Fall Bite.....what?

[FrogTosser88]

Lately the fishing has been great here.. Alot of big fish going for spinnerbaits..

Im like you in the spring... Everyone talks about the spawn and how amazing it is..

This spring, I fished the delta for the first time and saw 10lb+ females and one that had to be 15lb just sit there as I slap her in the face with every bait known to man.....

So my next challenge is to figure out tye spring... Sounds like you got to figure out what works there in the fall...

Good luck man.. Lol

[boostr]

Could be possible there aren't any shad or shiners in some lakes in Minnesota. Up here in North Jersey the lakes I've been to have no shad or shiners just sunnies, perch, and crawpapys.

[einscodek]

How about released shiners and shad from fishermen bait buckets.. you think they've a chance to survive the winter here?

[ColdSVT]

I had a tough time last week but i managed a few...hitting it again today with some of my fav fall baits and a few new ones too...its only 45f out now with clear skies and and a high of 70 forcast

[Driftb]

Fishing in the Delaware river, the smallies really go on the feed in fall.  I'll agree that numbers may go down somewhat, but average size increases, and we do catch many of the biggest bass of the  year in the fall.  The best walleye fishing will also get into gear, and there are lots of times you can catch a walleye one cast, the a bass the next. We are usually into good numbers of smallies until water temps are in the low forties, and sometimes we get on blitzes right on the edge of new forming ice.  Early Fall the fish should be shallow, but look for the best bite in the warmest parts of the day.  You may need to slow down your presentation too.  The biggest issue I  see with people  not catching fish is they fish too fast and don't move enough.  In the fall, keep moving until you find fish, the soak the area. My #1 fav way to catch fish once the water gets cold is with a suspendnig jerkbait.  As a matter of fact, last week bass turned off the soft plastic somewhat and I puilled out a #10 x-rap.  The fishing had been very slow until I tried the x-rap, but the rap got a bite almost every cast.

[ColdSVT]

My buddy pagreg andi did pretty good in north central pa...good smally bite tonight! Got a few decent largies too

[Smokinal]

jerkbait

[hoosierbass07]

  I've been kayaking fishing on the weekends the last few months and noticed last Sunday the bass I caught were larger than all the ones I've caught during the summer.  I even banked fish and on my fifth cast I caught a bass larger than the ones I've been catching during the summer.  That has me thinking - bass fishing is all about spring and fall and maybe what others say about summer is true - summer bass fishing is difficult.  Anyway, I can't wait for this weekend to get out and go after them again.  I'm hoping for at least one nice sized bass.  

[tcbass]

Fishing in the Delaware river, the smallies really go on the feed in fall.  I'll agree that numbers may go down somewhat, but average size increases, and we do catch many of the biggest bass of the  year in the fall.  The best walleye fishing will also get into gear, and there are lots of times you can catch a walleye one cast, the a bass the next. We are usually into good numbers of smallies until water temps are in the low forties, and sometimes we get on blitzes right on the edge of new forming ice.  Early Fall the fish should be shallow, but look for the best bite in the warmest parts of the day.  You may need to slow down your presentation too.  The biggest issue I  see with people  not catching fish is they fish too fast and don't move enough.  In the fall, keep moving until you find fish, the soak the area. My #1 fav way to catch fish once the water gets cold is with a suspendnig jerkbait.  As a matter of fact, last week bass turned off the soft plastic somewhat and I puilled out a #10 x-rap.  The fishing had been very slow until I tried the x-rap, but the rap got a bite almost every cast.

 

 

 

 

Was it LM or SM on X-Rap?

[einscodek]

Well I went out this morning for a few hours post-frontal which isnt a great thing to do in the fall but heck I aint got anything better to do.. but dang well nearly got skunked.  Landed 2 bass no bigger than 14" but I tell ya their bellies were round so they were kinda round and cute .. definitely putting on some pounds in prep for winter.

So I'd say the bass know its fall.. now we just gotta figure them out when we get out there..

[OperationEagle]

OP: Went out there this morn (SAT) until mid afternoon and landed 2 both one around 12 and the other 14.  They were both shallow.  Got 'em on brush hogs.

 

Spent much of the time trying to get them to bite in deeper water to no avail.  Overall a slow day.  Barometric pressure remains high but I hoped the stability over the past few days would get them to bite more.

 

Will try again tomorrow at a different lake.

[tcbass]

OP: Went out there this morn (SAT) until mid afternoon and landed 2 both one around 12 and the other 14. They were both shallow. Got 'em on brush hogs.

Spent much of the time trying to get them to bite in deeper water to no avail. Overall a slow day. Barometric pressure remains high but I hoped the stability over the past few days would get them to bite more.

Will try again tomorrow at a different lake.

Cool. Thanks for the update. I went to go tomorrow.

How did you rig your super hogs?

[OperationEagle]

Cool. Thanks for the update. I went to go tomorrow.

How did you rig your super hogs?

Texas rigged w a mid size (cant remember the wt) split shot.  I used watermelon red(?).  I got two other strikes; one I lost near the boat, the other broke my line.  Boated 2 out of the 4...have had better days but worse also.

 

Tomorrow looks like a beauty which means patience will be needed! Watched the pressure levels coming in from the SSE as the system has been coming from that direction. High but stable pressure remains...hope next week will be a bit lower.  Good luck!

[ColdSVT]

And a warming trend for the next few days to throw a wrench into my plan lol

Followed by a mean cold front this coming weekend right before a tourny on sunday...lol i love fall!

I gonna make my practice session this week interesting,

[OperationEagle]

TCBASS:  Hope you got out there today. They were biting for sure.  Used a black and blue terminator 1/4 oz jig with a black and blue baby brush hog as a trailer.

 

Got 5 today all between 14-18 inches.  Bite seemed to shut off around noon.  All were in about 9 fow.

[aavery2]

Take a few minutes and study The Cosmic Clock ( few pages back in this forum).

Fall is a transition period from summer to winter and for bass water temperature, not air temps, combined with shorter day light signals fall. Water temps (at the depth the bass are at) between 68-58 degrees changes where the bass locate. The bass are moving from summer locations to deeper water, they follow their food source as aquatic vegetation dies off or turn from green to brown.

Bass are moving deeper, not moving up shallower; fall down, spring up.

If you fish the same areas as pre spawn, the fall locations are similar.

Tom

PS, 55-40 is winter for bass.

Tom, what you stated is interesting, but I don't think that it fully accounts for lakes where the predominant forage is shad.  In our neck of the woods, as the water cools, the plankton is found in the warmer more shallow water, like the backs of creeks.  The shad need the plankton  to survive so they leave the main lake and migrate to the shallow warmer water where there food source in more plentiful,  the bass are usually not far behind.  Once the water gets cold, the bass return to their main lake haunts.

So in many of the lakes I fish if you want to find the bass in the fall, you target the backs of creeks.  (Swimjigs, Chatterbaits, and Squarebills)

[WRB]

Threadfin shad eat phytoplankton, other shad like Gizzard shad eat both zooplankton and phytoplankton. The sun raises phytoplankton near the surface, the warmer water activates the Zooplankton. Creek arms provide shelter from wind the mixes the water, more stable ecosystem, until the water drops below 55 degrees. Find the prey, the bass will be nearby! Our small SoCal lakes are like a big lakes deep creek arm, the bass are already there and just follow the bait. When the bait goes down deeper, the bass go deeper.

In the fall you can locate massive schools of shad with no bass around at that moment. When this happens note the direction the school is moving (watch the birds) and get ahead of them near a hump or point that compresses the school, the should be there waiting.

Tom

[deep]

If you fish the same areas as pre spawn, the fall locations are similar.

 

Tom, when you say pre-spawn locations, are you indicating (structures in) the lower third of a reservoir (or a creek arm for a large lake)?

 

Also, another clarification regarding plankton eaters. Let's say there are no shad/ shiners, but don't minnows or other small fish eat plankton (not sure, but I always thought so), maybe attracting 'gills or crappies and setting up a food chain? I do catch a few kicker grade fish in the upper third part in late fall- early winter. Not a whole bunch of them, but enough to make it worthwhile to check shallower spots out. Just trying to understand how nature works here. (NLMB bass, by the way.)

 

Thanks,

[jignfule]

Fall/Autumn .....  must be one of them "Northern" things...... so I can´t contribute much to the conversation, we don´t have that down here.

 

Lemme think, fall ?  Oh yeah ! now I get it ! it´s when temps are no longer above 100° and drp to around the mid 80´s.

Cruel !!!!!

[WRB]

Phytoplankton is vegetable, zooplankton is animal, Threadfin shad are vegetarian almost all other prey fish are carnivores, including young of the year bass, bluegill, crappie,catfish, gizzard shad and most minnows.

Bass prefer the smaller Threadfin shad over larger gizzard shad. Threadfin hide in cover during low light periods and at night, a reason the bass are tight to cover early morning and later evening.

The lower 1/3rd of a reservoir is warmer during the winter, cooler during the summer as deep water is slow to react to temperature changes.

Bass stag near spawning areas during the spring and regroup near the same areas during fall.

Tom