Story by Todd Goade | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
The fall transition is always a challenging period for bass fishing, marked by changing water temperatures, bait migrations, and fish behavior. As the season shifts, we need to adapt our strategies to target bass that are aggressively feeding in preparation for winter. Although sometimes challenging, it can be very rewarding as well.
During this time, fish are usually feeding on small bait, which can make fishing difficult. Using smaller lures to mimic the smaller bait is one of the keys to success in fall fishing that can trigger more bites. A few baits that I always have on the deck of my boat this time of year are a 1/8-ounce Pulse Jig from Pulse Fish paired with a Zoom three-inch Shimmer Shad, a Pulse Fish 1/4-ounce Matt Arey Signature Series Finesse Swimbait Head with a 2.8 or 3.3 paddle tail swimbait, a small crankbait, and a smaller walking topwater bait.
I like to target those transition areas where bait is moving back in the creeks, fishing secondary points and staging areas still close to deep water. Later in the fall the fish are usually shallower as the bait has migrated and the water temperature has continued to drop. At that time, I like to use baits like crankbaits, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, walking topwater baits, and lipless crankbaits.
I cover a lot of water during the fall with my foot on the trolling motor, and when I find some fish, I slow down and pick the area apart a little more. In east Tennessee, fish tend to relate to pea gravel banks, or places that transition from that to bigger rock or any irregular feature. If one area of the lake isn’t working, I’ll pull up the trolling motor and run to a totally different part of the lake to see what’s going on in that area. Sometimes a different area of the lake can have different conditions such as water temperature, water color, and can be the difference between a good day and a great day on the water.
Personally, the fall and winter is my favorite time of the year to fish. A lot of times you’ll have the lake to yourself as most of the pleasure boaters have winterized their boats for the year, and other anglers are in the woods hunting. The scenery with the leaves changing and the beautiful mountain views where I live make being in God’s creation even better.
To summarize, cover water, use smaller baits, and cover water! Keep moving and at some point, you’ll run into them.
