The Fall Bite(or lack therof)

[Bass_Akwards]

I live in Boulder Colorado and the nights have been in the 50's the last month or so, with days being in the 80's.  In August, I'd go in the water up to my knees and fish, and the water was nice and about 76 degrees.  The last month or so, when  I go in the water,  it's cold to the touch. Not freezing, but noticable colder.  Corresponding  to the colder nights the fishing really slowed down.  It's been super slow for about a month.  This summer I was catching a bass every 30-40 minutes and now I get maybe one every three hours, no matter what ponds I fish.  The same thing is happening to a few anglers I've talked to.

The guys I've talked to said  they've been fishing in Boulder and the for 20 years and fall is traditionally a great time for them, but not this year.  Anyone have any reasons why this might be happening?  Some say it's the water temperature, some say the barometric pressure. Tonight is supposed to get down to 36 degrees outside. This is the first time we've hit the 30's since Feburary or March.  We should be seeing many days in the 70's to come.

Should this perhaps trigger the fish's natural instinct to gorge for the winter?  Will this over night drop to 36 degrees even effect the water temperature overnight?(water is denser than air)

I haven't seen the fish start "gorging" for winter, so when does this happen?  

Also, how does barometric pressure effect LMB?  What's considered a "High" barometric pressure compared to a "low" one?  Lastly, What makes the barometric pressure go up and down?  Cold fronts?

I really feel like I'm missing some great fall fishing action and I dont know why.  I'm doing the same things I did all summer to catyche them and a lot more.  I'm using everything I can.  Carnk baits, Jig n Pig, Senkos, Brush hogs, fishing the slop, isolated weed beds, and everything else you can think of.  I fish at night, morning and weekends during the day 3-5 days a week.  Heeeeeeeeelp!

Thanks

t

[grimlin]

welcome to the club...i can't find em either. ;D

I've been told if you ain't catching them...they are inactive or just simply not there.

[T-rig]

welcome to the club...i can't find em either. ;D

I've been told if you ain't catching them...they are inactive or just simply not there.

I can't find them either. I'm sure they will start gorging pretty soon but I think this doesn't happen until the water temps reach the mid 50's. Weather conditions must be right as well. I did well last december on really windy days. Just keep at it and sooner or later you'll get some good fishing.

[jaystraw]

same thing here in NH.  I had an awesome day of smallie fishing on Thursday, but then I could barely buy a bite for the rest of Friday, and the weekend.  It's been 50's at night, between 60-80 during the day...very strange.

[Jig Man]

My fishing has been good this fall.  I have caught a lot of fish shallow on spinnerbaits and buzzbaits.  They backed off them about a week ago and have been hitting jigs and tubes.  I am finding the fish in rocks and ledges since we have been having passing cold fronts.  For a while they seemed to be roaming and you could catch them anywhere on the cast but lately they are close to cover.

[Cory20]

Water surface temps still in the 80's.  Seems like summer out and the leaves are falling of the trees (I know it's a daylight change not temperature, but it's still weird to be around).  Maybe it will be fall next week.

[jwo1124]

If I may add two cents to this pile of coins. I saw a clip that Rick CLunn did on the Bass Pros awhile ago. He talked about his whole career he spent dedicated to learning as much as he could about the bass. He went on to say that there is a saying in Native American culture, that was something along the lines of "In order to catch the owl, you must learn about the mouse." I'm almost positive that wasn;t it word for word, but you can get the general idea of the saying.

Anyway, this realtes to fall bass fishing since in the fall bass school up with other bass similar in size and gorge of schools of minnows. So to put Ricks saying to good use, maybe it would pay off to do some homework on the local baitfish in your water, as we all do for the bass. Learn about their seasonal patterns, their holding places, their daily activities, etc. From all the reading I have done on bass fishing, I have read a lot of times, that in fall bass school to gorge on minnows. This means that the bass most likely aren;t going to be in the post spawn and summer spots in the lilies or weed mats or fallen trees. They are going to be god knows where chasing those schools. I remember late in the august I went bass fishing, shore fishing, and it was around 7:15am, an hour after sunrise, and all of a sudden I saw what looked like a shotgun blast pepper the surface of the pond. It was minnows being pushed up out of the water by schooling bass below. Every couple of minutes the same thing would happen about 150-175' off shore in about 10-12' of water.

I'm just saying, putting the facts together, it looks like in order to find the bass this time of year, you're going to have to find those schools of minnows. This is rough for shore fisherman like me, seeing how bass season is most likely over for us, since most of this schooling and feeding happens in about 10-20' of water, too offshore for me to reach with my casts. But for you anglers with boats, get out an hour or two early on trips and just scan the water looking for blitzes(baitballs being attacked, marked by them jumping out of the water breaking surface) or schools of small fish on the fishfinder.

This is what is happenening up here in on the Northshore of Massachusetts. I live on a penninsula, and the sripers frequent my area in the summer, and this time of year, almost everytime I drive down the causeway to get to my town from the mainland, you can see the bait blitzes. Its nuts. There will be hundreds of seagulls and comorants diving in trying to get a meal, and I'm sure there are schools of stripers and/or bluefish. This only proves that the fish are following the bait. FIND THE BAIT  

[Del from philly]

over in the philly area, it is still almost summer weather and also almost november?

i think the temps are throwing the fish off....they dont know that winter is so close

btw

the gorging of minnows is true, even for the tiny bass

just look for the bass's head to flash, thats them eating minnows....when they open their mouth the silver flashes.....simular to a distressed baitfish, but the difference is noticable

[WRB]

Try to keep in mind that fall to a bass is different then relating this to the leaves turning and fslling off the trees. The bass calendar is regulated by water temperature and length of day light. The closer to the equator the shorter the day light become and the warmer the air temperature are. Further north from the equator the longer the day light hours and colder the air temperatures are. What does this have to do with a bass calendar? Regardless where you are located the summer to fall transition takes place and the entier ecosystem starts to change. The water cools and the night temperatures drop and the day light time period reduces. The cooler surface water is heavier than the warmer water below it and the cool water sinks to cool down the water column and compresses the warmer lighter layer down to from thermoclines. The weeds/grass die due to a combination of less day light and colder water. The DO levels drop where weeds die off, the baitfsih and crayfish leave the cover zones and start to school up and migrate to new locations. Wind will mix the water column and reoxygenate the shallow water areas, baitfsih will seek the shore or shallow cover like wood and rocks during the night and move out into open water areas during the day light hours seeking food and the bass will follow. If the water cools fast and windy conditions prevail, the lake can turn over, then the system needs to reestablish thermal layers, the fishing can be poor for a few weeks while everything makes adjustments to the change.

When the water column cools down to about 55 degrees it is then the cold water period or winter. The surface water continues cool and pushes the warmer water down to the deeper thermocline and the bass/prey fish do deeper to locate the warmest water they can find with good DO levels.

The surface water can continue to cool down in the colder climates until the water reaches 39.4 degree and then get lighter weight and floates as it cools to 32 degrees froming ice.

As stated; find the baitfish or other prey abd the bass shouold be there.

WRB

Barametric pressures and fronts are separate topic to be discussed.

[Bass_Akwards]

Amazing info guys, but I'm at a loss. I guess I became a terrible fisherman over night and it scares me. The ponds I fish at are all different. The thing is though I see schools of minnos and bluegill all over the place and I still can't catch anything. For example...

Pond 1. No surface weeds, 50 acres. I fished it yesterday for 5 hours. Walked around a TON of shoreline and fished it. Many times, when I'd cast way out there, my bait would hit the water, and right when it hit, it looked like the shotgun blast on the top of the water. This was my lure, scaring the crap out of a school of baitfish. i KNEW I was in a good spot. I threw senkos in there, I matched the hatch and threw a crank bait and jerk bait out there. I threw jigs. I threw tubes. NOTHING! 5 hours of nothing, when on the same pond I'd catch at least one 1.5 pound bass every 45 minutes all summer.

Pond 2. 25 acres or so. Lots of nice surface cover. I caught a bass out of there every 30-60 minutes all summer. If I hit an isolated weed bed with a senko, you could bet I'd get some taps and or a fish. I fished this same pond on Monday from 4:00 untill 7:45.  It gets dark now at 6:30 as opposed to 9:00 in August.  In any case, I hit open water, and all the weeds I fished and was successful on all summer. I caught NOTHING! I did catch a 2 pounder on this pond on Saturday. His body was cold to the touch when I pulled him out of the water on a 75degree day. I was in the water up to my knees and saw many bluegill and little bass and minnows.  I feel like at least theres some forage around here and still NOTHING!

In any case, I'm at a loss. There's literally a hundred amazing ponds here on the front range which i just discovered within the last few week and I feel so helpless because when I go try them out, I suddenly cant catch anything.   People have been slaying them all summer at these ponds and now when I go and talk to people at all these new ponds, and ask them how their doing this fall, no one is catching much. I talked to a guy who's been fishing the front range in Colorado since 1971 and he said the fall here is usually spectacular. He said he's had 20 fish days in 5 hours many times in the fall in Boulder, and is having the worst fall he can remember and can't figure out why.

I'm going to cry now.

Todd

[WRB]

I guess the season change didn't sink in. Take a digital thermometer with you and if and when you manage to catch a bass, stick the probe down it's throat and read what the body temerature is. Bass are cold blooded animals and their body temperature will be the same as the water. Bass are also a sunfish family member and they are called sunfish for a reason, warm water fish. Bait fish that are lazy sunning themselves near the surface are doing so because the predator bass are not threatening them, they feel safe. This should indicate the bass are in a neutral or less active mood and not feeding in that area at the time. The bait fish tend to school up in a ball for protection or hide and that indicates that predator fish are nearby and active. My guess is you are not fishing where the bass are located and using presentations that the bass are not responding to.

Early and late during low light periods the bass may respond to your summer techniques. During the mid day you need to try something like a slip shot rig with small 5 1/2 inch curl tail worms or swimming the 4" Yamamoto Senko just under the surface. A floating jointed Rapala is also a good pond lure just swimming under the surface making a wake. Good luck.

WRB

[BackOnTheWater]

Trust me...they are still in the same general areas where you've had success in the past.

First, drop away from the edges of weed beds to the next ledge or cover towards deeper water. They will tend to move off of their favorite shallow feeding areas during these transitions.

Second, stick with finesse baits and work slowly. If you get nothing on bottom, try vertically jigging spoons a foot or two (or more, depending...try different depths) off the bottom around the structure near the weed beds.

As the days get shorter, they WILL gorge on the available forage, and will tend to corral them into the backs of coves or shallow areas.

[WRB]

Most of the advice you are getting is related to reservoirs, not small lakes and ponds that you fish located above 5,000 foot elevation. The bass in a pond or small lake knows every inch of the body of water and are aware of everything approaching them. No boats running around making background noise. You are a intruder to these bass and must keep a low profile so you don't alarm them.

It is impossible to jig a structure spoon from shore, great idea if you are fishing from a boat.

WRB