🍁 The cold weather has officially arrived! On Wednesday I spent the day shore fishing a handful of Minnesota lakes I’d never fished before. All of them had great largemouth bass populations, and they were cooperating. The air temps were mid to high 40s and cloudy.

Fall is one of the most overlooked times to catch largemouth from shore. Boat traffic has dropped off, the fish are feeding up before winter, and a lot of them are holding close to the bank around the last green weeds, laydowns, and shallow bays that warm up in the afternoon. You don’t need a boat to reach them right now. You just need to know where to look.

That’s what this week’s issue is about. I’ll cover where I find fall largemouth from shore, a go-to bait, and a few things I learned fishing new water from the bank.

Let’s get into it.

As mentioned before, I shore fished a few Minnesota lakes I’d never fished before, and they all had one thing in common: lots of largemouth bass.

❎ That wasn’t luck. This wasn’t a trophy hunt, just want to catch fish and put the odds in my favor. Before I left, I pulled the lakes up in onX Fish and looked for two things. The first was High Abundance Lakes for largemouth. The second was public land on the shoreline, so I could legally walk the bank. The bass were right where they should be in the fall. A better fish came off a stretch of cattails and a fallen tree lying in the water. It was a little challenging to make casts with the tree branches overhead. I also had to cast over the cattails to get bit and caught a couple fish in this spot (the lead photo in this section shows the angle).

One lake had a long stretch of state DNR land next to a public access, and the contours showed the bottom dropping from a couple of feet to about 10 or 13 feet within easy casting distance. If you’re fishing from shore, a break that close is about as good as it gets. The goal is to get as close to deep water as you can.

✅ Lake Size. Bigger lakes can grow bigger bass, but finding those fish from shore can feel like Mission Impossible. The bass have miles of shoreline, offshore structure, and deep water to spread out in, and you’re limited to whatever stretch of bank you can legally stand on. Generally speaking, the smaller the lake, the better. This is a guideline, not a rule. Some decent-sized Minneapolis metro lakes hold big bass and have almost entirely public shorelines, so you can walk and cover a lot of water. Out in the countryside, though, public access often shrinks to a boat landing and maybe a small piece of DNR land.

That’s where smaller lakes shine. I don’t have a set number, but a lake under about 300 surface acres can be a gem if there’s enough public land to cast from. On a small lake, the fish have fewer places to go, so the water you can reach from shore covers a much bigger share of the lake, and a bigger share of the bass. Look for deep water, around 15 to 25 feet, close to shore. Bass move up and down that drop to feed and rest, especially in the fall, and a shore spot where deep water sits within casting distance gives you a shot at fish all day instead of just during a short feeding window.

✅ Water Clarity. This can change things up. The lakes I fished on Wednesday had pretty clear water, 8-12’ clarity. If you find a stained lake, that can really push bass shallow. Stained water limits how far light reaches, which changes how largemouth behave, especially in small lakes. Weeds don’t grow as deep, so bass live shallower and hold tight to cover like laydowns, cattails, and docks, where they wait to ambush prey instead of roaming. They also can’t see you as well, which gives shore anglers a real advantage. Because they hunt more by feel than sight, baits with vibration and rattles work well, such as spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and squarebills. Stained water also warms faster in the sun, so on small lakes in the fall the afternoons are often the best time to fish, especially in shallow bays.

What I like about fall from shore is that you have the lake to yourself. The boats are mostly put away, the trees are turning, and the bass are feeding before winter. You don’t need to cover the whole lake. You just need a few good spots you can reach. Bait choice matters too. The shallow water weeds can be a pain to fish around from shore. Jerkbaits loaded up with salad fast. So did Ned rigs, and any swimbait fished too close to the bottom. So let’s get into the fishing gear that actually worked…

My go-to bait on these lakes was about as simple as it gets: a 3.5-inch Crush City Mayor swimbait on a 1/8-ounce VMC Moon Eye jig.

The light jighead is the 🔑. In shallow, weedy water, even a 1/4oz, can sink into the salad before you can start reeling. At 1/8 ounce, the swimbait stays up and swims just over the tops of the weeds, right where fall largemouth sit waiting to ambush baitfish. I cast it out, let it sink for a second or two until it’s close to the weed tops, and then reel it back slow and steady with the rod tip up. If you feel it touch the weeds, give it a quick pop to rip it free. That sudden change in speed often triggers a strike.

✅ Rod, Reel, and Line. For the rod, I used a spinning rod around 7 feet long with medium-light power and fast action. A longer rod casts farther, which matters from shore when the fish are sitting on a weed edge or drop-off you can barely reach. Medium-light power lets the rod load up and throw a 1/8-ounce jig a long way, and the fast action gives you enough backbone in the lower part of the rod to set the hook and pull a bass out of the weeds. A size 2500 reel is perfect for most bass fishing situations. It’s light enough to balance the rod and still holds plenty of line.

When it comes to line, braid is king for long casts. It’s thin and casts a long way, and because it almost doesn’t stretch at all, you can feel the swimbait touching the weeds from far away and get a solid hookset at the end of a long cast. I was spooled with 10-pound Sufix braid and a 10-pound Sufix fluorocarbon leader. The fluorocarbon is harder for the fish to see and holds up better against weeds and rocks, and gives you a little insurance if you hook a hammer handle pike. On days with clear skies, very clear water, and calm wind, I drop down to an 8-pound leader to get more bites, and sometimes go as light as 6-pound.

I spent four days at Eagle Nest Lodge in Manitoba, and you get a tour the lodge and how it's laid out, the gear for walleye and smallmouth. The highlight was the shore lunch, which was one of the best I’ve had! Click here for the YouTube video.

My Biggest Canadian Bass EVER!
I fished through Kenora, Dryden, and Atikokan to Fort Frances, with every stop being water I'd never fished before. If you like shore fishing, DIY road trips, or seeing how to break down new water without a boat, this one’s for YOU. Click here for the YouTube video.

If you made it this far, THANKS! Ann and I made it out for the last of the apple picking season. We stopped by a farm outside of Aitkin, Minnesota. This year in particular, it seems like store-bought apples are losing flavor. Do you notice that too? The apples we picked were so much more flavorful. See you next week!