What are your top five top water lures (plus colors) for Fall bass fishing?

Do sinking lures count?

 

I catch most of my fall topwater fish on 4" senkos (or similar) and small plastics (finesse worms, grubs, swimbaits) on light jigheads. These are usually for schooling fish busting shad on the surface. I'll start with a fast retrieve on top. If nothing bites, I'll kill it and wait for a bite on the drop.

 

I know, that's not five lures. I don't have five favorite colors either, but for this application I prefer shad colors (smoke/gray with silver and/or blue flake) or dark colors (black, junebug).

For river smallies

If its windy then a 110 or 135 WPlopper in bone or black. I dont think the bass care but I can spot them easier on the water.

If its slick calm then a Super Spook jr in clear for a bluebird sky, black for clouds and otherwise white.

For weeds/lillypads I like a Booyah Padcrasher in white.

For river current I have been throwing a weightless fluke twitched on the surface and it's done well.

Last choice would be a PopR in white

 

Tiny Torpedo - clear, Zara Puppy - silver, 1/8 oz. buzz bait-white, Devil's Horse -chrome orange belly and 1/4 oz. Chug Bug - Bull Frog. 

Buzz bait- black.

Pop R - silver, black back

Floating Rapala - gold black back

Rebel Jumpin Minnow - bone

Tiny Torpedo - frog

 

There's seems to be two distinct 'parts' to my Fall fishing. 

Early Fall, which is really like late summer everywhere else.

And then Late Fall, which is usually like a month or so before hard water.

(or it's just too darn cold to fish)

So the early deal is mostly about horizontal moving baits.

Spinnerbaits, A-Rig, Vibrating Jig, Squarebills, and Topwater walking baits.

The later and colder water adventures see me throwing baits

that are almost always on or at least near the bottom. 

Swimbaits, Blade Baits, Deep running Jerkbaits, Swingheads,

and rattlebaits fished like a jig or blade bait.

Some of my better producers can be seen below.

As well as in this album ~ 

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/gallery/album/2103-a-jays-baits/

 

Fish Hard

A-Jay

*Black Buzzbait - 1/2 oz or 1/8 oz depending on the mood of the fish. This is my go to and out produces everything else in the fall by a healthy margin.  I let the fish tell me what color and size but usually start with black.  It seems the most 'finesse' color.

 

*transparent popper, I like the smaller sized ones in the fall.  Target bait.  I target grass lines and docks and shadelines.  Can be great later in the day with a light breeze on the water out of the SW.

 

*white or shad pattern frog.  I usually keep going with the normal size ones but a smaller profile would probably get more bites right now.  I use this a lot in lieu of walking topwaters which never seem to get bites for me.  I fish frogs over rocky flats and wood cover in the fall.

 

*Buzz toad - z man GOAT on a light wire EWG.  Excellent for fish who have seen too many Buzzbaits.

 

*Floating worm - z man bang sticks wacky rigged, lightly jiggled on the surface near visible shallow cover can be great.

 

Edit: just realized thread said TOPWATER lures.

56 minutes ago, greentrout said:

Tiny Torpedo - clear, Zara Puppy - silver, 1/8 oz. buzz bait-white, Devil's Horse -chrome orange belly and 1/4 oz. Chug Bug - Bull Frog. 

THIS ^^^^

Devils Horse (Green/orange)

Spook (Bone)

Pop R (Bone)

Magnum Speed Worm (June Bug)

Horny Toad (White)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

Whopper Plopper 75 - “I know it”

Sammy 105 - Ghost Minnow

Jitterbug - Black

Baby Bull Shad - Gizzard

Shinmushi - The green one, couldn’t spell the color name if I tried.

 

 

7 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

PopMax, Zara Spook, MegaStrike Cavitron, Lucky Craft Sammy and Devil's Horse.

I have never liked the action of the LC Sammy - there are so many better options for me personally. 

Largw Wake baits

Yellow Magic Popper

Megadog

 

That's about it for me. 

When a front comes through in October the bass go deep and they stay near cover.  Most of the time the bass will ignore topwater and larger moving baits.

 

Jig and craw

Small crankbaits

T-rigged craws

Finesse plastic worms

Small Senko type baits

 

 

My top 5 don't change with the seasons.

One Knocker Spook - Bone

Lucky Craft Gunfish

original Berkley Frenzy popper

Caffeine shad

 

I'm pretty much a smallmouth guy...

Wooden Sammy, shad

Splash-It, shad

Zip ‘n Ziggy, Baby Bass.

Buzzer, white

Down sized my tackle and use the above year around.

Back in the day add 

8’ Lunker Pucker, trout

9” Pup Fish, trout

5” Rats, grey/brown

Tom

These are fished all year: Depps Buzzjet, Evergreen SB, Lucky Craft Gunfish, River2Sea Rover, Rebel Pop R

On 10/6/2023 at 7:50 AM, A-Jay said:

There's seems to be two distinct 'parts' to my Fall fishing. 

Early Fall, which is really like late summer everywhere else.

And then Late Fall, which is usually like a month or so before hard water.

(or it's just too darn cold to fish)

So the early deal is mostly about horizontal moving baits.

Spinnerbaits, A-Rig, Vibrating Jig, Squarebills, and Topwater walking baits.

The later and colder water adventures see me throwing baits

that are almost always on or at least near the bottom. 

Swimbaits, Blade Baits, Deep running Jerkbaits, Swingheads,

and rattlebaits fished like a jig or blade bait.

Some of my better producers can be seen below.

As well as in this album ~ 

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/gallery/album/2103-a-jays-baits/

 

Fish Hard

A-Jay

None of the above are top water lures😎

20 minutes ago, WRB said:

None of the above are top water lures😎

Top Right Pic ~  SK Sexy Dawg Hard Knock

A-Jay

- 9" MS Slammer - Trout

- Bull Shad Bull Wake - Bone

- Evergreen Showerblows 105  - Blueback Herring 

- Lobina Rio Rico - Bone

- Z- Man Goat Toadz - White, GP, and Black

I catch alot of fish burning/skipping a Cotton Cordell jigging spoon across the surface.

 

32 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Top Right Pic ~  SK Sexy Dawg Hard Knock

A-Jay

I see said the blind man🤭

Zara Spook any color........Pop-R any color......Rapala Skitter Pop,gold black back...Zoom Speed worm..Junebug....Devils Horse....any color.     

Buzzbait, prop bait, floating minnow (Rapala type), Spook and a popper.  You could substitute a Plopper for the prop bait, but I prefer the thinner profile of a Devil's Horse to them.

Buzzbait

Crankbaits

Shaker Head Worm

Dark Sleeper

Spinnerbait

Drop Shot