Fall Fishing
By Gary Howey
Well it’s that time of the year again! The kids are preparing to go back to school, temperatures are up and fishing has "really" cooled down.
Don’t despair, excellent fall fishing is right around the corner!
As the nighttime temperatures start to drop, fish will need to feed heavily prior to the onset of winter.
Anglers after the bigger fish will want to go to larger live bait. During the fall, fish need to quickly put on the pounds before the freeze up. Chubs and larger minnows seem to attract the larger fish out producing the smaller baits.
In the larger rivers, walleye, sauger and smallmouth will move up into the shallow water, green weeds looking for the remaining baitfish and crawfish that survived the summer. In the lakes, bluegills, crappies, largemouth bass and pike will move in along the edge of the weeds to pick off insects and each other. You'll find the walleyes in the lakes spreading out over the flats or in the weeds looking for a late season lunch. This is the time of the years that anglers in the know will be looking for the greenest vegetation that they can find. Fish will move into these green weed beds looking for the baitfish that relocated there and because this is the area that’s the coolest. The reason for this is simple; part of it is the shade and the remaining live vegetation is producing oxygen, making these weedy areas much more comfortable for the fish.
Fishing theses areas can drive you nuts and cause the sanest of persons to talk to themselves. It seems that no matter what type of bait you throw into the weeds, at one time or another, it will get hung up. Bass fishermen need to probe the weedy areas with weedless Texas worm rigs or a jig and pig. They also take bass in the fall by slow rolling spinner baits or running buzz baits over the top of the weeds.
Since the water temperatures are beginning to cool, so will the fish’s metabolism. You’ll need to use a little more finesse this time of year.
Panfish anglers will want to work the pockets and edge of the weeds with small tube jigs and light livebait jigs. Slip bobbers, split shot and small hooks tipped with minnows or pieces of night crawlers cast along the weed edge will draw panfish out of the thick cover.
Walleye anglers during this time of the year will be changing over from the night crawler or leeches to minnows. Experiment a little bit with your baits, as all walleyes don't change their bait preference at the same time or on a certain date.
Walleye anglers will be using jigs and live bait rigs to work along the edge of the weeds and on the breaks along the flats.
Pike fishing will be in the "weeds" because pike are a fish that likes nothing better than to lie amongst the weeds waiting in ambush.
There are a couple of baits that have produced consistently for me or pike in the fall.
Spinnerbaits can be run right over the top or along the edge of the weeds.
Hold your rod high and speed crank the bait over the top of the weeds. If you come across a hole or pocket, let the spinnerbait drop or helicopter down into the pocket and then crank it back onto the top of the weeds. The pause and slow drop of the spinnerbait will often times tempt bass that are hiding in and along the edge of these pockets.
Catfish will be moving from their summer haunts and heading for the deeper calmer pools. Cat fishermen will need to look for the fish in these deeper holes.
You'll want to work your prepared "stink" bait and live bait rigs in these pockets with less current and in the slack water behind the dead falls and snags.
No matter what species of fish you’ll be looking for, don’t over look those slack water pockets just off the current by the dam, because these areas will be visited through out the day by fish cruising the area searching for a meal.
Don’t make the mistake that many anglers do during the fall putting the rod and reel away too soon thinking that the fall is only about the hunting season.
Fall fishing produces some of the biggest fish of the year and it’s the time of the year that all species will be much more accessible to the angler.
| |
|
 |
|
