Fall Panfish... As Explained By CrappieTom!!!

[Matt Johnson]

I had the privilige of recieving an article written by CrappieTom about Fall Panfish for my website. This is an outstanding article and is a must read in my opinion if you want to understand more about fall panfish...

Fall Panfish

By: Tom "CrappieTom" Sawvell

Right around the middle of September we start to see some obvious changes in our outdoor world. Days begin to get noticeably shorter, cooler air begins to creep in our surrounding at night. Crickets begin to serenade us.

As these little quirks become more of an everyday occurrence, other hallmarks of the fall season begin to show up as well. Gunfire over the waterways signals the onset of the waterfowl seasons. Camo clothes and bows tell us the deer hunting has gotten underway. Sloughs and cornfields are dotted with the orange of pheasant hunters.

And then there are the fishermen: some seemingly dialed right into a solid fall panfish bite and the others at an apparent lose for what to do.

So just how does this seasonal change affect what we do and how we approach the pannies?

First we need to understand that everything relating to these fish at this time of year is very closely related and that a simple change in one area can shut the door on a good bite yesterday and make for tough pickings today. And this situation can be the direct opposite as well, finding it a blessing to get a fish one day but simply smoking them the next. This can be the harsh reality of fall fishing and is where perseverance pays huge dividends.

When fishing is going good, few people need lessons in what to use or how to catch panfish. It’s when the bite is not so good that people seem to go to sea. Let’s try to sort things out a bit here.

Water temperature can be the most influential of all factors relating to fall fishing. It controls the way weeds will be found and where. It governs forage movement. It helps to determine if you should be looking for fish in shallow or deeper water. It will determine how the fish are going to be found in the water column: will they have a vertical or a horizontal disposition? It will help govern where the fish retreat to when we get radical weather changes. And when we consider the declining amount of available light from day to day, the water temp will help the fish to determine what season THEY are actually in. Water temp will become an issue when determining what bait size and lure profile we should be checking out.

One of the first apparent changes in the water that can affect where and how we fish is the first stage of cooling that begins the die-off of some of the shallower weeds. Late summer panfish using these short term weeds are going to lose their shade and safe-haven, meaning that they will have to move. Most of the time this move is a short distance one and finding these fish amounts to no more than fishing nearby, but deeper, weeds.

As this die-off progresses, the forage fry that have been enjoying the wide-open spaces begin to shift into the shallows where the weeds were, feeding in the nutrient rich water. While feeding on the organisms responsible for the dead weed’s decomposition, these fry will rely heavily on the still-living deeper weeds for safety. Wherever the forage base can be found, the panfish will not be far away.

What if weeds are not to be found in the lake you fish, but very well-defined breaks and points going from shallow to deep water exist? The first primary break out from shore will act in the same way as dead or dying shallow weeds do. And wood? Do you have access to any submerged timber? Does it extend from the shallower water into deep water? If it does, you have just hit the jackpot! The more vertical this wood tends to be; the more productive it tends to be. Sunken wood will offer up fish all year long provided there is a deep/shallow relationship to it.

During the fall months weather can play havoc on our fishing. A cold front generally will put the fish deep in the water column. Tending to hug bottom, they will also have closed chops. At best, they will be neutral in mood and may be teased into a hit. Often we will see a front come through long enough to mess with the fish and then hand us a really nice, warm day, but the fish still don’t seem to want to hit. Perhaps it is that they are still down deep, not higher up where you might expect them to be. It can take a few days of stable weather to draw them back to fair-weather haunts.

In the spring we see crappies and panfish leave the deep water and shift into shallower water getting ready for the rigors of the spawn. They quite literally make a transition from one world to another and follow specific pathways in the water to go from hither to yon. The fall season is no different, except that the direction is reversed and this process of reversal goes well into the first ice stages of winter. Crappies and sunfish will be found in the fall in places very close to where they were found during the early pre-spawn period last spring. Location simply tends to be a flip-flop between spring and fall.

So OK…now we know how the temperature of the water plays an elemental part of our panfishing in the fall. We know how one driving force influences others down the line. We have finally found our fish, but now what do we catch them with?

It helps, now, to remember just how close we are to being fishing through the ice. The reason is tackle selection. While consistent and warm weather during the fall might find us able to rely on our larger jigs and twisters that have been used all summer, the revolving door fronts associated with the fall period can force us into using much smaller tackle and bait. Plastics used one day may not even be nudged the next. Profile issues may dictate a paddletail bait of some sort but demand that it is quite narrow through the body portion. The StubGrub or Culprit used one day may have to be replaced with a “little worm” the next. All are paddletail in design, but only the latter might have the profile it takes to turn bumps into solid hits. One might have to go from a two inch twister to a one inch unit.

Cold fronts mean two things: deep water structure and down-sizing. That means you have to have tackle appropriate for this purpose along when you are actually on the water. Carry your ice fishing lures all fall. There will be occasions when the Ratso’s have to come out to get the sunnies to play the game with you. Yet these baits come in a half-dozen different sizes, so buy just the bodies in three sizes and four colors. They get fished on plain jigheads. This is much cheaper and one can streamline his presentation as needed. When even the rat-tail is too much for the fish, the ratfinke might become an option, or even the small minnow head jigs- both of which will need a maggot or a waxie to help entice the fish.

Jigging lures like the Go Devil are tools to have on hand as well. These can be a real good search tool when tipped with a waxie and cast, counted down to a specific depth and “hop” retrieved. This system is very progressive and very effective. When the fish are in a funk and things have to get slowed down as well as scaled back in size, they can be dropped right down in their face and very softly jigged to get hits. If fish are found over weed tops or in sunken wood, these lures can be dropped down under a slip float and suspended right over the weeds or wood, letting any wave action give them the motion to bring hits. Even fish in a neutral mood will come up to hit baits if they are kept very subtle in motion. Swedish Pimples in the smallest size are a great tool when the hook is filled up with maggots or waxies. Replacing the factory hook with a treble the next size larger is encouraged on Swedish Pimples to increase the hooking potential.

Lure color may or may not become an issue at this time of year. As with any other time you fish, color preference will be determined by the fish on any given day and that can change by the minute. This means that the angler needs to stay in touch with what the fish want color-wise. Carry a second or third rod and have each rigged with a different profile and different color. Use them if the bite drops off. If things are active using a 2” chartreuse twister and an orange 1/16 head and this quits working, simply toss out a paddletail in purple/junebug/chartreuse on a black 1/32 head. A different action level, lure profile, and lighter head all can seem like a moot issue to the angler, but the crappies may have an entirely different response to it.

Something else to consider when looking at lure color is whether they glow or not. If you don’t think this makes a difference, think again! Even if you are fishing in fairly clear water on a bright day, glow red can make every bit the difference in what and how much you catch. Glow pink, glow orange, glow blue and now glow purple have been shown to increase the hook-up ratio immensely. These colors are found on ice tackle commonly now, but to assume that these baits and colors will not work well on open water is fickle. Scenic Tackles Go Devil comes in sizes down to 1/16 in these colors. If one needs to go smaller yet, Lindy Techni-Glo makes a nifty bait based on the ice tick body but with a treble hook. This product also comes in several glow colors and is actually closer to 1/32 ounce. With a wider, flatter, and shorter body, this Lindy lure has a slower drop rate and can extract some serious hits when the fish are being fussy.

Most of us have experienced fish hitting for only a short while when fishing through the ice on a given day. Perhaps hours later there is another brief flurry of hits. Fall fishing will begin to exhibit some of this “period” activity just about the time a lake turns over. Shortened periods of available light along with cooler water temperatures can trigger the bottom dwelling critters into action. Very early morning and late, late afternoon might find the need to fish nearer the bottom to stay with fish or to find any kind of a bite on slow days. Again, the need for some structural element will only come as a bonus. Deep submerged wood, deep weeds, large rocks, a break or an underwater shelf can set the stage for some serious activity if the fish are indeed into this “period” mode.

The shortening of the days and the cooling of the waterway also causes a shift in how the fish relate to the water. During the warm summer months when water too is at it’s warmest and may even have a thermocline, we find the fish scattered loosely on a more horizontal plane. They will move up and down in the water column as dictated by weather fronts and forage movements, but the bulk of their travel and other movement will be in a horizontal fashion. The early fall period will find these loose schools getting tighter. The fish will begin to show signs of size or year-class stratification. Continued cooling in the water column shows the fish making the bulk of their daily movement up and down. They begin to relate to the water in a vertical disposition with colder water temps. All of this compacting can make locating fish tough without the aid of electronics, but remembering that weeds, wood and other elements attract and hold these fish can help immensely.

Fall fishing can be a tough nut to crack at times, but by learning how some elements we deal with on a daily basis also affect the fish we can balance the number good and, maybe not so good, fishing days. Knowing that one has to go to the water armed not only with what worked the last time out, but with might be better suited for two months from now is a plus to that fisherman. Understanding how the fish move from one season to another is elemental…necessary. Knowing how weather fronts, water temperature, and forage movement directly dictate what we use for bait and tackle can make the angler a more successful angler. Becoming aware of how fish change and how they use the water can help put a diligent angler into consistent fishing success. Being creative is important. Think about this scenario: You’re catching nothing using a certain bait and fishing it a certain way. Will you catch less if you try some different profile, or tie up a color that is off the wall or try a different presentation? Not catching any fish does not get any worse than not catching any fish, so doing some experimentation cannot hurt a thing. Take a notebook and pencil fishing with you. TAKE NOTES! This is far more accurate than trying to remember what you did to make things work last week.

Hopefully these brief insights will help to change how fall fishing treats you. This is a wonderful time of the year to be on the water and the best of the best fishing is just getting underway.

Good Fishing to All of you!

CrappieTom

A great piece writing!

[Corey Bechtold]

Nice piece of writing Tom!!!

Thanks for sharing,

Corey Bechtold

[delmuts]

very nice!