Cold Snap+Fall Transition

[1984isNOW]

Pretty low temps, particularly overnight for like a week. What do you do?

 

While we're here, let's get the fall transition thread going - break it down like this

 

Clear water approach=

Dingey water approach=

Pond approach =

Lake approach =

 

All waters

I'll be honest, I spent a good chunk of time fishing golf courses, it's totally cheating. But I feel like the fluke is... always worth throwing... But a solid fall producer. And then a popper, getting closer to sunset. Also a hard jerkbait.

 

Clear water, idk, I'm new to it. Clear to me is over 6-10 ft visibility.

 

Pat Cullen convinced me the buzzbait should be thrown everywhere all year long no matter the water. I'm trying it this year.

 

The extra early transition/cold snap on clear water got me confused right now.

[Darth-Baiter]

Lipless thru the grass, deeper grass.  Crankbait time here. 

[1984isNOW]

Also what time to fish is best, I been feeling like mid day picks up when there's cold nights.

 

I'm new to lipless, but giving it a go this season. I have found value in it, like 30 small largies in the middle of a shallow

Ish Pond no electronics, felt real good.

[Mobasser]

My lake is clear except during the actual turnover. Then, its murky for a few days, before clearing again. I use the same clear water approach as through the year. Stay back- long cast. Don't cast shadows over fish.  Light line, and finesse baits. Worms, tubes, smaller jig can all work. Overcast days with a little wind can be really good at times.

[Pat Brown]

Cold and warm are relative and what you gotta think about is sorta three pronged:  surface temperature is about all the bass are really concerned with in terms of the temperatures as they relate to a cold front and until it hits <50° consistently, they're gonna be pretty active.  Weather every day is probably the single most important thing to pay attention to during the fall.

 

You'll have 'fall days' and 'summer days' in the fall (cooler, gloomier days with steady prevailing winds) and on these days you wanna go all in on your fall techniques.  Reaction baits.  Jerkbait, square bill, mid diving crank, lipless, chatterbait, spinnerbait, buzzbait, swim jig, heavier weighted casting jigs so they fall nice and fast and allow you to do some nice quick hops on the bottom.  You'll find on days like this, the fish will be everywhere you look literally and fishing is hard to pattern, but junk fishing with your instincts can be more rewarding at this time of year than any other.

 

You'll also have more summery days as fall creeps in....

 

The techniques more or less stay the same but the speed of retrieve and location and depth will usually change on those muggy hot still days with very little cloud cover.  You'll want to find more shade.  Harder vegetation lines.  Heavier cover.  Steeper drops.  Then you'll have to target them at the depth they're holding.  I slow down my retrieves and drop down in weight on my jigs once I've found them on days like this.  They seem less apt to chase when it's muggy and still.  I find they bite much better on the summery days if you get some steady wind.

 

In general I find it's best to think of fall almost like the pre spawn transition where the fish want to slide up shallow and throughout the day as conditions change and bait moves, that's precisely what they will do.  They are usually found in between deep and shallow most days in the fall.

 

I find that the bite does steadily get better during daylight hours than early morning/early evening but that doesn't fully change over until winter and even then, fish still feed heavily under low light conditions (caught my biggest fish of this past winter at 6 am in pitch black in early February, 9.1 lb).

 

In lower visibility use darker or lighter colors and more flash and vibration/sound.  On clearer fisheries go with more visual baits that more closely resemble natural forage and rely less on thump and vibration/sound.  But by all means don't be afraid to try the 'wrong' bait for the conditions....I've been proven that fish don't read the same books we do time and time again.

 

What I'm more concerned with than light intensity in general is depth the fish are holding at on any given day and the level of activity of the forage.

 

If the forage is going nuts and schools are flickering everywhere and I see bass eating, reaction will be glued to my hand.  If the lake looks dead, I'll probably start with reaction and gradually get more quiet and methodical and bottom contact will be most of what I'm tossing.

 

It you want 5 baits that you can leave home with and catch fish in the fall:

 

1/8 oz Buzzbait, 1/2 oz Spinnerbait, 1/2-3/4 oz casting jig and craw trailer, Jerkbait, shallow/medium diving crankbait.

 

I'm of the mind that fall starts when your days start to shorten and nights start to lengthen and the transition tends to flicker to life and not happen all at once for all fish in all parts of the lake, much like the spring.

[Spankey]

Here in the NE we have been getting our share of rains. Lake and river has been in some degree of stain. A cool night here and there is not a fall spark here. After the holiday I see we are getting hot again (90’s). Might still be weeks out. Loosing sunlight but not much of a water temp drop. The first couple of weeks in October over the years have gotten me my bigger River Smallies. Hope it holds true this season. Cottons, Rapalas and Rat-L-Traps and worms. Blues don’t work well for me through out the season. Clearer fall water and blue patterned baits draw some attention. 

[TnRiver46]

Good thing about narrow stretches of river, you can catch them the same way in the same spot on July 4th, Christmas, Easter, and Halloween 

[Susky River Rat]

@TnRiver46 the susky that works to a point. I’ve had some great days in slack pools of 5’ of water in late November. 

[scaleface]

I'm going to catch fish in the same places with the same lures as I do in the summer and spring . Now late fall/early winter I may have to change tactics . I still fish   in the same places , they just bite differently. Jerkbaits around wood and blade baits on points will sometimes get bit when I have trouble getting bass to strike. 

[Bankbeater]

I'm going to be fishing around submerged vegetation until it starts to die off.  Then I'll either look for wood or deeper vegetation that is around well defined structure.

[einscodek]

Its hard to write down an approach there are too many factors.  When you begin you may just wing it like most people.  More astute people take notes and review but when you have decades of experience behind you it all just comes down to instinct and feeling.  You just know what you are going to try to do based on the season, weather, time of day, body of water, structure, and adjust from there.  Then I do things differently if I am going after numbers or size.  I adapt everything to the conditions and the season and what the fish is showin me that day and time of day.  Cold snaps in general Ill avoid the shallows early in the morning but return later and fish cover if the sun is out.  Its a puzzle for diverse bodies of water.  Ponds are small and generally they can't hide anywhere so not as much of a challenge to me just like my brother who like to "fish" at the fish farms.

 

[Will Ketchum]

Last week, the third week of August, I got bored and went to a place nearby where I go in late fall where crappie school every year. I had a great day no different from late fall. It makes me wonder if these " rules" hold as much water as we think.