Fall arrives a little earlier than most anglers realize. If you pay attention to the weather, watch for cooler nights in mid- to late-August. As the days lengthen, it’s darker longer, and that promotes the cool down. Which makes September and October prime bass months. Work it right and you can have success with both species.
As water cools, weeds begin to recede. Small-lake largemouth, be it in shallower lakes or flowages, get the message – eat. You can be there when they start. Take a small flowage I fish. Two seasons ago, there were more bass by a bridge near the outlet in September than I ever remember. Cooler water, current-pushing food, and good cover grouped largemouth of all sizes. Fishing jigs around weeds, the deeper wood and concrete pilings provided a gangbuster day!
Spending time on the main flowage found holes and gaps as the weeds died. They provided places to cast and gave the fish time to see the baits and react. We could fish shallow crankbaits and spinnerbaits. If they failed, a switch to a weightless, weedless, five-inch Senko picked up the pace. Getting those down along the deeper weeds coaxed a bunch of bigger largemouth that wouldn’t chase the shallower baits.
As September progresses, rivers also cool and smallmouth that summer in shallow feeder streams start moving toward wintering areas. In our location, several tributaries empty into the Wolf River, giving access to deeper waters that provide the food and sanctuary that groups a lot of fish in smaller areas. They’ll continue biting into November, with October seeing the hottest action.
I was lucky to fish one of these feeders on a late September weekend one year, and hit a ton of fish showing up for the winter. We caught all of them in a stretch less than 30 yards from the feeder’s mouth. There were smallmouth from 12 inches to four pounds. Crankbaits, mostly brown and red crawfish patterns, were the game and the bite was literally nonstop on both days.
As the fish head toward deeper water, areas could sizzle one day and be empty the next. Good areas can host new groups regularly.
Find the deep holes and slow down. Dragging baits across bottom is the best retrieve. The menu includes jig baits like tubes, or flukes, stick worms and swing jigs with plastic beaver-style baits as trailers. Natural colors work best, but carry some colorful plastics, like bubble gum or chartreuse. I’ve seen fish ignore a green pumpkin tube then jump all over a brighter chartreuse color.
Keep your bass focus locked on September and October. You could experience days when you’ll be doing a lot more catching than just fishing.
