Hallman’s September Approach

Three ways this shallow-water specialist tackles the beginning of fall

Early fall to me is primarily September, the time of year when football season and the FLW Bass Fishing League Super Tournaments start. For me, it’s a transition period when the fish tend to be really scattered. September is one of the toughest months nationwide, even on the best lakes in the country, and it’s no different on Grand Lake in Oklahoma.

In September, it seems like it’s a revolving door in tournaments, both in the results and the patterns. Different people win every year, whereas there are guys who always do well in the spring. It’s because in the fall the fish are on flats that are ultra-shallow, they’re scattered around and they’re still in the brush piles. But even guys who have a lot of brush piles often don’t have five they can pull up on and catch fish. It’s just a tough time to be consistent, and because it’s late in the tournament season, the fish have seen a lot of baits.

Shallow flats

The first thing I’m going to do is try and fish shallow. I look for the big flats that are skinny and adjacent to the main lake. My trolling motor may be almost touching bottom, and I’ll still be throwing up to the bank.

One thing I look for is bird activity, which is usually a pretty good sign. There might be gulls in the air over a bait school where bass are also feeding, and sometimes I can drive down the lake and locate a good flat because there are herons along the bank.

Sand bass (white bass) activity can be a tip off too. A lot of times they get on some of the deeper flats, but they’ll sometimes go shallower. Sometimes bass will share that general area, especially on the shallow side in about 5 feet.

Then I’m throwing a topwater or a square-bill, and it’s the time of year when I’ll start throwing small crappie crankbaits too.

For topwater, I used to love that old Storm Chug Bug, but it’s not the best bait to keep them hooked up. I still throw it really fast and work it like a Heddon Spook. A lot depends on the lake. If I’m at Rayburn I’m primarily throwing a frog or a Rebel Pop-R. If I’m at Table Rock it’s a River2Sea Whopper Plopper or a Spook.

Release areas

With tournaments having gone on all summer, the release areas on the lake can be some of the only places where fish are concentrated come September.

There, I’ll look for anything different – maybe the end of a boat ramp or a shallow point or a brush pile nearby. I’ll use topwaters in the morning on the shallower flat parts of it, and as the sun gets up I’ll go to a square-bill around isolated cover or a jig or a shaky head. In September, if it’s something that’s isolated and it feels pretty good, I’m probably going to make five to six casts at it, but I’m not going to sit there and make 20 casts.

It’s a tough time to fish, so I look for a way to generate seven or 10 bites a day, and junk-fishing places where you know fish get let go can be a good way to do it.

Deep docks

I prefer to catch them shallow, just because I can cover more water and I feel I can generate more bites, but sometimes they’re not there. Later in the year, docks can be good too, especially deep docks on channel swings and points.

Generally, I’m looking for a pattern within a pattern. I’ll take off down the docks, and I’m really looking for where they are positioned on the docks. Are they suspended? Are they on the corners? Are they on the bottom? Are they at the backs? Those are some of the things I really try to pay attention to. If they’re positioned right under the docks then I’ll probably have better luck with a swimbait or something moving horizontally. If they’re down in brush then I’d probably have better luck on the jig.

You also want to pay attention to what is under the dock. They’ll be there because of the shade of the dock, but there’s another reason too. It might be that there’s bait under the dock, or a rock bottom or brush. When you find that, you can eliminate a lot of docks.