MLF pro Brandon Coulter has fished all over the country in every different season. Tapping into his years of experience as a pro, the Tennessee angler put together five key baits he says you should throw in the fall.
Coulter says that if you can find some vegetation, especially in the southeastern United States, a 13 Fishing Walking or Popping Trash Panda is the bait to tie on. Both baits have some key features that Coulter thinks make them different than any other frogs.
“When you’re popping a bait a lot the weights seem to fall out of frogs,” Coulter said. “The popping frog has a weight inside of the frog that doesn’t dislodge. That walking frog skips really well because of the way it’s shaped. I can skip that frog in places where I can’t get other frogs.”
Topwater and fall go together like peanut butter and jelly. While there are plenty of options to choose from when it comes to topwater baits, Coulter goes with a 13 Fishing Dual Pitch 108.
“As a walking bait, it really narrows down the tail which really helps for hook-ups,” Coulter explained. “Walking baits are notoriously bad at hook-ups because the tail can be a bit too wide. That slimmer tail really increases your hook-up ratio.”
It’s not always just about topwater in the fall. Coulter likes to use a 13 Fishing Joy Stick in the grassy areas on his home lake of Watts Bar Reservoir.
“This is just a perfect all-around bait,” Coulter complimented. “You can wind a bait like this over grass, make it drop into holes in the grass, you can pitch it, or you can cast it out deep. It does a lot of things really really well.”
Finally, Coulter likes to flip and pitch a 13 Fishing Invader in heavy grass when he can find it. Coulter sites the rabbit ear tail as one of the key things he likes about the creature bait.
“That rabbit ear tail gives it such great action,” Coulter said. “It slips through the grass very easily and the action it creates going through the grass seems to attract the fish to it more.”