Where Do Bass Go During the Fall Transition (Expert’s Insights)

If we had to pick the two hardest times for anglers to get a big bass on the line, it would have to be the fall transition and winter. Winter is an easier time to understand. The water simply gets too cold for the bass to be as active.

However, the fall transition is a bit more complex, and many anglers can’t make heads or tails of it. It’s when a lot of anglers hang up their rods for the year.  But, if you time your outing right, fall could produce one of the greatest bass fishing days of your life as the fish need to feed up to prepare for winter.  

Today, we’re going to provide you with some tips for how to time your fall outings so that you can squeeze in some fun bass fishing before the long off-season sets in.   

Let’s dive in and see where the bass goes during the fall transition.

What is the Fall Transition? 

The fall transition is a somewhat tricky topic. You probably look at a body of water and think it’s the same water throughout the entire thing. Water is water, right? You probably think bass only move because of temperature or food. Well, that’s not true. 

Oxygen levels and various other chemical levels vary throughout the different parts of the water column. Not only that, but it changes with the season. 

In the summer, as the water warms above 85 degrees, many bass will migrate to slightly deeper water all the way down to the thermocline (which is the cooler bottom layer of water) and cover and structure that intersects with the thermocline. 

There’s still enough oxygen, it’s more comfortable, and they like to hang out down there.  But, they will not go deeper than the thermocline very often because there is not enough oxygen. 

They come to the shallows throughout the summer and other peak seasons, but that’s mostly to feed and spawn. 

During the fall transition, most lakes “turn over” when the top layer of water cools to the temperature of the layer of water under the thermocline; the “bottom” layer of water. As the bottom layer of water rises to the top. This is an extremely stressful period for bass. Imagine if our atmosphere just spontaneously flipped around once per year. We wouldn’t be very comfortable and on top of our game, either. That’s what’s happening to the fish. 

Bass tends to be a bit confused, uncomfortable, not as hungry, and generally not in the mood to be caught. 

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“Bass forecast helped me catch my Personal Best!
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How Long Does the Fall Transition Last? 

This is where it gets even trickier. The fall transition is different all over the country, and it varies from waterbody to waterbody, as well. 

In general, the fall transition happens in August in the far northern regions of the US and November in the southern regions of the US. The exact time depends on the climate you live in and when fall starts to kick in. 

How long it lasts depends largely on two factors. 

First, the extent of the temperature change is important. If it’s a subtle temperature drop that holds steady, the transition is usually over in a matter of days, and in some cases, it can even stop in a few hours.

There just isn’t a major atmospheric change causing major issues. This is a dream situation, though. Most anglers can expect to have some difficult trips if they fish frequently enough to hit the turnover period.

Then, there’s the size of the water body. A small park pond will likely transition very quickly. There’s just not enough water to prolong the process. However, if you fish in a really deep lake, you might have to deal with two weeks of transition. 

The best way to know if the lake is turning over is to carefully observe the water. You will almost always see rotting vegetation and debris floating on the surface or suspended in the water column that floated up from the bottom of the lake. Also, the water will have a faint smell of Sulphur.

During the fall turnover, the bass fishing will be tougher until the process is finished, but you can still catch them as long as you adjust your thinking. When the fishing is tough during the turnover, most bass anglers will slow down and sit on key spots longer. By far the more successful technique will be to cover lots of water and fish faster and shallower than you did during the summer. Use suspending jerkbaits in a “twitch-twitch-pause” cadence.  Or, use a spinner bait or swimbait to cover the water. You are looking for active fish that are roaming.  

When you notice the lake turnover transition, it’s the perfect time to start gaining experience with a factor that makes most anglers quit. 

So where are the Bass During the Fall Transition? 

Now that we’ve gone over what the transition is and what it does to fish, where do all the bass go during the fall transition? 

Well, the simple answer is that they go shallow. 

During the summer, the deeper sections are richer in the water quality that bass need, and they go deep. Once that flips, they head to the shallows. They want to find all the high-quality water they can find and follow the bait fish. 

This doesn’t cover all of it, though. You can’t just cast your lure out into the bank area and expect bass in every cast. They tend to go to specific spots. 

First, they’ll abandon reeds and other light cover for very thick vegetation mats. If you see a big stretch of algae that’s thick and hard to punch through, you can bet there are some bass there. 

They also tend to move to the points a lot more. This breaks up water movement, and it helps them find a more stable environment to sit around in throughout the transition. If you notice, the waves break up, and there isn’t too much movement right at the point in the shallower end. 

Another great spot is right at the edge of a drop-off. The bass will move to the shallower bits of the water, but there will still be quite a few hovering right next to a sudden drop, depending on where the lake is in its transition process and where the bait fish are. 

If you plan your trip around targeting those three spots, your chances of getting at least a few basses in shallow water are a lot higher than if you randomly cast around your favorite summer spots. 

Fishing in the Fall Transition: Lures and Tactics to Use

Fishing for bass during the fall transition isn’t easy. Even if you’re doing everything right, it’s a serious challenge because of how stressed out the bass are while the whole lake changes. You might get skunked, or you might only catch a few drinks. 

With that being said, the way you fish can greatly impact how your fishing trips go. 

Here are some of our favorite tactics and bass fishing lures to use throughout the transition. 

1: Cover Water Fast with Cranks and Chatterbaits

The fall transition is hard, and if you’re sitting in one spot twitching a worm around forever, you’re very likely to go home without a single catch to talk about. Despite this being the fall season and the bass being stressed, you want to cover a lot of water quickly. 

The best way to do that is with cranks and chatterbaits. They make enough noise and commotion to get bass angry, and you can simply toss them out and pull them back in with a pause here and there. You can easily cover a wide area in less than ten minutes with a few casts this way. 

However, remember that you need to keep covering water. So, if you don’t get any activity after you cast all over your chosen casting arc, move on to the next likely spot. The best mindset to have with this strategy is that if you don’t get a bite the first couple of times, you won’t get one. Move on quickly. 

2: Downsize 

Whether you’re using the cranks and chatterbaits we recommended, or you’re trying something else, downsizing can be a great idea.

Remember, the bass are a little out of their element during this period, and they’re getting reaccustomed to the colder season. They are usually more likely to go after a smaller, easier-to-grab meal than the hefty baits you probably love to throw. 

Another factor that makes this optimal is that the bait fish tend to be smaller during the fall. 

There are still great bull bluegill and other larger bait fish in the water, but thanks to the recent spawn, the water has a high population of new spawns that haven’t had time to grow. If you go to match the hatch, downsizing can be a big part of that. 

The issue with downsizing is that you might end up having to rely on gear you wouldn’t usually use as a bass angler. If you’re going to take this route, and you’re used to heavier rods and baitcasting equipment, you might have to downsize your equipment, too. 

3: Find the Bait Fish

As the fall transition slowly smooths out, bass fishing is going to pick up dramatically. The bait fish will be running along the banks in schools to pick up small crustaceans and bugs, and the bass will follow them in a feeding frenzy because they know winter is on the way.

For every pound a bass gains, they have to eat 4x their body weight. So, if they want to pack on the weight, they have to eat a lot.

You can take advantage of that by waiting for this feeding frenzy and immediately looking for the bait fish. If there are shad, bluegill, minnows, and other fish around, bass are likely coming up right behind them, or they’re at nearby ambush points. 

Matching the hatch is also important when this kicks off. 

Of course, this doesn’t happen throughout the transition, or people wouldn’t have any problem catching fish. It tends to start as the transition stabilizes. 

4: Pause on Your Retrieval

We know we spent some time discussing the need to cover water quickly during the transition, but that doesn’t mean you want to constantly buzz your baits through the column the whole time. The fish can be sluggish and unwilling to commit at various points during the transition. 

Beyond varying your retrieval speed, add pauses into your retrieval that allow the bass to catch up and decide to strike. Especially if you have a crank that floats up when it stops. It can look like an easily wounded target that the bass is more willing to commit to. 

5: Try a Weightless Fluke

This ties into a tidbit from our last tip. Bass will be more likely to commit to a wounded, slow-moving presentation than they would something that’s moving quickly while they’re stressed out. 

The weightless fluke is great for that if you know where the bass is and don’t have to worry as much about covering water. 

It’s also easy to use. Take your preferred fluke, and rig it onto a properly-sized EWG worm hook like you’re Texas rigging it, but don’t add the weight. It will slowly drop through the water column like a dying fish, and lazy bass can snap it up confidently without much of a chase. 

6: Topwater Walking Baits and Frogs

In the early morning, if you can get on the water just as the sun starts to hit it and warm it up, a topwater frog is a great choice if you present it naturally. Because the water temp is suddenly much lower early in the morning, it’s not as great to use in the earliest hours as it is during the summer, but it can still produce nice bass. 

Another option that’s a little more flexible is a topwater walking bait. It’s a hard bait that floats on the surface, and when you twitch it in, it moves side-to-side like it’s walking across the water’s surface. You can use it like a Whopper Plopper, but it’s not as dramatic, and you don’t need to fish it as quickly. 

Either of these topwater lures for bass can get great topwater bites on the pause, and if you get out as soon as the sun starts heating the water, they can be your ticket to a personal record.

How to Tell When the Transition Starts

Knowing where the bass are during the transition and how to fish it only helps if you can identify that it has started. Unfortunately, it’s a little difficult to do that at first. 

We mentioned earlier that it varies depending on your area, but it can also vary from year to year.

One year, the climate might cause it to start kicking off in the second week of August in your state. The next one might not start until the first week of September. 

If the summer bite is great leading into August and suddenly stops sometime soon, it’s a good sign the transition started. 

However, it’s tied to nighttime temperatures. Around August, start checking the nighttime temps even though you’re not fishing at that time. You should get ready when you see a sudden drop in the forecast that is prolonged for a few days. 

Fish the Fall Transition with Bass Forecast

The transition period can be challenging to navigate, but it also presents ample opportunities for fruitful fishing if you adapt your strategies accordingly.

To maximize your success under tough conditions and to gain insights into bass movements during the fall transition, consider using the BassForecast fishing app. 

With it, you can quickly locate optimal fishing spots, enhancing your performance and increasing your chances of a great catch.