The fall bite is a little different for everyone and varies depending on where you call home. Even with the seasonal differences based on your region, some similarities hold just about everywhere. One of those is the change in the water that affects bass and how they move; the other is that fishing can be tricky as fish transition into fall.
Bridgford pro and popular YouTube personality Matt Stefan lives in Wisconsin, and one challenge he sees this time of year is lower-than-usual water levels and slower currents in the river systems. These two factors happen in many fisheries across the country as water levels are typically at their lowest, but he has a plan to combat this scenario.
Low Water Blues
As lakes are drawn down to prepare for winter rains and snow or water has evaporated due to summer heat, lakes across the country are often low right now. This changes where fish live as much of the shallow cover is now too shallow to hold bass, but Stefan still seeks it out.
"Right now, the water levels are low around me, and there is also a slower current in the river systems," he said. "One thing I like to do this time of year is to fish the shallow laydowns, which typically have 3 feet of water around them, and now it's a foot or two. Many anglers bypass these this time of year because they think they are too shallow, but the fish will still relate to them."
Instead of only fishing the cover, whether it's a laydown, rock, or shallow dock, Stefan adjusts his approach.
"Those fish will typically slide out a little bit and will still relate to that stump or piece of cover, but often they will be out in front of it," Stefan shared. "I'll still cast to that laydown, but I will work it further towards the boat. This same thing happens in rivers lacking strong current; fish will still relate to it and use it as a home base, but they will be further away because they don't need to get tight to it to use it as a current break. This really comes into play in the late summer and early fall."
To fish these shallow targets, Stefan usually uses soft plastics but will mix in some moving baits.
"Shallow-diving squarebills and spinnerbaits can be good, but I also like soft plastics that slow fall and have a gliding action," he said. "I'll fish bigger creature baits on light Texas-rigs with an unpegged weight or use the Core Tackle Ozark Rig to get that gliding as the bait falls. I'll work the bait out 20 or 30 feet away from the cover, and I've learned if you find the fish a certain distance away from the cover, they'll all be like that in other places. Then, it's easy to start running that pattern."
As the Water Cools
Once the water temperatures start to dip, Stefan changes his approach. Some bass will still be around this cover, but he shifts his focus to different banks.
"When the water gets to around 60 degrees, generally those fish will vacate some of those pieces of shallow, hard targets," said Stefan. "I start looking for steeper banks with at least a 45-degree angle and deep water nearby. I'm still looking for hard targets, and another key is places with hard bottom, ideally rock but at least some gravel."
Stefan will gradually move further and further and will fish these banks but also the main lake points before moving offshore to humps and saddles.
"When fishing the steeper banks, I start to fish a jig and crankbait like the Berkley Dime 6 or Dime 10," he said. "For the points, I'm going to start mixing in a jerkbait and crankbait as well as dragging a Carolina-Rig and football jig."
This approach has worked well for Stefan in Wisconsin, but he's seen it elsewhere in his travels. "I used this same approach on Lake Chickamauga in Tennessee, but it's something that works on any body of water with lake levels that fluctuate during the fall," he said. "It is not as much a factor in lakes where they keep the water stable."
Fishing during the fall has creates a unique challenge, especially in times of shifting water levels. To stay on top of the bass and find success, Bridgford pro Matt Stefan adjusts his approach and sticks to what works for him every autumn.
Advertising