How to fish bass in the fall period in reservoirs is di divided into 3 parts ( early fall, mid fall, and late fall). I will cover early fall bass fishing tips in this post. Summer to fall transition occurs for bass approximately mid September to mid October. When water temperatures drop signals to some of the bass to start the fall migration.
The transition of bass from their summer to fall pattern does not happen at once for all bass. In reservoirs bass will follow the shad that migrate up the creek arms. Bass will migrate in stages from the deep water , weed lines , shallow slop in the main lake to the mouths of the creek arms , and then up the creek arms.
Shad in reservoirs are the main source of food explains why bass follow this movement pattern in the fall. Fall can be a great time to fish for bass and can also be a very frustrating period for the bass fishermen trying to figure out a bass pattern on a given day of bass fishing . Early fall is short in duration lasting about two weeks.
Tactics for early fall bass would be to start out on the weed line and the shallow and deep flats adjacent to the last remaining weeds. The fisherman should cover lots of water in the early fall period. Use big active lures. Prime lure choices would be a big double bladed spinner bait, a crank bait like the a Rapala crankbait (clakin rap ), a white jig that imitates a shad is a great overlooked bait. The shad which suspend in deep water will change their pattern in the early fall. Shad will move more to the surface in early fall following their feed phytoplankton.
Phytoplankton are tool small to see with the naked eye but provides the water with a green tint. So the bass fisherman in the early fall should fish shallower rather than deeper. To summarize early fall fish fast , cover a lot of water. Fish the weed flats first. Weed flats near the creek arm mouths are prime. Look for isolated patches of weed will out produce solid weed flats. A number one choice would be a lipless crank bait (such as the Rapala clackin rap) to fish these weeds . The lipless crank bait will sink and allow the fisherman be more versatile in the ability to cover different depths. The Mid fall period is the best time to fish for bass and I will cover that in the near future.