With fall just around the corner, avid anglers are starting to switch up their arsenal when it comes to lure selection. With the weather steadily changing, water temp is slowly staring to drop, causing bass behavior and feeding habits to once again change. Surprisingly, many anglers may not know how to determine which lures to begin using once the air starts to become a little brisk. Some might just stick to the "ol faithful" lure throughout the year, hoping that they might get lucky and get a strike. However, once the seasons change, bass tend to switch up which natural forage they will predominantly pursue. Here at Dream Catchers, we have composed a list of our favorite and most successful lures to use during the fall months.
1. Spinnerbaits
Spinnerbaits are all around a great versatile lure. Covering a huge amount of water, spinnerbaits are sure to locate potentially schooling fish quickly. In the fall months, baitfish largely migrate into small pockets or coves. Bass are almost always found wherever the schools of bait move to. Matching the relative size of the certain species of forage is key to generating a strike. We recommend a silver/blue skirt with a medium sized Colorado blade in clear water conditions. In murky water, a chartreuse or pearl color is recommended to make your bait stand out in the crowd.
2. Swimbaits.
During the fall, swimbaits are a must-have in anybody's tackle bag. With the overwhelming amount a migrating baitfish, a swimbait is a perfect, lifelike imitation that will be sure to get some attention. With a subtle presentation, swimbaits offer an easy meal to sometimes lethargic fish. Once the water temperature cools way down later in the fall, a bass will be looking for prey that doesn't require much effort to gobble up. A slow rolling, paddletail swimbait offers just that kind of opportunity to those lazy fish.
3. Jigs.
Jigs are often a widely overlooked bait to use during the fall. In reality, a jig can be a very successful tool when it comes to getting fish in the boat. Jigs have many different functions and uses that many anglers very often overlook. During the fall, try swimming a jig (preferably white or silver to imitate surrounding baitfish) past dock pilings, brush, and in and around small coves and creek channels. The natural presentation of the skirt will be sure to trigger a strike from a hungry bass.
4. Jerkbaits.
How could you leave out one of the most widely used baits in the modern fishing world? Jerkbaits offer a very lifelike approach when bass fishing, and with the abundance of baitfish during the fall, they offer a very enticing invitation. These baits are perfect for imitating a wounded baitfish, giving bass an easy, effortless meal. Fish them around large schools of bait and bass will automatically pick what seems to be the wounded fish out of the school. With lure patterns becoming more and more realistic each day, jerkbaits are a highly recommended lure to use during the fall months.
5. Topwater.
Ah yes, topwater. Almost everyone's favorite type of lure. Many anglers will make the mistake of completely ruling topwater out of their baits to use once the cooler weather rolls in. Well there's good news! you don't have to put away that frog or popper just yet. With the water temp slowly cooling and becoming less hot, bass will become quite active chasing schools of bait in the early fall. This will no doubt trigger some insane topwater explosions from some hungry bass. So stick with it for a little while longer until it gets colder, you may just land a hawg.
Those are just some of the lures we recommend here at Dream Catchers Fishing. Hopefully, this gives you sort of an idea of the baits that will largely produce for you once the leaves start falling. Here at Dream Catchers HQ, we have a massive selection of all the baits mentioned above and much much more! Hopefully this post will help you become a more successful angler in the changing months, and we wish you the best of luck.
Tight Lines!
Come visit us at Dream Catcher's Fishing Supply at 21 Steeple Rd. Sylva NC 28779
