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Fall is a great time to target all species of black bass. Towards the end of September and into early October, bass begin to move from their summer hangouts to shallower water in pursuit of baitfish that are doing the same. This leads to a lot of aggressive fish near the bank, where they are easier to target and dial in.
Depending on the species you're targeting, the location, and the time of year, your lure selection will vary. Spotted bass might smoke a topwater, while a smallmouth will crush a spinnerbait. And squarebills are a great choice for largemouth this time of year. With that in mind, I organized my favorite lures for fall bass into different categories. Below are my top picks for chasing autumn largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass.
Topwater Baits
Spinnerbaits
Crankbaits
Best of the Rest
Topwater Baits
Fall is the best time of year to catch a lot of fish, including some big ones, on topwater baits. Everything from a popper to a hollow-body frog can be used to mimic baitfish, such as shad and bluegill, struggling or feeding along the surface. And, when the bass spot these baits, they absolutely explode on them. Here are some of my favorites.
Damiki Noisy B Buzzbait
Buzzbaits are great fall lures because they mimic baitfish well, and they can be used to cover a lot of water. The Damiki Noisy B Buzzbait is versatile, giving you a lure you can fish around grass, wood, docks, rocks, and more. I like this bait in particular because it has a clacker that makes contact with the prop each time it turns, creating a unique sound.
Heddon Zara Spook
Walking-style topwaters have long been associated with fall fishing, and none more so than the Heddon Spook. This bait is also used to mimic shad primarily, with its wide, side-to-side swipes across the surface. Spooks aren’t ideal for covering water, but they work better when fishing specific areas, such as brush piles, tree tops, and docks. If you can be patient and fish slowly, you can bring up good ones while working these baits across vast points and down long seawalls and rip-rap banks.
Lucky Craft Sammy
The Lucky Craft Sammy is another great walking-style topwater. It is more of finesse bait with a subtle rattle and more realistic color schemes. The Sammy is my preference when the fish are less aggressive or the water is clear or calm.
Storm Chug Bug
A long-standing fall staple, the Storm Chug Bug crushes as the leaves start to fall. An old school popper, the Chug Bug gulps up a nice, dull splash each time it’s twitched, which is often exactly what a fall bass needs. These fish spend months chasing shad all over the place, and when they finally find one that appears to be injured and moving slowly, they pounce.
Berkley Swamp Lord
These slow-moving topwaters can be skipped into places other baits can’t go, and they can cross terrain other baits can’t cross. The Swamp Lord is great for both of these techniques thanks to its wide and flat belly.
Spinnerbaits
Spinnerbaits are perhaps the best baits for fall fishing. These conglomerations of wire, blades, and rubber are well-suited for targeting largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass in heavy cover, open water, and everywhere in between. Another stellar bait for mimicking baitfish, the flash and thump of these baits draw bass in, regardless of water clarity. Here are the best spinnerbaits you can buy.
Z-Man Sling BladeZ
The Z-Man Sling BladeZ is relatively new, but it has become one of my go-to baits over the last couple of years. The 5/0 O’Shaughnessy bend VMC hook is my favorite feature of this particular bait, but other details also impress me, such as the hand-tied silicone skirt, wire trailer keeper, and wire arm that is thin enough for good vibration but does not wear down or break over time.
War Eagle Spinnerbait
The War Eagle is the gold standard fall spinnerbait in many ways. There are some awesome skirt colors and blade combinations in this bait that mimic baitfish well and pair perfectly with fall water colors. The lone drawback is that these spinnerbaits traditionally don’t hold up over time. You can catch a lot of fish on one of these baits, but you'd better take it off and tie on a new one every few trips, or you’re likely to break the arm on a big one.
Crankbaits
Crankbaits can be used to target all species of black bass from only inches of water out to 25-plus. And there are several of these baits that can cover the ideal 1- to 10-foot fall depth range. Here are some of the best.
Rat-L-Trap
Rat-L-Traps and other lipless crankbaits are perfect fall baits because they can be fished easily anywhere from inches of water out to 10 feet. Burning these baits across a shallow flat is one of the best ways to catch fall bass that are relating to bait. You can also yo-yo a Rat-L-Trap a little further out along the drops by letting the bait sink towards the bottom and then ripping it back up, over and over.
Bandit 100
Squarebills excel in the fall. These baits can maneuver through shallow wood, scale over rock, and bump stumps like no other. The Bandit 100, in particular, is a great fall bait because it's a little smaller and more subtle than a lot of other standard squarebills. Reeling one of these baits through a shallow laydown in the fall is a great way to catch a giant largemouth.
Rapala Shad Rap
As the fall wears on and the water starts to cool, a Rapala Shad Rap becomes a big player. As the water cools into the 50s, the fall bite will wane a little, but a Shad Rap can fire things back up. The fish will start to move a little deeper and relate to rock and wood this time of year. Slowly crawling a Shad Rap through this 4- to 8-foot depth range should unlock their jaws.
Best of the Rest
There are several other great baits for fall fishing. And while this still isn’t an exhaustive list, here are a few more baits that imitate the shallow baitfish that bass are often targeting in autumn.
Hopkins Spoon
A Hopkins Shorty Hammered Spoon has likely caught as many fall bass as any other bait over the decades. These baits can be used to target fish vertically in deeper water, as they migrate up shallow in the fall and then back out. They can also be used to target bass along the surface that are schooling. And, there’s no other bait that can be thrown as far as this little chunk of metal, which is a huge deal when chasing fall schoolers.
Rooster Tail
If you’re fishing from the bank, a big boat, or literally anywhere in between, a Rooster Tail will catch fish for you in the fall. You can target smallmouth way up shallow creeks with this bait, you can catch schooling largemouth on flats, and you can catch spots around rock. The little spinning blade and the feathered hook, paired with the hefty metal body, give you the perfect combination for long casts and low-maintenance fishing.
Megabass Ito Vision 110
Jerkbaits are fantastic lures year-round, but are especially effective in the fall. Capable of catching all species of black bass from Okeechobee all the way to the Great Lakes, the stop-and-go action of the Megabass 110 is ideal when looking to mimic a struggling shad. While this bait excels throughout the fall, it becomes an even more critical tool when the water cools and the bass become more lethargic.
SPRO Zero Minnow Wakebait
Wakebaits wobble to create a small wake as they swim across the surface. This lure in bone or chrome is ideal for fall fishing, and the three sharp trebles that hang from it ensure you’ll make contact with bass, even if they just swipe at the bait.
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