I’ll admit it, as the leaves begin to change color and fall to the ground thoughts of the coming hunting season start to compete for space. That being said it’s also true that as an avid fisherman there is no way I’m putting my fishing gear away for the season; instead, I will find a way to fit some of both activities into the coming fall months.

The fact is some of the best bass fishing is happening right now and will no doubt continue into October and maybe even into early November. With that in mind, my brother and I and fishing friend, Wayne Smythe, put in some time on a nearby lake last week. Actually, it’s one of several trips I’ve made over the past couple of weeks, and none were a disappointment. On this particular venture, I decided to concentrate pretty much on bass, so I geared up accordingly.

As we move into the fall months, lake bass fishing tactics seem to expand a bit since while some bass may still be in deeper, cooler water, some will also move to shallower depths as well; of course, a lot of this movement will depend on weather and time of day. Morning and evening can offer up some pretty decent topwater fishing but as mid-day approaches going deeper is probably a good idea. Keep in mind, however, that there are a number of lures and tactics that can put a bend in your rod.

Our day on the lake last week offered up some great weather, temps in the seventies, calm with a relatively flat lake surface and overcast with occasional sun. With that in mind, I started my day with a topwater lure — a floating plug with a concave face and rubber skirt. While it wasn’t steady action, I did manage to pick up a few nice bass on the surface plug. To be honest, taking a bass on a surface lure is one of the most exciting ways to fish — that sudden explosion gets your attention. There are a wide variety of surface lures available to today’s fishing fraternity, and any one of them could get the desired results. By the way, I have a fly-fishing friend who has had some excellent bass fishing using his fly-rod and floating bass poppers of his own creation.

Wayne managed to score on some bass as well with a floating minnow-type lure. The beauty of one of these lures is they can be worked on the surface like a surface plug, or they can be retrieved below the surface with an enticing wobble. By the way, these lures also come in weighted versions, making them suitable for deeper applications. My brother Dave scored on bass and pickerel fishing a white curly tail grub on a lead head jig. In fact, all three of us managed to pick up a variety of fish including an assortment of panfish and some real nice perch on the jig and grub.

A couple of other deeper water tactics that produced some action were the wacky worm and a Carolina rigged lizard. The wacky rig is a plastic worm rigged with a hook shoved up through the middle of the worm with both ends hanging free — trust me, it works. I usually fish it without any weight; allow it to settle to the bottom and then give it a little twitch. It’s important to keep a tight line to feel any strikes. A Carolina rig works well in the weeds since the weight falls into the weeds, but the soft plastic worm or lizard strung out two feet from the weight tends to float above the weeds as the rig is retrieved.

I’m sure there are some other lures and tactics that would have produced as well the past couple of weeks but our time was limited. I guess that means I’ll have to get out several more times in the next month to see what else might produce.