Fall Fishing.. What you should know (Part 1) : Grass, Rock & Wood.. the holy trinity

Fishing in the fall can be both highly rewarding, and highly frustrating, often the difference between these two results can be very small. Here is part one of a two part series on what it takes to be successful in the fall...

In this first section we are going to focus on talking about the various types of structure we as bass anglers target, and in doing so I'm often reminded of the kids  game "rock, paper, scissors", you know, grass beats rock, but rock beats wood and so on and so on.

Grass

This is pretty simple, when fishing grass in the fall, your main objective is to search out "green" or living grass. As the temps drop the weeds begin to wither and  die off,  along with all the oxygen they provide. Bass tend to hold to or just outside living "green" grass. This serves two purposes.. oxygen and cover for ambushing prey.

When fishing grass in the fall I like to work the 1-2-3 punch of  a Jig,  a spinner bait, and top water. The Jig I will often fish on the outer edge of the weed and up to 3ft inside the remaining bed. The key here is to downsize from your bulky summer jigs and opt for a slower fall rate. Swim jigs or finesse jigs are great for this presentation.

When fishing a spinnerbait my goal is to cover water, and entice an active bite. I start off by slow-rolling the spinnerbait along/across the weed edge, and then I will fish a larger portion of the bed as long as there is enough water to keep my blades above the weeds, but not so high that it turns into a wake bait. I don't spend a great deal of time searching the whole bed unless I get a couple early fish.. then like most anglers I may be there all day..lol

Lastly Top-Water is a great way to fish weed beds in the fall. To be successful its all about the noise.. so put away those quiet walking baits and break out the poppers and/or  buzz baits.

Buzz baits to me are the quintessential  Fall top water bait, they are loud, and can be run at various speeds, but they work best in the early to mid fall while the fish are still fairly active and willing to chase down baits, but as the air and water temps drop your going to want to put them away and break out your favourite popper (may I recommend the Deps Pulsecode)

Rock

I'm more of a visible structure fisherman, so timber and weeds are my first and second priorities when bass fishing, but as the seasons change so must we, and rock points and gravel shoals are a good place to look for fish as the water temps dip. 

Many anglers falsely believe that rocks are for smallmouth only, sure rocks are home for many bruiser smallies,  but as the season moves on, you can and will often find largemouth bass cruising rock structure in search of bait fish, because of this I change up my approach slightly by including a medium (to deep) diving crank bait in the mix 

Obviously crank-baits are the ultimate in bait fish imitators, so it is important to match the hatch and to use a bait that will get you down deep enough to make contact with the bottom from time to time. stirring things up is a must and will help ring the dinner bell for these cruising fish

Top Water would be my second way to tackle rock piles, like with grass I find that buzz baits and or poppers are your best bet, and to be honest I usually stick with poppers over rocks, don't ask me why as it just comes down to personal preference.

Wood

I left wood till the last because i find it to be the most unpredictable of the three. (Wood for the purposes of this article includes submerged timber, floating timber, partially submerged timber and docks). Why is wood the most unpredictable target in the fall?  because it's success relies on the its proximity to grass (green) and or rock... so maybe its not as unpredictable as I'm leading you to believe?

Wood in the fall is not used by bass for the purposes of shade, but for ambushing prey. So when fishing timber or  docks in the fall, I'm more apt to focus on the edges and trying to draw our aggressive fish. The best way to do this is (in my opinion) is with swim jigs and spinnerbaits.

When flipping docks and timber with a jig, I'm looking for a nice slow fall, to achieve this you can either downsize your jig (1/4oz) or up size your trailer. Fall is also the time of year you are more likely to find me trying out various jig colours. In the summer months I stick with black, black and black, but in the fall I will start to break out the browns and oranges. Try multiple casts to various points, being sure to make contact with the wood whenever you can.

Spinnerbaits I will use in two or three ways. If fishing docks I will run them along both sides of the dock (the entire length of the dock) and I will cast them at a 45 degree angle off the front corners. This gets me a hair under the front lip of the dock to help draw the attention of any fish that may be holding a bit deeper in. When fishing a spinnerbait on submerged timber the key is to cover all sides of the timber and bang into and off of it as much as possible

Remember both timber and docks can bring you success in the fall, but you need to be aware of your surroundings. If there is no live vegetation near by, there will be no bait fish and no reason for the bass to use this timber as an ambush point.


Thanks for reading part one of this 2 part series on Fall fishing.