Any Action?

[cheektowaga]

C'mon guys, I check this forum several times a day searching for news of any action going on. I need to be distracted from the crappy weather outside and the stack of paperwork inside with visions of somebody setting a hook. Anybody been out lately? Is it too late in the year? Has anybody had any luck in the past this time of year? Or has the hunting season consumed us all by now?

Just Curious.

[BigMike]

Well, I'm heading out tonight. I fish the river for smallies and the fall is by far the best time of year to hit the river (even though it is catch and release after mid-September). The smallies have been pretty hot on the 'sippi and smaller tributary rivers this fall. I'll report back tomorrow with results.

As for years past. I have caught largemouth late into October/early November by finding the remaining deeper weeds and smallies on rocky lake humps & rock points. It's also a full moon for the rest of the week and night fishing should be awesome for bass and those other fish (eye's, ski's, etc...) . When fishing the river, fish pretty much where you normally would in the summer. The smallies are pretty active right now and on sections of the 'sippi like Pool 2 & Pool 4 the smallies will be seeking out the deeper water right about now. On the smaller rivers try the deeper holes, especially if there is bottom structure (trees, rocks, troughs). Remember, smallies are in immediate catch & release right now.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I myself have not been out. However a friend of mine has.. and he has been tearing them up... Small Cranks and texas rigs on drop offs in about 4-9 feet of water...

get out there and throw some plugs!

[Granny]

Hunting......whats that?

If these temps hold up, it will be morning stand, fish, nap, evening stand.

Andy J and I are hitting the water for a couple hours tonight in search of some fat fall largies. We may be able to fish a little later into the evening if the clouds lift but it doesn't look good right now. Either him or I will give a report in the morning. This forum is getting slower and slower. Pretty soon we will have to start talking about next years opener!

Granny

[cheektowaga]

Good to hear some are still out casting! Some good posts here, let's keep the reports coming. What are the opinions on smaller lakes this time of year?

[Granny]

What do you consider small? Most of the lakes I fish are under 300 acres. I hit a lake this last weekend that was 55 acres and it produced some nice fish. I have found out from fishing this fall that smaller lakes seem very easy to fish this time of year. I havn't found fish schooled up but they all seem to be near weeds with deep water close by.

Granny

[cheektowaga]

My honey hole is a lake up north that's about 135 acres, holds great structures (fallen trees, weedlines, rocks, points) but only gets about 30 feet deep. Wondering if a lake like that is too cold by now.

[Granny]

Its never too cold! But last night was close. Andy picked up 5 bass I think and a couple pike. Nothing big though. I only picked up a small pike. It was pretty windy and cold. Water temps were at 49 degrees.

Granny

[BigMike]

I went out last night with Hawgtide and hit the Upper Mississippi. Each of us caught a handful of smallies in the 2hrs we were out but the big ones weren't there last night (biggest 13-14'').

Every time about late September, all of a sudden the bass forum slows down and by November it's at a crawl. As some of my buddies joke - us bass fishermen get a good case of the "bass shakes" . It's a disease that strikes all hibernating bass anglers from about October 'til about May. Severity may worse the more you read bass magazines and watch bass fishing shows!

[Granny]

BigMike,

Send me an email at LSW2002 at AOL dot COM. I have a few questions for ya.

I picked up a new Bass game for the PS2 a couple weeks ago. I am waiting until the water freezes before I get into tournament mode. Its going to be a long winter.

Granny

[sami0115]

i thought i was the only one to get the "shakes" in the off season.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I get the shakes during season.. why wait till the off season?

[BigMike]

Quote:

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Send me an email

---

"You've got mail" The shakes are real tough for me - almost drives me to go wading in mid-January up on the upper 'sippi... HMMM - maybe I'm on to something!

[andy j]

anybody had any consitant bass action throught the ice? I have caught a few largies and smallies over the past few years one was about a 5 lber. Was sight fishing in about 5 feet of water for gills and she dropped in. Fun on panfish gear. I have heard of a few guys patterning smallies through the ice. They concentrate heavily and are hard to find but once you find them they can be caught with some consistantsy.

[honker23]

I was out in the wind and rain on Tues, my day off, looking for walleyes. I got sick of fighting the wind, so I went to a calmer bay and started fishing for bass. Caught a good number on a jig and plastic outside a deeper weed edge. There was two docks left out, so I hit them with a spinner and hooked my personal best a 20.5" fat fish. What a surprise that was, the lake has good numbers of small fish, but I have never seen a fish like that.

[sami0115]

looking for what!? did you just say what i think you said? you know that's a bad word on this forum. even though you made good by fishing bass later, you still should refrain from swearing around here.

nice fish!

[honker23]

My wife has been getting sick of eating duck, she enjoys walleyes much more. Oops there was that word again. I'll try not to do it again!

[fisher98]

guys---

i was recently out on Chisago/South Lindstrom and tried fishing deeper for a few hour...could not find any vegetation, so i tried some structure areas...points, humps, etc....struggled with only 2 smaller fish...then with less than an hour left of daylight i went and fished some stumps in about 2 feet of water, and within 30 minutes caught 12 fish...many were in the 2-3 lb. range....went to fish some stumps in the wind and caught a 20 and 21 inch fish around some deeper stumps.

It is typical to find the bigger fish in areas that the wind is blowing on...dah!!! But for some reason i was thinking deeper water would hold the fish..water temp was at 50-51 degrees.

The deeper fish were caught on slow rolled spinnerbait and one on a DT-10 (shad pattern). The stump fish were caught with a green-pumpkin jig..3/8 oz....and man did the fish slam the lure...

Too bad that was probably the last time out in my boat...winterizing this weekend, and getting ready to deer hunt....well the winter withdrawl from Bassin will begin in about 2-3 weeks, but there is alot of rod/reel repairs and cleaning to do...reorganize lures and work and the boat as well!!!

anyways that is my report--good luck to the rest of the guys getting in the last minute Bassin!!!!

fisher98

[Dynasty]

I heard it was hard on bass (especially smallmouth taken from deep water) when they are caught in the winter.

[Lost]

fisher98, too bad. I was gonna offer to help you catch a few with your boat... seein' how we both live in Friendly Fridley. Maybe we can hit the ice this winter?

[Wayne Ek]

For the past week our areas smaller lakes have been hot. We have had 2 over 6 and more 3's than I would believe existed in a couple of these lakes. Big tubes and jig/pig all the action in 2 to 6 foot of water, the temps are running between 46/44. With the rain the past 4 days I think this week will start to slowwww way down.

[berfish]

My dad has been going out to Chisago and picking up numerous 15-18 inchers. He has been out during the week on the warmer days with less wind.(he is a fair weather fisherman) 6-8 feet where there are still weeds coming up to 5 feet. He said he caught them in numerous different places on the lake(most caught by the eagle nest point) I wish I could get a deer with my bow soon so I can focus on fishing again

bf

[Granny]

The wife and I got out on Sunday and put in 4 hours of fishing. Water temps were still around 48-50. We boated about 10 bass with one around 18" and 3 in the 19-19.75". We got into a bay where there were thousands and thousands of baitfish but we didn't pick up any fish. There were fish jumping and chasing the baitfish but nothing wanted to bite. All the fish we caught came off of spinnerbaits except one of the 19" fish came off of a shallow crank. Smaller fish were up tight to shore in shallow water 2-4 feet and the larger fish came in 5-12 feet of water. We saw a huge pike in 10 feet of water sitting next to the weed edge. I am guessing it was in the mid to high 30"'s.

Granny

[FishinChad]

Ive finaly been finding some fish on a metro lake...biggest over 6lbs. All on white spinnerbait from shore.

[cheektowaga]

So your saying there's a chance... Sounds like some decent late season action going on. I haven't been out in a few weeks but will hit it on Friday. Any suggestions? Report to follow.