Fall bass in New England

[SMROA1983]

So I’ve been doing great catching all sorts of bass up until about 3 weeks ago. It’s been colder at night and today it was 30 degrees out when I got up at 6 am. I am pretty new to bass fishing in the fall and I’d really like to know what I could do to try to find them. I live in south shore mass if that helps. Any advice would be good. Just don’t want to put the fishing stuff away just yet. Thanks 

[Don51]

Stick to the shallow and smaller bodies of water. Makes it a little easier to find them. It is hit or miss this time of the year. Throw a jerkbait or Ratltrap for starters. Some ponds are good in the cold, some not so much. 

[MassBass]

Not easy after the late october/November rains. After that, when water that is usually colored turns clear, you can almost forget about it. Factor in clear blue skies and little wind, luck and offerings to the spirits will be called for. This is a bank fishing perspective.

[NorEastAngler]

Tough this time of year - conditions are everything, especially the temp of the water. Right now, I'm having luck in deeper ponds just because the water is a little warmer and there is heavy amount of weeds. Low and slow has worked pretty decently. If it is just about the fishing and not necessarily the bass - you could always ball up some wonder bread and go for carp off the bottom. They put up a good fight! If you know of ponds with pickerel, they're usually biting late into the year as well. Just don't try to lip em

[DogBone_384]

21 hours ago, SMROA1983 said:

I’d really like to know what I could do to try to find them.

Two things to try: reaction baits (jerk baits, chatter baits, etc.) and S L O W stuff like jigs, hair jigs, finesse soft baits.  Start in whatever order you want, and switch if one's not working.  If you're inexperienced at any of these techniques, YouTube is very helpful.

 

And if neither works... blade baits. 

 

Lastly, read through this thread.  It's got almost a decade of Eastern MA fishing in it.  You're bound to find help!  

 

[SMROA1983]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm headed out tomorrow to give it a try again I’ll let you know how it goes!

[Boomstick]

This time of year, I normally have luck with jerkbaits, rattletraps, 1/4oz poppers, slow rolled spinnerbaits (usually a colorado blade) inline spinners, small soft plastics and finesse jigs but I tend to use more moving baits.

[NorEastAngler]

@SMROA1983 - how did you make out the other week? Any luck?

[leinad]

river fishing in conn. and a ned rig bounced off bottom in calm  water adjacent to fast flowing water is still nailing them

[Mr. Aquarium]

I fished last weekend. No idea water temps. No fish finder. 2 ponds.

smoked em on a tube jig. Biggest went 4lbs, Only one on a blade, and hair jig. 
As it gets colder out I fish deeper ponds. I know some guys that do very well in shallow ponds on jerkbaits. 

If Im fishing a  shallow pond  Im using a swimbait, jig or jerkbait. If I’m fishing a  deep pond, fish more  finesse, jig, hair jigs, blades, plastics.  

 

It’s more so about find pond that have active bass and finding out where they are in that pond. Some places are much much better then others for cold water fishing.  Your favorite spring and summer pond can seem like an empty body of water in the fall and winter. 

[MassYak85]

6 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

I fished last weekend. No idea water temps. No fish finder. 2 ponds.

smoked em on a tube jig. Biggest went 4lbs, Only one on a blade, and hair jig. 
As it gets colder out I fish deeper ponds. I know some guys that do very well in shallow ponds on jerkbaits. 

If Im fishing a  shallow pond  Im using a swimbait, jig or jerkbait. If I’m fishing a  deep pond, fish more  finesse, jig, hair jigs, blades, plastics.  

 

It’s more so about find pond that have active bass and finding out where they are in that pond. Some places are much much better then others for cold water fishing.  Your favorite spring and summer pond can seem like an empty body of water in the fall and winter. 

I personally hate fishing shallow ponds this time of year. Vegetation is mostly dead and if there's no depth to fish deeper structure it can make it difficult to fish bottom stuff if you need to slow down and stay in the dead weeds. Shallow diving jerks are good but I hate feeling like I only have one option. Deeper ponds a lot of times there's really only a couple key areas and they tend to group up in those areas. Tailspinners, blade baits, finesse jigs and neds can kill it. But bigger water means more wind and waves which can hinder finesse fishing a bit. But man if they're feeding heavy on a given day it's my favorite time of year.

[Mr. Aquarium]

17 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I personally hate fishing shallow ponds this time of year. Vegetation is mostly dead and if there's no depth to fish deeper structure it can make it difficult to fish bottom stuff if you need to slow down and stay in the dead weeds. Shallow diving jerks are good but I hate feeling like I only have one option. Deeper ponds a lot of times there's really only a couple key areas and they tend to group up in those areas. Tailspinners, blade baits, finesse jigs and neds can kill it. But bigger water means more wind and waves which can hinder finesse fishing a bit. But man if they're feeding heavy on a given day it's my favorite time of year.

Yep I feel the same way! But you can find certain shallow ponds that have good fishing this time of year.