Fall Patterns

Hitting spinners now too, even big stuff-just getting fun G!

Had a pretty good day yesterday using both plastics and hard baits, though lost a bunch of fish that would’ve made it spectacular. We got 52 fish with ten over 5lbs and two bonus walleyes. Things are just now starting to get good and should only improve as the water continues to cool. It was 55° where we were.

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I got the wife out for probably the last Bass fishing outing for the season. For some reason the bite was way off for us. My guess is the much cooler water temps had the bass’s metabolism was slower due to the cooler water and they just have not adjusted yet. Just a guess. Temps were 52-53 and they were 59-61 a week or so ago on this same lake. The week prior we hammered them on Buzzbaits, Spinnerbaits, and chatter baits. Yesterday only a few pike and a few rather light bumps. The bass just seemed rather slugish. It also didn’t help that we fished early in the morning. My guess is the bite would have been better later in the day when the water temps warmed up some. I switched to a Jerkbait towards the end and got a few light bumps on that as well. Did see a fair # of pike follow the jerkbait to the boat only to dart off. When the pike are just following a Chrome colored Jerkbait things are off for sure. If I was to do it again I would have skipped the Bass and Pike fishing and tried the walleye bite instead. I wanted to get the wife on a few more fish and thought the bass and pike was the better option.

Slow weekend for me as well water temps 51. Gave up and tried for the eyes no luck there. As Fishthumper said light bumps and slow tactics. Done with bass going for eyes in the rivers or shore and than done.

The last two weekends were the best two consecutive weekends all year for me, largemouth only, and chunky fish. Green weeds, especially cabbage, are key. Bass have been on the top edge of weed flats, 5-10ft. Crankbaits have been by far the best choice, but also caught fish on colorado or oklahoma blade spinnerbaits, nothing on willowleaf. I love casting cranks, second favorite method after topwater, so its been a lot of fun. This past weekend we caught close to 100 bass but only about 5 pike total, which was very strange. The weekend before it was about 60/40 bass to pike.

blank wrote:

The last two weekends were the best two consecutive weekends all year for me, largemouth only, and chunky fish. Green weeds, especially cabbage, are key. Bass have been on the top edge of weed flats, 5-10ft. Crankbaits have been by far the best choice, but also caught fish on colorado or oklahoma blade spinnerbaits, nothing on willowleaf. I love casting cranks, second favorite method after topwater, so its been a lot of fun. This past weekend we caught close to 100 bass but only about 5 pike total, which was very strange. The weekend before it was about 60/40 bass to pike.

What were the water temps there. That sounds a lot like our outing a week or so ago. Was hoping for more of the same yesterday. Other than the cooler water temps I have no idea why the bite was so off.

Anywhere from 52-55 depending on time of day.
Caught a lot of fish on one lake on Saturday morning, then went to a different lake in the afternoon and struggled. That same lake we caught a lot of fish a week earlier.

blank wrote:

Anywhere from 52-55 depending on time of day.
Caught a lot of fish on one lake on Saturday morning, then went to a different lake in the afternoon and struggled. That same lake we caught a lot of fish a week earlier.

That’s fall fishing. So many factors changing this time of year. Water temps and Life of weed growth being 2 big factors. Just was a bite surprised of how bad the bite was only a week later.

blank wrote:

The last two weekends were the best two consecutive weekends all year for me, largemouth only, and chunky fish. Green weeds, especially cabbage, are key. Bass have been on the top edge of weed flats, 5-10ft. Crankbaits have been by far the best choice, but also caught fish on colorado or oklahoma blade spinnerbaits, nothing on willowleaf. I love casting cranks, second favorite method after topwater, so its been a lot of fun. This past weekend we caught close to 100 bass but only about 5 pike total, which was very strange. The weekend before it was about 60/40 bass to pike.

My results since the first week of October were nearly exactly the same. I probably did better the past 2.5 weeks than I did all season. I was mostly using aggressive moving lures near remaining vegetation. The bass were definitely not biting hard though. Sometimes it would feel more like I was hung up on a weed and it turned out to be a bass. I chalk that up to colder water and a more sluggish metabolism.

When I caught a pike, it was jarring. You could immediately tell what it was. They were trying to destroy lures.

I haven’t been out in the boat in over a week. I fished from shore several times last week coming up empty every time. Tonight I got two bass from shore. A 2lber on a spinnerbait and a 3.5lber on a jig on my last cast. I’ll probably get out in the boat tomorrow.

Going to get out for a few hours this afternoon. The fall walleye bite has not seemed to have kicked in just yet, so probably going to chase some bass and or panfish. Hope the bite is better this outing than my last one.

Got ‘dirty’ today…

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Well I finally caught a few fish on the chicken jig, I am slowley figuring out this lure. Water temps were about 51, there was a ton of green left on the lake.

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Been hammering some real nice bass in the last week on lots of local lakes. Mostly on Jerk baits but still getting a few on chatterbaits as well.

BrianF wrote:

Got ‘dirty’ today…

That is a Crazy good day. I dream of having a day like that on SM

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BrianF wrote:</div>
Got ‘dirty’ today…

That is a Crazy good day. I dream of having a day like that on SM

Yeah, it was a special day for sure. We appreciated every single moment. Well, except when the wind started nuking in the afternoon.

A quick side note… We stumbled across a spot holding a ton of fish early in the morning. We spot-locked there and before you know it, three hours had pased. We never moved the boat. We caught 50 of our 90 fish right there. We had parked right on top of Smallmouth Disneyland!

BrianF wrote:

We spot-locked there and before you know it, three hours had pased. We never moved the boat. We caught 50 of our 90 fish right there. We had parked right on top of Smallmouth Disneyland!

Those are the days we dream about and live for. Have done that several times the last few years but on LM. I would never be without spot lock on a boat again ever. to me its one if not the best technology advancements in the last 10 years.

Read about a pro who won a whole tourney on one small section of one wing dam.

Got about 20 Smbs in 3-4 fow on a stick bait. Slow and steady worked better than pumps pauses or twitches. Fun day, lake is not known as a lake with good #s of the brown guys.

Bass are still biting.

Caught some real nice fish on Sat. Bass are still biting. Needed a real slow twitch and pause on a jerkbait to get them to bite. Fish are real tight to shore or cover right now. Water temps in the 42-43 range. A few degree’s cooler and I think the bite will fall off to almost nothing in open water. Not a lot of fight to fish in this cooler water though. Fish are all big and fat and have great color right now.

Today was the last day in the boat chasing bass this season. Caught some nice fish, but one in particular had a very special girth!

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Wow !!! That one has been feeding well.

I got out for probably my last open water outing of the year yesterday. We were mostly chasing walleyes but did manage to land a fair # of nice fat bass as well. Caught fish on both a jerkbait and a jig with a paddletail. Both worked painfully show. Water temps were 40-42. With the forecast for the next 10 days ice will be forming soon. This was probably the latest I’ve opened water fished in a LONG time. It was a fun fall season with some real good outings. Not any really big fish which was a bummer but consistent action.