Fall is Big Bass Season

Fall is Big Bass Season

By Dan Turner

The best part of the Mid-West for many of us is the change in seasons. Each season brings with it a new set of outdoor opportunities: Winter is ice fishing and trapping, spring is turkeys and mushrooms, summer is fishing and water sports, and fall is hunting. But for any dedicated bass fisherman, fall also means the biggest bass of the year! And because hunting starts taking priority the chance for you to have the lake all to yourself also goes up as fall progresses, which is personally my favorite part.

Sure, spring bass fishing during the pre-spawn period is very productive and results in big females, but in the fall ALL the bass are fattening up for the cold winter. They are away from their summer homes and trying to fatten up for the long, cold winter ahead. And finding these big fish is both simpler and more frustrating than you may think.

In the summer the sun beats down, warming the water and making fish seek shade of weeds and docks or they dive to deeper depths to avoid the warm water. As the temps start dropping in the fall and the water temps dip below 60 degrees the fish move out of those summer haunts looking for warmer water. The fish will migrate back to shallow water, especially on northern and eastern shores that receive the most sunlight in the middle and later part of the day. Rocks on those locations can be phenomenal as they absorb the suns heat and attract life from the entire ecosystem. And don’t forget about the wind as windblown shores that will blow in baitfish, and ultimately the predator fish we are after. Fortunately, finding these locations is easy; figuring out what they are biting on and WHEN they are going to bite is the difficult part.

In the EMS and fire service we have a saying: ‘Our job is hours of boredom filled with moments of chaos’. And the same can be said for fall bass fishing. When the water temps are under 55 degrees or so bass activity starts slowing down. Instead of feeding all day long as they do in the summer, they go into a pattern where they will eat a big meal at one time during the day. You can be at the boat ramp at dawn, but chances are you may have several hours of very slow fishing, if you get a bite at all. Once the sun gets high in the sky and starts warming things up though, you better be on the right spot with the right bait because it can get fast and furious in a hurry! I’ve had days where I fished for 6 hours, covered the same spot twice with 4 different baits without a bite. Then at 2:00 pm the fish decide to eat and all the spots you fished without a bite now have 4 and 5 pounders hitting your line. And like a light switch at 3:00 they are done. You have to be patient and persistent.

Fall fishing is similar to spring pre-spawn fishing in that your lure selection is somewhat determined by water temp. Water conditions, water temp, local forage, and sometimes just trial and error will determine which of these will be productive for the body of water you are fishing. But water temp is by far the most important condition to watch because it will determine both your location and baits to use. Once water gets below 60 you can put away the plastic worms, below 50 your topwater baits should be a less likely temptation. Jigs with craw trailers, crank baits, swimbaits, jerk baits, and spinner baits will be your go to baits. Along rocks, trees, and boat ramps is where square bills, jerk baits, and jigs will shine. Shallow flats and along dying vegetation will be best suited for topwater and jerk baits once the water temps start their initial seasonal drop, then swimbaits and spinner baits may be more productive as the water continues to cool. A blue gill or shad patterned square bill along weed edges can also be very deadly with any water temp.

Your presentation will also change with the cooler water temps, usually slower is key. Your jerk baits will have a slower cadence, square bills may need to slow down with more frequent and longer pauses in your retrieve. Spinner baits should be lightweight so when you pause it on a slow retrieve it does not drop too far in the water column. Retrieving swimbaits slower will also require a little lighter weight and you will need a bait that is very flaccid, as the stiffer swimbaits will have less or no action with slow retrieval speeds. As far as jigs go, the overall presentation will slow down with longer pauses after the “hop”. Once the water gets below 50 you may try just a slow drag across the bottom with 4-10 second pauses instead of the traditional hopping action we use in the summer.

And while these slower tactics are a good rule to follow, there are always exceptions. One of my best bass fishing trips was almost a bust. My less experienced boat partner casted over my line on accident while I was fishing a bladed jig. I sped up my retrieve to avoid a tangle and a fish absolutely smoked my bait. Over the next hour we caught all kinds of fish, but they only wanted a blue/black bladed jig reeled at fast you could reel with quick pauses after 4 turns of the handle. We fished for 5 hours in 45-degree water with lots for different baits, and that one-hour flurry of activity happened on lightning fast retrieves with one specific bait. The lesson here is be confident, keep trying different baits in different manners. They will bite, you just have to figure out how.

Remember too that the lakes cool off faster than you may think. After being at 70-85 degrees all summer, cooler nights and shortening light hours per day will really start to pull the heat from the water quickly. That first good cold front in September can take the water to 60 degrees in less than 72 hours. Because the sun is lower in the sky and days are getting shorter, water temperature fluctuations are determined more by the nighttime temps than the daytime temps. The cooler the nights, the colder the lakes will get. Watch the weather for each approaching cold front and be ready for the 2nd day after the front comes through. You can go out the day after the front passes, but fishing may be slow as the barometric pressure change usually has negative effects on fishing year-round.

Now that you have the basic knowledge of what and how, here is a quick guide to some of our southern Iowa lakes to where you can get a jump start on the fall bass action:

Lake Belva Deere
Focus on the rocky north shores and dam. The upper arm has lots of shallow water with nearby drop offs into the creek channel that are also productive. Bluegill and crawfish patterns work best.

Lake Hawthorne
This lake is in its prime after a renovation several years ago. There are several rock jetties and shallow flats to fish. Crawfish and bluegill patterns work best. Also be prepared to hook on to a 40”+ muskie!

Rathbun and Redrock Reservoir
There is lots of rock to fish on both these lakes. There is also a few bridges and several boat ramps to fish. Focus on wind-blown shores. Don’t be surprised to catch a walleye or a large wiper on a square bill. Shad patterns are king here.

Little River
While there isn’t much rock on this lake, there is lots of vegetation. Hit the edges on southern and eastern shores.

Red Haw Lake
The dam is a prefect rocky, southern shore for fall fishing. There is also a lot of vegetation and shallows next to drop-offs. Blue gill and crawfish patterns are best.

Smaller area city reservoirs and farm ponds
The most overlooked water is the smaller lakes and ponds. Focus on the southern and eastern wind-blown shores in the fall and you will find the fish. The state record came out of Lake Fisher, an 82-acre electric only lake. Sometimes boat ramps are sketchy on the smaller lakes, but your chances for large fish go up drastically. If the state record is broken, I’ll bet money it will come out of a southern Iowa lake that is less than 150 acres.

Nearly every lake in Iowa has bass, and believe it or not most have at least a few 5 pounders waiting for your bait. So, I hope you can take this knowledge and apply it to your favorite lake. And the most important tip to catch big bass year after year is to CPR: Catch. Picture. Release!