It's fall.

[Swamp Girl]

The nighttime lows are reaching the upper fifties and the daytime highs are in the upper sixties to lower seventies. Trees are starting to change. Days are noticeably shorter. Yeah, it's fall. However, it's still fishing like August and I struggle in August, averaging morning or evening catches from the teens to the twenties. I checked my trip reports for August of 2023. Same thing. I launched in the dark. It was also foggy and calm. I caught the vast majority of my 2024 bass  with an underspin, but they're not hitting them anymore. They are, strangely, hitting my loon-colored Whopper Plopper. I caught 18 total and lost one that was bigger than any of the bass below. Here we go. See, it's fall. See the red leaves of the maples on the right?

 

 

Next are my first three bass. You can see the sky lightening and the fog drops reflecting the flash of my camera:

 

 

This wasn't my biggest, but I like the composition:

 

 

Here are my biggest bass:

 

 

 

 

 

You just knew a pretty pic was coming!

 

 

And here's an ugly pic, my battered Whopper Plopper:

 

 

This one was long and strong, but skinny!

 

 

This short one must have eaten the long one's lunch.

 

 

Here's a wiggler waving bye-bye!

 

 

Th-th-th-that's all, folks! Thanks for going fishing with me on a misty morning in Maine. 

[Functional]

Fall? Did....did you even have a summer? LOL. It feels like you were just able to start going out and not freeze. 

 

Nice fish too, always fun on a topwater bite. 

[Swamp Girl]

12 minutes ago, Functional said:

Fall? Did....did you even have a summer? LOL. It feels like you were just able to start going out and not freeze. 

 

Nice fish too, always fun on a topwater bite. 

 

Yeah, summer's a long time comin' and short time stayin'. 

[Pat Brown]

It's feeling fallish here too.  The fish are doing early fall stuff - starting the migration back into the creeks but still a ways off from properly occupying the creeks.  Basically 'staging' as the temps approach shad spawn optimization.

 

I've noticed that when the wind blows hard those meandering fish do start to use shallow hard edges and the shad get balled up real fast.

 

Still plenty of sunfish and bass spawning around moons - usually on secondary point channel swings and saddles with hard bottom and shade.

 

These fish are pretty wise and don't spend much time in a catchable state when boats come around.  

 

I think the most catchable fish right now are the ones pushing bait on structure or ambushing on pieces of cover. And the area chosen and type of cover used and the depth it goes down at changes from day to day/hour to hour.  It's a tough time on a lot of days for sure.

[Swamp Girl]

3 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

It's feeling fallish here too.  The fish are doing early fall stuff - starting the migration back into the creeks but still a ways off from properly occupying the creeks.  Basically 'staging' as the temps approach shad spawn optimization.

 

I've noticed that when the wind blows hard those meandering fish do start to use shallow hard edges and the shad get balled up real fast.

 

I'm glad we're edging into fall. My three hardest months are March (too cold), November (too cold), and August. They're spawning in May and June, so they belly up to my smorgasbord of lures. They're recovering from the spawn in July, so they're hungry. And in September and October, they're back for seconds and thirds again because winter's coming, but there's less incentive to chow down in August.

[gim]

Not here yet, and I'm further north than most.

 

Supposed to be nearing 90 degrees by the weekend, and muggy.  That ain't fall by any means.

 

Summer has mostly been glorious here though so I can't complain.  No dought, plenty of rain, very few hot/humid days, minimal wildfire smoke.

[Alex from GA]

Was downstairs wrapping a rod and came back to this post and wow. You'll beat the weather. 

[pdxfisher]

Great pics. Loved the lovely picture! So sad that you now have to make two casts to catch a bass instead of catching them on every cast

 

I love my old lure that have show the scars of many battles. I swear they just become more and more magical with every fish they catch. 

[Swamp Girl]

I forgot to share that I caught nearly every bass retrieving my Whopper Plopper parallel to the shore, about 12" from it. I'd set up my casts by positioning my canoe a couple feet from the shore.

 

I also cast a spinnerbait and underspin, casting at shorelines, pockets, lily pads, grass, and in open water and didn't get a single hit. I did catch one bass on a T-rigged blue Crush City Bronco Bug and hooked another on that lure and triggered three hits with my frog. 

[DogBone_384]

5 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

The nighttime lows are reaching the upper fifties and the daytime highs are in the upper sixties to lower seventies. Trees are starting to change. Days are noticeably shorter. Yeah, it's fall.

 

We're still a couple weeks behind you down here in SE Mass.  The nights are getting cooler and longer, but as of last week the water temps were still in the high 70's and my bass are still deep.

 

I'm seeing larger groups of geese than the last few years and my local animals are busy feeding.

 

I'm figuring we're in for a 'real' winter and the bass feed bag is going to be fast and furious.

 

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, DogBone_384 said:

I'm figuring we're in for a 'real' winter and the bass feed bag is going to be fast and furious.

 

Gosh, I hope so!

 

1 hour ago, DogBone_384 said:

my bass are still deep.

 

Hmmm. I couldn't coax a hit from a deep bass and caught all my bass in a foot of water this morning. You can see in my fish pics that I was tight to shorelines. Changes in latitude, changes in bass attitude. 

[TnRiver46]

Get anything on flukes yet? 

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

I was driving to a lake the other day and saw more fully red maples than I want to even think about. Seems like the ice goes out in the spring, we have one week of summer, then it’s iced over in the fall again 

[Swamp Girl]

57 minutes ago, August said:

I was driving to a lake the other day and saw more fully red maples than I want to even think about. Seems like the ice goes out in the spring, we have one week of summer, then it’s iced over in the fall again 

 

I hear ya.

 

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Get anything on flukes yet? 

 

I have successfully fished flukes in the past, but not recently. I keep intending to use them again. Thanks for the reminder. 

[TnRiver46]

We are predicted to set a record low temp Wednesday at 52 degrees 

[Team9nine]

Beautiful area and pics, but it’s nowhere near fall down here (unfortunately). Can count on one hand the number of days below 85 since early June, with more than 60 percent of those days over 90. We get a couple days in the low 80s later this week, but back to 90 by next week. I haven’t had the boat out in a month because of the heat and humidity. Hoping for a trip or two at the end of the week before the heat returns.

[Swamp Girl]

24 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Can count on one hand the number of days below 85 since early June, with more than 60 percent of those days over 90. We get a couple days in the low 80s later this week, but back to 90 by next week.

 

I would whimper with such weather. 

 

56 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

We are predicted to set a record low temp Wednesday at 52 degrees 

 

I'm not surprised that 52 will be a new record low.

[Koz]

Fall?! We still have heat indices over 100 here.

 

Years ago I lived in Maine and enjoyed the summers and fall, but I was not a fan of the winters and the ice storms. Beautiful countryside, though.

[Swamp Girl]

12 minutes ago, Koz said:

Fall?! We still have heat indices over 100 here.

 

We'll be hitting mid-fifties some nights this week and it's been steadily cooler, which is why some trees are changing color. 

 

Where did you live in Maine?

[gim]

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

Beautiful area and pics, but it’s nowhere near fall down here (unfortunately). Can count on one hand the number of days below 85 since early June, with more than 60 percent of those days over 90. We get a couple days in the low 80s later this week, but back to 90 by next week. I haven’t had the boat out in a month because of the heat and humidity.

So when you fished up north, I assume you missed a couple months because of winter (too cold).

 

Now you miss time because of summer (too hot).

 

Which one is worse…or better?

 

 

[Koz]

14 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

We'll be hitting mid-fifties some nights this week and it's been steadily cooler, which is why some trees are changing color. 

 

Where did you live in Maine?

I ran a Marriott in the Portland - Scarborough area back in the 90’s and lived in Old Orchard Beach and then in Yarmouth.

 

I used to bike ride from both those places to Freeport and Kennebunkport. Route 1 had the bike lanes as wide as car lanes that made for a pleasant ride.

 

My old Assistant GM now runs a hotel in Bar Harbor.

[TnRiver46]

57 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I would whimper with such weather. 

 

 

I'm not surprised that 52 will be a new record low.

It’ll still be over 80 that same afternoon, most likely when I’m on a roof 😂 

[Swamp Girl]

Those are all great places to have lived and visited, @Koz. Thanks for sharing.

 

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

It’ll still be over 80 that same afternoon, most likely when I’m on a roof 😂 

 

Yikes!

[TnRiver46]

15 minutes ago, gimruis said:

So when you fished up north, I assume you missed a couple months because of winter (too cold).

 

Now you miss time because of summer (too hot).

 

Which one is worse…or better?

 

 

@Team9nine didn’t miss much, he dragged blade baits off the ice edge and caught bass 😂 

[Team9nine]

47 minutes ago, gimruis said:

So when you fished up north, I assume you missed a couple months because of winter (too cold).

 

Now you miss time because of summer (too hot).

 

Which one is worse…or better?

 

 

It literally has been about an even trade-off, but missing out on summer trips is better. Last year I fished through the entire winter and rarely saw more than a boat or two most days. I’ll gladly take that vs. more summer trips when everyone is off work or out of school and the lakes stay much more crowded.

 

31 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Team9nine didn’t miss much, he dragged blade baits off the ice edge and caught bass 😂 

True story ^^^  …more than once, even.