Finding and catching largemouth and smallmouth bass throughout autumn often begins with finding the baitfish.
Autumn is highly favored by bass fishermen because many fish move shallow and feed aggressively as they prepare for the lean days of winter. For anglers to get in on the great action, they must understand the factors that influence bass behavior this time of year, especially the way that the bass relate to baitfish.
More so than at any time of the year, bass follow their food during the fall. Shad pile up in huge concentrations in reservoirs through much of the nation, and the bass are rarely far from them. For fishermen, that means two important things. First, it means finding the shad. Second, it means fishing with lures that imitate shad.
Baitfish often run up creek arms of reservoirs this time of year, so many anglers begin the day by heading up creeks and doing a lot of looking. The shad often stay close to the top and can be spotted easily. Sometimes they form rings where they roll on the surface. Other times, an area of the surface will simply look dark because of a mass of baitfish. Some schools will hold a bit deeper, and anglers will need their electronics to find the bait.
Bass won't necessarily be among the baitfish in shallow areas up creek arms. Instead, they may be holding tight to nearby cover, whether in the form of stumps, downed trees, docks or grass beds. Finding the shad helps anglers hone in on areas to fish. From there, it's a searching and pattering process.
A
BOOYAH Buzz makes a great search lure for fall bass because an angler can fish it very quickly through most cover. Good subsurface choices for the same basic task include a Cotton Cordell Spot and Bomber Fat Free Guppy . Using fast-moving baits, anglers pick off the most aggressive fish and get clues about the depths and kinds of cover the fish are using.
As the bass reveal themselves, anglers slow down and work areas that produce strikes more thoroughly, often with slow-rolled
BOOYAH Blade spinnerbaits , dead-sticked YUM Dingers or Texas-rigged YUM Mega Flash Tubes . Veteran anglers also spend extra time on high percentage areas, like points that flatten out at the depth the most shad are using, docks that extend to a 
creek channel or laydowns that lie right at the edge of a major flat.
Occasionally, the bass will give themselves away completely, busting right in the middle of the baitfish school or running bait across the surface on the edge of the school. Good choices for actively feeding fish include a
Heddon Zara Spook , YUM Houdini Shad and Cotton Cordell Spot .
Shad-colored baits like a
Snow White Shad BOOYAH Buzz , Chrome Flash Mega Flash Tube or Bone Zara Spook are tough to top for fall fishing, unless the water is badly stained. Given muddy water, which can make the fish extra aggressive, anglers turn to chartreuse-dominated color patterns, move extra shallow, fish close to cover and hold on tight!