Is My Fishing Season Over?

[hoosierbass07]

I went fishing today for an hour or so. No bites at all.

[Sun Fish]

To answer OPs question.  Only if you want it to be unless the water is solid and you can no longer penetrate it with your baits or launch your boat.  I'm in NE PA it was 26 degrees on my way home from work in the morning at 6:30am.  Water temp on my local lake was 49-50 and I managed to bag 3 in 4 hours later that afternoon.  In my opinion as the weather and water get cooler the bass are still in the water and they still need to eat to survive, they can be caught it just becomes more difficult.  I find the drive to continue to fish in this cold and figure out how to get the most bites is what seperates the Joes from the Pros as far as how good of a bass fisherman you want to become.  They may get skunked far more often than you do in the spring and summer but it feels more rewarding when you do get a bite.  All you have to do is dress appropriately and the wind and cold wont be as miserable.

[KyakR]

I went out a couple days ago.....put a warming pad in my yak. After turnover up here the fish go deep and begin to inch into their winter patterns (stacking up on drop-offs, slowing metabolism, etc) for me. I fished slow all day on Thompson lake (BIG smallie waters) and caught nada even though I did fish slow. Tomorrow I'm headed north to try Little Togus Pond, which is small and has a 25' depth max. Hope the sun's out! I'm in denial about the dwindling bite up here 

[Smokinal]

I went out a couple days ago.....put a warming pad in my yak. After turnover up here the fish go deep and begin to inch into their winter patterns (stacking up on drop-offs, slowing metabolism, etc) for me. I fished slow all day on Thompson lake (BIG smallie waters) and caught nada even though I did fish slow. Tomorrow I'm headed north to try Little Togus Pond, which is small and has a 25' depth max. Hope the sun's out! I'm in denial about the dwindling bite up here 

Let me know how you did on L Togus.

[Mainebass1984]

 You got to keep at it. The fishing in Maine this past weekend was incredible. Late fall fishing can be the best of the year. There are no pleasure boats, few fisherman and the lunkers tend to congregate. I fished 3 days this past weekend form  about 10-4 each day.  Fishing deep water structure. Air temp was high 40's to maybe 50 degrees each day. The wind was 5-15 mph each day. It was a little rough out there. The water temp was 50 degrees. The thing about this time of year is that you don't catch many small fish 3 lbs.  Here are my biggest 3 fish from this past weekend.

 

8-3

 

 

8-1

 

 

7-4

 

 Great time of year to catch lunker bass. Jig, crankbait, silver buddy, jerkbait drop shot and spinnerbait all work when the water gets cold.

[einscodek]

 

 You got to keep at it. The fishing in Maine this past weekend was incredible. Late fall fishing can be the best of the year. There are no pleasure boats, few fisherman and the lunkers tend to congregate. I fished 3 days this past weekend form  about 10-4 each day.  Fishing deep water structure. Air temp was high 40's to maybe 50 degrees each day. The wind was 5-15 mph each day. It was a little rough out there. The water temp was 50 degrees. The thing about this time of year is that you don't catch many small fish 3 lbs.  Here are my biggest 3 fish from this past weekend.

 

8-3

 

 

8-1

 

 

7-4

 

 Great time of year to catch lunker bass. Jig, crankbait, silver buddy, jerkbait drop shot and spinnerbait all work when the water gets cold.

 

What depth & time of day did you catch the big ones and on what lures?

[bigbill]

I'm waiting for the first flurries then I'm going to pour it on with the fishing till the ice is on. I hooked my biggest fish at this time and lost it. This year I will get "bassfish hunter" I'll try anyway. I have a stronger rod, stronger line and I'm ready. I have the spot near the Lilly pads all picked out. It's a big bass, a big salmon or a big pickerel but it fought like a big fat bass. Very slow and not giving up. Time will tell. It's the biggest fish I ever had on my line so far. This was near thanksgiving.

The season isn't over yet. Maybe we been calling it quits too early all these many years? Maybe they want one last meal?

The season is just beginning I have those thinner warm ice fishing gloves too.

[wnybassman]

I have caught open water fish with surface temps down to 35º or so.  

 

One day on Conesus Lake several years ago, the air temp was 19º and the water was very calm and around 35º.   We were fishing in 30+ feet of water, and before we knew it ice was forming around the boat.  It grew quickly to between a 1/8" and a 1/4" before a breeze picked up and broke it up.  We caught a bunch of fish that day.    Below is a picture of my tube jig sitting on the ice in 30 feet of water.

 

 

Another day, on the same lake, four of us headed out for a day of fishing a few days before Christmas.   We got a bit of snow overnight.  lol

 

 

If I remember correctly each of us caught a limit of smallmouth that day.  

 

 

 

 

 

When we came back in at the end of the day, there was only one set of tracks at the launch, and they were ours from we launched in the morning.

 

 

It's never too late in the year to catch fish.

[Smokinal]

That's hard core WNY!

 

And MaineBass, what time are we meeting at Kezar this Sunday?

[Mainebass1984]

One fish was on a crankbait, one on a jig, and one on a spinnerbait. hey smokinal if you want to hit kezar lake sometime send me a personal message. Its good to see some mainers on here.

[Mainebass1984]

I was catching the fish on structure near deep water

[KyakR]

Mainebass, holy cow! What beautiful fish!! Hey! You took my fish and left me those pickerel in the shallow end!  Smokinal, I never made it to Little Togus....wnybassman, loved your pic of the crinkly water 

[DelcoSol]

Unfortunatley with my work schedule and a few upcoming personal commitments I may not be free to get out until December and barring a mild winter I don't know if I will. I am already sad thinking it's over   Anyone in Florida want to invite me to their house?

[einscodek]

Went shore fishin' yesterday on a whim and got skunked and was mostly frustrated being unable to reach the areas I thought the fish were.

My casts were just short of point dropoffs.

Saw some smaller & medium fish near shore via polarized glasses but they were easily spooked away by my spinnerbaits.

Looks like finesse fishing for me from here on out and only via boat.

[DogBone_384]

Overall I'm feeling that my fishing season is finished since I've been shut out since late September here in Boston, but tomorrow's going to be around 60 degrees so I've not scheduled any work and am going to 'practice' casting for a little while.  Perhaps I'll try slowing down.

 

If I'm lucky, I'll get myself down to my cousin's house in South Carolina over the winter...  Other than that it'll be working, skiing, and family for until Red Sox Spring training next year...

 

Best of luck to the rest of you. 

[SirSnookalot]

Never ends here, inshore is winding down and now it's bass time for a few months.  Not a fish in the world would I wear one of the winter costumes for, lol.

[Oregon Native]

When I lived in Oregon the big rains would turn everything to mud in the winter where I chased smallies so chased steelhead. Now that I'm in Tennessee it's awesome to have water to fish all year. Like everyone has said slow...slow...slow seems to work best. Clear water I love a 3inch dinger on a 1/8 or 1/16 head on 6lb line or if they are showing on the graph a dropshot will sometimes work well. Bites are usually real light. Dirty water is not my favorite...but a 3/8 jig fished slow can get some good fish. Especially if they are up sunning themselves.

Tight Lines

[Bobby Uhrig]

OVER DID YOU SAY OVER --WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR--IT AINT OVER TIL WE SAY ITS OVER  Whos with me ehhhhhhhhhhh!!!

[Smokinal]

OVER DID YOU SAY OVER --WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR--IT AINT OVER TIL WE SAY ITS OVER  Whos with me ehhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I'M IN!!! I'll be out Sunday 17th, taking advantage of the full moon. Expect water to be 44-45. Jig and jerk will be the tickets. I'll keep ya posted!

[bassguytom]

I'm a jerk and trap guy with water in the 50's like it is now. When it goes down it's blade bait time! I love this technique in the winter because you can catch everything in the lake that swims on these. Our goal when going out in winter is a Pa grand slam consisting of Largemouth, Smallmouth, Pike & Pickerel. We catch more pike and pickerel than bass in the winter but the bass we do catch are usually big fish. We fish up until the lake freezes if no freeze we are fishing.

[Sam]

Buffalo, depends on the definition of "season."

 

While we have pre spawn, spawn, post spawn, spring, summer, fall and winter we also have the special season of getting ready for next year.

 

Just because you can't wet a line or sit in below zero temperatures in the snow and ice to try your luck your season is not over. Actually, fishing seasons never end.

 

The season of reorganizing is very important for good physical and psychological health. The physical health part is for you to take inventory, reorganize our tackle, check our rods and rels and have them serviced, and make a list as to what you will need for next year.

 

The psychological healthpart is that you will be still handling you fishing gear and making plans for next year, studying new techniques, reading and watching programs and DVDs on bass fishing and getting excited for next year and the three months of good weather in Buffalo for you to fish.

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Here in NC I battle the same stuff in the winter. I have good fishing gloves, bundled up warm, and learned to fish slow. It has paid off with big fish. The more you concentrate on fishing tough winter conditions, the better off you will be when the weather gets warmer and more ideal.