It's already September, and summer is slowly fading, and fall is just about here. It may not feel like it depending on where you live, but things are slowly changing, including for the bass swimming in your favorite fisheries. Early fall is a month of change, which can sometimes make bass fishing a little challenging, but there can also be some excellent bass fishing action this month with the right approach.
Kick it Up a Notch
One theme for September is to fish fast and cover water. This approach works many times a year, as you fish more water and increase your chances of putting your bait in front of a bass if you make more casts, but it's crucial in September. Early fall is when bass begin to school up and chase shad in many regions, and they will be moving quickly as they herd baitfish, making it imperative to keep moving until you find where the fish are.
As a result, moving baits are great, and those resembling a shad will always be a great option. These include squarebill crankbaits like the Strike King 1.5 and 2.5, spinnerbaits like the Z-Man Sling BladeZ, and topwaters like the Lucky Craft Gunfish. For soft plastics, small swimbaits like the Keitech Swing Impact FAT and Rapala Crush City The Mayor are excellent choices, along with minnow-style baits fished on a jighead.
While these moving baits are often the best way to cover ground and find active fish, you can slow down once you see them, and there will always be the potential to catch bass by casting to isolated targets like docks, brush piles, laydowns, and other objects. For these areas, tried-and-true baits like jigs and Texas-rigged soft plastics should always be ready during any September fishing trip.
Match the Hatch
Shad are a primary forage for bass in many parts of the country, but not everywhere. In some regions, the primary food source may be perch, bluegill, or crawfish, so matching those baits are good if your waters are not home to large shad populations. No matter what the bass eat near you, they will likely be feeding up heavily this month as things start to change and the water begins to cool as fall approaches.
Besides matching what the bass are eating, it can also be essential to match the size of the forage. Many young-of-the-year shad are tiny right now, and there may be clouds of one to two-inch shad everywhere. They are what the bass are keyed in on, so downsizing your baits slightly is a good idea and something that can work very well for you this September.
A Great Time for Topwater
September is one of the best months for topwater fishing because of the warmer water temperatures and the fact that bass are starting school and chasing shad. These are two reasons why topwaters are some of the best lures to use this month.
Topwaters come in all shapes and sizes, with varying actions, but plopping style baits are excellent this time of year because you can fish them quickly, burn down the bank, and fish them without having to work them too much. Simply cast and retrieve, and let the plopping tail action create the disturbance to get a fish's attention.
The River2Sea Whopper Plopper and Berkley Choppo are two great options for September, as well as Japanese versions like the Deps Evoke Zero, with a metal plopping blade with a unique sound. These baits come in several sizes and colors, so you can precisely match what the bass eat in your home lake.
Look for the Vegetation
Since the water temperatures are still very much in summer mode in most places, bass are understandably going to be looking to cool down and seek refuge. It can be in the form of any shade, but vegetation is another excellent feature to look for. Bass will hunker down in matted vegetation to find shade, cooler water temperatures, and a plethora of forage available, so nearly any vegetation in the water will likely hold some bass.
There are many ways to fish around vegetation, but the choice of lure depends on how thick the vegetation is. For scattered grass and weedlines, baits like a Z-Man Jack Hammer ChatterBait and a swimming worm like the Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm are great options that will allow you to fish around grass without hanging up as often.
If the vegetation is topped out to the surface, you can punch baits through it with a heavy tungsten weight and a soft plastic lure or fish on top of it with frogs. Walking frogs are great for thicker matted vegetation, while popping frogs excel in areas with gaps and holes in the grass. Both can elicit some great strikes this month.
Although September can be tough fishing due to the lingering summer heat and bass constantly on the move, you can still have some great days on the water. Key points to remember include fishing quickly, seeking out vegetation, and locating the baitfish. Those rules of thumb will serve you well anytime you find yourself on the water this month.
