You fisher folk at Smith Mountain Lake should enjoy this article by Richard Sims of The Bass Fishing Resource Guide. He gives us a pretty darn good idea of what those little finned creatures are thinking when this lovely fall weather hits. It makes me think of Don Knotts in that old movie ‘The Incredible Mr. Limpet’. The info. is so good, it makes you wonder if Mr. Sims has been down there himself. Smile.

Okay, I have been doing the usual lately. Fishing and reading. Every time a new season rolls around I check out fishing articles on the particular season. I have read several on fall fishing and they all basically talk about the same thing. The fall feed.
Yes, the fall feed is great, and yes we can always take advantage of it as bass feed up for the winter ahead, but it does not always promise easy or fast fishing. Sometimes fall can produce some of the toughest days of the year.
Hopefully with this article I can help you overcome the fall season on both “fast” days and tough days. Hopefully I can cover some things that most other fall articles don’t.

The Shad Factor
This recurs in every single article I have read. Chase the shad and you have found the bass. Well.. yes for the most part this is very true. But unless you’re always fishing shallow, crystal clear water, or you can see shad jumping and boiling and bass attacking them, this may be a tough task!

How can you tell if the blips on your sonar are shad or perch? Well, basically it doesn’t matter. Here’s a little secret: It doesn’t have to be shad! Bass are literally feeding on just about anything in anticipation for the upcoming winter. Whatever is most available to them is what they will feed on. If you’re on a hump on 15ft of water and there’s good populations of perch there, then chances are you are going to find bass that are feeding on perch.
Now, there will be plenty of schools that will indeed follow the shad into the backs of feeder creeks, etc. and feed on them. This is a very successful technique. But the fact is that some lakes (especially smaller ones) do not have any shad population whatsoever.
On my “practice lake” the main forage in the fall is creek chubs and sucker minnows. Therefore the bass follow them instead. This brings them to drop-offs and the mouth of the river that feeds the lake.
There are also some bass that feed predominantly on bluegill in the fall in this lake, so that is yet another pattern we follow to catch them.
You see, don’t just look for shad. Look for any concentrations of ANY baitfish, and chances are you will find at least some bass. As a general rule: The bigger the baitfish, the bigger the bass. Big bass don’t get big by eating shiners. This is indeed why shad is the most popular baitfish species for bass anglers to chase in the fall months.

Check out the Bass Fishing Resource Guide for more great fishing articles.