October is here, and the fishing can be excellent as the water cools, the baitfish to feed up for winter. With all that is happening with the weather and changing water conditions, many different baits will work as bass are generally active this month.
Many different lures will catch bass, but these top lures are must-have additions to your tackle box this month.
Topwaters
While this list is in no particular order, if it were a ranking, topwater lures would have a claim to be the top bait of the month. As the water cools, topwater fishing continues to heat up, especially as bass start roaming heavily and chasing baitfish and corraling them towards the surface. Few lures are as effective and fun as topwater baits for this scenario.
There are many different styles of topwaters, but walking topwater baits excel this time of year because they can be fished quickly or slowly, depending on the mood of the fish, and their streamlined design allows you to cast them very far to reach fish if they are busting on the surface in the distance.
Some excellent walking topwater baits are available, but the ima Skimmer, 6th Sense Dogma, and original Heddon Zara Spook are a few excellent choices. All of these are very easy to walk side to side and they all cast excellent and come in many great colors to match different baitfish and conditions. A good selection of solid white or bone baits, some translucent hues, and a few shiny or chrome colors for sunny conditions will allow you to cover all of your bases and have a topwater that will attract fish and get bites this fall.
Swimbaits, Big and Small
Swimbaits come in all shapes and sizes, and the category includes everything from small baits like the Keitech Swing Impact FAT 2.8 to huge and sometimes very expensive glide baits and soft swimbaits that can be 12 inches long. No matter which one you decide to rig up this October, you will be doing the right thing, as these baits are great for imitating baitfish of all sizes and appeal to bass actively feeding this month and chasing their next meal.
With this being such a vast category of baits, the options to use them are endless. Some of them are better suited for open water because you rig them on an exposed hook on a jighead, and others have treble hooks. Neither of these styles of baits is ideal for fishing around cover. Still, weedless and snag-resistant options like the Bass Mafia Daingerous Unloaded Swimbait can be fished on a weighted swimbait hook and fished around grass, brush, and other cover where bass love to hide.
Spinnerbaits
The classic spinnerbait has been a great baitfish imitator for decades and still produces. The flash from the blades is a great way to look like a school of baitfish swimming along, and these baits are ideal for fishing in October.
Spinnerbaits come with many different skirt color options, but standard whites and anything similar to a shad will be perfect for you this month. For blades, choosing baits with silver blades will help to add to the appeal and make it look just like shad or other shiny baitfish swimming through the water. These baits have come a long way, and you can go with a simple design or more advanced baits like the Z-Man Sling BladeZ or Shimano Swagy, which both utilize wires that add more vibration during the retrieve.
Crankbaits
Crankbaits also come in many different sizes, and there is something to match many different depths. Depending on your fishing depth, you’ll want to select the right bait for the job. The three main categories for these baits are shallow-diving baits, such as squarebill that can bang and deflect into cover; those with a mid-depth range of 5 to 10 feet; and deep-divers that will go much deeper. All are excellent choices in October, and with a few baitfish imitating colors in each of them, you’ll be ready for anything.
Vibrating Jigs
Like spinnerbaits, vibrating jigs like the Z-Man Jack Hammer ChatterBait and Strike King Thunder Cricket are perfect for imitating baitfish. You can use a white pattern for bass keying on shad, but standard green pumpkin shades are excellent if you are fishing around shallow grass and docks where bluegill live. No matter what color you go with, the vibration put off by these baits is what makes them so popular and effective just about any month of the year, including October.
The Neko Rig
October is not just for moving baits like those listed above; it can also be great for several different finesse rigs. The Neko Rig makes the list for its versatility, as the weight inserted into a straight tail worm can be adjusted based on the depth. You can cover just about any depth range and fish docks, isolated cover like brush piles and bridge pilings, and along grass lines, which are all likely areas to hold piles of bass this month.
It’s hard to beat the original 5-inch Yamamoto Senko for the bait itself, but straight tail worms like the Berkley MaxScent Hit Worm Magnum and Big Bite Baits Nekorama are also excellent choices. Several great hook options include the VMC Neko hook, which comes in both weedless and standard versions to give you more options.
Fishing during October can be very rewarding as you will often find less crowded lakes, better weather after a long summer, and, oftentimes, hungry bass. These six lures are musts for fishing this month and will help make your fall more fun.
