Question about bass in the fall.

[The deerslayer]

Here in PA its starting to get pretty cool at last. When using different kinds of bait like topwater, poppers, crankbait, and spinners what would be best to do during the cooler months?

[coyote 2]

I am by no means a expert - but I use all the same baits - I just slow them down allot. Being in Idaho most of our water comes from springs or at least the rivers are feed by springs along the way - this makes the water pretty cool - the warmest I have seen the water around here is 70 degrees. Coldest of course is when it freezes. Again same baits - just slow them down some. Happy hunting - errrr - fishing...    :eek:

[Lawdog]

The deerslayer,

I too slow things down but I also start going smaller in size as the weather gets colder.  Instead of 1/2 oz. spinnerbaits I'm down to 3/8 or even 1/4 oz. right now.  Same thing with any other bait.  Lawdog
 

[Skipper]

I guess I'm in a little different situation in the south, but in the fall when the temp starts dropping, the water will stay in the 60's until about November.  Through most of the fall, the ticket here is crankbaits and spinnerbaits.  It's not a slowdown fishing, we really pick them up and crank them.  The fish will be in the jumps and feeding pretty heavy for winter from now till middle November.  One tactic I really like this time of year is to use a larger crank bait and dig the banks with them.  For some reason, I seem to get more action about 6 feet or so off the bank after I've dug a groove in the bank from the waterline out with the bill of the bait.  Later on, if the water drops into the upper 50's, spinners seem a little better and the fish may start to suspend off main lake points.

Finally, we get into winter bassin, and admittedly, I'm horrible at it, but the fish suspend deep off the main points.  The guys who are well versed in float and fly rock all winter long.

Skipper