Fall Locations

Late Fall Locations

Bass are as concentrated as ever in remaining optimal locations after water temperatures drop toward 40°F, but their metabolism slows markedly. They are far less aggressive than in summer. Nevertheless, some of the finest fishing for big fish can occur weeks after the water dips into the 40°F range, as late fall doesn’t change the largemouth’s need for cover, stable water temperature (warmest available), and prey. Largemouths feed heavily in fall to fatten up for winter. Where their needs can be met they concentrate in great numbers, producing some of the best fishing of the year, particularly for the biggest bass on the lake.

Cover

Once cover has dwindled, largemouths gravitate to deeper rock or timber areas. The best flats are extensive, often more than 50 yards across from shore to the first break. Most taper gradually to 10 to 12 feet before breaking, a depth at which pondweed and coontail can be found into late fall. There, amid clouds of baitfish and mixed weeds, largemouths feed as far into the season as they can.

Below 40°F, largemouths show little inclination to move into the shallows. When they move, they can be found holding near the base of remaining weedstalks or along steep inside turns. At some point between late fall and ice-up on northern lakes, some largemouths move onto 20- to 30-foot-deep flats in the basins of bays, where they spend the winter beneath the ice. Often fish remain in vegetation as long as oxygen is sufficient.

In deeper reservoirs, bass favor vertical structure, such as bluff banks and deep outside turns on creek channels that offer stumps or standing timber. As water temperatures drop, largemouths hold deep, in the 18- to 35-foot depths in hill-land reservoirs, and deeper yet in highland or canyon impoundments.