Fall

[Mobasser]

This may be a little bit early yet, but, I'm ready for fall.                By this time in the summer, Ive had enough of the heat and humidity.                     Fall can be a great time for fishing, and the scenery around the lakes adds to the experience.                                        What's everyone say? Are you ready for fall bass fishing?

[Bluebasser86]

Fall is usually one of my toughest times of the year until the water really starts to get cold. 

[scaleface]

Fall is usually when I catch my deepest bass of the year . So its a nice change-up .

[Mike L]

Yeah Buddy!!

Its hot and steaming down here like most of the country this summer, but it’s Every Day down here with no real relief until October. September can be as oppressive as July and August 
 

Plus, being that the first wave of bedding fish can start in early to mid November, I’m all ready for it to begin. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Tennessee Boy]

I consider myself a very inexperienced fall fisherman.   The days have always been to short to fish after work.  College football has taken up many of my Saturdays and church on Sunday morning.  That has left Sunday afternoon and the occasional day off.

 

UNTIL NOW!

 

I’m retired and ready to make the most of the fall weather.  I can’t wait.

[Mobasser]

6 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I consider myself a very inexperienced fall fisherman.   The days have always been to short to fish after work.  College football has taken up many of my Saturdays and church on Sunday morning.  That has left Sunday afternoon and the occasional day off.

 

UNTIL NOW!

 

I’m retired and ready to make the most of the fall weather.  I can’t wait.

Congrats on your retirement! It's a good feeling. Best of luck out there this fall.

[TnRiver46]

I can’t wait for winter. Every year 

[Will Ketchum]

I had some of my most productive fishing for SM in the river when the water started cooling and they know it's time to put the feed bag on.

 

Same with crappie in a nearby lake. Any other time you have to go look for them but come fall they seem to school right there.

[Spankey]

I’m with you MO, can’t wait until fall. My largest river smallies have all been fall bass. If it gonna happen for me this season it will be Sept. / Oct.

 

I’ll continue to practice right now. 

[casts_by_fly]

No.  As much as the blazing sun and heat have sucked the past 4 weeks, I don't welcome fall fishing.  Summer fishing is great- the days are long, the water is warm, the air is warm.  I don't care if I get a little wet in the kayak.  A cloudy/transition day like we have today is usually good enough to turn the fish on providing you can fish those days.  Plus with fall you're on the back end of the year and your days are limited.  Depending how cold you will fish you're into the 'couple weeks left' part of the calendar.  Up here we get ice so no year round fishing.  And, archery season comes in in september so competing interests and all that...

[Bankc]

This year, especially, the heat has really shut down the daytime bite.  Water temps are in the 90's in a lot of places.  I'm ready for the fall.  That's the best time of year for fishing where I live.  In the spring, it's too windy most days.  The fall is the one time of year where everything comes together.  

 

We don't usually get much in the way of fall colors.  So it's not pretty like in a lot of other places (most years).  But October and November can have long stretches of days where bagging a limit is almost guaranteed.  

[Darth-Baiter]

the winds die down starting fall.  i love it.  i seem to fish fine.

[Spankey]

Fishing History tells me I have to be on certain parts of the river at fall. Later Sunrise and falling temps are easy enough to deal with. 
 

Big early fall rains can ruin some of my river plans, then to be able to fish I switch gears and head to the lake. I generally pull the plug at the end of October. 

[lynxcat]

Fall is so hit and miss. It can be so exciting as the fish destroy baitfish but it can be highly frustrating if they aren’t biting your lure (while blowing up around it). Overall, I enjoy Fall more than late summer in TX. We haven’t gotten rain in 30 days and it’s been 100 degrees for basically the last month or more. My ponds are down 5 ft from where they should be and the ecosystem is distressed. Fall will bring some normalcy to said ecosystems and I think the fish will flip a switch this year even more than normal. 

[fishballer06]

Fall here means buzzbait time. Such a fun time of year to catch them on top. 

[Catt]

I got till Halloween ?

[Chris Catignani]

I love the Fall. Football season starts. Hunting season starts. School is back in session.

All this adds up to less people on the lake! Now the fishing is a different story...

[Derek1]

I find fall to be tough in the ponds I fish from the bank. Although it’s tough in them now with heat wave after heat wave and no rain. 

[scaleface]

In the places I fish bass seem to congregate more in the fall than in summer .One arm of a lake may yield zero bites , then the next arm over dozens of bites . 

[Mobasser]

Just now, scaleface said:

In the places I fish bass seem to congregate more in the fall than in summer .One arm of a lake may yield zero bites , then the next arm over dozens of bites . 

Years ago my brother and I had a memorable trip to Bull Shoals. We found schooling fish in deeper water. Using Mr. Twister Sassy Shads, we caught and released around  thirty fish in a three hr period. Some of the fastest paced bass fishing I've ever had.

[TnRiver46]

11 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

Years ago my brother and I had a memorable trip to Bull Shoals. We found schooling fish in deeper water. Using Mr. Twister Sassy Shads, we caught and released around  thirty fish in a three hr period. Some of the fastest paced bass fishing I've ever had.

Probably only went thru 2 sassy shads also, where that would have taken $30 of keitech 

[A-Jay]

2 hours ago, Mobasser said:

This may be a little bit early yet, but, I'm ready for fall. 

By this time in the summer, Ive had enough of the heat and humidity.   

Fall can be a great time for fishing, and the scenery around the lakes adds to the experience.         What's everyone say?

Are you ready for fall bass fishing?

 

 After the rather abundant, Pre-Spawn Big Brown Bass action here is in the rear view mirror, 

the "Fall Bite" immediately becomes my next favorite time frame to expect big things. 

It's another time when plus size fish come shallow again and are looking to eat - rather voraciously I might add.  None of that is a surprise really and just about every basshead on the planet, knows it. 

  However, what has been a pretty big surprise to me, especially the past couple of seasons, is just how 'early' on our calendar this can happen; but please allow me to back up a bit.

 For a long time, years in fact, my impression & expectation of 'the fall bite' revolved around cooler air & water temperatures much more than the date.  

 Well in advance of even considering vacating my hunt for big brown bass in the deeper haunts, and well before I secured the drop shot & spybait rigs, I was eternally waiting for that first 'bite' of cold air or those first few 'cold nights'.  Traditional thinking says this is what is supposed to trigger the bigger fish to move 'shallower' and get them feeding.  And clearly there is and probably will always be quite a bit for 'truth' to that.  The Length of day may also be a willing participant. 

 Something we may all agree with is that not all the bass in the lake are doing the same thing at the same time.  So is there a chance, that some fish big fish move in shallow and feed before the frost is on the pumpkin ?  I'm here to say, Absolutely.  

  So while for years I was out deep, pretty much getting my lunch handed to me in mid to late August, there were some real brutes laugh it up some pretty skinny water, and I was none the wiser. 

 Fortunately, during a mid-day, super high sun, lunch time RECON mission, I happen to get lucky, real lucky.   I was throwing a spinnerbait around way up on the inside, stuff I would have thought was far too skinny to hold fish, at least not the type I was looking for and not at that time of day. 

  As my bait passed by this isolated wood in less that 4 ft of very clear water on a huge sand flat, a 5 lb brown bass shot out and blasted it.  To say I was surprised is quite an understatement - seemed a kin to getting a bass from Wal-Mart parking lot.  It was that 'weird' to me.  That was 6 years ago.

This is that fish catch . . . 

https://youtu.be/EkCJNqul4lI

 I thought, "this fish must be sick or something" Nope, aside from the Strike King Burner hanging out of her face, she was fat & sassy and seemed totally healthy.  Had to be an anomaly. 

Either way, I poked my face in there at sunrise my next trip and found the bass already in there slurping up every 4-5 inch yellow perch they could find, and there were schools & schools of them.

So Good. 

Accordingly, I started looking insider earlier & earlier each season.  And while no two seasons are the same, it appears that even the first or second week of August is NOT too soon, up here anyway. One of my local 'on land indicators' is when the 'ferns start to turn brown'.  I've been capitalizing on this late summer deal ever since.  Besides some of my best topwater catches, my PB Brown Bass came that very next year off that same flat; also on a spinnerbait. 

 

 So long story short, if you have an area(s), that come to life a later in the season,

it might not be totally crazy to check them out a little sooner.

This weekend, I'll be out (in the garage) in the Pro-V Bass ensuring all my Gear is Good To Go. 

Fish Hard

A-Jay

 

[roadwarrior]

In this part of the country the best smallmouth fishing of the year starts

around the middle of October.

[WRB]

Fall here is when the water temps cool to under 68 degree when lakes turn over shutting the bite down for a few weeks.

The bait goes deeper and it become school bass fishing with structure spoons or hunting larger bass with jigs.

Hit and miss in SoCal.

Tom

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

In this part of the country the best smallmouth fishing of the year starts

around the middle of October.

Absolutely, and I was trying to find a guide last year as I sold my big bass boat a few years back.   I used to fish below wheeler dam with live threadfin, HOLY COW you'd have you arm broken by either a huge Smallie, or Drum seemingly every drift.   

 

Know any good guides?

 

As for what I look forward to or associate the fall with fishing with.......absolute world class Alabama Bass fishing in the finger creeks off Lay Lake.    The big old spots will submerge themselves in the fallen leaves, and then ambush rattling rouges.     Not uncommon to catch a half dozen or more 5lb + Spots in a day.    Then again you can do that most times of the year at Lay Lake.  It's a special lake if you like mean aggressive Spots