Everyone knows that the fall season ramps of the bass bite. Bass are more aggressive than ever, and that means you can catch lots and lots of bass.
One category of lures that work especially well during the fall season are topwaters.
And since topwater lures are the absolute most fun way to catch bass, you need to know the best topwater lures for fall bass fishing.
Topwater lures are incredibly effective during the fall for a couple reasons.
First, fall bass are very aggressive and looking to feed up before the winter.
This makes them much more willing to come up to the surface to hunt vulnerable prey.
Second, fall bass tend to suspend in the water column within 5-10 feet of the surface.
So even if you are fishing deep water, the bass are likely suspending and waiting for an easy meal to come near them.
Without a doubt, walking style baits are my number one option during the fall season.
Walking baits are super erratic and quick moving lures. This gets the bass riled up and triggers tons of bites.
Walking style lures are especially effective for catching schooling bass that are suspended.
These fall schools are both aggressive and competitive. An erratic walking bait draws out the competition in these bass and they race each other to eat your lure.
Walking baits also allow you to cover lots of water, which is very important during the fall season.
You can’t fish a lure too fast during the fall, and walking baits are a very fast moving lure.
The buzzbait isn’t as good at calling bass up towards the surface, but it is amazing at calling them out of shallow cover to come eat the bait.
Along grass lines, shallow brush, overhanging branches, or even shallow flats are the areas you should focus on.
The loud and annoying sound of a buzzbait serves two purposes. The sound obviously helps bass find your lure.
But it also triggers their fall aggressive nature and makes them mad enough to crush the buzzbait.
I have also found that bass are often more willing to commit to a buzzbait over other topwater lures.
I believe the main reason for this is that the actual body of the buzzbait sits just below the water’s surface.
When fishing shallow water, buzzbaits should be your number one fall option.
Wake baits are sort of like the best kept secret of fall bass fishing. Although they aren’t actually a secret, very few guys talk about them.
Maybe this is because wake baits pretty much just look like a squarebill crankbait.
So they don’t stand out in thumb nails. And since they are similar to crankbaits, they don’t really have their own category.
But whatever the reason is, wake baits are super underrated lures and you need to be using them this fall.
Wake baits should also be used in shallow water, just like the buzzbait. But I have found that wake baits out perform buzzbaits in open, shallow water.
If you are fishing large shallow flats or a pond that really doesn’t have any structure, tie on a wake bait.
Wake baits are much more natural of a presentation, and open water bass seem to prefer that over a loud and obnoxious lure.
Wake baits come in a huge range of sizes, and it can be a bit hard to pick one out.
But the only thing you have to consider is the size of the baitfish in your water.
Match the size of the wake bait to the size of your baitfish, and you can’t go wrong.
Poppers are the do-everything topwater lure for fall. There isn’t a specific time of day, water depth, water clarity, or location where they work the best.
Poppers just flat out catch bass. If I could only use one topwater for the fall season, it would be a popper.
You can walk the dog to fish them faster, pop them in place to slow it down, or anything in between.
I spend a lot of time fish small ponds around my neighborhood. And if you are a pond angler as well, your primary focus should be the popper.
Of all the topwater lures, the popper can be fished the slowest.
This can be very important in small ponds where you have a very limited amount of water at your disposal.
Without a doubt, poppers are one of, if not the overall best topwater lure for fall bass fishing.
Now this bait is actually not even a topwater. Technically it is a glide bait and is typically fished below the surface.
However, if you work the bait very quickly and don’t give it time to sink, the Berkley Nessie stays right up on the surface and almost walks the dog.
When fished this way, it’s almost like a hybrid between a glide bait, walking bait, and wake bait.
They hyper realistic profile of the Nessie is great for getting highly pressured bass to bite.
Especially because in pressured fall waters, the bass have seen the other 4 lures over and over again.
So giving the something different, and more realistic can make all the difference.
Another obvious advantage of the Nessie is that you are going to catch bigger bass.
Ranging from 5 – 7 – 9 inch sizes, the Berkley Nessie gives the big bass a the hardy meal that they are looking for this time of year.
The exact time of year will depend on where you live. But the fall topwater bite usually heats up between late August and early October.
A couple of weeks after you notice that temperatures are dropping, you should start throwing topwaters.
Or once the nighttime temperatures get into the mid 50s.
Of course, you can catch bass on topwater lures before this, but once the temps drop a bit, bass get in a hurray to feed up.
And the topwater bite is amazing.
Topwater lures are highly effective for fall bass fishing due to the aggressive feeding behavior of bass preparing for winter and their tendency to suspend near the surface.
Utilizing various topwater lures such as walking baits, buzzbaits, wake baits, poppers, and even the Berkley Nessie can significantly enhance your success.
Each lure has its unique advantages, catering to different conditions and preferences of the bass.
As temperatures begin to drop, typically from late August to early October, the fall topwater bite intensifies, providing an excellent opportunity for anglers to capitalize on bass’s heightened activity and secure a rewarding catch.
