Fishing during the fall can be extraordinary as the bass are hungry and feed up as much as possible before things slow down during winter. It's also a time when many different lures will work, as bass are generally more aggressive and willing to strike.
With so many lures, how do you narrow it down to just three? That was the question posed to the world's No. 1 ranked professional bass angler, and he made his picks and why they deserve a top spot.
Fall Fishing, According to Wheeler
Fall means many things depending on your hometown, but in general, Wheeler says it's a time of movement and trying to figure out the bass from one day to the next.
"The most challenging thing about fall is that the bass are typically scattered throughout a body of water," he said. "While it can be challenging sometimes to catch a lot of bigger fish, you can definitely catch them if you figure out where the baitfish are. That could be in points, in the back of pockets or creeks, but whenever you find the bulk of the baitfish, the bass will feed heavily as they prepare for winter."
With this in mind, his three top lure choices were straightforward and work everywhere: a topwater bait, crankbait, and a jig.
Topwater
Without hesitation, Wheeler picked a topwater bait as his top choice. For one, it's fun to fish, but he also knows how effective it can be. It also has a knack for catching big bass.
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A walking topwater like the Rapala Jowler creates a big surface commotion, allowing you to fish quickly while searching for active bass. "I'm a topwater fanatic in general, so I have to go with a topwater bait," he said. "What makes it so good in the fall is that you can fish fast and cover water, and they work so well in clear and dirty water. Two of my favorites would be a buzzbait or a walking bait like the Rapala PXR Jowler."
With either bait choice, Wheeler will fish anything and everything in front of him as he searches for the biggest groups of actively feeding bass. He also pays close attention to each bite he gets, noting the type of cover the fish are around or if they are a certain distance back into creeks or pockets or on the main lake. All of these are clues that he uses to catch more bass.
"A topwater allows you to fish fast; you can fish around cover or open water," he said. "What I like about buzzbait is that you can skip around docks, logs, or anything and be very efficient as you cover water. I can literally fish anything in front of me, and once I get a bite, I can figure out if the fish are around wood or a specific type of cover. I can then set the rest of my day by the first bites of the morning. That's how I develop a pattern and can make a plan to fish the rest of the day based on where the fish are at."
Crankbaits
Like a topwater lure, a crankbait lets you fish quickly and cover ground. This is why Wheeler picked a crankbait as his second "must-have" to make fall bass fishing easy.
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A flat-sided crankbait is one of Wheeler's favorite baits in the spring and fall. "During the fall, I like a flat-sided crankbait just like I do early in the spring," he said, mentioning several crankbaits as his favorites, including the Rapala DT-6 and Rapala Ott's Garage OG Tiny.
He prefers the baits listed above because of their size profile and the typical size of shad during the fall. "The shad are now big enough and abundant enough. That's about how big they are; they are roughly two inches long in most places," he said. "I spend much time in the fall cranking around hard cover like rocky banks."
Typically, he's looking for the same areas that he does for a buzzbait or walking topwater lure. "I run the same stuff, and if the sun comes up or the wind changes, a crankbait can be a good way to catch them when they stop biting topwater baits," he said. "A crankbait is one of the best ways to generate bites in the fall."
Jigs
Finally, Wheeler opted for a jig because of its versatility. This is a large group of lures with many different shapes and sizes, but specifically, Wheeler would go with a ½-ounce finesse jig if he had to pick just one.
"That's a bait that will work in the fall, whether you're in Texas or Minnesota and everywhere in between," he said. "A half-ounce is a good all-around size that works in many depths and falls fast enough. Even though you don't think of a jig as something that covers water quickly, the fall rate is fast enough to get to the bottom and can cover more water than you can with lighter jigs."
Fishing fast is the one common denominator with all three of his bait choices. It's part of his style any time of year but rings more true in the fall months.
"This is a time of year when you know you're going to need to cover water, so don't be afraid and keep moving fast, even knowing that you will be going past some fish," he said. "Going faster will allow you to fish more high percentage areas, and the law of averages means you will catch more in a day just by hitting more of those likely areas instead of slowing down in one or two spots."
Jacob Wheeler's success at the top level of professional bass fishing has few equals. He's consistently won at big tournaments since he burst on the scene over a decade ago. His advice for fishing in the fall is to keep things simple and cover ground to find the largest groups of the most aggressive bass.
