Fall Bassin':  Best Game To Play

In the early days of the BASS Masters Classic world championship of bass fishing, the season ending event happened in the fall period. So attuned to this seasonal pattern, Rick Clunn quickly became known as "Mr. Autumn" for his success in winning late-season Classics.

Over the years, The Classic's impact on fishing habits changed to stage the championship during the late summertime (July-August). Thus, the productive period of fall fishing has lost out to some other activities, such as weekend football games, bird shooting and the deer-hunting season. All the more reason to not forget what fishin' history and Rick Clunn proved so convincingly. And, there's less fishing pressure on fall bass.

To cash-in on this bassin' bonanza follows two simple steps: (1) find the bait, find the bass. (2) start your search in coves with creek channels.

Much like the spring season, the fall period is a time of change. The bass are in transition. Depending on the area of the country-South or North-the bass movements will start later or earlier. The key is water temperature. When the lake starts to cool down, the temperature will trigger bass to move into shallow-water coves. They will follow the creek channels.

In reservoirs, the baitfish (shad) will move in big, tight schools, and the largemouth bass will be close at hand. Let your eyes and ears tell you where to fish. Watch for birds (gulls) circling and diving to the surface to feed on injured bait. Also, on a still fall morning, the sound of surface-feeding bass is a clarion call to come and join the fall fishing frenzy.

Keep a rod rigged with a topwater prop bait or a small chugger or popper. Ease close to the action, and cast ahead of the moving shad school and retrieve into the feeding frenzy so as not to spook the bass.

Another, tactic is to drop-rig a white bucktail jig on a six-to-eight inch leader tied-off the back treble hook. Don't be surprised to score "doubles" with this rig.

Sometimes, casting distance is a factor. That's when a Little George tailspinner, made famous by Tom Mann of Eufaula, Alabama, will be a basser's best buddy. These compact, lead lures with the flashing spinner can be used at long range to reach the schools surfacing.

Either rip the tailspinner, just below the surface, or let it down, down below the feeding action. Often, the bigger size fish are holding under the slashing action on the surface and taking the injured baitfish on the fall.

Also, a small crank bait, like the old Honey-B manufactured by Jim Bagley of Winter Haven, Florida, is a good choice in the fall. If memory serves correct, it was this tiny balsa bait that Rick Clunn tied on when he won his first of four Classics.

Fishing up a creek on Alabama's Lake Guntersville, Clunn caught 59-pounds, 15-ounces to win the 1976 Classic (November 3-5). With the cooling water temperatures, Clunn's advice is: (1) downsize lures, and (2) slowdown the retrieve. As the water temperatures plunge, begin to change tactics and presentations.

Another, point to remember is that the bait and bass will change day-to-day, if not hourly. The shad schools will be moving and you'll be chasing ghosts if you return to the same area and expect an encore performance. But, in a large cove area, it's usually just a matter of watching and witnessing the surface action to home-in on the activity.

Naturally, at this time of year, weather fronts can be a problem or a benefactor. Expect cold fronts to chill the action, but play the odds. Check the weather TV maps and be ahead of the front's arrival in your area. If possible to be on the lake, before the season's first serious fall cold front. It may be some of the best feeding activity.

Largemouth bass are known to go on a feeding frenzy to stock the body fat before winter's chill grips the lake. By Nature, bass instinctively recognize that the weather is going to be harsh for a few days, and seemingly feed aggressively.

So, if you're spending the weekends in front of the TV screen, addicted to football, kick the habit. Slap in a VHS tape, record the ball game, and get back to bassin'. There's a full season of "cabin fever" ahead.