You see, in the northern US and Canada, muskies and pike tend to live in the same water as bass, walleye, perch and crappie, not to mention good baitfish populations of shiners, cisco or smelt. The food chain remains in tact and gamefish behave in an apprehensive manner, similar to other periods of the year, in order to protect themselves from predators. 

What this all leads to is that many of the bass that relate to cover in the summer will continue to do so in the late fall. The difference is that there is much less cover available away from the degenerated weeds. Successfully finding the active fish means finding rocks. Not pebbles mind you, but boulders and rip-rap. And I've also found that the summer humps will also tend to be unproductive.

The rocks I look for must be close to summer weed flats (within 100 yards), reasonably close to the spring spawning beds, and must be associated with a steep drop-off at the end of a point. In the Canadian lakes I fish, I look for land points that drop off into 15 to 25 feet of water at a 60 degree angle. Once I've found a good point, I check for broken rock and boulders. If that checks out, I'll back off and come back later.

Cold front fall bass are spooky. The water clears after turn-over and there is much less boat traffic to keep the place noisy. So, if you have a trolling motor, use it. If you don't, cut the motor from a distance and coast in to casting range. A large moving shadow can be enough to put the fish off for a couple of hours.