One of the reasons some anglers have such a hard time locating fish on big waters is that many of these fish will suspend at say 8 feet in 12 feet of water just over a subtle dropoff. When fishing jigs or shiners rigged on weights, many anglers shoot right past these fish, whereas a tiny diving crankbait will go right to them.

If you're fishing natural brushpiles or logjams, the most common and, arguably, productive bait is a live shiner fished on a freeline. Well it's almost a freeline rig -- but instead of a simple hook and shiner, the preferred rig here is a hook and shiner finished off with a 1/32-ounce weight, which will allow the bait to get down a little quicker, and into the lair of some of the bigger fish, which typically hold tight to the structure.

As the late fall period turns to winter, start thinking about finding bass on the river channels in reservoirs over deep structure like humps and mounds or old roadbeds that weave into the channel. Veteran bass angler Michael Cole likes to run his boat around the main river channel in a reservoir and along steep dropoffs adjacent to large creeks and river mouths. This is where baitfish "stack up" and that is where the bass will be.

"Anglers catch those bass while crappie fishing over baitfish. That makes perfect sense because some bass act a lot like crappie when it gets cold. Their metabolism is not going to be high enough for them to roam around, chase and corral the baitfish, so they suspend around big schools of them. Often times the bass will lurk around logjams and structure that is located just under the baitfish so they can be hard to locate on electronics. My best advice is to locate the baitfish and the bass will usually follow suit," Cole said.

On locating the baitfish, it'd be best to put out a marker buoy. You may put out as many as half a dozen buoys before fishing so you have plenty of spots to hit. For best results, use a 1/3- to 1/2-ounce spoon on a 2-foot leader attached to 15-pound-test Stren Sensor or Berkley Fireline Crystal. You will want something that is super sensitive because these fish will sometimes be able to hit the bait before you ever know what happened. Sensitivity can be crucial.

Simply lower the bait down into the bass' zone, work the bait up and down and hold on to wait for a hit. If you're not bit within a few minutes, you should move. It usually does not take long to find them when they are actively feeding in a locale.

Remember: Fall fishing has everything to do with immediate weather changes, and until patterns shift into full-blown winter, fish will feed in either transitional areas or some of the same places they'll be during spring -- everything from grasslines to artificial brushpiles and natural brush along islands and shorelines. Fall bass fishing can be exciting, and perhaps the best part is that in most areas you share the water with relatively few anglers.

Hunting's on the mind of many anglers in the fall, but that doesn't mean that the bass have stopped biting -- and those who recognize this can catch plenty of fish.