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Fall can be some of the best largemouth bass fishing of the entire calendar year. For those of us in the Midwest, that means cooling waters from mid-September right up until ice. Although this conflicts with time spent in the field or the tree stand, we encourage you to chase big bass while the getting's good.

The key we've found with fall bass fishing is to cover water. Depending on the water temperature and time of day, bass can be anywhere from just off weed edges, well into submerged and emergent weeds (especially the still-green stuff), around docks, timber, and other structure-even pushed right up tight to shore. Sure, you can flip, skip, punch, and do all of that, but for us, the key to more fall bass is covering real estate.

What's the best way to target these areas? While swim jigs with soft plastic trailers or ChatterBaits will get bit, seems like bass on more pressured waters might be a little conditioned to anglers throwing bladed jigs everywhere.

Enter the spinnerbait-a fish-catcher from day 1. To be honest, like a lot of bass anglers, we've ditched the spinnerbait in recent years, power fishing ChatterBaits, swim jigs, and Texas-rigged soft plastic boot-tail jerkbaits to cover lots of water fast. It's only been over the last year that we've picked up spinnerbaits again-like we did for so many years-and surprise, they still catch loads of bass.

While every bait shop usually has a counter display with some local's homemade spinnerbaits, and there are classics out there like Northland Tackle's Reed Runner, and mainstays like the War Eagle and Z-Man, we've had good experience with a new player on the scene-the double willow-bladed Bio-Blade Spinnerbait from FishLab in Ontario, California.

Bio-Blade Spinnerbait

• Available in 3/8 and ½ ounce sizes
• Constructed with high quality .035 inch diameter wire for maximum wire vibration
• Premium blades for maximum flash w/ soldered blade spacers
• Specially designed shad shaped head cuts through timber and grass without hanging up
• 3D eye on head
• Comes equipped with a BBZ Mimic Tail trailer for added realism
• 7 available colors including Bluegill
• Shortened 2.5" BBZ Mimic Tail that stays straight on the hook and allows for fishing below a trailer hook without impeding the hook swing

Bio-Blade Buzzbait

Another winning fall bass bait we've recently discovered is from the same company-and excels when bass are in and around fall grass/pads/rushes, etc., and you need to cover a bunch of water quickly.

Remember: Midwest fall largemouth bass are largely keyed into bluegills and frogs, two food sources readily available in fall. So, since we don't have shad on northern natural lakes, it's wise to look for baits that mimic either of these. The Bio-Blade Buzzbait does both. It breaks surface like a flittering bluegill and has an amphibian-like trailer on the back end to mimic a swimming frog, too.

• Created by award-winning lure designer and noted bass angler Bill Siemantel
• Unique two-piece blade design creates more action and twice the classic buzzbait blade noise - lots of clacking
• Specially-designed head made to fish soft plastic frogs and minnows without distorting them
• ½-ounce size casts well
• High-quality BBK black nickel hook
• 6 bass-catching colors to mimic frogs, bluegills, and shad
• Comes with unique frog-like soft-plastic trailer

Plan A Fall Bass Trip Now

We've been hitting the water a couple times a week lately with these two baits and the results have been positive. Both baits excel when putting the gas on the bow-mount trolling motor and covering water. The result? More bass.

So do yourself a favor, put down the baits that are hot on social media and throw a spinnerbait and buzzbait for an autumn afternoon. You might just be surprised by how these oldies-but-goodies (with FishLab's interesting design features) will produce more and bigger largemouth bass this fall.