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Shallow during fall


Craigums

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When fishing shallow during the fall time, How shallow are we talking? I was working the bank pretty hard this last weekend and just found a couple dinks under docks... It wasn't until I got a huge birdsnest with my baitcaster that I pulled the anchor and started drifting. While I was drifting my buddy ended up pulling the largest fish of the day, in some weed clumps farther off from shore in maybe 5-6 feet of water. Maybe I was working too shallow?

Funny how I always seem to learn from mistakes more than anything.

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Craigums, This time of the year can be feast or famine. Depending on how close your lake is to roll over or post roll over. When people are talking skinny water, it could be as shallow as 1 foot of water. It can change from day to day..

My only advice for this time of year.. Fish fast, try to work different depths till you catch a fish, then slow down and concentrate on that depth. If you dont catch more fish soon, go back to hunting and pecking.

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It can change so much from lake to lake. Like Deitz said you need to cover different depths and see what is going on that day on that lake. Faster moving baits like cranks and spinnerbaits are a good chioce to do so.

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I have a friend, retired school teacher who has fished the last three days. He has been absolutely killing them. Most of them shallow, 4 feet or less. Yesterday being the best day with three over 5,four over 4, 9 over 3.5, and a bunch in that 2-3.5 range. All on plastics. I have not been able to get away once and it is killing me!!

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i would say shallow during the fall is a reference that fish start hitting baits in water shallower than a lakes weedline. there are a lot more catchable fish on flats and yes by the bank in the form of pads and wood. most of the weeds are dying in shallower water so horizontal baits shine, since there isn't blankets of weeds towards bank. as usual it depends on the lake, but when the weeds start dying the fish move to any cover they can and it is usually the last green weeds or in shallow water(docks, pads, wood).

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I was out last night fishing towards the shore in about 3-5 feet of water and was using a spook and had some good luck. Caught a couple of good bass and towards the end missed a pike. Probably around 30 inches and he almost completly cleared the water when he struck the spook.

All in all, shallow flats are good this time of year; even better if you can find some cover to fish around.

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I was out Sat afternoon and Sun morning. Fished Waverly and Mary in Wright co. for the most part was in 6 feet of water or less. Used buzz baits, jigs, spinnerbaits, and minus ones over the top of submerged veg. My best bass were a few 18 inchers I fooled with a 3/8 oz Black Boyaah clacker buzzbait. I lost a couple of (fire tiger) Baby minus one's to bite offs from pike. On one I set the hook, fought the fish for a few seconds and then snapp... My line broke up by the rod tip. This was 20 lb power pro so I had to inspect. I didn't notice anything sharp so I retied and then lost another minus one, but this time it broke near the lure. About ten min later I see my power pro line floating near by. I move to line and pick it up to feel the tug of something alive... I hand over hand fight this pike to boat side. I carefully net it and bring it in... a 33 inch pike with my minus one in his craw. Surprizingly only a couple minor cuts on my hands from the line. Moments later I see another pike a bit smaller than this one jump completely out of water about 20 feet from my boat... I could see my other Minus one in it's mouth... Unreal. I was hoping he'd shake it and see it float up but no such luck. No pressure at all out there & better yet... NO jet ski's, waverunners, or water skiers zipping past you. I love fall fishing.

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I'm confused , Last week I was fishing shallow cover , remaining weeds, and remaining boat docks. I only cought one slot bass. 12"er. I went to a local bait shop to talk to the owner and he said that There is nothing shallow anymore and I need to be fishing the weed edge in about 10-12 fow. the reason that i'm confused is this whole post/ forum is talking about fishing bass shallow. Do the bass stay deep just before change over then go back shallow? some lakes around madison lake area have changed over.

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jDrummer, When you say changed over I assume you are talking about lake turnover or the mixing up of the deeper, denser, unoxygenated water with the water of the top. This occurs when surface water (above thermocline) reaches temps At about 50 degrees, the cooler water at the surface begins to sink into and through the thermocline, forcing warmer and less dense water to the surface and erasing the temperature stratification built up over the summer. At some point, the majority of the water in the lake reaches an approximately uniform temperature. Now I don't think that any lake in the state has steady surface temps of 50 degrees yet. I was out this past weekend and on two different lakes had readings of 61 degrees and 59 degrees. I'm no expert but fish now should be scattered throughout lake. Some will for sure be shallow as long as daily weather conditions permit. I myself didn't run into great numbers either but without a doubt they are there.... Hope this clears some things up for ya.

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I got out Friday and Sat. afternoons for about 3 hours each day. Caught 7 on Friday and 5 on Sunday, all fish came on shallow cranks (minus 1s). Nothing big (2 lb max), but I was happy to get out and get a few.

I've tried fishing cranks more this summer, as opposed to just plastics. I really like the fast pace and covering more water. The only downside is that I seem to lose a lot more fish. I'd say I boat 9/10 fish I hook when worm fishing, but maybe only 6 or 7 out of 10 with cranks. You'd think with all those trebles you'd be safe, but I guess the smaller hooks just don't get the penetration.

Water temps were around 57 degrees.

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I think there are fish everywhere right now. Most seem to be in the 4-10' range, but I have caught some really nice ones right up on the bank. I haven't fished really deep because I don't really want to this time of the year, it's just too fun beating up on the shallower fish.

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I seem to lose quite a few fish on the smaller crank baits as well. I have noticed that when jig fishing or using other plasitcs t-rigged that I can seriously horse em in. I've been using much heavier tackle this season so confidence is high while horsing but if I don't play the fish very carefully with the cranks I have a tendency to lose them as well. I'm sure, matter of fact I know, it's due to the Power pro line or fire line that I have on all my set ups combined with med-heavy rods with little flex at tip. Those small trebles and a good head shake or jump and I can see why they come un-buttoned using that unforgiving tackle. Just another excuse for me to buy another pole this coming spring.

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I fished this past sunday and all of our fish were caught in the 8-12 ft range. We spent 4-5 hours fishing the shallows with only 2 fish to show for it. We moved to deeper weeds in 8-12 fow and were throwing rattle traps and cranks and just started catching both pike and bass (we were targeting bass) almost every few casts or so. My buddy caught a few on a lizard, but we were still in the deeper water.

Carl

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