Top 5 Budget Bass Baits for Fall

Glenn: There you go.

Keri: I threw behind him too.

Glenn: That's a good fish.

Keri: Throwing it out there. I said, “I’m gonna catch me a bass.”

Glenn: That's a really good one.

Keri: Come here. Come here. He was hungry. And I'll let you go if you be nice.

Hey, folks. Glenn May here with BassResource.com, and today, I want to talk about the top five inexpensive lures you can use during fall to catch a lot of fish. Now, these lures, I'm picking them out because not only are they budget-friendly, but they also can work throughout the entire fall. So, you're not just using them a couple of times, and then you got to put it down for the rest of the year.

So, so let's get right into it. The first bait I want to talk about is the YUM Dinger. I really like using the YUM Dinger during the fall because first of all, its versatility. You can fish it really shallow. During the early fall, when the fish are up shallow, just fish it Texas Rig weightless, and work around any kind of visible cover and structure you can find. Just let it flutter down on your weightless, and a lot of times that's all you got to do. You catch a lot of fish that way.

As fall progresses and the fish get deeper, you can tie it onto a Carolina Rig or a Drop Shot Rig, or a split shot rig to get that bait down to where those fish are, usually along weed edges, or creek channels. Follow those contour lines out to deeper water. They'll be sitting along there somewhere, and you can use these rigs to get that Yum Dinger right down to them and continue to catch fish.

It's also a bargain because it's really durable bait. This bait can last fish, after fish, after fish, whereas other baits that the competitors use are much softer plastic that tear up real easily. But this bait, they've figured it out. They still have the action, but they're also more durable. So, you're not compromising at all. Plus, you can buy them in bulk. And so when you do that, you can save a lot... Now, it's just Pennys, Pennys a lure. So, it's a lot cheaper when you do it that way. You can get it to last a lot longer. So, number one is the Yum Dinger.

Number two on my list of baits is a spinnerbait. And the spinnerbaits, there's lots of spinnerbait manufacturers out there. A lot of great spinnerbaits. So, I'm not being derogatory towards those. But the ones that to me are the most budget-friendly are the Booyah Baits because they're durable. They're strong. The hooks they have are very strong. They don't bend out. And the wires that they use are strong. They don't break after a while. And most importantly, they run true right out of the package.

A lot of cheaper spinnerbaits don't, but the Booyah spinnerbaits do. And they have a quality ball bearing for the blades. So, they spin as soon as the blades hit the water, which is really important, especially in the early fall when these fish are up shallow. As soon as it hits the water, you want that blade to immediately start turning because a lot of times they'll strike that bait before you even have a chance to turn the reel handle.

So, quality bait at a good price, your 3/8 Ounce, Double Willowleaf Blades is really good during the fall, especially when they're up shallow. Because those Willowleaf Blades give that profile of a baitfish, which is what they're starting to key on this time of year. And you can burn it across weed beds, you can burn into any kind of visible structure, any visible cover, weeds, laydowns, docks, rocks, anything like that.

But then as the Fall progresses, and the fish start to move deeper, I can heavy up, I can go to a half-ounce, or maybe even a three-quarter ounce, and maybe move to a Colorado Blade. Give it a little more thump. And work it on those outside weed lines in deeper water. Nice and slow, and over the top, especially if there's clumps of weeds, there's spots of weeds everywhere, bringing it through the tops of those can be really productive in those deeper clumps of weeds with a spinnerbait. I don't know what it is, but it works really well. I can't tell you why. I just know that it works.

And then of course when you get closer to winter, you can go out to the main lake points, those main humps, and fish it real deep, slow roll it right along down there, and get those fish to bite it. They definitely will go after that spinnerbait even though the water temperatures are getting pretty cold and they're deep. So spinnerbait, very versatile throughout the entire water column throughout fall.

There we go. That's a good fish. He’s not going to go anywhere. Come here. Yep, he just came right up and smacked it. Nice little belly on him.

The next bait I want to talk to you about is the Jig. The Jig, again, the versatility, that's the theme for all these baits. But a Jig is really, really, good to use because you can put it right up in the docks, skip it under the docks. You can put it next to those logs, those docks, those weeds, weed lines, the rocks. Anytime they're up shallow and those fish are holding uptight to cover, especially if a front’s come through, a jig shines.

And that's especially important as the fall progresses, the fronts get stronger, the fish tend to get more lockjaw, or tend to get a little bit deeper and hug that cover, that's when a Jig really works well. I like to use a Football Head Jig if the fish are anywhere deeper than say 12, 15 feet deep, and just crawl along the bottom, right along those contour lines, or the secondary or primary points.

And I just crawl it real slow, make it wobble on the bottom just like a crawdad. And so, you got to be patient. You got to move a lot slower than you think, and give it pauses, long pauses in between. And if fish are reluctant to bite, they generally will bite this. Now, if they don't want to, sometimes this happens in the Fall, they'll grab the tail of it, or they'll barely suck it in, but won't hold on to it very long. So, you set the hook and you don't get a very good hook set on. They come off, or you don't get them, that's when I go to my next lure, and a Tube.

Tube jigs are very inexpensive. There's a variety of companies out there that make them. I like, you know, Outlaw Baits, Outkast Baits. There's a few others that make really good tubes. A lot of companies do. But they're very inexpensive regardless who you buy from. And generally speaking, you buy them in bulk. I like to buy them in a hundred pack. That's how much I like tubes.

So, they'll last you a long time. They don't get tore up that much. And they're very inexpensive. And again, early in the fall, just rig it on a jig head that's got the eye offset from...It's not in the front, but a little bit offset from the front. And it's just an open jig head, and with that, you get the spiral action when you drop in the water.

Looks like a dying baitfish. Fish cannot resist that man, especially in the Fall when they're keying on baitfish. Throw it beneath the docks. Through it next to those little drops and those weed edges and just let it spiral, and let it do its job. You don't have to do anything. Just let it fall on a slackline.

For that reason, that's why I throw it on a spinning tackle, so I can flip the bail just let it fall. And that's a great way to catch them all the way through mid-season.

Once you start getting into late fall, then I'll tie it on like a Carolina Rig or a drop shot rig or split shot rig to get it down there along those weed lines, or on those humps, especially if the fish are, again like I said, when the fronts come through. Maybe they were on top of the hump before the front came through, they'll move off to the sides or even right down the base of the hump. When those fronts come through, and those fish, if they're not actively attacking that jig, that's when the tube works really well because you can put a little scent inside. When the fish bites it, it's squishy. It feels realistic. They hold on to it a little bit longer because it's got the scent in it, and you can get a better hookset on it.

So, a tube jig is kind of a killer secret lure that I use, throughout the fall, that catches a lot, a lot of fish. So, and it's inexpensive, too.

And finally, the last lure I got to put in there is a frog. Now, admittedly a frog doesn't work as well later in the Fall when there's not as many fish up shallow. But man, early Fall into Mid-Fall, frog season to me that's what I call frog season because that is the best time to be throwing a frog. The topwater action is incredible, and frogs are the bomb. You can throw it over those weeds, and drop it in the pockets. And because frogs are buoyant, you can like just sit there and bake in an open spot, twitch it a little bit, and get the attention of fish and have them come up and nail it.

Fish along docks. Fish along all that cover. But even when it gets a little bit in the Mid-Fall when these fish pull off, just find those deeper weed beds and bring it over the top of them. Just gurgle and pop it along.

There's two main brands of frogs that I like to use during this time that are really inexpensive to use. And that is the Bronzeye, the Spro Bronzeeye frog, and the other is the BOOYAH Pad Crasher. Both you can get for under 10 bucks. The Spro is a little bit more expensive by a couple of bucks. But if you get it on sale that's a moot point.

You can get them for, you know, around five bucks, really you can get them on sale, and they're durable. They're very durable. Very strong hooks. They don't bend out. The body doesn't tear up after a couple of fish, so it doesn't spring a leak and doesn't, you know, lose its ability to float. So, you get a lot of fish, after fish, after fish, and a lot of longevity out of it.

So, those are the two that I pick for keeping you budget-friendly throughout the Fall is those frogs. In a matter, all those baits.

With those baits in mind, you don't have to spend an arm and a leg, and you can fish throughout the entire fall season and catch a lot of fish. I hope those tips help. For more tips and tricks like this, visit BassResource.com.