Fall Bass Questions... What do you think Deitz? Anyone else?

[LetThemGo]

Deitz - you seem like a very knowledgeable angler and do a great job posting on this form. Seem like a heck of a nice guy too. Thought maybe you could help me on the questions below. Anyone else who is interested in getting some discussion going on the fall fishing???

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I was out this morning (Oct 15th, 8-11am) on milfoil lake in the NW Metro. Started off fishing a hard bottom area (10-12 ft.) where I found a school of 3-4 lbs. bass in June. Tried this spot with a 1/4 ounce jig n' pig and a crankbait. No luck.

Second area fished was the edge of a large, shallow, shorelinge milfoil flat - about 5 ft of water. Fished this edge (200 yards) with a crank that runs about 4 ft deep, and up on top of the milfoil with a shallow running crank that runs about a foot deep - no luck.

Third spot was a shallow bay (deepest 10 ft) on the north side of lake. Fished around a few patches of milfoil adjacent to the deepest water in this bay, and also went way of shallow in 2-4 feet looking for signs of like. Found a lot of sunfish really shallow (1-2 ft) in the milfoil, but no bass to be seen or caught. I even plunked around up in there with a jig and with shallow crank across the top of the milfoil, thinking that perhaps there were some bass somewhere in the area waiting to munch on sunfish. No dice.

What do you need to do at this time of year to find bass in these milfoil lakes? I do not have a temp gauge in my boat, but my guess is that water temps must be somewhere between 50-60 degrees. Do they use the milfoil like they did in the summer, or do they move out of it into deeper water? Are they super shallow? What baits seem to be the most productive this time of year?

One other question for anyone out there - what is the latest in the open water season that you have caught largemouths? I know it is hard to get them once temps go below 50 degrees.

Hopes this gets some good discussion going, as the fishing should be decent with the warm days ahead.

Thanks!

[SluggoMaster]

A couple of friends and I were out on "Lake X" yesterday in the west metro and we had 50 pounds and some change for the 15 biggest fish between us. They all came from around milfoil patches in 53-55 degree water, in the early morning. The bottom type didn't seem to make any difference, since we all were on slightly differnt patterns on the same type of structure. The only common theme was it was on the north/northwest/west side of the lake, and not on the south or east side of the lake. The structure was very similar in other parts of the lake, but the water warms up much faster on a sunny day on the north/west side of the lake, and the fish are usually more active, just like in the spring. A jig was the lure of choice, since nothing else seemed to put them in the boat, since I threw everything else just to see.

Good luck, since the bite is on, when you can find them!

[Deitz Dittrich]

LetThemGo.

Thanks for the nice compliments! Very nice!

As for your questions, they can be tough to answer.

My question for you would be.. is the milfoil still green? Weeds that are brown are dieing or dead, dieing weeds take Oxygen out of the water while green weeds put oxygen into the water. Finding green weeds this time of the year can be hard on some lakes, if you can find some, you usually have found the bass.

One of the main things with fishing this time of the year is this. The fish are starting to fatten up for the winter, you may have seen a lot of baitfish around the surface lately on many lakes. While bass can be somewhere one day, they will and may not be there the next, it all depends on where the bait fish went.

A second thought is this. People often think on beautiful fall days bluebird skies, little wind a great day to be on the water.. yet forget that during a hot 90+degre day in the summer bluebird skies, high pressure day that the fish are not easy to come by then either. A nice warm 75degree day in october is the same as that 90 degree day was in july. WE just think its a lot more confortable.

Lastly, some of our lakes are probably pretty close to fall turn over. The week or even 2 that happens can be ULTRA hard fishing. You will notice a lot of filmy green and brown nasty stuff floating around. Then you know you may be in for a hard time.

To get back to your question.. I feel in the fall more than ever you need to fish the wind. Use it to your advantage, find areas with the wind blowing in and again try and find green weeds.. .Spinnerbaits, crankbaits will help you locate the fish. Then slow down and hit them with the jig to see if there are more fish around.

Good luck!

[Deitz Dittrich]

I hope others weigh in on this subject as well. I too have some veryhard days on the water in the fall.. It really does seem like a feast or famine fishing. You either hit them or you dont.

One other tip I would have for fall fishing. I dont normally use braid line for crank baits. However, in the fall I do. In clear lakes, I will tie on a deep crankbait(fat free shad, DD22, Bandit 400) to 20 lb powerpro on a 7'MH rod(again much stiffer than I would normally throw a crank on.) I then position my boat on a deep weed edge, note : on the weed edge. Then cast 45degree angles off the weedline and crank till I hit the edge.. then rip the jig out of the weeds and let it float up a few feet and crank it down back into the weeds.

With this tech. I have caught quite a few bass, right up untill ice on.

[prophet]

i have been having luck trolling weedlines with deep diving

crankbaits instead of topwater or live bait,definitly noticed the difference since the cooler weather has set in,

a week ago saturday,it was 28 when i ventured out,fish were

deep

[Superduty]

I'm a flipper/pitcher when it comes to most of my fall fishing. I keep it simple using a black/blue or pumpkinseed jig most of the time. The midday period is often best-the sun has had a chance to warm the shallows just a bit. I target any hard object: docks, wood, and rocks. I don't spend a lot of time fishing the dead or dying vegetation. (although I have caught bass in it occassionally) Catch my biggest fish of the year in October almost every year. Gets tough when water temps stay below 50 degrees all day.

Side note: Recentyly caught a fairly big bass, almost 22" and it weighed only 5lb 12 oz on two separate digital scales. This fish had the head of a 7 pounder but was very skinny. Looked just like they do during post spawn with a sunken/skinny belly and it even had a bloody tore up tail! Caught it October 9. Anybody seen this before?

[nbdyknws]

Deitz I noticed the exact opposite out a week or 2 ago.

All my fish that I was going for, pike and bass. Were caught on the sheltered side of the lake. About half the time was on the windy sides and half was on the sheltered sides. The windy areas had 0 fish and the sheltered sides had 5.

And also all of these fish were on the South-East parts of the lake. Which is opposite of the other post.

hm

Very good stuff though I just wish I had more time to be out on the water. Maybe I will get out one more time around the metro and cast a few times.

[LetThemGo]

Thanks to everyone for the comments and great insight on figuring the fall bite. Some very interesting comments and observations. I am going to try and get out this Saturday, so if I do I will let you know how it turns out.

Kind of wondering how long I should keep my boat out. Deitz - sounds like you have caught some fish pretty late in the fall. Anyone know if your smaller eutrophic lakes remain good from here to ice-up, or if percentages would be better on larger/deeper mesotrophic lakes?

Again, thanks to everyone for the great posts. Interesting stuff!

[dan sexton]

LTG,

Fall is tricky! My rule of thumb is to find the bait-fish (shad, fry, etc.)!! Finding crawfish is the second clue, but hard to do (think like a crawdad... rocks-wood-rocks-wood). Dietz is right-on (from my experience) with the green healthy weed issue. Deeper weeds will maintain longer than shallow/visual weeds. Normally when lakes turns fish will be in the in-coming water if you have any, otherwise your skrewd (just kidding, sort of). Everyone is right on with bait choices. I like rip baits, spooks and drop-shots which target suspended-bait-chasing-tough-biting-Bass.

Two baits that are catching fish here in California in the last month are Zoom horny toads with 1/16" oz. weight texas style slow rolled like a spinner-bait and tungsten and glass texas rigged super hogs (Zoom as well) right in the tules.

Maybe these tricks will help,

Dan