Best Baits to Throw During the Fall Transition

The Summer to Fall transition can be a really difficult time for anglers to locate bass. Their Summer patterns are fading and the Fall patterns haven't yet come on strong. However, while the bulk of anglers are struggling there are a handful that are capitalizing and turning the Fall into one of the most productive times of year to catch big bass. 

In this video Matt breaks down the best baits for Fall bass fishing. This video started out as a "Top 5" video but instead Matt pulled out his actual Fall transition baits box and shows you every bait in it. 

Below are the baits and colors shown...

-S-Waver 168 Swimbait in "Light Trout" color

-Whopper Plopper 130 in "Bluegill" or "Loon"
-Bully Wa 2 Frog in "Dirty White", Yellow/Black, or "Little Allen" (Little John)

LV-500 Lipless Crankbait (Ghost Minnow, Chartreuse Shad, American Shad)

-Lucky Craft RTO 4.0 Squarebill (Chartreuse Shad)
-Biggie Smalls Squarebill in T1000 or TS Minnow
-Jackall Aska 70 Squarebill in "Super Shad"

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-Staysee 90 Jerkbait (Ghost Minnow)
-Pointer 100 DD Jerkbait (Chartreuse Shad)
-Pointer 100 Jerkbait (Gun Metal Shad)

-Bling Spinnerbait 3/8 oz (Abalone Shad)

-3/8 oz Pitchin' Jig (Go To or Norcal Craw)
-3/4 oz Flippin' Jig (Molting Craw)
Sweat Beaver Trailer (Green Pumpkin Red Flake)

Matt Allen Swimbait Head
Blade Runner Spintrix
4.8 or 4.3 Keitech Fat Swing Impact

With this selection of baits you're able to cover every bass fishing scenario that fall fishing can throw your way. Whether the fish are up shallow in docks and timber or out in the scattered grass and tullies, you'll have lures to reach and trigger the bass into biting. 

Use the glidebait, swimbaits, and reaction baits to locate schooling fish but once you've found them slow down with the squarebill crankbait, jig, and lipless crankbait to capitalize on the schooling bass and catch as many as possible. Don't be afraid to camp out on a school of bass and attempt to catch every fish in the group, this is one of the best ways to get a BIG bass to bite. 

Best Baits For Fall Bass Fishing

Fall is fast approaching and with it comes the opportunity to catch big largemouth in the shallows. Instead of struggling to get bit on the outer ledges or deep in cover like you've done the last few months you can now target shallows flats, pockets, and breaks for schooling fish. 

In this video we cover the Top 5 Baits every angler should add to their Fall Fishing arsenal. If you struggle to catch bass in fall you're making one of two mistakes. Either you aren't fishing shallow enough or you aren't covering enough water to locate bait balls with schooling bass. The key to success is to keep moving until you locate the right size bass. Once found, each of these baits will help you capitalize on the school to catch as many bass as possible. 

Baits discussed in this video...

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Photo Courtesy of Sean Moffett

Dirty Jigs Football Jig

Norman DD22 Crankbait

Lucky Craft LV-500 Lipless Crankbait

River2Sea S-Waver 168

Heddon Super Spook

Part 3: How to Find and Catch Bass on a New Lake

The final video in the "New Lake" series is here. If you've ever wondered how we go about finding bass quickly in a new lake, this is the series to watch. Matt goes on the water and shows you step by step what he's doing, as well as thinking, to quickly find bass in a body of water he knows nothing about. 

In Part 3 you'll see the same trends showing up that you saw in parts 1 and 2. Quickly identifying prey species and likely fish locations will allow you to load the boat and develop quickly. In the previous videos Matt found his best success with a 3 pronged approach to active fish. When the fish were most active he was able to get bit on a River2Sea Rover topwater. Once the fish began moving out he was able to catch them on a crankbait. He used both a Norman Deep Lil N and a Strike King 5XD. Lastly, he downsized to a small Keitech Fat Swing Impact to catch the remaining aggressive fish as the day warmed up. This bait selection let him continue to catch reaction fish long after the reaction bite had slowed. 

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Now as the sun is warming the air and surface of the water the fish finally go deep. Matt is forced to follow them down and change his approach. He targets them with a Casting Jig and a small dropshot rig. The dropshot rig featured a small Strike King worm on 8 lb fluorocarbon leader to finesse the last of the fish that were still willing to bite. Finesse fishing isn't glamourous but it works when everything else has stopped and can allow you to catch a few extra fish before heading home. 

We hope you're able to take these tips and tricks to a lake near you and quickly develop patterns to catch fish as you break down the lake. Don't let new lakes intimidate you! Make a plan, put it to action, and follow through until you begin catching bass. Good luck out there!