Fall Bass Fishing is Coming: Missile Baits Can Help

Salem, Va. – September 9, 2026 – Cooler mornings, shorter days and dropping water temperatures mean one thing for bass anglers, fall bass fishing is almost here. The transition from summer into fall can produce some of the most exciting bass fishing of the year. As water temperatures begin to cool, baitfish start moving and bass follow. Fish that spent much of the summer relating to deeper water or heavy cover can become increasingly active, creating opportunities for anglers to catch bass from the surface all the way to the bottom.

For Missile Baits founder and professional bass angler John Crews, fall is a time to stay on the move and let the fish tell you how they want to be caught.

“Fall is one of those times when you can catch bass a lot of different ways,” Crews said. “The biggest thing is finding the bait and figuring out what the bass are doing with it. They can be roaming, chasing in the backs of creeks, sitting around shallow cover or feeding on top. You want to have several different options ready because things can change quickly during the fall.”

Start On Top

When bass are actively chasing baitfish, topwater can be one of the best—and most exciting—ways to catch them. The Missile Baits Buzz Wagon gives anglers a fast-moving option for searching shallow water and locating aggressive bass. The 5/16-ounce buzzbait is designed to be paired with a soft-plastic toad or trailer and can be worked around grass, docks, laydowns, shallow flats and other cover where bass may ambush baitfish.

Fall is an especially good time to keep a Buzz Wagon ready because it allows anglers to cover water quickly. Instead of waiting for bass to come to them, anglers can fish down a bank, across a flat or through a pocket looking for active fish.

“When they’re willing to come up and get it, that’s the deal you want to be on,” Crews said. “A Buzz Wagon lets you cover a lot of water, and you can put it in places where those fish are feeding. There’s nothing much better than a bass blowing up on your bait on top.”

Follow The Bait

One of the biggest keys to fall bass fishing is paying attention to forage. Pockets, points, flats and transitions near shallow water can all become important as baitfish move. Birds, surface activity and visible schools of bait can provide clues, but anglers should also pay attention to their electronics and what they see while moving around the lake. If bass are actively chasing, moving baits like topwaters and crankbaits can help anglers find fish quickly. If the bite slows down, switching presentations can keep the action going.

Not every fall bass is going to be feeding on the surface. That is why versatility can be so important during the fall seasonal transition. When bass won't commit to a topwater presentation, anglers can work lower in the water column with a swimbait, Texas-rigged soft plastic, jig-style presentation or other bait that matches the type of cover and forage present. Soft plastics such as the Missile Baits Magic Worm or Missile Jigs Mini Flip on the bottom give anglers options for targeting fish around docks, vegetation, wood, rock and other cover.

The key is not getting locked into one technique. An angler might start the morning covering shallow water with a Buzz Wagon, switch to a moving subsurface presentation as the sun gets higher, and then slow down with a soft plastic around isolated cover when the fish stop chasing.

Keep Moving

Fall bass can move frequently as they follow forage, making yesterday's productive area much less important than what is happening right now. Crews recommends using faster presentations to search for fish and then slowing down once a productive area is identified.

“Fall fishing can change every day, and sometimes it changes during the day,” Crews said. “Don't be afraid to move. Keep looking for bait and keep trying different presentations until the bass show you what they want. Once you get a couple of bites and see a pattern developing, then you can really start dialing it in.”

For many anglers, that unpredictability is exactly what makes fall fishing so much fun. Bass can be aggressive, multiple techniques can produce, and a quiet stretch of water can suddenly erupt when a school begins feeding.

With fall right around the corner, now is the time to get tackle organized, respool reels and make sure everything from topwaters like the Buzz Wagon to favorite Missile Baits soft plastics is ready to go. Because when the temperatures start dropping and the bait starts moving, some of the best bass fishing of the year can be just getting started.

For more fall fishing tips, techniques and on-the-water action, check out the latest video from Missile Baits on YouTube (https://youtu.be/0Fu7Z0C5oqM?si=1IBSD6m_BYm8-51H) and follow Missile Baits throughout the fall fishing season.