Anyone else stumped?

[TcRoc]

Mid October and this is the first time I have not seen what I’m used to for a fall transition, like nothing. It seems as though the bass are not fattening up for winter . Usually this time

of year the top water bite is awesome catching some big aggressive bass. Beginning to wonder if the massive jump in pressure this year has caused this ... this is all my lakes I fish and everyone I talk too seeing same thing.

[Spankey]

Pressure could have a part in it. Baitfish location?
 

Out here in my parts of Penna. that fall transition as well as spring to summer doesn’t take place all or most years any more. Very short window. 
 

I’ve gotten some nice fish this season. Surprised in one sense but not too surprised because I fish hard at it when I’m out. 
 

My biggest stumped for the season is the numbers are low. Where were the dinks and runts? Died? Got ate up? That bugs me to some degree. 

I’m a bit stumped that I only caught one bass this season on a fire tiger pattern. Generally chart. w/blk. bk, firetiger craw, chart. craw, brown/chart. Craw will get it done. Even if it were dinks and runts only. Can’t seem to wrap my head around that. Shiner, Shad and bluegill patterns have been what I’ve been throwing. 
 

But I’m still getting bit on soft plastics. My biggest fish have been on soft plastics. Tuff to fish real slow sometimes. 

[johnmyers]

I think they are wearing masks

[TcRoc]

4 minutes ago, johnmyers said:

I think they are wearing masks

Or on lockdown quarantined.

[FishinBuck07]

Maybe they are trying to tell us fisherman something!  Maybe it isn't going to be a bad winter?  They all know better than us!

[GReb]

Ones I’ve caught all had beer bellies. 

[DitchPanda]

Am I stumped? No not at all I've got it all figured out...no struggle here(he says rolling his eyes..disgusted for lying!)

Yeah I'm having a tough time this year too...alot of days its tough to even get a bite. I understand why for me tho. The lakes and ponds I'm fishing are very low from drought all summer...so alot of the fish are still offshore...and I don't have a boat. My best day so far this fall on my home pond is 5 bites in 2hrs...last year I had several days when I got 20 in that same amount of time...but last year our ponds were full and even had water coming in so it pulled the bass up shallow into predictable spots. One thing I'm happy about this fall has been size...in the past 3 weeks I've caught 4 4s a 4.5 and a 6 plus I lost a 4 and broke a spinnerbait on a 5+.

[TcRoc]

11 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

Am I stumped? No not at all I've got it all figured out...no struggle here(he says rolling his eyes..disgusted for lying!)

Yeah I'm having a tough time this year too...alot of days its tough to even get a bite. I understand why for me tho. The lakes and ponds I'm fishing are very low from drought all summer...so alot of the fish are still offshore...and I don't have a boat. My best day so far this fall on my home pond is 5 bites in 2hrs...last year I had several days when I got 20 in that same amount of time...but last year our ponds were full and even had water coming in so it pulled the bass up shallow into predictable spots. One thing I'm happy about this fall has been size...in the past 3 weeks I've caught 4 4s a 4.5 and a 6 plus I lost a 4 and broke a spinnerbait on a 5+.

I’ve had a pretty good year .. just this non existent fall transition I’m used too has me scratching my head. 

[DitchPanda]

Numbers wise I had a good year until fall as well..but like I said for me I've attributed it to the low falling water. Starting in spring I had lots of 10-15 fish outings but we had good water depth then. Now I'm lucky to get a few bites...but when I do they tend to be quality.

[MGF]

I haven't really been able to fish in the last month...bad weather, family obligations and super low water in the river. As long as the weather stays warm enough for me to fish (50ish F during the day) the "transition is usually pretty subtle in the small river where I do most of my fishing.

 

The brown bass may have changed position some but they haven't moved far. I may be using slightly different baits but I'm not 100% certain that the fish care or if I just use certain tactics in the fall because I think I should. LOL

 

What's killing me this years is the ridiculously low water. From what I read they've increased the flow down river of the reservoirs to help some mussels so nobody else has any water. I guess more rain would still have fixed it.

 

I think I could still catch fish but it takes so long to get down river and so much time is spent just traversing unproductive water that it's kept me off the river.

 

I have lakes I could fish but I haven't fished any of them at all this year. I'm afraid that I might just be lost on one of them.

[BigAngus752]

I’m waiting patiently for a little rain (coming next week) and water temps to drop from 68 to 55 and below. Then I should be back in business. 

[padon]

I live in south central pa but I fish mostly lakes in Maryland. its been weird.september bites were almost nonexistent. October has started the same way. you can see tons of baitfish and predator fish on the finder but getting anything to bite is tough. big cold front today though should knock the water temp down some. might be a little tough this weekend but some warmer temps and clouds early next week. im off Monday and Tuesday and im thinking thir gonna be eating.

4 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

I’m waiting patiently for a little rain (coming next week) and water temps to drop from 68 to 55 and below. Then I should be back in business. 

I think that's part of the problem. water temp has been stuck between 67-71 for about 3 weeks fish are there with no reason to move with tons of baitfish around. no real reason to eat a lure.

[Dens228]

The transition seems to be a little behind this year for me.   Water is still around 60 once the sun comes up. I'm thinking another week or two and I'll be wearing out my jerkbait rod.  

[TnRiver46]

The entire bass Elite field is pretty stumped on world class chickamauga right now, but they all knew it would be terrible

after practice haha

[Sam]

May I suggest you guys scale down your bait sizes?

 

Finesse worm in lieu of a trick worm.

 

4-inch Senko in lieu of the 5 or 6-inch Senko.

 

Baby Brush Hog in lieu of a Brush Hog.

 

Small spinnerbaits in lieu of larger spinnerbaits.

 

Crappie crankbaits.

 

Just a suggestion.

[Paul Roberts]

I'm doing OK. Every year is the same... only different. :))

 

Dealing with super low water in the ponds I've chosen to focus on this fall. Makes finding the bass a lot easier, but not always easy to catch. Figuring it out though. Bass are October fat here. One pond they are a bit less so, but I think the lack of complex structure makes it more difficult for the bass to catch those pesky bluegills.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Im on the other side of the Delaware river from you.  September was a good month for me especially the later half.  Same with the beginning of Oct. the topwater bite was great until we got that really hard rain.  Since then the bites been inconsistent.  Got into some fish today, but had to work for them.  SB and chatterbait did the best.  Things should get better in the next few days.

[Bluebasser86]

September and October are traditionally some of the toughest bites of the year here and this year is no exception. 

[roadwarrior]

Hmm...

 

My brother and I fished Pickwick Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

We were targeting smallmouth, but you catch a sample of about

everything that swims in the Tennessee River. Our biggest fish was

a buffalo which was too big to get into the net! Maybe 50 lbs on light

tackle and 6 lb line.  We gave up and broke the line.

 

Otherwise, 22 on day one, 28 Wednesday and 30 by 2:00 when we had

to leave Friday.  No monsters, my brother's biggest smallie was 4.19,

but most of our fish were 3-3 1/2 ibs.  I think our biggest game fish was

a sauger.

 

 

[TcRoc]

4 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Hmm...

 

My brother and I fished Pickwick Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

We were targeting smallmouth, but you catch a sample of about

everything that swims in the Tennessee River. Our biggest fish was

a buffalo which was too big to get into the net! Maybe 50 lbs on light

tackle and 6 lb line.  We gave up and broke the line.

 

Otherwise, 22 on day one, 28 Wednesday and 30 by 2:00 when we had

to leave Friday.  No monsters, my brother's biggest smallie was 4.19,

but most of our fish were 3-3 1/2 ibs.  I think our biggest game fish was

a sauger.

 

 

Only place around here I can hit those numbers is my buddies neighbors stocked pond. Funny thing is if I catch 5 on the lake he laughs at me cause he just caught 20... yeah at your neighbors stocked pond... love the guys who fish well stocked ponds and think they r pro cause they land a good number. Then they hit the lake and catch 2 or 3 and say they had a off day. 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

If you cant get bit this time of year, try downsizing.  The bass around here have been keying in on the same smaller bait the yellow perch and crappie are feeding on.  I did well on a size 8 xrap and roz 63 as far as numbers go.  High pressure moved in after the rain last night, I was surprised at how active the fish were.  It shut the bigger fish down, most were about 1-1.5lb with the biggest being about 2.

[TcRoc]

2 hours ago, Rusty_Shackleford said:

If you cant get bit this time of year, try downsizing.  The bass around here have been keying in on the same smaller bait the yellow perch and crappie are feeding on.  I did well on a size 8 xrap and roz 63 as far as numbers go.  High pressure moved in after the rain last night, I was surprised at how active the fish were.  It shut the bigger fish down, most were about 1-1.5lb with the biggest being about 2.

It’s not that I’m getting skunked.. this is just the 1st fall that is crazy odd. And I’m throwing all but the kitchen sink .. I’ve caught decent size bass but everything is still skinny.. and as mentioned top water has been slow where as usually it’s on fire right now here . No matter where I’ve gone. 

[NoShoes]

Managed a couple bites before the wind made me call it. Not very fun when the wind weighs down your rod lol. 

[king fisher]

This week has been tough for me.  I haven't caught a single fish.  The fact that I haven't been able to go fishing is probably the main reason for the dry spell.  Good thing is, I didn't loose any tackle.  Last week was slow,  but at least I was able to get on the water a couple days.  Rainy season has stopped, water should start to clear up and cool down.  Hope to get some time off in November.  That is when I'm going to catch some big ones.   

[TriStateBassin106]

No struggle here so far, it was a bit brutal in the first week of october but I've been getting them on the ned rig and some jigs, is the moving bite people praise the fall for dead right now? oh yeah it's dead and buried, haven't caught a reaction bite fish in 2 weeks.