Need some fall fishing advice

[BigMinnow]

So my buddy just got a new boat and we put it out on Pymatuning lake in Eastern Ohio. We fished for about 5 hours and didn’t get a single hit. We fished rip rap, pads, the wall of the causeway, and even deeper in the flats by the channel. Nothin. I know getting skunked is just part of the the game, but if anyone has any tips on what to look for in fall patterns I’d appreciate it. My buddy and I are not familiar with fishing bigger waters. We mostly fish ponds smaller than 3 archers and only 8ft deep so we were kinda at a loss for what we should be doing.
 

Just some general info: Water temps were around 65° today and it was pretty windy. Gusts up to 18mph so we were drifting around pretty good. It was partly cloudy, 75° day. We fished from 8am-1pm and we threw the kitchen sink at em so I don’t think it was our lure selection causing us bad luck. 

 

Any tips help! I’ve included a map of the reservoir in case you guys want to check it out and maybe point us in the right direction.

 

Thanks!

 

[Johnpenguin]

8 minutes ago, BigMinnow said:

So my buddy just got a new boat and we put it out on Pymatuning lake in Eastern Ohio. We fished for about 5 hours and didn’t get a single hit. We fished rip rap, pads, the wall of the causeway, and even deeper in the flats by the channel. Nothin. I know getting skunked is just part of the the game, but if anyone has any tips on what to look for in fall patterns I’d appreciate it. My buddy and I are not familiar with fishing bigger waters. We mostly fish ponds smaller than 3 archers and only 8ft deep so we were kinda at a loss for what we should be doing.
 

Just some general info: Water temps were around 65° today and it was pretty windy. Gusts up to 18mph so we were drifting around pretty good. It was partly cloudy, 75° day. We fished from 8am-1pm and we threw the kitchen sink at em so I don’t think it was our lure selection causing us bad luck. 

 

Any tips help! I’ve included a map of the reservoir in case you guys want to check it out and maybe point us in the right direction.

 

Thanks!

 

I live in Ohio and this time of the year is always tough. 

[BigMinnow]

@Johnpenguin yeah, when we handed over our left over night crawlers to a man at the dock he said after July fishing has really slowed down. Still would like to beat the odds and rip some lips from my buddy’s new boat though. Just not too sure where to start. 

[Dens228]

Windy day, I'd throw a spinnerbait first, then an underspin if they weren't hitting that.

Early I'd look for shallows next to deep water, preferably with some weedlines.  Later I'd look at deeper water close to the shallows......lol   

[GreenPig]

I see you've got Smallmouth. I'd be throwing (guessing) a Jerkbait, MB dark sleeper, and a dropshot. 

[roadwarrior]

https://www.bassresource.com/content/search?SearchText=fall+fishing&BrowsePageLimit=30

[FishinBuck07]

I live in Northeast Ohio also, been tough for a few weeks now!  This week is supposed to be dropping in temps and should cool the water off and get them really eating.  Keep throwing those moving baits, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, chatterbaits, squarebill cranks.  Just keep chucking and winding and you will get on them soon.

[Dens228]

I went out yesterday.....very windy, air was cold but the water was still mid 60's,  Tried a spinnerbait with no luck, underspin with no luck, lipless was the ticket.   It's a quarry with a ton of humps, drops, edges and the beauty of a lipless is using the same one for pretty much any depth. 

[Cdn Angler]

I've noticed lately that overnight when it is super cold the fish are moving off shallow cover/flats to the nearest deeper water. As the day heats up they move back in shallow.  In talking +2 C overnight and 20C during the day.

 

Also are you seeing baitfish? Do they start blowing up fish at a certain hour? 

 

Many of my home lakes this time of year there is a feeding frenzy about 1.5 to 2.5 hours before dark. Try and see if you can pattern this maybe? 

[BigMinnow]

Thanks for your guy’s suggestions!

 

@Dens228 I was throwing underspins and spinners all day long. But we’ll try the shallows next to deeps the next time we go out! Thanks!

 

@Cdn Angler my buddy threw a jerk bait for about an hour but no luck. Neither of us are good with a drop shot, but definitely something we’ll have to try next time. I’m also thinking that we just went right in the slowest part of the day. By 8am it was already bright out and fishing is almost a lost cause around noon. We’ll have to try later closer to sunset and see how that works. 
 

@GreenPig never had any luck on a jerk bait. We tried throwing one for a minute or two but we weren’t sure if we were fishing the right areas for it to be effective. Where do you throw em at??

[Dens228]

I'll throw jerkbaits wherever they won't get caught up in weeds.  It's just about prime jerkbait season here.  Another couple of weeks.  

[GreenPig]

I throw jerkbaits around cover, over weeds, along weed edges, and points. But I have on several occasions caught Spotted Bass over 80 FOW, so I'll give it a throw whenever the Solix shows fish.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Usually bass are pushing towards the banks in the fall looking to pack on weight.  Shallow running square bills are a good option to cover water.  Ultra clear water along with bluebird skies and no wind tend to minimize the effectiveness of SBs in my experience.  Smaller swim jigs can be more effective in those conditions.  When the bite is really tough DS and ned rigs are great options to pick apart specific spots.  If I want to cover a little more water with a subtle bait the most consistent bait for me is a small swimbait.  3" and 3.5" easy shiners and standard swing impacts are tough to beat. 

[Mjmj]

I live in Pa and the the water temperature is the same . For the past 2 weeks I have been catching most of my bass (clear or stained lakes) from steep drop offs from a flat. Usually 12 to 18' . The other consistent thing was grass or milfoil. None of the lakes around me have shad, so the shallow bite isn't always a thing in fall. 

[BigMinnow]

@Mjmj what kind of stuff do you throw in those areas? And what angle do you normally cast at? Like do you cast to the flat and reel to the drop off? Cast to the drop off and reel to the flat? Just cast parallel to the drop off?? We could use a little advice on how to fish open water

[BigAngus752]

It's very poor right now in central Illinois also.  I have just a couple suggestions; 1.  If it's windy I find some rock that the wind is beating on and throw at it.  Sunday I pulled four good bass off of a spot just like that.  It's a half mile long causeway and I caught all four in six casts in a space of about 10 feet.  I only caught one more in the next 6 hours. 

2.  Wait a few weeks.  

[BigMinnow]

@BigAngus752 we tried fishing the northern, less wind beaten side of the causeway on our lake. With it being our first time out in real water we weren’t super comfortable being near the rocks on the southern, wind beaten side. The waves were picking up and our anchor wasn’t holding us very still so we figured we’d stay on the calmer side. 
 

As we get more experience under our belt we’ll have to try fishing the more wind beaten structures. All in all thanks for the advice!

[Armtx77]

I would be attacking that BowTie looking submerged island, on the South end of the lake, with cranks and NedRigs.

[GaryH]

Went out this weekend in northern Pa. and all the fish I caught were on drop shot. Aproximately 2.5' off bottom with a 5" yamamoto worm rigged wacky. Most in between 8' to 14'

[MGF]

I don't know. I haven't fished anything at all this year except for my little river but...even in the river the bass are spitting up minnows and chubs and I'm catching them on flukes.

 

If I were on a lake trying to figure it out I guess I'd start by finding pockets or creeks with lots of bait. They tell me that the "fall transition" is all about bass corralling baitfish anyplace they can. 

[Boomstick]

Looking at the map, there seems to be several points that look promising, which makes finding an area without knowing the lake rather difficult. If you find a handful of shallow spots near drop offs, you can bet one of them is going to produce but with lakes like this, that's essentially the entire lake. This is where knowing the lake really comes into play. One spot that I see that does stand out is the eastern bank just west of Snodgrass road due to the curving slopes which can keep your bait in the strike zone for a longer period of time. Any fallen trees or weeds may produce as well as the bass could be holed up there waiting for baitfish - and of course if you see schools of baitfish, that's a good start.

 

I would think a spinnerbait would be a good bet this time of year and on a windy day - I would stick with Willow blades or at the very least Indiana blades - once the water drops to 58 is when I start mixing in Colorado blades and at 55, slow rolling a Colorado blade becomes my go to along with a jerkbait and/or popper. Is there any stumps? If so you may want to try a Square Bill which could also be productive.

[Mjmj]

23 hours ago, BigMinnow said:

@Mjmj what kind of stuff do you throw in those areas? And what angle do you normally cast at? Like do you cast to the flat and reel to the drop off? Cast to the drop off and reel to the flat? Just cast parallel to the drop off?? We could use a little advice on how to fish open water

Usually around September the fish in my area start moving to the outside weed edge. I will usually cast perpendicular to the the weed edge. I stumbled on this pattern using a shakey head. Working it down the slope.  If there were rock piles at the bottom of the slope, I was throwing a ds right to the pile. I usually cast to the flat and work it down to the bottom of the slope. 

[Ktho]

Looking at the map here: https://webapp.navionics.com/#boating@11&key=mup|FxfkjN I'd definitely fish this southern end section. There's so many points, hump, flats, little pockets/coves and just good looking structure to fish. Typically i'd first look at the main lake points and humps things closer to the center river channel that'd be a likely summer spot. From there I'd work towards the points/humps that extend from shore especially ones that are leading into a flat or cove. Bait plays a big role at most lakes this time of year too so keep an eye out for that.

[BigMinnow]

On 9/28/2020 at 8:01 PM, GaryH said:

Went out this weekend in northern Pa. and all the fish I caught were on drop shot. Aproximately 2.5' off bottom with a 5" yamamoto worm rigged wacky. Most in between 8' to 14'

Yeah, today at work we were able to fish some of the farm ponds. The smaller ponds are getting cooler and we pulled 4 out using a drop shot and a ned rig off the bottom. Definitely boosted my confidence in that type of presentation and I’ll definitely be trying it on a real lake next time I’m out!

 

@Boomstick, @Armtx77, & @Ktho I really appreciate you guys taking the time to check out the map and point us in the right direction. We will definitely try as many of the spots you guys suggested as we can. 
 

I’ve read a lot about fall fishing now, and I see that finding the bait will really help us find the fish 

[Boomstick]

2 minutes ago, BigMinnow said:

Yeah, today at work we were able to fish some of the farm ponds. The smaller ponds are getting cooler and we pulled 4 out using a drop shot and a ned rig off the bottom. Definitely boosted my confidence in that type of presentation and I’ll definitely be trying it on a real lake next time I’m out!

 

@Boomstick, @Armtx77, & @Ktho I really appreciate you guys taking the time to check out the map and point us in the right direction. We will definitely try as many of the spots you guys suggested as we can. 
 

I’ve read a lot about fall fishing now, and I see that finding the bait will really help us find the fish 

No problem - and I have to second what @Ktho said as well. If the area I mentioned doesn't produce, try the southern part. There's a ton of shoreline in a smaller area so it might be an easier area to cover if nothing else.