, don't give up and keep us posted!

[grubowski]

That sounds more like the fish I’m used to, but for some reason the places I’ve fished, the fish haven’t done what I’ve expected. I was fishing a shallow, dark water lake on Wednesday with a ton of pads. All summer they’ve been up under the pads. They’ve thinned a bit and with water temps still at 57 I spent a lot of time probing them. I had some pecks at a jig and a couple little guys took off with my worm only to have it torn in half. I finally made it to the far end of the lake and got hammered on a swim jig in maybe two feet of water. They’d left the pads for milfoil apparently. Missed several despite the hard hits and then finally caught a couple, then nothing. I moved out to the deeper water and tossed tiny 2” swimbaits for panfish since the bass weren’t committing and started catching bass on the tiny offerings. Also a nice crappie. That was it though.

Like you said bass usually get fired up in the fall and feed aggressively. Not sure why these ones have been so moody. It’s true what you said about tough fishing pushing you harder though. I had planned on fishing a numbers lake on Tuesday but I can’t stop thinking about that slow day on Wednesday. I have all these ideas now that I want to try because I know there are big fish there.

[8theB8]

I caught a largemouth on a lake up north in less than a foot of water and the algae had been so thick for so long the bass was almost white! I would expect to see a shallow bite increase over the next couple weeks.

[grubowski]

Nice I like the sound of that. I’m not used to this bass fishing in November stuff. I like it.

[Jamesb]

It was slow with sun out recently and saw new algae blooms at Clear Lake, Beaver Lake and Lake Cassidy. Fall I tend to do well out from shore on top water minnows...over weed beds if lake has any. Two lakes I have fished in fall catching bass 20-40 ft from shore and can have non stop action until dark. Rat l traps and countdown minnows toased to middle of nowhere work well in fall and you can nail a good sized trout or two. I have nailed trout on top water minnow casting to a ripple after it surfaced...they hate perch colored minnows too...good luck

[tbrinks]

This is my favorite time of year. Throw bigger baits as the fish are feeding up heavily now before winter creeps in. My strategy is to throw 4-6" swimbaits, move fast and hit deep weedlines, mainlake points and underwater points like the one shown here.



Here is one I caught off of that spot last week.

[grubowski]

I really need a boat. Hard to cover much water in a float tube