Fall Patterns

mahtofire14 wrote:

Trying to figure out the MN mullet, and I’m guessing it should only get better this as the water cools.

I’ve played around with them a little this year. I’ve had some mixed results. There are times they have been on fire, and it does catch some bigger fish. Like most all other baits. Time and place for it. I even took a few with me to Canada for large pike and managed a few fish on it. Not as many as I thought. I think it may work real well on the spring pike trip and I know the lake trout when up shallow will eat it for sure

LabDaddy1 wrote:

What’s the Minnesota mullet?

It is an oversized hair jig but it’s kind of matted together so it’s very oval shaped in the water. Looks really good, just like a perch. Lotta friends crushing with them right now. I haven’t quite figured it out yet.

After a rather long layoff from bass fishing Minnesota waters, got back after them this morning. It took us 3 lakes to find one to fish this morning. Lake 1 we got to at 6:55 and there was already 3 boats on the lake. This lake has 1 good community spot and not many other spots the last few time out there. Using binoculars we could see 1 boat already on the best community spot and another close by waiting a turn on the spot. Decided to head to another lake that was rather close. I jinked us by joking that our luck we would get their and find a tourney going on. Sure enough, get there and there is about 20 bass boat trailers and lots on non boater autos packed into the lot and out on the road. Headed to lake #3 and was meet with lots of thunder and lightning. Sat in the lot for 15 minutes or so and decided to take our chances and drop in. We ended up taking off and putting rain gear back on 3 different time. Even got pelted with hail for about 5 minutes. Despite all that the fishing was rather good. This lake has some of the deepest weed lines in my area. We had nice good looking weeds out to about 22-23 FOW. Partner fished his usual jig worm and I stuck to my hot Neko rig and we both landed a ton of fish. Lots of them were smaller fish this lake is known for but also managed some better fish. This lake has definitely made a turn for the better on the size of fish. Despite all the difficulties it was a rather fun outing. Felt good to be back out after bass again.

Ordered three 3/4oz MN Mullets from TW today. Needed to replace two hand-tied ones that pike stole last weekend. These may be marketed as bass baits, but the walleyes targeted last weekend were eating them greedily. These big hair jigs seem to select for big fish too – another bonus.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_4746-scaled.jpeg
   

Sweet.

And Brian, I’m starting to think you’re secretly a tackle warehouse rep

I’m heading up to Hayward for our annual guys weekend and I’ll be throwing the mullet and strolling quite a bit. maybe I’ll actually pick up a walleye or two.

I hadn’t been largemouth fishing in a month and went this morning for about 3.5 hours.

Fish were still in their usual summer patterns. Caught a few early on a buzz bait and spinnerbait. By the time the sun had rose higher around 9:30am, that bite was done and I moved deeper. Found a good school of decent sized fish and caught about 15 of them on jig worm ranging in size from 15-19 inches. I had a bigger one on that jumped and spit the hook.

By 11am I was pretty toasted. It felt like mid July out there. Hot, no wind, jet skis, wake boats, and pontoons were out in full force like it was midsummer. Water temps are 72 degrees.

At least in July you can go super early, now if you do you are in the dark,
Great catch for a few hours.

tim hurley wrote:

At least in July you can go super early, now if you do you are in the dark,
Great catch for a few hours.

I don’t know how people can hunt in this. Sitting in a tree stand or duck blind or walking the woods like it’s still the middle of summer has to get old quick.

Guy on this site was out there for grouse, flushed some but just wasn’t feeling it as they say. Fall is too short.

Dont know what other people are seeing, but in the last week or so the fishing has really gotten bad..fished a lake in the mille lacs area and was on the struggle bus bigtime finding Crappies or Sunnies ( I normally do fairly well on this lake) marking some but seem to have scattered and in a very negative mood. my feeling is that the shallow lakes are going into that turnover lull, waters getting cold, dirty slightly stinky..what are others seeing?

Minnows are still working just sayin. I won’t say how may I caught as I don’t want to upset Mr. Bass.
Most fish were still shallow 8ft or less.

I have not seen the water getting cold still 72 on the pond.

I too did not do the best this weekend. Fish were very scattered most on weed edges but nothing biting good. Reaction strike lures seemed best water temp still at 72.

Got out last Friday and did OK. Not great but OK. Caught fish in the normal summer location on the outside weedline with Jigworms and Neko rigs. It did seem like the #’s were off and I got the feeling like that summertime pattern is starting to die off. I think we are a week or so away before the Good fall bite patterns start to really kick in. Water temps on the lake we fished was 69-71. As expected rather warm for this time of the year.

I fished in a 4 hour derby this morning, metro lake. It was difficult. Hot and windy.

At 11am, my partner and I had our four fish limit but they were all dinks. We were catching fish here and there, but lacking size. In a 10 minute span we upgraded two of those fish with 4 pounders and ended up winning by less than a pound.

Jig worm and a tube along the weed line caught those two fish. Finesse fishing those tactics were difficult in this gusty wind.

Water temps still 71.5 degrees.

My final tournament of the year was last Saturday on Farm Island Lake. It was my best finish of the year 7th Place. Seeing as how my frog bite in September was so crappy I was rusty and over-anxious. Had I landed all of my bites on the frog I would have been in contention for the win. I had 6 quality bites on the frog and only landed two of them. I also got three fish a pound and a half or under on the frog and missed a few bites that I have no clue what size they were or if they were even bass. If I was a boater, I think it would have been a slam dunk win. Not being able to set up perfect casts, fish at my pace, or go into the junk deeper than my boater was willing to go hindered me from maximizing my day. But I can’t really complain because my boater was more than fair. I got his boat plenty weedy as it was staying on the outside edge of the thick junk.

I did really good this afternoon/evening. There was a weather change with a big wind shift and I timed it right. The fish were hungry and aggressive. I caught 19 largemouth and 5 pike. Three of the largies were over 4 pounds, including my biggest this season, a 21 incher that weighed nearly 6 pounds. Water temps have dropped into the mid 60’s which I think has also helped.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_4104-2.jpg
   

2. 

   IMG_4150.jpg
   

Nice fish Gimruis! I tried to get out but the wind was to much at the landings.

Thanks, yes it was very windy. It really picked up around 4:30pm when it shifted from the south to the west. Looks like its still blowing pretty hard this morning too.

I was up to leech lake chasing perch last weekend. My buddy has been out chasing bass 5 out of the last 6 days. He says the fall bite in this area has really kicked into high gear. Water temps are in the real low 60’s around this area. This time of the year I’d have the following rigged and ready every outing: Spinnerbait, Buzzbait, Chatterbait, and a rattle trap. Fall bass fattening up for winter + these baits will = some of the biggest and fattest fish of the year. I wish I had not missed out on last weekend, but it should stay hot for a few weeks now.

Fished the Miss this last weekend up north. Smally bite was on for spinner baits and small musky bait they wanted big food.We caught 5 smallies touching 20 could not get over the line. A bunch 18-19inch fish also, was hoping for 21. Same area I got a 21 3/4 a couple years ago and my first 20 inch. Pike were crazy almost a chance every cast or so. Slow bite for us but still did ok , water is so low even had to push the jet a couple times.

Bass Pundit you fishing this Sunday?

We had are final derby last Sunday, it was stupid windy however the fish were biting like crazy. We came in second with with 16.36 and first was 16.41, the weights were low but everybody was fishing the same side of the lake. BuzzBaits and Chatter Baits, the fishing is getting awesome!

Nope, I had a terrible season. I am not expecting a call to be needed for the team. I finished in 12th Place.

Got out for about 4 hours this morning. Water temps were 60-61 Deg. My partner said this was up slightly from his last few outings. The bite was Good. Caught decent #’s with a few in the 18-19″ range. A mix of Buzzbaits, Spinnerbaits, and Chatterbaits all caught fish. If I had to pick I’d say the buzzbait caught the most fish and the spinnerbait the better size fish. All fish caught were in the 2-4 Ft of water. Rather soft bites, More of just a loading without a noticeable hit. Even the buzzbait hits were rather suttle. Don’t be afraid to fish the Buzzbaits in choppy waters. I’ve had some of my better days when the water was rather choppy. This weekend is looking good to get out there and catch a few. Get out there and get you some.

Glad to hear the bite is getting better. It was brutal in Hayward. I can’t figure that place out. I’ll probably get out a few more times this season and put the boat away. Just haven’t had the time to get out and really figure out patterns this year.

I’m struggling as well because the bite on topwater has been off this Fall on Platte/Sullivan. Tonight I got two bass on a frog, and nothing on a buzzbait or Plopper. Water Temp were 57-58. I only had 3 bites on a frog and I’m pretty sure the one I missed was a pike. I wasn’t even getting bit by pike tonight throwing the buzzbait in the reeds and reed edges.

Did good again today targeting largmemouth. Caught a bunch of solid fish and some sizable pike. Every fish came on a spinnerbait or a chatterbait crawled in 3-6 feet of water. Early on the bass were a little tough because the air temp was 35 degrees but it picked up as the day progressed and the sun came out. Water temp was 55 degrees.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_4176.jpg
   

2. 

   IMG_4170.jpg
   

3. 

   IMG_4172.jpg
   

4. 

   IMG_4174.jpg
   

5. 

   IMG_4164.jpg
   

6. 

   IMG_4166.jpg
   

I was hoping to go to Mille Lacs today but the wind made me alter my plans. Plan B worked out pretty well chasing largemouth. The water has dropped to 53 degrees I we had to use a swim jig slower near the bottom. Caught 4 bass over 4 pounds including a 19.5 incher that was over 5 pounds. I am done bass fishing for the season. Might try muskie fishing one more time. Bass fishing was really good the past 3 weeks. Stunning fall day out there.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_6177.jpg
   

2. 

   IMG_4186.jpg
   

3. 

   IMG_6167.jpg
   

4. 

   IMG_6172.jpg
   

gim wrote:

I am done bass fishing for the season.

What ??? the bite is just getting good. the Jerkbait bite is just about to kick in. You love that bite. Wife and I are going to get out on Sunday. Not sure if going to chase Bass, Walleye or panfish just yet. Might chase all 3 if the weather is good for it.

I hear ya. I like a good jerk bait bite.

I’ve got to get ready to hunt on Nov 9 though. If I wasn’t going hunting I’d keep fishing.