Tips for Fishing The Fall Bass Transition

Tips for Fishing The Fall Bass Transition:

Tim Little and Matt Allen – Tactical Bassin.

What is Fall Turnover?

The “turnover” is in reference to the water column turning over and mixing. During summer the water separates between warm surface temperature and cool, oxygen-rich, deeper water. These two are separated by what is called a thermocline. During the turnover, the thermocline breaks and the two water temps start to mix creating more livable water for the bass to be in. It also opens up the water column for the bait schools to start roaming. Once they start roaming, the bass follow suit trying to gorge themselves before winter.

Where Do Bass Go in Fall?

Fall bass tend to be nomadic in constant search of their next meals. But, where do you focus your time targeting them? Well during summer, the bass in your lake choose to either stay shallow or to go deep. What drives this is predominately the presence of oxygen in the water. The cooler deeper water contains a lot of oxygen, and warmer water tends to have less oxygen. What makes the fish go shallow is the presence of grass. That is why grass is so important in the summer for shallow fishing. Bass get in this grass and spend much of their summer in it. Tim elaborates on how this pertains to fall fishing by saying those fish are looking for the live bright green grass that is still producing oxygen. The dead grass no longer produces oxygen and in combination with warm water is not favorable for bass. These fish may stay in the shallow water but, they either look for more lively grass or they move to hard structure as the water temps start to drop more and grass becomes scarce.

The deep fish that were there in the summer may stay near these spots during the summer so long as they have bait. These fish are more nomadic chasing bait balls, sometimes making it easy to find them blowing up on bait. Majority of the time these are smaller fish, but, the larger fish may be under the bait waiting for easy meals. Working smarter, not harder.

What Baits Do I Use for Fall Bass Fishing?

Tim splits up his bait choices by whether he is targeting the shallow fish in the grass, or the deep nomadic fish. The shallow fish will continue to eat some summer baits such as a frog, but many topwater options die off. When this happens, Tim argues a squarebill is impossible to beat. He will keep two squarebills on the deck, one silent, and one rattling. At the same time, chatterbaits, and soft jerkbaits are baits of choice that Tim loves to fish.

On the deeper bass, Tim prefers to keep with moving baits rather than switch to slower presentations. He will continue throwing a deep diving crankbait to find the fish, and once he does, change to other deep baits such as a flutter spoon or blade bait. The flutter spoon also spends time in his hands when he finds the bait schools. The smaller fish will be on the surface feeding and the bigger fish, as mentioned before, will be under the bait and the flutter spoon is very effective at mimicking the dying baitfish and getting those larger bass to commit.

Seasonal Patterns explain why you might be catching certain fish at any given time during the year. Using some of these tips can help you decipher the fall turnover and help you catch more and bigger fish.

See here for other Bassin’ Articles …