Welcome bjohn.
I second everything thistle mentioned as well. I used to fish the NS during the salmon hay days, but don't fish the NS as much anymore. Since I don't hunt small game much anymore, most of my time in the fall is still fly fishing, namely for bass, pike and muskies.
Fall time for warmwater fish is definately minnow oriented, baitfish, etc. Althouh flies like wooly buggers, crawfish, and leech patterns still produce, but nothing like big topwaters or minnow type flies. Clousers and streamer patterns are my go to pattern for fall time for big smallies. Big poppers are good during certain times of the day during the fall, but streamer patterns produce all day long. The fish can sense the changing of the seasons and start to feed agressively throughout the day, just not all at the same time, putting on the feed bag for developing eggs and for the long winter.
bjohn, you can head out with me if you want some company. I have a 2 man pontoon boat that I used on the St. Louis river and you more then welcome to come along. One thing though, we have to switch on and off from rowing to fishing. The person in the middle does the rowing, while the guy in front does the fishing and we can switch on and off. And if your willing to help carry the boat and gear to the water. Oh and one more thing, you have to tie your own flies to your leader 
Looks like I'll be heading out fishing this Saturday morning on the St. Louis, if you want to come along, give me a call at 218-590-1712. I have to watch how the weather is going and what the water levels are doing before I make the call. Call me if you interested, or anyone for that matter. I don't have a guided trip that day, so I'm going fly fishing! The bass action if great right now.