Fall Bass Fishing Tips - Mike Gerry

With August on its way out, the signs of fall are upon. Yes, we still have much hot weather left to go but the change toward fall bass fishing is coming. With that said, one of the first things to look for is the bait fish stacking up around the river ledges and the bass feeding on them aggressively. This could be an early morning thing, or it could go on all day long with some clouds and over casts skies. Regardless be aware and keep your eyes open for some schooling and attacking largemouth bass as we progress into the month of September. Never ignore the movement of bait fish along the grass lines or over the cover as they are moving around for a reason, and generally if they are moving and being pushed the active bass are chasing them. Cover like grass, stems, wood are great places for bait to be ambushed and keeping an eye on these areas can be extremely rewarding. It does not take long to make a visual check of an area that holding cover or bait fish to see if their active.

Largemouth bass are very keyed in on weather change. They will sense the weather changing and their body will tell them to feed up. It will be like a light switch as they will turn on and off depending on the day, but you can bet it will be lots of fun when they do. It is a great time for running a rattle bait through the schooling fish, or a Zara spook over the top creating a reaction bite from the aggressive fish. Search baits like these above become especially important part of the fall bass fishing tactics and techniques. Someone who has mastered finding fish with search baits becomes and gains a great advantage. When this occurs, there are not many reaction baits that will not work. Take your choice and give it whirl and your chances are pretty high it catches fish. You do have to be persistent. Many times in the fall, largemouth bass are grouped up and you can go long periods of time looking before you find a mess of active fish.

Sometimes finding the bigger bass when fish are schooling and chasing seems to be tough to do during the fall, but a key here is to remember that the bigger bass generally are underneath the schooling smaller fish and dropping a jig or worm to the bottom under the action is a great way to find those big-uns. Bigger bass can be somewhat lazy and many times just lay underneath the action above. Big bass are looking for that easier meal and like to pick off the misses as they drop wounded toward the bottom and feed off the energy of those small attacks going on above them. A bait that emulates those wounded bait fish is a small count down jerk bait as it drops and rocks toward the bottom the bigger fish have a hard time resisting it. Also, a lightly weighted small worm can give you the same effect as it will slowly drop down toward the bottom causing the bigger fish to react to its slow drop rate toward the bottom. Understanding the habits of the big bass can be key to winning a tournament and this process of fishing below the schooling fish can be extremely rewarding for the tournament guy. Fall is a time for attacking fish, active schooling and aggressive competition among largemouth bass is a known fact. Being able to understand their habits and find the chasing fish can be the key to fall bass fishing and certainly can be lots of fun!

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Capt. Mike Gerry

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