We tend to think of fall as the time when bass are actively feeding up for winter. That’s definitely the case, but where I live in southern Oklahoma, it all starts a little earlier.
As soon as you get out of the dog days of summer and you get just a couple days of change when the water temperature drops a couple degrees, the fish get up in the dirt. They’ll be in 10 inches to a foot and a half of water.
A lot of the motivation is feeding — they can pin the baitfish against the shoreline. But I think it’s also oxygen levels. Lakes are turning over and the thermocline gets disrupted, so the fish go shallow to find the most oxygenated water.
As the year progresses into fall, this shallow feeding activity only increases.
I’ll look at points and secondary spots because the fish haven’t gotten to those flat banks and back of pockets yet. I like this time of year because you can just pull up to a spot that looks good, put the trolling motor down and go.
I’ll look for bank that has some irregularities to it, some type of structure. Maybe not just a sand bank, but a spot that has some rock or some wood where the bait will gather. I want something different that’s not just a complete monotonous bank.
In terms of conditions, I like the nasty, drizzly gloomy days. That seems like the magical days. The fish get less wary, and you can pick up that topwater and throw it all day long.
I have two main baits that I rely on for this fall feeding period. First is the Heddon Spinnin’ Image, a plopper-style bait that makes a lot of disturbance to attract the fish. If I really want to cover tons of water, I go with this one, because I can just cast and wind.
My other choice is a Booyah Boss Pop. I’ll use this one when I’m targeting specific spots that allow fish to stay in the strike zone longer.
Both of these baits are the right size to imitate the threadfin shad, which are smaller this time of year. Later in the fall, we may find big gizzard shad getting up shallow, and if you see one of those big baitfish come out of the water, it’s not a little one that’s after him.
That’s when I’ll go to big walking topwater like the Heddon Zara Spook. With any of these baits, bone and other shad imitating colors are best.
One thing that can impact the shallow bite is the fall drawdown. With reservoir levels lower this time of year, sometimes it seems like the fish are really schooled up, or really spread out.
When they’re spread out, a topwater provides you with an effective tool to look for them. There might be 10 bass up shallow and covering water is the best way to find them.
My best advice for fall topwater fishing: Have fun with it. You’re really never doing anything wrong with a topwater. Some of the weirdest retrieves we’d think wouldn’t work can end up working in the fall.
So keep working that bait because there’s nothing better than catching them on topwater.
