Locating good schools of bass in the Fall is relatively easy, as compared to other times of the year. To find fish in the Fall, simply concentrate your efforts back into the creeks.

The changing of sweetgum leaves to hues of yellow, orange and magenta, the sumac turning to scarlet signals a magic time of year. Soon skeins of geese will start winging their way down from the north country to their wintering grounds along the Texas coast, yodeling their arrival as they pass high overhead. The cool nip in the morning air typically turns the outdoorsman’s thoughts toward big brush-busting bucks and preparing the duck blind for the up-coming hunting seasons. But for the die-hard bass fisherman, this signals one of the best times of the year to be on the water in search of micropterous salmoides, the largemouth bass.

All summer long the bass have been in their deep-water summertime haunts, but somehow as surely as the leaves are turning the bass know that mass migrations of shad are happening back into the creeks. As this movement of baitfish into the tributaries of reservoirs happens, the bass are soon to follow. Aside from the spring spawning season, this is the only time of the year that the majority of the bass population is in shallow water and more accessible to the angler. Some anglers argue that the fall season is better than the springtime because the bass are now in the shallows to feed on the abundant supply of forage, unlike in the springtime when they are there primarily to carry on the spawning ritual. Their logic holds validity because the fish are shallow for this singular purpose, feeding in preparation for the colder months ahead. To further enhance fishing in the fall, cold fronts tend to trigger feeding frenzies, unlike the springtime when a cold front causes the bass to become lethargic and puts them in non-feeding modes.

Additionally, there are fewer anglers on the water than in the spring and summer. The kids are back in school where studies and football activities occupy time that would otherwise be spent on the water. Most serious hunters are also anglers and the opening of the hunting seasons removes this segment of the fishing public from the water. In short, if you winterize your rig too early, you are missing possibly the very best part of the fishing year.

Locating good schools of bass in the Fall is relatively easy, as compared to other times of the year. To find fish in the fall, simply concentrate your efforts back into the creeks. Select those coves or arms of the lake that have good migration paths into them. Migration paths come in the form of roadbeds, fence rows, tree lines, and submerged creek channels that lead back into back-water areas. All the aforementioned migration paths are good, but the very best are the inundated creek channels that lead from deep-water sanctuaries to the shallows. These underwater features are easily located using a topographical map and good electronics. Once the fishing area is selected, simply follow the migration path back into the coves until the fish are located.

The fish this time of the year are on a solid shad pattern so this greatly narrows the bait selection. The very best fish-locating tool to use during this period is the crankbait in shad patterns. Shad patterned crankbaits are those in chrome blue, chrome black, or some variation of white like Tennessee Shad. Select a crankbait that runs the appropriate depth of the water that you are fishing. In other words, if the water is eight to twelve feet deep, an ideal choice would be a Poe’s 400 or a Norman’s DD-14 or Deep Little N. Simply position the boat in the creek channel and fan cast along the creek as you move toward the back of the creek.

Pay close attention to how far back into the creek you first encounter fish, usually they will be in the back one-third of the cove. Once this is established, you can determine how far along the migration is and you can move from creek to creek and duplicate the pattern, eliminating a lot of fishless water thereby concentrating on the areas that hold the greatest concentration of fish.

A spinnerbait is another good lure to use at this time of the year, especially if the water on the flats along the creek channel is five feet deep or less. Again, shad patterns are the key. Pay close attention also to the size of the shad. Many times a reduction in lure size is important if the fish are feeding on small shad. On more than one occasion, I have found it necessary to drop down to a one-quarter ounce or even a one-eighth ounce spinner bait to catch fish that are feeding on smaller baitfish. In clear to medium stained water, white, chartreuse and white, or even one of the translucent sparkle skirted spinnerbaits work the best. Lures with willow leafed blades from #2 to #3 1/2 are usually the top producers. Some days they want nickel blades, some times gold works the best… simply let the fish tell you what works best.

On days when the fish are not active, try pitching a jig and pork combination to stumps, logs, or what ever cover is adjacent to the creek channel. I seldom get over 50 feet either side of the creek channel, as the fish will be positioned close to the creek unlike in the springtime when they spread out along the shorelines to spawn. Be sure to pay close attention to what type of cover that the fish are relating to. Some days they will be on stumps, some days they will relate better to laydown logs, some days clumps of vegetation are the targets of choice, but in the fall fish are patterned more easily than at any other time of the year. When a solid pattern is established, fish only those high percentage areas.

Don’t winterize that rig too early this year. Put on a light jacket for those chilly mornings and get out there and enjoy some of the best fishing of the year.