I know that when the leaves begin to turn, and the temperatures begin to fall, much of our thinking is centered around the upcoming hunting seasons, but fall is also an excellent time to target bass. More specifically, the fall season is great for targeting bass on the surface — both smallmouths and largemouths. I’m not suggesting that you give up other approaches to taking bass, but fall is one of the better opportunities to take bass on a variety of surface presentations. One of the biggest attractions to taking bass on the surface is the sheer excitement of watching a surface lure suddenly being engulfed by an exploding bass; it’s one of the most exciting ways there is to hook up to a good fish.

As summer rolls to an end, water temperatures begin to cool, and bass that have been holding up in deeper water are now more willing to invade the shallower water. Bass are also more apt to feed more often as they begin to bulk up for the coming winter months, and much of that food source can be found in shallow, weedy, and structured, filled areas or along riverbanks. Frogs, salamanders, a variety of baitfish, grasshoppers, and even small furry
critters are abundant in the shallower areas of a lake.

When seeking largemouths on a lake this time of year, one of my favorite approaches is some type of frog imitation, and trust me, there is no shortage of these lures. I put the open-faced spinning rod down for this kind of fishing and go with a baitcasting outfit. I know a lot of folks don’t like these outfits because they can be a bit more difficult to learn to cast, but they are a better choice because they are built more rugged, can be rigged with heavier line, and can better handle the thick weeds and other heavy cover you may encounter.

When it comes to lures, I have several favorites. First is a simple floating frog imitation; they come in various patterns and imitations, but I prefer the lures with the hooks turned up and pressed against the soft plastic on either side of the lure. This type of rig prevents getting snagged up, a common problem when fishing weed-infested areas. This rig can also be fished right in lily pads; simply cast right into the lily pads and work the lure over the pads until you hit an opening-wiggle it a bit and be ready for that explosive strike. In more open water, I like the floating lures with props at one or both ends; there’s something about that prop churning that often times coaxes a strike. Even floating minnow-type lures can be effective on the surface; cast, let sit, and then a little wiggle; then, if nothing happens, a stop and go like a minnow struggling on the surface can also be effective. Speaking of struggling minnows, the “walk the dog” technique is also quite effective; that back-and-forth wobble of the lure can bring strikes when nothing else seems to work.

I would be remiss if I didn’t bring a fly rod into the mix. Some of my best and most exciting surface bass fishing has been with a flyrod; granted — not a typical trout outfit but rather a longer, heavier rod geared with 8 or 9 weight-forward floating line and heavy fluorocarbon leader. These outfits can even hold their own in some weedy cover. Trust me, the ultimate in nailing an exploding bass on a frog imitation is with a flyrod. Some of my best top-water smallmouth bass fishing in the Susquehanna River has been with my flyrod, and a Gaines Popper-white is one of my favorites. Even when the popper is worked through moving current, especially with a little splash ahead of the concave face, it can garner some very explosive strikes. My fly-fishing friend Doug Zehner is a diehard fly fishing enthusiast who ties his own frog imitations in a variety of colors, and he has racked up some great smallmouth surface activity on more than one occasion.

Surface fishing in the fall season has another plus since air and water temperatures have cooled, you don’t have to limit your fishing time to early and late, and now even mid-day can be productive. Hunt in the early morning, fish through the mid-day, and hunt again in the evening hours; sounds like a good formula to me.