There are certain lures that are especially great for fall bass fishing. Of course lure selection should be based more on actual water temperature than the date on the calendar. But you can almost always rely on these lures to produce in the cooling water temperatures of the fall.
1. Jigs
There is no overall better performing lure for fall bass fishing than a jig. Jigs performa all year long because of how versatile they are. And it’s their versatility that plays the major role when you are trying to dial in on the fall pattern. Listen to any professional bass fisherman talk about fall fishing and they will always mention a jig.
When bass are feeding aggressively for the winter they tend to get dialed into a pattern of targeting a particular prey. In most cases this will be either crayfish and/or some specie of baitfish. By rigging a jig with either a craw trailer or paddle-tail swimbait trailer, you can easily match the profile and action of either type of prey.
You also have full control of the color pattern on a jig. Between being able to select the color of the head, the skirt, and the trailer, you have the ability to combine whatever colors you want. This flexibility allows you to zero-in on any color combinations that best represent the prey you want to match.
So between the customization of the action, the profile, and the color combos, jigs are the perfect lure for mimicking the prey bass are feeding on. We recommend BiCO Original Jigs, because you can fish them as flipping jigs or swim jigs. If you want to learn more about them click here to read our full review.
But another big reason jigs are one of the best fall bass lures is their flexibility in retrieve speed. You can burn a swim jig when bass or active or slow them down when they’re not. The end of fall brings much cooler water temperatures, making bass more sluggish and less aggressive. This is when working a jig slowly on the bottom is your best bet.
2. Buzzbaits
Buzzbaits have a strong reputation for being a springtime bait, and this is because spring is a time when bass are feeding heavily and the water temps are favorable for fast-moving topwater baits. Well, fall brings with it very similar conditions, especially in early fall.
Fall bass are feeding on shad and other baitfish, which is what a buzzbait represents. The sputtering and splashing is designed to send off signals of a small, distressed fish swimming erratically up on the surface.
Similarly, the fall is a time when bass tend to be in and around weeded areas, places where a buzzbait excels. Bass use the weeds as cover to ambush baitfish as they pass by. Running a buzzbait like a Strike King Buzz through grass and along weedlines is a great tactic for luring bass out to explode on the surface.
3. Swimbaits
If you’re not looking for numbers and mainly want to target big bass, then swimbaits are what you should be throwing. At a time of year when bass are gorging on other fish, a swimbait is an excellent choice for anglers pursuing the bass of a lifetime.
As the swimbait craze continues, with it comes new designs of extraordinarily detailed baits. Whether bass are feeding on bluegill or rainbow trout, with the wide selection out there today you can almost identically match the species you’re looking to mimic.
Waking a big swimbait like a Spro Rat on a rippled surface, or slow-rolling a soft paddle tail swimbait like a Huddleston Trout along the bottom are both effective methods for getting a big bass to bite in the fall. Most of these big baits are slow-moving, and not only represent an easy meal but a filling one too.
Although spring is a much more complex season for bass fishing, it’s actually not all that different from fall. In terms of water temperature becoming more favorable it’s very similar. More specifically, it’s similar to when bass move up to shallow water from the depths in search of food.
The only difference is in spring the shallows are warming up and in the fall the they are cooling down. But those temperatures are both moving towards more comfortable water is what makes them comparable.
Bass behavior is highly affected by water temperature, they are typically most active in 60 to 75 degree water. In temperatures colder or warmer than that range, bass begin to get more lethargic. Naturally, a lethargic bass is more difficult to catch than an active one. That’s what makes this temperature range a highly sought after window for bass anglers.
As these more comfortable water temps move in, and with bass sensing that winter is fast approaching, they go into what is known as “the fall feed”. This is a time when bass tend to gorge themselves in preparation for winter.
When winter sets in, bass become so lethargic that they barely need to eat at all. In fact, since their bodies burn such little energy these cold conditions they can survive on a single bait fish for an entire month.
