Fall Fishing

[Horseshoe crazy]

I'm going fishing tomm and I'm not sure where to start. Last weekend I fish a new lake and the water temp was around 73. I'm Not sure where to start on Sat. I keep reading that fish should shallow but does that shallow in coves off of the main lake or would it be better to go to shallow end of the lake and find cover in that area to fish. I was planning on fish spinnerbaits ,soft plastic crawls and small cranks.

[Lunkers4Life]

If your starting in the AM I would start on the NW side of the lake.  In the mornings I have the most luck fishing shallow where there is deeper water nearby.  Of course any structure anytime of day can produce.  I prefer wacky rigged stick baits.

[senile1]

I apologize up front because it would be difficult to give you a definitive answer without more information, and even then nothing is ever set in stone.  If you could provide the lake name or location, and lake characteristics such as forage, clarity, depth, possible summer thermoclines, etc. it would help to provide an answer.  Typical fall fishing is often described as following the shad back into creeks as the bass will follow them there as well.  However, everything doesn't always follow the typical description.  One key element is to know the forage on the lake you are on, find that forage where they are located, and then look for bass there.  Spend a little time locating the forage before starting to fish.  Keep in mind that while the bass may feed on shad, bluegill, or other baitfish, on the day you fish, a jig, craw, or worm could be the ticket rather than something imitating the baitfish forage.

[einscodek]

When in doubt, fish the weeds

[Felix77]

x2 on fishing the weeds.  Baby Brush Hogs and weedless Wacky Senkos.

[WRB]

Not enough info to help because your profile is empty. You are holding a nice smallie and smallmouth use different locations then largemouth for example.

Tom

[Horseshoe crazy]

I'm fishing Brookville lake . I have been there a handful of times and seem to only pick up a fish here and there. I have tried to find out some of info you asked about. I would say the clarity is stained,the max depth of 116, as far as forage I know they eat shad and crawdads.just curious why the NW part of the lake. Thanks guys for all your help!

[einscodek]

I think they are assuming the feeder creeks usually in the NW or N.

I think you can find action there albeit smaller bass there and an occasional big fish.

I am usually stalkin after the bigger ones having become bored w/ catching small fish all the time so I hit the heavy weeds.

There its hit or miss but at least some will be there..smallest one I caught in the weeds was 15" and the largest was 19".

The other game in town is to locate the suspended bigger fish and somehow coax them into a mid-water or deepwater bite.

That I have been miserably unsuccessful in this year having just found them on my last trip suspended off bottom.

[tbone1993]

Im still hitting fish on crankbaits here so the bite really hasnt turned over much. The fish appear to be eating well but havent really keyed in on the bait as much. Once that happens it is game on.

[WRB]

Just took a qwuick look at Brookville lake, very interesting and this lake will take time to learn and study.

The Fairfield causeway area in the center zone of this lake look interesting and has a lot of variety of structure elements to try out.

The east side just above the causeway has a cove with a small flat, I would check out. You need to do some sonar surveying to locate baitfish, key to this type of reservior. My guess is the thermocline is still present, so find that depth; somewhere between 20' to 40' ? Depending on the life zone, the depth the bait is holding, will determine where you fish and what to fish with.

This is the type of lake I fish; deep structure. So my lure choices are different than a shore oriented angler because of targeting bass on deeper breaks.

If you take the topo map in the Fairfield area and high light the 20' break line, then look for deeper ledges or breaks with flat areas between 15' to 30' , those isolated flat areas with sharper breaks are what I look for.

The small cove mentioned has these elements and is the reason it looks good to me. The large flat north of the area also has a nice look ledge at the 20' zone near mid lake, the is classic structure spoon area.

I would rig up a jig, drop shot, structure spoon, swimbait, deep diving crank bait and work the life zone depth near flats with breaks.

Tom

[Horseshoe crazy]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the great information.