How's the bite been recently for you?

[lo n slo]

today was totally different. the early clouds quickly departed, the breeze died, and the heat was on. i caught three fish (including the 4 lb largemouth in the Catch Pics Thread) before the clouds broke up, and only one afterwards. gonna wait til late in the upcoming week before hitting them again. along with the heat, it hasn’t rained at my house in four weeks. 

[The Bassman]

Made my weekly foray to some choice HOA lakes I fish across town. Was expecting calm, bright conditions but met with cloudy, cool, and even rain. (Didn't rain a drop at my place). We're getting like @lo n slo here. Fishing was excellent with steady action on finesse plastics. Caught one 4 lbr. and a couple of 3's. Scads of 1-2's.  Supposed to be dry and hot for Sept. all week. Fall will come eventually.

[Fishingmickey]

On 9/12/2019 at 6:15 PM, starkeer said:

Were you just visiting the Belgrade Lakes area or are you there permanently? My Dad lives on Long Pond so I get daily updates from him. I've tried to get him involved on BR but he never sticks with it. 

I was up on vacation from Texas and had a two day and a half day window to fish. It's my third year going to the Belgrade lakes area. China lake was by far superior to Great pond (1st year) and Long pond last year. I would have loved to spend more time on Belgrade stream. I got in a hour and a half on the stream my last morning. One largmouth about 5lb, a good smallie that went 3.5 or so and seven pike. The bass and half of the pike came on topwater.

FM

[endless]

Sunday was real good out on Lake Mooney in Va. I caught this nice 4.5 on deep water cranking. 

My nephew a 1.3 on wacky.

[JustJames]

On 9/12/2019 at 2:10 AM, The Bassman said:

The ponds I fish have been tough lately. Also, weed growth has been an obstacle. I guess HOA's back off on weed control knowing the stuff will die down soon.

On the way far opposite end, this year our HOA does pretty good job on getting rid of weed (and fish). I can’t find a single weed pad near shoreline. All my usual spot is still a lot of small and decent size bass cruising around and also a huge load of bluegill close to shore but these bass don’t bite. I got a few good one follow my bait but that is all. When there is no weed for bluegill to hide and bass to ambush, it is just tough.

 

On the other hand, I didn’t pay much attention to bass this year, just check from time to time and give up even quicker. I’m not really too upset though, because I enjoy catching these most every trip.

 

 

[Bankbeater]

Since Labor Day the bass have either been in deep water, or buried in the coontail, or under lilypads.  Its slow until you find them.

[TriStateBassin106]

12 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

Since Labor Day the bass have either been in deep water, or buried in the coontail, or under lilypads.  Its slow until you find them.

It's been like that since late August for me to be honest. I feel like October will be a great month for bass fishing. 

[lo n slo]

On 9/17/2019 at 12:00 PM, endless said:

Sunday was real good out on Lake Mooney in Va. I caught this nice 4.5 on deep water cranking. 

My nephew a 1.3 on wacky.

man that’s some gash on your nephews forearm. wth happened?

[endless]

5 hours ago, lo n slo said:

man that’s some gash on your nephews forearm. wth happened?

He said a bike accident.. I asked the same thing when I first saw it. 

[Bigassbass]

I live in the Piedmont of N.C. been fishing ponds heavy all summer and up to now.  Fish are already cooled off and the bite has too, soon as the cold front moves on out and it warms back up might get better but fall is definitely here, and I hate it!  Gotta fish every day the sun is a shining or not.  

[CrankFate]

I don’t know. Haven’t been able to get out ?

[Koz]

Well, at least I SAW a bass today. I haven't fished a lot since I moved to the Upstate, but I did manage to get out for an hour or so late this afternoon. Bank fishing is horrible around here and I'm busy preparing a new hotel opening plus my father has been sick and I've been traveling to see him so I don't have time to rent a kayak and spend the day on a lake.

 

I went out to Berry Shoals Pond today and as I was unpacking and setting up I saw what looked to be about a 2 pounder cruising the shoreline. My spinning rod wasn't set up but I had a chatterbait tied on to a baitcaster, made a quick toss and hopped it in front of the bass. Nothing. He just cruised on by into the murky waters.

 

Other than pecking bluegills I haven't had a bite since I moved here let alone landed anything. I may just pack it up and wait until spring. Maybe I'll try one more day out on a kayak.

[superkamikazee]

I've really been struggling to find the fish last 2 weeks. 3 weeks ago I couldnt keep the fish off whatever and where ever I was throwing. Frog in the slop, texas rig or jig at structure, top water poppers, whatever. Now, I'm not getting bit around structure jigging or texas rigged, weightless senko, top water frog bite through the mats is all but gone, crank bait hasn't produces, spinner bait, chatter bait, the list goes on lol. Only fish on my last trip this weekend was a dink flipping a rage menace through the mat lol. Hoping things turn around. 

[TnRiver46]

19 hours ago, Koz said:

Well, at least I SAW a bass today. I haven't fished a lot since I moved to the Upstate, but I did manage to get out for an hour or so late this afternoon. Bank fishing is horrible around here and I'm busy preparing a new hotel opening plus my father has been sick and I've been traveling to see him so I don't have time to rent a kayak and spend the day on a lake.

 

I went out to Berry Shoals Pond today and as I was unpacking and setting up I saw what looked to be about a 2 pounder cruising the shoreline. My spinning rod wasn't set up but I had a chatterbait tied on to a baitcaster, made a quick toss and hopped it in front of the bass. Nothing. He just cruised on by into the murky waters.

 

Other than pecking bluegills I haven't had a bite since I moved here let alone landed anything. I may just pack it up and wait until spring. Maybe I'll try one more day out on a kayak.

Winter is your friend in the south.....

[DanielG]

Fishing has been horrible for a couple of weeks. I've been deep, I've been shallow, I've been in weeds, in rocks, at stream mouths.

I know the fish are there someplace. Heck, I caught enough this summer and put them all back. They are just gone. They don't even show up on the fish finder.

 

Today, I took the boat out for the season. Figured I'd troll to the ramp. I thought... 'please, just one more for the road'. A 7 inch yellow perch one a 4 inch crank... go figure.

[soflabasser]

On 9/11/2019 at 10:29 PM, pondhopperNJ said:

How's the bite been for you guys around the country/world? Has the fall transition switched into full throttle or has it just started?

 

I haven't been able to fish much since a week ago but here in NJ/NY/PA it's been tough but fair since mid August. Hopefully the fall switch kicks in soon! 

 

What about you guys? How's the bite? 

The fishing has been good as usual and will only get better as winter approaches.

[lo n slo]

i wanted to share this shot of what i saw on the Garmin this morning. a typical thermocline situation, except that the hypolimnion (bottom layer) now shows much more clutter than before. this lake is around 370 acres, located in the western piedmont of NC. it’s fed by a few small creeks. the lake is down at least two feet from normal pool and we are now in a Severe Drought. no measurable rain since the middle of August. swt’s have fallen off a good 8 degrees in the last week due to a cooler weather pattern. might this be an indication of some early mixing? we shall see. the fish are biting. i caught 10 or 11 spots this morning in cover around 10’ - 15’ deep.

[2marshall8]

Yesterday 10/12/2019 was really a stumper for my Dad and me. We were fishing a stretch of a river which we have caught over 20 in a morning on during the spring. It had rose about 1-2ft. the water clarity was 6-12", water temp was 75-77. We threw the entire tackle box at em but couldn't get one bite. any ideas what the fish may have been doing? is the fall transition lock jawing them? I always thought fall was good fishing.

[Paul Roberts]

Fishing's been good, when I can get out. I spent the "late summer" this year fishing the densest weed cover I could find, just to do it. It was hell, and darn addicting. :))

 

Last outing was a Sept outing, during the heavy weed die-offs we get, that start here as light diminishes through August. Seems like a week or two passes and BAM! -that vegetation dies, rots, and sinks. But, I found 'em, including a couple nice ones -19"ers- for here. They wouldn't chase, so buzzbaits, SBs, walking topwaters -"Fall" stuff, wouldn't do it. Will post a report when I can get to it.

 

22 hours ago, lo n slo said:

i wanted to share this shot of what i saw on the Garmin this morning. a typical thermocline situation, except that the hypolimnion (bottom layer) now shows much more clutter than before. this lake is around 370 acres, located in the western piedmont of NC. it’s fed by a few small creeks. the lake is down at least two feet from normal pool and we are now in a Severe Drought. no measurable rain since the middle of August. swt’s have fallen off a good 8 degrees in the last week due to a cooler weather pattern. might this be an indication of some early mixing? we shall see. the fish are biting. i caught 10 or 11 spots this morning in cover around 10’ - 15’ deep.

Some mixing happening within? Interesting, I dunno how that works exactly. Or, possibly stuff beginning to rain down from above? I've got a lot of debris in the "depths" of my super shallow waters too. No thermocline though. They are weedy waters, and it appears to be dying vegetation bits -organic matter that's flocculating as bacteria numbers grow. And perhaps a late algae bloom too. Makes the water kinda funky. I suspect it had some effect on my fish bc they weren't commiting suicide, as they will come fall.

[Ratherbfishing]

My last trip out (a little over a week ago) was rotten in the morning (two small fish) and then stellar in the afternoon.  We caught 18 bass from around 1:30 to 4 p.m.  I blame a north wind for the morning struggle and credit a "fall bite" for the afternoon success.  If it hadn't been a power plant lake I think it would have been dreadful throughout.