After the lake turns over, late September through November is prime season for the deep water structure fisherman on Lake Fork. Additionally, big bass will continue to be caught deep through February, although the bite typically slows by late November. Huge schools of shad group up in deep water and the white bass, yellow bass, and crappie follow them. Being a real sucker for all you can eat buffets, tremendous congregations of bass join the action and happily stuff themselves on the shad, crappie, yellow bass, smaller bass, and anything else they can get in their mouths. Learn how to find and fish for these schools and you'll add your lures to the list of what the bass are eating this fall.
Step one is the hardest partfinding the bass. Depending on the conditions, I find structure bass as shallow as 12' and as deep as nearly 50' on Lake Fork. A trick to figuring out the most productive depth is I'll watch my Lowrance graph for suspended fish off to the sides of points and humps or over open water. Generally, the depth that fish are suspending in open water is the depth you'll find active fish on top of structure. For example, if fish are suspending about 28' down in open water, check the tops of humps and points that are about 28' deep and you'll likely find schools of active fish. Most bass in summer relate to deep structure with significant depth changes nearby like points, humps, ledges, and creek channel bends. While all of these can hold bass in fall, large flats are also often productive in the main lake and also near creek channels in bigger creeks. Also in contrast to summer, fall schools often assemble in barren areas that are devoid of timber or spots with a few pieces of isolated cover, instead of on structure with heavy cover. Bass are on the move a lot this time of year following bait, so spots that are loaded up one day can be barren the next. Use your graph to check lots of deep spots and don't start fishing until you either find a large school or locate an area with several large arches (fish) on the screen.
Once you've found a good school, catching bass is usually the easy part. For fish located on or near the bottom, Carolina rigs and drop shots are my preferred baits. On the Carolina rig, I'll rig a 1 oz sinker with P-Line 20 lb fluorocarbon line and a 36" in leader. On the business end, I'll rig a Lake Fork Tackle Baby Ring Fry, Magic Shad, or 4.5" Live Magic Shad. Watermelon, watermelon/red, green pumpkin, watermelon/chartreuse, and albino shad are all great colors to try. Simply drag this under the schools, with long pauses between pulls. For pure numbers of bass, it's hard to beat the drop shot. A Twitch Worm or 3.5" Live Magic Shad on a drop shot rigged 12" above a oz sinker with 8 to 12 lb P-Line fluorocarbon line works best for me. When the fish are active, a constant twitching of the bait on slack line works best, while simply dead-sticking the bait on a taught line works better as the water cools or when the bite is tough.
With the bass primarily eating shad, baits that work up off the bottom for suspended fish and that imitate dying baitfish excel many days. Jigging spoons, crankbaits, tail spinners, jigs, swimbaits, and even topwaters catch lots of bass each fall. Chrome, gold, and white jigging spoons and tail spinners from to 2 ounces in various shapes and fall patterns work very well. Some spoons and tail spinners fall faster while others flutter down at a slower rate, based on the shape of the spoon or the size of the blade on the spinner. Try multiple baits until you find what the bass prefer. Furthermore, some days these metal baits work best when ripped off the bottom. Other days they work better when drug along the bottom or held in place several feet off the bottom for long periods of time. When the bite really gets tough, small oz jigs worked slowly through the schools can attract bites from inactive fish, including lunkers. For a sensitive rig with some power for big fish, I'll rig my jigs on 20 lb Spectrex braided line with a 6' P-Line fluorocarbon leader in 8 to 12 lb test. On the other hand, if the fish are really chasing shad and actively feeding, shad and yellow bass pattern swimbaits and deep diving crankbaits deliver fast action. For the swimbait, I like a 4.5" or 5.5" Live Magic Shad rigged on a 4/0 to 6/0 extra wide gap hook with a to 3/8 oz weight on the hook shank. Cast these out on 15 or 20 pound fluorocarbon line, count them down to the depth of the fish, then swim them back in. As for colors, whites and chromes work great for the crankbaits, while barfish, magic shad, and albino shad are my favorite swimbait colors. Finally, keep a heavy topwater like a Zara Spook or a oz chrome lipless crankbait handy to cast when bass chase shad to the surface and rig them on 20 lb CXX Mono so they'll stay on top. Keep these long casting baits handy and you're almost guaranteed a hookup if you drop them into schooling fish.
If you want to learn how to structure fish or if you're just looking to catch a lot of fish and maybe a lunker, late fall is hard to beat. Here's hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 (days) or 972-635-6027 (evenings) or e-mail me through my website, www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com.
Tom Redington is a full time bass guide on Lake Fork and is sponsored by Ranger Boats, Diamond Sports Marine, Lake Fork Trophy Tackle, and P-Line Fishing Lines.