Fall Fishing Will Humble You

[papajoe222]

Is there anything worse than attempting to figure out fall bass movements?

Consider spring, if you will. The bass begin moving shallow after a warming trend and then a cool wave swoops in and they move. We know where they move, back to where they were.  Summer? Shallow or deep, if a cold front moves in, they stay right where they were, they just move tight to the cover and get lockjaw.  Winter? You'd know better than me because I dislike ice fishing.

Fall?  Ha ha ha...... They'll move up from their deep summer homes, but let a cold front move in and poof, they disappear. They don't move back down from whence they came. They don't hide tight to the cover where they were. They don't move shallow because their forage hasn't made that move yet.  I know the general rule is: Find the baitfish to find the bass. Maybe that works in waters where there is shad, but up here you can't find the forage either. You may find a clueless dink here or there during the course of a day's fishing, but those groups of fish that get you all excited to be out there in the fall are off somewhere unknown to you laughing their combined butts off.                                                       Rant over

[MIbassyaker]

I also have some difficulty in fall...any outing is either boom or bust.  I tend to chalk it up to lack of experience on my part, as I don't get to fish much this time of year  and there is no one place where I have racked up a lot of hours on the water after early September.   But its interesting to hear another Northerner say they find Fall somewhat vexing like I do.

[Scott F]

I spent years looking for fall smallmouth on the lakes of northern Wisconsin in the fall where I catch loads of prespawn bass in the spring, with but with little to no luck during fall. I was using information I got from reading all I could from In-Fisherman books and magazines. My big mistake was being up there too early in the fall season. I was there in early October while the fall colors were at their peak. Turns out the In-Fisherman’s definition of fall was much closer to early winter than my assumption that fall was when the leaves turn color. I preferred fishing when the weather was just cool, but the bass apparently got catchable when daily temps were closer to freezing than I was comfortable with.

[A-Jay]

In this area Brown bass are often so spread out that it's one here and one there type of deal.

Was that way today.

Other times they are grouped up and seemed to all be on the same type of structure.

Good thing about that is that it is REPEATABLE.

Hardest part of for me is deciding  where to start.  

Shallow or deep or somewhere in between.

I do WAY better once more fish move deep and Stay there.

Feed windows this time of year are tiny. 

Something early and something late with mostly nothing in between.

Hate that. 

Going again tomorrow. early. 

Expect to start shallow.

A-Jay

 

 

 

[Columbia Craw]

During the fall I look for the following:

 

Rock

Transitions

Steeper contours

Current

Horizontal wood/laydowns

 

I agree with A Jay about feeding windows.  Early and late until the first frost then it can open up. 

[gim]

I’ve experienced this inconsistent fall bite as well. 3 years ago I had a fantastic fall bite. 2 years ago, not so much. Last year, fantastic again. It tends to kind of be like that for me even though I’m generally fishing the same waters around the same time of year.

 

I should say that I usually hang it up in late October and if it’s been unseasonably warm, I think I miss the bite because it occurs after I quit for the season. 50 degrees is the critical temp I watch for. Once it drops below that, it’s all over for this guy.

[GReb]

I’ve generally had better days in the fall than any other season. Here it’s more of an area bite than pattern. Run a bunch of water and fish fast until you find them. I have had days where it took 5+ hours to locate them. 
 

There’s no other time I can catch 20+ in a spot the size of a pickup bed using lipless, squarebills, and spinner baits. 

[Bird]

Fall fishing is a welcome relief from summer heat and a few bigger fish.

I've not been tearing them up this week but water temp was 68* today and was able to catch a few on top water jerkbaits early.

I will definitely fish hard in October but prespawn will always be my preferred time on the water.

 

[gim]

2 minutes ago, Bird said:

I will definitely fish hard in October but prespawn will always be my preferred time on the water.

Same. Spring is a far more consistent time period for me too. But it sure is nice to have crisp, cool mornings again, even if the fishing is not as consistent.

[GreenPig]

Fall for is like every other season for me. I beat the fish to where they're going by a couple weeks. You'd think they'd learn to be on time, slow pokes. 

[pdxfisher]

4 hours ago, A-Jay said:

In this area Brown bass are often so spread out that it's one here and one there type of deal.

Was that way today.

Other times they are grouped up and seemed to all be on the same type of structure.

Good thing about that is that it is REPEATABLE.

Hardest part of for me is deciding  where to start.  

Shallow or deep or somewhere in between.

I do WAY better once more fish move deep and Stay there.

Feed windows this time of year are tiny.  something early and something late

with mostly nothing in between.

Hate that. 

Going again tomorrow. early. 

Expect to start shallow.

A-Jay

 

 

 

 

 

It seems to be the same out here. Lots of scattered fish and some groups that I may or may not find on a given day. I will add that the schools this time of year seem to be a bit more loosely formed than in the summer. They seem to want a bit more elbow room. 

[Hook2Jaw]

I agree completely.  We had a front move in, and for three days the weather was heavily overcast with a slight wind.  I took yesterday off to go take advantage of that weather.  When I pulled out with the kayak in tow this morning, the skies had opened up and the wind had picked up to a steady ten miles per hour.

 

Fall transition coupled with post frontal conditions lead to me being 007 today.  Zero fish, zero bites, seven hours. 

[Catt]

“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you frustrate him for a lifetime.”

[Swamp Girl]

Fall is best summarized for me by Wednesday evening:

 

1st hour: 3 bass

 

2nd hour: 3 bass

 

3rd hour: 18 bass, a rate where I stopped photographing to save time and catch more. I found them on a flat and caught two or three consecutive fish several times. It's a flat I rarely fish, but I tried it because of BR articles and videos that mentioned flats as fall habitat. 

 

10 hours ago, Scott F said:

Turns out the In-Fisherman’s definition of fall was much closer to early winter than my assumption that fall was when the leaves turn color. I preferred fishing when the weather was just cool, but the bass apparently got catchable when daily temps were closer to freezing than I was comfortable with.

 

If this is the case, I'll miss fall's fishing. I'm thinking I'll fish for another three weeks. Maybe four. I'm going fishing now and for the first time since last spring, I'm taking my ditch kit. 

[Pat Brown]

I definitely feel like junk fishing is where I find my best success in the fall and it's definitely areas not patterns.

 

I often just rotate back and forth between feeding areas switching baits and those tend to be days where I do the best which is super confusing and frustrating to a pattern fisherman.

 

Winter is coming soon and that will be absolutely fantastic.  I can't wait to apply all the knowledge I learned in the late spring and summer fishing offshore and hopefully finally crack the NC winter bass at my lakes code.

 

Last winter was incredible but I never got into the big schools like I see some of you guys do and I plan to try to figure out how to really get on them.  That's at least the plan ?

 

Still loving fall though.  Topwater has been the most fun part this year for sure!

[GRiver]

52 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I'm going fishing now and for the first time since last spring, I'm taking my ditch kit. 

What’s a ditch kit? 

[Susky River Rat]

I have the same terrible catch rate all year. Season doesn’t make me better or worse. 

[T-Billy]

I've had great days and terrible days in every season. Summer is easiest because of more stable weather and patterns. Early spring and late fall are giant seasons vs numbers for the most part.

[The Baron]

I've been using the cover water technique, mostly going down the bank with moving baits (chatterbaits, paddletail swimbaits and a Choppo, mostly) and slowing down around shallow (+/- 8ft. or less) flats.  For smallmouth, bites are very scattered and I think I'm just coming across/lucking into roaming fish.  For largemouth, I'm starting to pickup more fish off hard structure now - trees, rocks and docks.  I'm not run into any groups or any of these fabled schools of feeding fish, but the quality of fish I'm catching is excellent, so I'm excited to get back at it today.

[gim]

5 hours ago, Hook2Jaw said:

me being 007 today.  Zero fish, zero bites, seven hours. 

That's a good one.  Agent 007

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

Winter is coming soon and that will be absolutely fantastic. 

[TnRiver46]

Easy solution: go river fishing. They can’t move very far 

[galyonj]

And they're just about anywhere at any time.

[gim]

Geez you guys, thanks for the in-depth advice on river fishing.  Really warped my mind this morning.

[PaulVE64]

I treat fall fishing like "Opposite Day"

 

[TnRiver46]

25 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Geez you guys, thanks for the in-depth advice on river fishing.  Really warped my mind this morning.

We haven’t even posted the most important part yet! 
 

Be ready for a bite at any moment